By lack of a video

[Theo Verelst]

A short description of my latest sound editing activities on the Kurzweil, because there's a logic in there.

 

My latest download with "corrected" sounds, and my latest progress on a new version of the same principles is based on my observations the sounds in the PC3 (and most likely the compatible ones, in every case speaking about the synths with the latest software update available for the model, in my original pc3-76 that's somewhere like 2.14 or so) have interesting signal components and allow tuning according to certain studio processing methods which can lead to realistic instruments, DAC sample reconstruction preparation and acoustic sound element improvements.

 

Apart from how necessary you might find 'improvements' (maybe some enthusiasts are fine with the ROM sounds and aren't willing to dail up the perfect Steinway piano patch because they feel their monitors would present them an overwhelming sound they cannot match with playing capabilities for long), I found them indispensable to enjoy playing the instrument or I felt taken aback by all kinds of strange and imperfect sound components I wouldn't pay the price of the instrument for. And, I have the impression that the influence of high quality artists in the design of instrument processing elements makes it very interesting not to sit down with yet the next sample playback engine and pretend messing a bit with obvious parameters is actually important. It is to yourself, and to achieve some personalisation, but it doesn't lift a sound up from some (not very well digital to analog converted) mild canned sound with some controls to a musical instrument that also on good monitoring sounds balanced, musical, properly full range, acoustics prepared, and realistic and grand.

 

The finding of sound elements and all kinds of signal changes not directly indicated by the editable parameters for me was a long path, so skipping a long story, I ended up looping over the "correction" signal path and it's parameters in the sense that the sound components the extra effect chain (AUX2 on the Kurz) and the master eq and master multi-compressor mainly make apparent together can be heard and in various ways measured to converge to sound perfection in various parts of a sound.

 

Like, an electric piano could with certain settings get a even frequency response, a nice tone, a realistic crunch effect, or simply a non raggedy sounding quality where solo lines and chords sound good, solid and without strange artefacts. Now, the main changing of sets of parameters (as it so happens done on the front panel) would push the sound in some main directions like balanced instrument, electronic signal path properties changing, synthy or more acoustic sounding, and lets say a dance of tone influencing characters. In many cases once a certain convergence of all the "correction" and a few in-sound parameters (renormalizing volumes and one or two small changes, the same for all ROM patches) would point itself in certain directions, for instance by looking at how the three bar meters of the three compression bands in the master muco section, and how smooth, strange, or communicative these compression amount meters would move when pushing one or more keys on the keyboard.

 

So it's like there is some form of intelligence built in, with a variety of characters and certain, sometimes really close parameter settings would favor the one character or the other. My job of course I consider to come to a integration of the studio band elements and the preparations for certain signal integrities you'd not expect in an average rompler such that a large number of slightly (standard) edited rom sounds ("programs" can sound good, DAC prepared, pure and even with more believable controls. That appears not to have been the purpose of the design of the machine at all, but if (for a major part when or since) that works, I like it.

 

T