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Kurzweil SP6


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I really don't care for the shape of the Yamaha MX-88 either ... unnecessarily large bulbous shell but once I'm playing it I really don't care . . .it is light, the main thing. Stretches one of my cases just a tad.

 

Hey at this age I don't care for my shape either! :rimshot:

 CP-50, YC 73,  FP-80, PX5-S, NE-5d61, Kurzweil SP6, XK-3, CX-3, Hammond XK-3, Yamaha YUX Upright, '66 B3/Leslie 145/122

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The MOX8 is unreadable on a dark stage

I didn't find that to be the case. Much better, at least, than the Motif XF or some of the Korgs like M50 and Kronos (apart from the touchscreens themselves).

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I really like mine. The action is nice - I can play much quicker phrases on it than my CP33, which I always found heavy and sluggish. Not sure why people are bagging on the Medeli action in general - I find it very responsive and playable.

 

Now to be fair, I use a whopping 5 sounds - all Dave Weiser customs - 2 of his AP's, 2 of his Rhodes, and one of his bass patches for LHB that I modified slightly on the attack.

 

This is a nice board - especially for $1,295.

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Works for me! This is one of only a handful of boards I have owned that I don't have to have the manual around to program it. Kind of wish the zone level knobs were dedicated sliders. But its not much of an issue the knobs work fine. I just have to remember to press the shift button! I really like the sounds, though I'm still tweaking on the Bright EP program in the editor. I have this sound in my head from my old SV1 I'm trying replicate, not quite there yet. Dave Wieser's piano patch for the 9ft is excellent. I would highly advise getting his sounds. In fact he would be a great choice to purchase from if you decide to get one. He has always been very helpful. Even back when he worked for Kurzweil. I had an SP4-7 he answered all my questions and was very helpful to me.

Boards: Kurzweil SP-6, Roland FA-08, VR-09, DeepMind 12

Modules: Korg Radias, Roland D-05, Bk7-m & Sonic Cell

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The MOX8 is unreadable on a dark stage

I didn't find that to be the case.

 

For me, the control panel buttons aren't a problem on a dark stage due to the gray color shading of the buttons against the black surface.

 

The thing I have a problem finding is the damn volume slider, which I use a lot during performance. Can't see it on a dark stage with my upper board on top, and with the slider being so far up away from the keys.

 

Solved that problem by placing a sticky LED light on the bottom of my upper board, with the light pointing downward at the volume slider.

Kurzweil PC3, Yamaha MOX8, Alesis Ion, Kawai K3M
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I would definitely purchase from Dave, but unfortunately cannot due to international shipping. :( He has, however, already sent over his sounds "just in case"! Class act. :2thu:

 

Glad to hear more favourable reviews of the action. I'm not too fussy overall and definitely trust Dave and Jim's opinions.

 

Might poke around a few other videos and stuff but it looks like I might pull the trigger. I had kind of wanted to wait out the summer and see how my car does and so on and so forth, but my pal wants my Privia, so may as well. :)

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Every time I put a board on top I couldn't read the some of the buttons. And there are a lot of them , the shade from the top board made the label invisible. The SP6 buttons are bigger and when they are active the name lights up with it. Much different, also the fonts on the display are bigger. Maybe I'm just getting old!

Boards: Kurzweil SP-6, Roland FA-08, VR-09, DeepMind 12

Modules: Korg Radias, Roland D-05, Bk7-m & Sonic Cell

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I agree. I am finding the action of the SP6 much better than my ageing PC2X, which I always thought had a decent action. You just have to find the appropriate velocity curve that you like. I had to adjust mine in the global settings. Great board for the price, and very light. I am hauling it in an older Kaces slim 88 case that I used to haul my PC2X in. Very similar to the GKB slim 88 and can be lifted in one arm, or used with the wheels.

 

I really like mine. The action is nice - I can play much quicker phrases on it than my CP33, which I always found heavy and sluggish. Not sure why people are bagging on the Medeli action in general - I find it very responsive and playable.

 

Now to be fair, I use a whopping 5 sounds - all Dave Weiser customs - 2 of his AP's, 2 of his Rhodes, and one of his bass patches for LHB that I modified slightly on the attack.

 

This is a nice board - especially for $1,295.

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really trying to like my SP6 .. but having a hard time leaving my trusty PC1x .. until I put the PC1x in the SKB case after a gig and have to lift it !! ... will spend some more time with the SP6 this weekend setting up multis, etc (I make extensive use of the PC1x "multi" 4 zone setups for my gigs... have to figure how to use the SP6 , 6 "favorites" and other ways to support my needs) - maybe just a case of "change avoidance" .. will give it some more time before I decide to sell the SP6 :(

PC1x, Hammond XK1c, Deep Mind 6, MS500 (gig rig)

Kurz PC4, Mini Moog Model D, Little Phatty, Hammond M3, Leslie 145, viscount op-3, Behringer model D, Roland GAIA.. (home studio)

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SP6,

 

So far so good.

 

Tones are what I expected from Kurzweil,

Electric pianos are very good,

KB3 exactly what I was looking for,

9 Grand also solid.

 

Was concerned about the physical keyboard

but I am pleasantly surprised.

It is very easy to play good response,

and good enough for organ runs.

 

Programming/editing very simple, like wow simple.

 

What is Really impressive is the weight,

or lack thereof.

 

Definitely deserving of a try if you are

adding a new board.

 

 

 

 

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SP6,

 

So far so good.

 

Tones are what I expected from Kurzweil,

Electric pianos are very good,

KB3 exactly what I was looking for,

9 Grand also solid.

 

Was concerned about the physical keyboard

but I am pleasantly surprised.

It is very easy to play good response,

and good enough for organ runs.

 

Programming/editing very simple, like wow simple.

 

What is Really impressive is the weight,

or lack thereof.

 

Definitely deserving of a try if you are

adding a new board.

 

 

 

 

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I agree with all of this. The KB3 is surprisingly good, especially for a one-board solution. Much better than my old PC2x. Of course, if I want better, I have a Hammond SK1-73 that works great as a top board in a two-tier setup. The SP6 pianos, EPs, and strings are outstanding, as is the keybed.

 

Thanks to Dave Weiser I also have a few more sounds now!

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One thing I'm interested in from SP6 users is how the synth engine fares? Given that many of us would have a clonewheel as top-tier, would the SP6 manage piano/synth/rompler duties to a similar level of say, the synth section of the Stage 3?

 

Having said that, apparently on the Stage 3 you can assign a section to another board so could use the Stage as your bottom tier (say as piano) and assign organ/synth to a controller as top board. Have I got that right? It's a powerful feature if so.

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One thing I'm interested in from SP6 users is how the synth engine fares? Given that many of us would have a clonewheel as top-tier, would the SP6 manage piano/synth/rompler duties to a similar level of say, the synth section of the Stage 3?

The NS3 synth section gives you all the real-time controls, which is a huge difference. Also, you can process your own custom samples through it. OTOH, the Kurz synth architecture is deeper and more flexible.

 

Having said that, apparently on the Stage 3 you can assign a section to another board so could use the Stage as your bottom tier (say as piano) and assign organ/synth to a controller as top board. Have I got that right? It's a powerful feature if so.

Kind of. Its Dual KB mode does the reverse of what you described... you could assign a piano sound to be triggered by a controller while leaving the other sounds to the Nord's own keys. Basically, you can assign any ONE sound to be triggered externally. Alternatively, there is also a MIDI mode that allows you to trigger an entire "panel" of sounds externally (which could include an organ sound, a piano sound, and a synth/sample sound, in any combination).

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Well, picked mine up today. Just had the chance to bang around and check some patches out before heading out to teach, but I'm very happy so far. Very easy to program, dig the action, good sounds across the board, light, and yes, perfect fit in the GK-88 slim. Feels like a board I could play for several years.

 

Now to update the firmware, though, I noticed those reverse drawbars right away.

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So far (haven't played a gig, just spent about an hour at home working through patches and setting up a split ON AN X-STAND :o etc), I marginally prefer it to the PX-5S. Could just be infatuation. Doesn't seem very noisy. Definitely a keyboard, but feels solid through the full down-up motion of the key. Haven't messed with key trigger heights, and who knows if it'll "break in" after a couple hundred hours.

 

Everything about this board seems to be A- quality for a B price, if that makes sense. It's obviously not a flagship, but it feels like I should've paid a lot more.

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who knows if it'll "break in" after a couple hundred hours.

I am skeptical about reports that any actions break in, but especially hammer action boards, whose resistance is not dependent on a coiled spring.

 

And as an aside, the reason that I doubt it's much of a factor even for coil spring based boards is that, if it were, I'd expect the center of the board--where you do much more playing, unless you do a lot of split work--to start to feel noticeably "relaxed" compared to the extremes (especially on boards with more than 61 keys), and I've never experienced that. I'm not saying it's impossible... the strengths of coiled springs do degrade with usage (I'm sure we've all seen flimsy spring-based mechanisms stop working properly, and on the heavy duty side, we routinely replace mattresses and shock absorbers). But I suspect that most of us do not stress the springs in our keys enough over the time we use them to make a really noticeable difference.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Have you had a chance to sit down on the SP6 yet, Scott?

No, and with the keyboard selections at stores getting worse and worse, I'm not optimistic about the possibility. I've considered ordering one online, but won't do that unless I feel there's a better than even chance that I'd keep it, and right now, I think I still prefer the Artis7, and can't see a reason to have both. In fact, lately, I've been gigging super-light and haven't even been taking the Artis7 (which weighs about the same as the SP6, there's less than a half pound difference).

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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