Kurzweil VA1 Demo

[Dave Weiser]

I dusted off my VA1 back in 2020 and banged out this quick little demo. Thought you guys would get a kick out of it.

 

 

[nursers]

That is so cool Dave - enjoyed that a lot!

[Rod S]

I thought this was never released... is it a prototype?  

[ElmerJFudd]

Ha given the times - this instrument may need a sequel!   
very nice demo, I like sound! 

[Dave Weiser]

16 minutes ago, Rod S said:

I thought this was never released... is it a prototype?  

Yes - it's one of 10 prototypes, possibly the only one that still functions.

[felis]

I was disappointed when those didn't see the light of day.

 

But I'm over it now.  🤣

 

The PC3's I had, and now the PC4's have pretty much scratched that itch.

I'd still be tempted to pick one up if it ever appeared though.

[UnderGroundGr]

Thanks Dave.

VA1, the beast...

[ABECK]

What's the history on the VA1, Dave?  Why did it never come to fruition?  It seems like it would be a strong contender in the VA market.

[Franz Schiller]

I feel like that sounds exactly like my K2661 (which I don't have anymore). 

[Mike Martin]

2 hours ago, ABECK said:

What's the history on the VA1, Dave?  Why did it never come to fruition?  It seems like it would be a strong contender in the VA market.

 

I was one of the people that started the project. Maybe late 2001, or early 2002. This was a time when virtual analog was big, products like the JP-8000, Access Virus and others were all popular. The initial concept was a less expensive (comparative to most Kurzweil products) yet high performance VA with Kurzweil's unique take on oscillators, effects, modulation and more. The initial plan was a smaller product with 37-keys with a possible larger 61-key version. 

If my timeline is correct, I left Kurzweil at the end of 2002. Based on the prototype that was shown at NAMM (Jan 2004)...I think it is the one that Dave Weiser still has, the project specification seemed to have grown significantly.  I don't know what the target price was in 2004 but I can only guess that development cost, new build cost vs the price it would have to sell for was more than the market would tolerate. 

[ABECK]

18 minutes ago, Mike Martin said:

I can only guess that development cost, new build cost vs the price it would have to sell for was more than the market would tolerate. 

The reality that none of us wants to admit! 

[Delaware Dave]

Remnants of the VA are in my PC3.  It's my 'go to' synth even though i have a synth in my gemini module.  Some aliasing but only i noticed it.

[ProfD]

Cool demo @Dave Weiser.

 

I believe Kurzweil was going through a buyout around the time of VA1 development. 

 

Remnants of the VA1 definitely ended up in the PC3 and later KBs.😎

[CyberGene]

That’s a nice demo, especially taking in mind the age of this instrument.

 

I’m also impressed with the fact Dave was part of the Kurzweil team, as well as Mike Martin. I registered here long ago but started participating only in the last years, so I’ve missed who is who, apologies. Now, I know. Huge respect to you both 👏🏻

 

All that being said, I think it’s a bit generic sounding for my taste. I have created a thread here called “Virtual Vintage Analog” or something along these lines and my personal philosophy is more towards VA that try to emulate actual vintage analog synths with all their specifics, quirks, defects, idiosyncrasies, etc. Like, being able to hear a Moog, a Prophet, an OB, a Jupiter, etc. And not just something that has oscillators, filters, envelopes, LFO-s, etc. But maybe that Kurzweil has some emulations of existing  vintage synth features?

 

As a simple example I’ll just mention how changing the shape of the envelopes on my Hydrasynth to an exact logarithmic value (suggested by Glen Darcey himself) made it sound like a Minimoog (on top of the other things like a 24 dB ladder filter, etc). Of course the Hydrasynth isn’t a vintage VA but that simple example just made me realize how each vintage synth has a bunch of very specific parameters that make it what is. Was that Kurzweil designed to allow such a fine-grained configuration of the various features?

[David Emm]

I can readily accept that part of the VA-1 made it into subsequents Ks, but I still get a touch of sideways GAS from the cool demo. It could have hit a spot similar to the Hydrasynth's as a surprise upstart. "Fine-grained" is an accurate way to describe it. Nice panel, as well. Great KC thread addition, Dave!

[Dave Weiser]

9 hours ago, Mike Martin said:

 

I was one of the people that started the project. Maybe late 2001, or early 2002. This was a time when virtual analog was big, products like the JP-8000, Access Virus and others were all popular. The initial concept was a less expensive (comparative to most Kurzweil products) yet high performance VA with Kurzweil's unique take on oscillators, effects, modulation and more. The initial plan was a smaller product with 37-keys with a possible larger 61-key version. 

If my timeline is correct, I left Kurzweil at the end of 2002. Based on the prototype that was shown at NAMM (Jan 2004)...I think it is the one that Dave Weiser still has, the project specification seemed to have grown significantly.  I don't know what the target price was in 2004 but I can only guess that development cost, new build cost vs the price it would have to sell for was more than the market would tolerate. 

Ah the good old days! I miss working with you man!

 

Actually the project was not cancelled due to cost or the market. The VA1 was going to be priced at $2295, which was quite competitive compared to other flagship VA synths at the time like the Virus, Supernova and Nord Lead.

 

The VA1 was cancelled because when Samick bought Young Chang/Kurzweil in 2004, they fired everyone at R&D except for five of us. They also cancelled the CLARA chip that the VA1 was built on. We languished for a year under Samick - 2005 sucked.

 

Then in 2006, the Korean FTC broke up the monopoly that the Samick-YC merger had created, and Kurzweil was free to begin rebuilding. In 2006 we began work on the MARA chip, which was a combination of the prototype chips CLARA (a synth/sample playback engine) and MAGGIE (an FX engine). While the chip guys worked on MARA, we began hiring a new team and started mocking up the PC3 platform.  Lots of the filters and oscillators from the VA1 made it into the PC3 and subsequent models. The anti-aliased oscillators were a big step up from the ones used in the older K series instruments.

 

 

 

[Dave Weiser]

7 hours ago, CyberGene said:

 

 

As a simple example I’ll just mention how changing the shape of the envelopes on my Hydrasynth to an exact logarithmic value (suggested by Glen Darcey himself) made it sound like a Minimoog (on top of the other things like a 24 dB ladder filter, etc). Of course the Hydrasynth isn’t a vintage VA but that simple example just made me realize how each vintage synth has a bunch of very specific parameters that make it what is. Was that Kurzweil designed to allow such a fine-grained configuration of the various features?

 

Yes most definitely! The envelope section offered logarithmic and exponential options as well as a "punch" feature meant to mimic the clipping that occurs in a Minimoog's amp envelope. (See attached photo.) Many of the presets we created were specifically designed to mimic the imperfections of old analog synths, with quirks like oscillator pitch drift.

 

There were two filter sections, each capable of 4-pole, 2-pole and 1-pole, including a Minimoog style 4-pole with feedback. The filters could operate in series or in parallel. There was also a "deform" block that came after the filters in the signal chain - this included all kinds of non-linear distortions, quantizers, bit-crushers, and digital mayhem. (It was usually disabled in most presets, but could be a lot fun.)

 

There were 7 sound sources: 3 oscillators, 2 "misc" which included things like sub osc and ring mod, a noise generator, and external inputs (combo jacks with a mic preamp).

 

The mod matrix was very thorough, with 6 possible sources per parameter. Three were fixed - velocity, Modwheel and keytracking, and three were variable, things like LFOs, joystick, and envelopes. Each parameter (filter 1 and 2 freq, each oscillator's pitch, envelope times, etc.) could have its own set of mod sources and depths.

 

Even better, there was a second FM mod matrix that connected the filters to the oscillators. Both matrices are shown in the top right of the photo.

 

It was a synth nerd's paradise! Definitely one of the most fun projects I've ever worked on.

 

 

[felis]

Maybe you could talk them into finishing it for us synth nerds. 🤣

[Dave Weiser]

20 hours ago, David Emm said:

Nice panel, as well. Great KC thread addition, Dave!

 

Of course, many of us worked on it, but I had a single inspiration for the front panel, one legendary synth whose UI I gave to the designers. It might seem like an unlikely source as it wasn't an analog synth at all. But the way the sections are laid out had always appealed to me and I thought it would work on the VA1.

[Mike Martin]

On 10/27/2023 at 7:00 PM, Dave Weiser said:

Actually the project was not cancelled due to cost or the market. The VA1 was going to be priced at $2295, which was quite competitive compared to other flagship VA synths at the time like the Virus, Supernova and Nord Lead.

 

The VA1 was cancelled because when Samick bought Young Chang/Kurzweil in 2004, they fired everyone at R&D except for five of us. They also cancelled the CLARA chip that the VA1 was built on. We languished for a year under Samick - 2005 sucked.

 

Ah, thanks for reminding me. Because the VA1 had grown so much physically and in features compared to the early spec, I had made an assumption about cost. Those were some crazy years between 2001 and 2005.  Miss you my friend. 

[David Emm]

That would make one extra-sweet Cherry Audio project, wouldn't it.....

[Synthaholic]

On 10/27/2023 at 8:20 PM, Dave Weiser said:

 

Yes most definitely! The envelope section offered logarithmic and exponential options as well as a "punch" feature meant to mimic the clipping that occurs in a Minimoog's amp envelope. (See attached photo.) Many of the presets we created were specifically designed to mimic the imperfections of old analog synths, with quirks like oscillator pitch drift.

 

There were two filter sections, each capable of 4-pole, 2-pole and 1-pole, including a Minimoog style 4-pole with feedback. The filters could operate in series or in parallel. There was also a "deform" block that came after the filters in the signal chain - this included all kinds of non-linear distortions, quantizers, bit-crushers, and digital mayhem. (It was usually disabled in most presets, but could be a lot fun.)

 

There were 7 sound sources: 3 oscillators, 2 "misc" which included things like sub osc and ring mod, a noise generator, and external inputs (combo jacks with a mic preamp).

 

The mod matrix was very thorough, with 6 possible sources per parameter. Three were fixed - velocity, Modwheel and keytracking, and three were variable, things like LFOs, joystick, and envelopes. Each parameter (filter 1 and 2 freq, each oscillator's pitch, envelope times, etc.) could have its own set of mod sources and depths.

 

Even better, there was a second FM mod matrix that connected the filters to the oscillators. Both matrices are shown in the top right of the photo.

 

It was a synth nerd's paradise! Definitely one of the most fun projects I've ever worked on.

 

 

What did 'Width' do, in the Mix section?

[Dave Weiser]

12 hours ago, Synthaholic said:

What did 'Width' do, in the Mix section?

It was a stereo pan parameter. Set to zero, both sides of the stereo signal are centered. Turned all the way up, both sides are hard panned left and right. Most Kurz boards use MIDI values of 64 to -64 for panning, and that's what this knob does under the hood.