TomKittel
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Posts posted by TomKittel
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Adding a set of knobs adds cost - way more than you'd expect. The cost of components was the biggest surprise for me when I got hired there back in 2000. When manufacturing on a tiny scale (thousands not millions of units), every tiny little thing is a pound of flesh so to speak. It made product planning really tricky and sometimes painful.
The cost thing is all the more challenging for an outfit like Kurz, where they're using high quality balanced outs, multiple pedal inputs, killer EQs and filters, and super quiet samples - all areas where other companies often decide to cut costs.
The PC3 didn't have dedicated front panel EQ knobs. But it had a master EQ and Compressor accessible in the FX menu. The SP6 has more FX horse power than the PC3. Maybe a similar EQ/Comp approach could be implemented in a future update?
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Ditto. PX-5S vs SP6 action preference.
Also in lieu of the EQ controls on front panel how did they implement?
(Downloading manual now).
The SP6 doesnt seem to have a master EQ at all according to the comparison chart (no Master FX):
http://kurzweil.com/knowledgebase/forte/product_comparisons/311/
With so much more FX horse power than the PC3 it should be possible to implement this. I think its essential for a stage piano.
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Got my SP6 today thanks to Weisersound.
I unboxed it, hooked up my camera, and did a livestream on FB before I even touched the keys.
https://www.facebook.com/jim.alfredson.3/videos/10213023888129319/
The FB livestream protocol really mucks up the sound. When I play the piano really light, FB completely cuts the audio off; as if it's going through a gate. It also uses really bad data compression. Next time I'm going to do a YouTube livestream.
After messing around for 30 minutes, I put it in a hardcase and took it to the gig tonight. It performed flawlessly and sounded great! I used the acoustic piano (the 7' one, preset 2), the phaser Rhodes sound, the regular suitcase Rhodes, the Wurly, and the Clavinet. I also did a split on the fly as the bassist wanted to play pedal steel on a tune. So I did a P-bass sound in the left hand and piano on the right. It was easy to set up (basically a button press.. or to be more precise, pressing two buttons together). I played it through my pair of Yamaha DXR10 powered speakers. It was full and present and the top end of the pianos really cut well.
The action is very responsive and easy to play. The Forte action is better, yes, but for the price and weight, it's really good.
Build quality is excellent. It's all plastic like similar offerings from Casio, Yamaha, etc. But it's solid. The buttons are really nice. The knobs are especially good. No side to side wiggling. They feel much better than stuff in this price range usually feels. The layout is logical and easy to navigate. The screen is bright and easy to read.
So far my only beef is that I wish the volume knob had a light around it. It's a bit hard to find in the dark, especially underneath the Hammond on a dual-tier setup. But I'm sure I'll get used to where it is.
It comes with a full-sized Kurzweil sustain pedal. Wall-wart PSU. Balance 1/4" audio outputs, just like the Forte. Same 32bit DACs, too. The sound is clean and dynamic. Expression pedal input. Two switched pedal inputs, SW1 supports half-damper. Both SW1 and SW1 pedal inputs accept dual-pedal units. 1/4' headphone out.
The bottom plastic piece is kind of a Ford blue color. It's pretty slick looking.
All in all, this is a fantastic 88 note stage piano with weighted keyboard in the $1k-ish category. I'm really happy with it. Just because of the weight, it will probably be my go-to digital piano for a lot of my gigs. I love the Forte, but between that and the Hammond XK5 Pro System, that's a lot of weight! However, the Forte sounds SO good. Definitely for higher profile gigs, I'll be using the Forte. But for stuff like tonight (a blues club in Ann Arbor), the SP6 fits the bill perfectly.
Thanks for the review! Did you miss the front panel EQ?
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Don't know too much about the desktop editor. I was under the impression that it might be good for importing sounds but won't do full synth editing. Will try to find out.
Hope that the promised IOS editor for the SP6 will not just ba a false promise like the long missing IOS editor update for the Artis.... sorry for repeating this over and over again. It's in hope that someone at Kurzweil or Soundtower will finally listen to my endless complaint...
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[
When I got my unit I had a similar side-speaker buzz/vibration thing going on. I took the speaker out (very easy to get to 4 screws on the grill in the side cut-out, just keep a hold on the speaker from the other side as you remove them) and discovered that there were splinters from the edges of the hole cutout that were protruding and touching part of the speaker cone/surround. Sanding those off and replacing the speaker cured the buzz for me. Definitely worth checking.
Sounds like poor chinese craftsmansship...
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Hope we will see better SP6 demos on YT soon. The sound quality of most of the current YT videos made by KURZWEIL YOUNGCHANG is awful. It sounds like the sound is going through a tin can.
And I don't have too much hope for a good editor. Most of the currently available Soundtower Kurzweil editors are not up to scratch - to phrase it politely.
Moreover, against all promises the Soundtower Artis iPad editor still doesn't work under IOS11.
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Thank you for posting that useful info. I was thrown off by some stuff in section 5 which made me think that tone select required sysex, and I think I stopped looking after that! Thanks for the correction. Inability to select organ is a bit of a bummer, but overall, section 7 is good news.
Program change commands were also discussed earlier in this thread:
https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2883041/Re_Roland_V_Combo_VR_09#Post2883041
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Instead you opted for the less than optimal HX3 chorus that you'll be tweaking to get right for three months..... SMH ...
Says someone who opted for a less than optimal Voce V5 which has a useless Chorus....
;-)
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Get a Gemini module.......
Hmm.... is this the only saving truth or just your opinion? I never tried a Mojo but I know quite a few B3 aficinados who didn't like the Mojo sound. All I'm saying is that subjective recommendations should always be taken with a grain of salt.
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You can't go wrong with the HX3. Just listen to the YT demos of the Uhl X3 which essentially is the exact same sound engine. In the latest OS version the HX3 chorus was improved streets ahead of older versions. Very tweakable and spot on. Ever since I hooked my HX3 to my Leslie 147 I stopped checking out other clones. My search is over.
Having said that, there are many Mojo/Gemini lovers at KC too. At the end of the day it's always a matter of taste and preferences. Anyway, the HX3 would be a major upgrade on your good old BX3 for sure.
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Really too bad. Why don't they make these simple things work when releasing these boards ? Such an inconvenience when needing these capabilities, and all it is is a bit of extra code. So silly.
In the musical instruments industry incomprehensible product decisions seem to be common practice and nobody cares.... somtimes Im wondering what would happen to a product manager f.e. in the auto industry if he would omit standard features in a new product just at his discretion?
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Here is kind of an easter egg for saving presets: instead of using the registrations you can save any preset to the USB stick. Just press song record then stop and save the preset as a SMF song. No need to play anything. To load the preset just reload the SMF song from the USB stick.
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I was able to convert my VR09 to a pretty flexible Midi controller board by using the Midi Solutions Event Processor. Admittedly the drawbar faders and knobs don't send CCs but they DO send Sysex. Not only can I now control the drawbars of any hardware or VST organ but also any synth. Nice. I am loving the VR09 more and more. For it's price this thing is second to none really.
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The VR09 features quite a few handsome drum kits. Is it possible to assign these drumkits to the factory drum patterns? Couldn't find anything on that.
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Hi, I'm a VR-09 user and I have a little question for anyone...
I know there's an upgrade for firmware (from 1.03 to 1.11) but despite all the sound improvements and the new rotary I don't want to apply it before ensure that the "hidden sounds", (those only accesible using MSB/LSB/PC MIDI messages) are still there. I'm aware almost every single user in this forum uses the VR-09 only as a clonewheel and don't care about synth tones, but I use them and I wouldn't like to loose those amount of tones (I have almost 200 new synth tones cataloged... I hope to finish collecting them as soon as possible and then I'll upload them to the forum ^_^)
So, please, anyone who have done the upgrade to 1.11, can you try it and tell me if all those sounds are still accesible?
It's needed to send to the VR-09 a MIDI message with a MSB bank/LSB bank/Program change... here some examples: (Specially interesting that "Lyric Soprano voice" and the "Jazz Flute")
(PC are counted from 1-128. Remember to substract one if you send PC from 000-127)
MSB:009/LSB:000/PC:50 --> Soprano Lyric Sing tone
MSB:000/LSB:000/PC:85 --> Tubular Bells tone
MSB:000/LSB:000/PC:71 --> Mandolin tone
MSB:007/LSB:000/PC:99 --> Jazz Flute tone
I hope someone can solve this question, because I really, really, REAAAAAALLY want to try this "Rotary Type 3" >_<
Thanks a lot friends,
D.
Good find, thanks! The "hidden sounds" are all still there under the new OS 1.11! Now you can update your VR09 at ease. Enjoy the new Leslie 3 my friend!
BTW: I had to set Midi In Mode 2 to make the MSB/LSB program change work.
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Hi, I'm a VR-09 user and I have a little question for anyone...
I know there's an upgrade for firmware (from 1.03 to 1.11) but despite all the sound improvements and the new rotary I don't want to apply it before ensure that the "hidden sounds", (those only accesible using MSB/LSB/PC MIDI messages) are still there. I'm aware almost every single user in this forum uses the VR-09 only as a clonewheel and don't care about synth tones, but I use them and I wouldn't like to loose those amount of tones (I have almost 200 new synth tones cataloged... I hope to finish collecting them as soon as possible and then I'll upload them to the forum ^_^)
So, please, anyone who have done the upgrade to 1.11, can you try it and tell me if all those sounds are still accesible?
It's needed to send to the VR-09 a MIDI message with a MSB bank/LSB bank/Program change... here some examples: (Specially interesting that "Lyric Soprano voice" and the "Jazz Flute")
(PC are counted from 1-128. Remember to substract one if you send PC from 000-127)
MSB:009/LSB:000/PC:50 --> Soprano Lyric Sing tone
MSB:000/LSB:000/PC:85 --> Tubular Bells tone
MSB:000/LSB:000/PC:71 --> Mandolin tone
MSB:007/LSB:000/PC:99 --> Jazz Flute tone
I hope someone can solve this question, because I really, really, REAAAAAALLY want to try this "Rotary Type 3" >_<
Thanks a lot friends,
D.
I tried to send MSB/LSB/PC MIDI messages to my VR09. But no success. Need more instruction how to do it. Which channel must be used, which Midi In mode, etc?
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jimkost2002 , i guess you're liking the live through the kp500s,
how is the tone through this amp ? i've been seriously thinking
about investing in one
I can't speak for the Legend. But the Uhl X3 sounds killer through the KP500S. My guess is that the same is true for the Legend. Vibrant full stereo sound in spades. Need more volume? Crank it up. Need even more? Crank it up again... clear loud sound without end... don't forget your ear muffs ;-) I only regret that I didn't buy this amp earlier.
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I don't like their system of having only 4 registrations in each bank. 10 would be much better. And I REALLY don't like having to use the wheel after bank 4. I find it fiddly and awkward. Worst of all, I hate the way that the VR wont accept midi programme change messages.
Yes... whether from its front panel or via an iPad app, there is basically no way to quickly/accurately call up any presets after the first 16. That's one of the board's biggest irritations, of which there were too many, I ended up returning the board. But I have an FA-07 on order and am looking forward to playing with that, as it seems to address most of what bugged me about the VR-09. I do wish they had included drawbars on it, but at least I have an Ocean Beach module that I can use.
The FA07 is a very versatile and good sounding board for sure. But don't expect to get the same good organ sounds like from the VR09. I owned both for a while, FA06 and VR09. In comparison the FA lacks quite a few features of the VR09 in the organ and Leslie sim department. Anyway, the Ocean Beach drawbar controller works fine with it.
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What cases are you all using for the VR-09?
I am using a original Korg Krome 61 softbag made by TKL. It fits perfectly - with the exception of the wrong logo on it.
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Check out Robert A.'s VR09 YT channel. It's amazing what he he is able to do with the VR09. He really is master of this little board. Lots of hints and tipps how to put it through it's paces:
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Tom, does it sound like a loud shrill sine wave tone or just white noise?
It's a very loud full level white noise hiss regardles of the volume slider position. It's shocking loud.
A precautionary measure could be to not plug in anything to any of the backpanel jacks while the Artis 7 is switched on. But I am not sure about that.
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Tom, does it sound like a loud shrill sine wave tone or just white noise?
It's a very loud full level white noise hiss regardles of the volume slider position. It's shocking loud.
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I am sorry to say that the XK2 doesn't fully work with the HX3 do to the NRPN and SysEx of the XK2. Most buttons work, you need to dial in the Rotary (Leslie) Control CC number and then the Drawbars do not control the HX3. Only Presets for the Upper, Lower/Pedal. Split works. I have an XK2 here that I sometimes use for testing.
Using a midisolutions event processor would be a workaround for this. Not a cheap solution though.
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Update from Kurzweil support: There is a fix for the Artis 7 white noise problem in the units that exhibit it. Cause of the problem is a grounding flaw.
SP6
in The Keyboard Corner
Posted
Same here. The SP6 is tempting. But I also love my Artis 7 which is not only a great lightweight stagepiano which loads all my PC3 programs but also a crafty Midi masterkeyboard. It's fun to have complete control over Korg Module f.e.