rockinroller

Yep, you may have zipped through my post too quickly at the end. Here's what I stated: This level of board also has a tremendous feature absent in most other boards: that being two sets of separate Outputs, allowing total and dedicated split of your board (great for LH bass players like me, who want to run the bass parts separately into a bass amp, etc).

Took delivery of the PC4 on Wednesday and it's already repackaged and heading back. Wow: WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT! I've play Kurz' exclusively since the PC3's came out, have owned all but their 88 note models, tried the SP4 series (hated the key bed) and most recently have used their Artis 7 in live performances. With all the mainly-positive comments concerning the new lightweight (critical for me) keyboard with more power, capabilities and 88 keys, I decided to take the plunge, sight-unseen, with no retailers nearby for a test drive. 1. The keys SUCK, IMO. They reminded me of the clunky and noisy keys on an SP4. For me, the Fatar TP8 on the PC3 and now the Artis 7 is a perfect hybrid between a piano key and a synth or organ key--both which are prevalent in my use in performing. Frankly, I feel the Medeli key bed does neither very well. 2. As much as I tried I could not get the PC4 to accept my saved programs from many years of programming on my PC3's and the Artis. After uploading (several times), I would get the respective title for each of the (30+) saved programs, but in most cases they didn't sound at all or, in a couple of instances, the sounds were distorted and contorted--not resembling at all what they originally sounded like. Compatibility was a key factor in my consideration to purchase. 3. The layout was cumbersome. I use the sliders/drawbars area a LOT and I found that with the row of controls over and under the sliders (buttons and knobs), I found myself activating various functions or changing other settings without intent. 4. Delivered defective. All this to say that the board was literally defective out of the box. In all the years of buying boards online, this is only the 2nd one that's arrived broken. Beginning at B4, then E5, G5 and from there every note upward, there was no tone whatsoever--dead, nada. I interfaced with Jean at Kurzweil support and he concluded that something probably "broke loose during shipment". For me--someone who gigs a lot--that gave me the jitters, thinking that most of the transporting I'd be doing with that board would not have been in a container nearly as well insulated and protected against jostling or being thrown about. My first experience with DOA was the Mojo61 (didn't fire up at all), which I returned and never looked back--or to another Mojo, for that reason alone. That said, this board probably is a good fit for some of you: relatively light for an 88 note board with full keys, lots of great Kurzweil sounds and programs, and a reasonably modern screen. This level of board also has a tremendous feature absent in most other boards: that being two sets of separate Outputs, allowing total and dedicated split of your board (great for LH bass players like me, who want to run the bass parts separately into a bass amp, etc). However, with my recent experience with the defective unit and those horrible keys, I will pass.

I see your point, but I find "a beat" long enough either way. On your Artis, could you really typically not hit the "Piano 1" button pretty much just as quickly as you could hit "Favorites 1"? (Also keep in mind that, with a couple of octaves devoted to LH bass, you're probably going to octave shift and move "middle C" to the C an octave higher, so your hand will be skewing toward the right for much of its playing anyway.) Also keep in mind that the buttons on the PC4, though similarly oriented toward the right, are actually much easier to hit quickly then the buttons on the Artis, because they are bigger targets and they are each well differentiated from each other. THat was one of my complaints about the Artis7 compared to the SP4-7 that kind of functionally preceded it... those small and thin Artis buttons, all butted up right against each other, were not nearly as easy to navigate and select quickly/reliably. I'm glad that's not an issue on the PC4. I view the QA buttons area on the PC3 and 4 boards as crowded compared to a single horizontal row on the Artis. In addition, I've labeled those 10 Favorites buttons on my Artis with the respective saved Multis (all having LH bass but different mid to high octave sounds) using a single 1/4" strip of paper defining each and taped down. It probably boils down to just being used to doing it a certain way and getting proficient at switching programs quickly and efficiently while performing.

Can't you just switch programs/setups with a pedal? Then you wouldn't have to take any hands or fingers off the keyboard at all. It's a fairly simple thing to set up on a Kurzweil. I am pretty sure a pedal programmed to switch to different programs would have to be sequential--i.e. if I am performing with Program "1" and I need to go to Program "4" in the particular instance, I am guessing I would have to pedal-sequence through Programs 2 and 3 before arriving at 4, which would probably take as much or more time than taking a hand off the key bed and locating that assigned button in the Quick Access area of the PC4.

Yes. I like the action. It's not on my "very favorite" list but I'm finding it very nicely playable without frustration. Going back over some of the other posts here... Those are big advantages. But there are others. * Compared to PC3: updated sound set, greater number of real-time controls, ability to load 2 GB of sample data, more polyphony, more fx units, better display * Compared to Forte, well yeah, its largely a downscaled and lower-priced version of Forte, nothing wrong with that... but it also had the advantage of more real-time controls yeah, I love my chick ... it makes me want ... . ... a younger and more flexible version? (1) the buttons on the right can be re-purposed to 10 Quick Access buttons... and there are 50 pages (banks, screens) of Quick Access assignments, so you're not limited to ten, you can create a second page if you want 20, and so forth, up to 500. (2) It's a hammer action, so very different from either the Artis 7 or SP4-7. The hammer action makes it better for piano and worse for organ, though not as bad for organ as some other hammer actions are, in part because of the high trigger point available for organ playing, and just not being a heavy feeling action as hammer actions go. That "quick access" is not quick enough for my purposes. I play in a trio and not only do the keys parts but also LH bass, so my hand cannot leave the keyboard for more than a split second during a song, to change a program. The Artis 7 (and Forte) locate a row of assignable "Favorites" buttons just above the key bed, in proximity sufficient to make a change without skipping a beat (literally). The "buttons on the right" on this PC4 are at least 3-4 times further away and there's no way I could change programs as fluidly as I do now on the Artis 7. I would love to have 88 notes in a decent gigging weight, but the absence of the "Quick" in "Access" doesn't get it for me.

I love my Artis 7 for live performing, in part because of the 10 Quick Access buttons just above the key bed ("Favorites") that allows assignment of 10 programs, splits, etc. I also like its key bed which is perfect for playing piano AND organ parts. I am wondering from anyone who's tried this PC4 if: (1) there's easy access to saved programs (i.e. 1 button), and (2) if the key bed is similar to the Artis 7 and not "clunky" like some of the SP's that Kurzweil has put out, specifically the SP4-7 which I've owned. There's no Kurzweil dealers close to me so I'm going to have to rely--as I have typically--on the opinions and videos of others.

Sorry to hear about your Artis 7 issue. I bought my first one in 2015 and loved it so much I bought a backup two years ago. I do a lot of gigging in a trio in which I play keys and LH bass, so I wanted to make sure I was covered in the event of an issue--of which I have had NONE. I have migrated most of my coveted programs and setups from previous PC3 ownership into my Artis'es and absolutely love the smaller form factor and weight advantages the 7 has over the PC3. I've been able to further delve into the programming of the Kurz through the free Sound Editor software interface with my PC. Honestly, every time I research something newer and purportedly more powerful, I come back to my 7's. I think most people rip on Kurzweils because their out-of-the-box sounds haven't kept up with the various advances exhibited by other manufacturers. What is overlooked however is the POTENTIAL of Kurzweil boards--using the access into its multitude of parameter and nuance adjustments, either directly on the hardware itself on their more expensive models, or like on the Artis 7's, by using the external Sound Editor. IMO you can literally create any sound or program you have in mind with a Kurzweil--not so with many of the "newer" hardware that so many consumers think is better.

("I was going to go PX5S route but now that I have latched onto this I think I'm going to go for it. I'm only 40 miles from Gear4Music. Having said that, it's £300 more expensive than the PX5S. I presume I'm getting more for my money"). I've never played a Casio that could replace ANY of the Kurzweils I've owned and played over the past 7 years....well maybe except for Kurz's SP4 and their Artis "SE" models, both of which I found to have very clunky, noisy keys.

I happened upon the Kurzweil site recently after many months and noticed the Sound Editor version was 2 years newer than the one I had (2014) so I deleted and replaced. I am not sure what changed as it seemed to look the same on the screen, etc. I don't use any of the factory sounds on the Artis 7, unmodified. Frankly I found most--if not all--of them to have a substantially lower volume level than my PC3s. Before I sold my last PC3 I saved the bank of sounds/setups, etc on to a flash drive and uploaded them into the Artis. With few exceptions the transition was seamless (some of the PC3 sounds were OVER-GAINED so I had to interface with Sound Editor and slide the volumes down, then save, etc).

Here's a link to view a tune using those two Artis 7's I play out with. You'll notice I had to commit my left hand primarily to playing bass for that configuration. Also I was not going through the mains and had my (Yamaha DXR12) cabinet directly behind me on the floor, so the organ side of the output isn't as great as it could have been for this recording off an iPhone. https://youtu.be/AkM8shre2gk

I have a gig involving just a sax player and drummer next Saturday evening and it's supposed to be video-recorded. I'll try to remember to link you to the YT video once that gets completed.

As mentioned, I perform using both Artis 7s, however I (relatively unconventionally) place them at right angles to each other, instead of tiered/stacked. So I have no issues with seeing labels and buttons as would be the case in a common double-tier set up. The 10 "favorites" hot buttons on each provide more than ample storage for what I use in a typical performance, and after a couple of years of having each button assigned the same sound, I've pretty much memorized what each one is without much concern about identifying it, even in minimal light situations.

I have two Artis 7's I use in live performing (one is usually set to a number of KB3 programs I've crafted and migrated from a previous PC3 I owned, the other performs all of the other sounds I use). I love using the Sound Editor software to tweak the various aspects of the already-modified sounds, and especially with the Leslie rotary effects that I customized and saved. On just one of the software's pages that involves itself with dialing in a Leslie rotary effect there must be 30-40 parameters that are adjustable, ranging from the slow-to-fast ramp up speed (and vice versa), the direction of the virtual microphones as they sit in both the top and bottom rotor chambers, the intensity of the rotors--the list goes on and on. Frankly I think a person who messes with these sounds and effects long enough can pretty much dial in (and save) whatever their objective is. Personally, I've gone through 3 Neo Vents as part of my quest to duplicate the sounds and effects of my old Hammonds and Leslies and I have reached a point in my creations in the Artis 7 where I need no auxiliary effects boxes to emulate a very credible sound. In all the years that I've performed and bought/sold keyboards in search of the "best" for me, I think I've hit the sweet spot in the form of these Artis 7's--at least for me.

My reference to "powerful" is relative as it might be applied to boards that would generally compete with the SP6 from the perspective of a consumer. As I have referenced previously on this site, posters' opinions of what's good, bad or ugly are subjective--rooted in whatever predisposition or expectation each of us has, and have to be taken with a a grain of salt.

There's likely less expensive, equally powerful boards than an SP6 out there, if someone was considering a 2nd board and didn't ever have need for 9 onboard sliders to emulate drawbars. For me, I have two Artis 7's, set up at a right angle to each other, with the one on my right dedicated 90% of the time to the KB3 organs that I've crafted and saved using my right hand, while the 7 in front of me does primarily APs and layers. The advantage of that over an SP6 IMO is the ability to dedicate the second 7 as an organ but also have the advantage of all those other luscious tones Kurzweil is able to produce in their boards.

No 9 sliders, no SP6 for me.

I've been through just about every powered speaker ever built in the past 10 years and have recently settled on the Yamaha DX series (12): Great punch, clarity, durability and value IMO. For approx. $500 I really don't think you can hit on as many cylinders as far as desirable characteristics than the DX series.

I am happy to have a board in this price point whose developers expended more investment and tech into the sounds and less into the screen. Besides, the screen is of sufficient size to display everything I need in terms of menu items, the program name, etc.

Mine's over two years old and has had plenty of use (maybe 20 hours weekly?). Never an issue. Nada.

I've owned the Artis 7 since they came out. I've never had any "white noise" issue. Maybe Tom should have bought a used one!

I used to use the Alto TS115a powered speakers for my boards (I've had most of the Hammond clones made in the last 5+ years!), then stepped down to the 112a's, and they seemed to punch better and the "muddiness" of especially the B3 and AP sounds was much less than what I experienced with the 15s. I now own a pair of Alto TS212a cabs and run my boards into a Samson MDR 624 mixer before heading over into the cabs, and IMO I've achieved the perfect blend of punchy bass (I play LH bass in most of my performing entities), crystal clear mids and trebles from the AP and Hammond B3 sounds, and just an overall healthy "thickness" in the output (I also use the "scoop" button on each of the cabs, to soften the mids and enhance the highs and lows).

The GeneralMusic boards (the Equinox and its predecessor) were 1990s vintage. I bought three during the late 90s through early 2000s, brand new. The Equinox was cutting edge in its sounds and capabilities, however hardware and software stability issues plagued me. I've owned 70+ year old Hammond organs that were more reliable than the two (now 3) Italian-based experiences. Just sayin............

I unpacked the new Mojo 61 that arrived today fresh from the online retailer on the East Coast and deliberately and methodically removed packaging, styrofoam, plastic, etc, lifting the board out and on to my awaiting stand--all with great anticipation (and expectations). The board was clearly never used--no marks, etc on the keys, everything factory-packaged. I plugged in the AC adapter, two audio out lines into my mixer, my sustain pedal (for Leslie slow-fast function), all the while impressed that the board exhibited such a high level of construction and finish. After depressing the rather small power "button" on the rear panel corner, to my amazement (and frankly, a self-fulfilling prophecy) the board failed to fire up--nothing, nada, no lights, nothing. I looked over at the adapter and its green illuminating light shown brightly. I wiggled the insert, pushed the cheap-feeling power button in, out, in, out--several times, but nothing changed. A beautifully looking DEAD board. I had reservations about buying another Crumar product, having had issues with their Orchestrator board a few years ago, and generally having issues with Italian made keyboards (GEM in particular) as far as quality of the hardware. Researching Crumar's website revealed that there's only one factory authorized service center, it being on the West Coast (read: $50 one way shipping) further compromised my interest in taking the plunge. However having said all of that, I was drawn into the purchase from the heaps of praise that's posted here and on other sites online, and from the various demos I've watched on YouTube, etc. and figured I'd roll the dice with the statistically low perception I had for the company. I am sorry to say that I did not even get the chance to hear what this board sounds like in person, despite paying a pretty good dollar for it and anticipating its delivery for several days. And unfortunately it's fortified my opinion about Italian musical equipment manufacturers--at least in my experiences with 5 keyboards made in Italy. Anyway, repackaged and awaiting the RMA from the store as this is written. My inclination is to delay replacing it, instead taking my refund and awaiting the next latest-and-greatest to hit the market, hopefully from a different manufacturer. Good luck to all of you that have bought this board and hope your enjoyment of it will not be infringed by having to get it serviced any time soon.

Thanks Dave. I forgot to mention that I sold my (most recent) second board--the SK1 73, after being disappointed in the lack of "thickness" in the drawbar sounds coupled with an "OK but not quite there" Leslie effect. Since there's no local retailers near me outside Detroit that stock the Mojo, I'm relying on YouTube and opinions such as those on this site before making the purchase, sight (and sound) unseen. I'm ordering the 61 now and hope it's 75% IMHO as what everyone seems to saying about it. Thanks.

"eight parts at once"? That'd require an octopus. The Mojo 61 was intended to be a Hammond with decent digital Leslie, first and foremost. It was designed to compete with Hammond's own SK1 and XK1 models. To expect it to provide Forte--or even Casio for that matter--extra sounds and features plus have the Hammond quality--at the price point it is being sold--would probably be unreasonable. I think it comes down to whether someone wants to spend under $1500 for a very good (arguably the best current Hammond clonewheel) portable "organ" that has very little else, or sacrifice the quality of drawbar sounds and Leslie effect for a board that does different things pretty well, but compromises the Hammond-side of the equation.