YashN

There is a special Developer Mode which gives them access to Analysis tools and control over each individual harmonic of each Key, among several other things.

This Winter is all I heard.

I see, didn't know that. I thought the smaller-capacity boards allowed V.A.S.T. editing with an external editor.

What a great time it was back then though, all through the 80's with sometimes mini-movies to accompany the great songs. I also watched Top of the Pops at that time. Nowadays, we can revisit at will thanks to Youtube.

Acustica is about Volterra Kernels first, which they used in their effects and which has an uncanny ability to capture and reproduce the non-linearities inherent in analogue. They are still using this here but for a full synthesizer signal path this time, something they never did before and they may have added some new tech here and there. As they describe on the product page: "MUST is a hybrid synthesis technology that integrates the precision of analog circuit behavior modeling with Acustica Audio’s signature convolution-based approach. It incorporates advanced features such as nonlinear convolution, dynamic Volterra series, and time-varying models to faithfully reproduce the complexities and nuances of analog hardware. This innovative combination delivers exceptional sound quality and unmatched realism, providing cutting-edge functionality and dynamic responsiveness. With its state-of-the-art design, MUST establishes a new standard in virtual instrument synthesis, seamlessly blending the authenticity of vintage sound with the versatility and performance demands of modern music production." The first mention comparing the two over at the usual suspects: Roland's tech doesn't use Volterra Kernels AFAIK. They seem to be out-Rolanded, but all is not rosy yet: there are reports of high CPU usage (common with their tech) and occasional glitches.

100% Obsession is one of my favourites. I believe I have two of their albums on vinyls. There are several solid songs on 'Strange Behaviour'. Des Barres who had the original idea for Obsession is a colourful personality. Didn't know the band put out recent new material. Will check it out for sure.

For the drone, I'd look into the IgnRel parameter on the LAYER page in conjunction with your slider. To really end it after the song, you probably will need to press the MIDI Panic button. You can probably get a timbre like that with the sustain of a piano or guitar sound. For the lead, it sounds like a highpassed trumpet (or similar brass family Keymap) through Shaper or a flute + Shaper should get you in the ballpark. Probably layer these two even. Also try a filter before the Shaper lbock and after, and right before it, a Gain block with realtime control mapped to a slider so that you can hear if you're dialing it in satisfactorily.

There's a nice industrial-looking update to the K2000 coming up. I've heard "this Winter" for either the Kurzweil K2061 (and/or) K2088. I'll be going for synth action this time. It's mine.

A great overview of the sounds: - The Reso Sweep is great - That Sub Growl is 'wow' - Rolands of the time always had a 'metallic' sound to some sounds, that's there too. It sounds very versatile and smooth like analogue.

Why this is interesting: it isn't the traditional DSP modeling. It is based on Acustica's famous Volterra technology used in Nebula and their other effects up to now, to which they also added Analogue Circuit-level modeling. I can already tell there's some analogue-like smoothness to it, which is to be expected from them.

If you haven't already, give these two or three things a try and check whether you get a better overall sonic response when using Virtual Instruments, including Pianoteq: - Use an AC-side Power Filter box, preferably one where each socket has its own filtering. Usually, there is a separate section where Digital (or your computer PSU goes), and a separate one for gear on the analogue side. if you have an amplifier, generally this plugs straight into a wall socket - Power your Audio interface with an external Linear Regulated PSU, and not from the Computer USB port - Optional but can be very useful too depending on how your Audio interface is built inside: use a USB Isolator Other things to look at in your studio/audio environment: - No lights or lamps with ballasts or adjustable brightness via internal PWM - Remove all unnecessary SMPS if they're around, i. if they're plugged into the same mains socket powering your analogue gear via a power extension.

I really like the K5000 sounds I heard on various videos on Youtube. Of course, there is a often-repeated line of 'hard to program'. What are you thoughts on what could be done better on the K5000, programming-wise or other?

What does 'full' mean here? The Forte does have larger piano samples than the K2700 and its variants so if that's your focus (larger piano multi-samples), you're better off with the Forte unless you would also load in custom or third party samples, then you should check whether there is enough Sample RAM. - V.A.S.T. includes the Multi-Sample Engine. A sample or multi-sample Keymap in a V.A.S.T. workstation isn't 'static' like in ROMplers of old: each Multi-Sample can be extensively processed in real-time by the rest of the V.A.S.T. engine. - V.A.S.T. is a massive Build-your-own Synthesizer Kit (even Drum Machines). Yes, even the original V.A.S.T. of the K2000 which was launched in 1992/1992. There's nothing 'basic' about it at all. Exploring all the capabilities of V.A.S.T. in its original form is estimated to take 200-man years. No one is near doing that. - V.A.S.T. isn't restricted to the usage of Samples, these are entirely optional, you could build a large number of new synthesizers only with the DSP blocks, avoiding Samples altogether. This said, having the Sample engine in there also enables a lot more options but in particular, you could take smaller (in terms of file size) set of Piano Multi-Samples and thanks to V.A.S.T. processing, do some judicious processing that allows you to tailor frequency-response based on velocity for instance. - V.A.S.T. has undergone several iterations along the years: 1. The Original V.A.S.T. in K2000 2. Extended V.A.S.T. in K2500: Original V.A.S.T. + Vocoder Mode, Live Mode and all these allow. They also added a separate KB3 mode that takes over the core engine. The effects section was improved with an additional KDFX Card installation possibility, the old Digitech Effects processor can also still be used if you add the KDFX Card. 3. Triple V.A.S.T. Cascade in addition to the Original V.A.S.T. in K2600, Vocoder Mode and Live Mode are also there. The core V.A.S.T. ALGs in the Triple Mode Cascade are more powerful than the original V.A.S.T. 4. Dynamic V.A.S.T. as from the PC3 line - a shortcut term Kurzweil uses to describe a 32-Layer Cascade Mode and Dynamic V.A.S.T. editing where you can create your own wiring among blocks instead of being restricted to Factory-provided routings among blocks in the Factory-provided ALGs. This is a mind-boggling increase in DSP capabilities over the Original V.A.S.T. There's however no Live Mode, no Vocoder Mode and hence not the structures they allow. Effects are more powerful. Dynamic V.A.S.T. also comes with anti-aliased DSP blocks and a better 4-Pole Ladder Model. Arpeggiator features are improved. 5. Dynamic V.A.S.T. + DX7-compatible F.M. Engine - as from the Forte, then with K2700, PC4 line and the forthcoming K2061, K2088. Here again, so far, no Live Mode, no Vocoder Mode and associated structures. What is interesting here is that the DX7-compatible engine can be used within a normal V.A.S.T. Layer. However, the inclusion of the DX7-compatible FM doesn't mean there's no FM in the Original V.A.S.T. and all its iterations over the years. Effects are more powerful once more on these lines.