The Eat at Joe's Kawai K5000 Message Board Digest The K5000X ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ K5000x! Wednesday, 28-Jan-98 08:41:54 129.16.217.175 writes: Just found this on www.keyboards.de: (I don't speak german, but I guess you get the point anyway...) Mit dem K5000X wird die Kawai-Synthesizer-Line fortgeführt. Der K5000X vereinigt die Workstation-Fähigkeiten des W-Modells mit den Realtime-Features des K5000S. Darüber hinaus bietet der Neuling einen verdreifachten Speicher für Additive Sounds sowie einen deutlich aufgewerteten PCM-Speicher mit über 24 MB Samples. Auch an der Klangarchitektur wurde nach Aussagen von Kawai Europa gearbeitet. So können nun auch alle PCM-Samples für Additive Patches genutzt werden, was die Soundvielfalt erheblich erweitern soll. Preis: ca. DM 4000,-; Verfügbarkeit: ab Ausgust 1998. ...cool, or what?? Karl (drumological@hotmail.com) drumological@hotmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: K5000x! Wednesday, 28-Jan-98 11:30:05 193.96.226.61 writes: A _very_ quick translation: " The K5000X combines the workstation capabilities of the W model with the real-time features of the K5000S [...] triple memory for additive sounds [and] enhanced PCM memory with more than 24 MB samples [...] all PCM samples can now be used for additive patches [...] price: around $2500 [...] availability: from August 1998. " Jens Groh ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ K5000X discontinued Friday, 20-Mar-98 04:30:57 194.172.230.108 writes: Sorry, but here is bad news: The German KEYBOARDS magazine reports in issue 4/98 that Kawai stopped the K5000X for marketing reasons. Jens Groh ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: K5000X discontinued Friday, 20-Mar-98 13:53:39 152.163.204.30 writes: okay you heard it everybody. Hang on to yours. The K5000 will now enter "legend" status and do expect a spike in prices ala JP-800. We knew it was going to happen . But Kawai can only blame themselves for this "marketing" problem. And they can also thank themselves for making such a wonderful machine. As a matter of fact, i think their low profile marketing has added to the mystery of this silver box and thus has created a machine only "for those in the know". Now , i hope they at least will still support it and not pull an Ensoniq. pasha grushik ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: Re: K5000X discontinued Friday, 20-Mar-98 18:47:29 199.86.33.43 writes: Any thoughts on picking up a second unit as a backup? How long will the R, S and W be available? leiter@skypoint.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: K5000X discontinued Saturday, 21-Mar-98 04:15:05 130.67.2.8 writes: Any idea what is meant by "marketing reasons"? I am afraid it refers to their own failure to market the K5K. I just don't get it. Kawai had a golden opportunity to show the superiority of additive synthesis, and they STILL have that opportunity. I am quite certain that the K5K can emulate both acoustic and electronic instruments better than most other synths on the market. All they have to do is install presets that appeal to a wide range of potential users, make a better manual with hints on how to do additive synthesis, etc. and add to this some elementary marketing efforts. Beats me completely why they don't go ahead and DO it. Hopefully, this is not the end of the road for the K5K. They might have plans for further work on the OS etc. even if they scrap the K5000X. Otherwise, all we can hope for is some internal insurrection from the engineers at Kawai. Tore tl001@online.no ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: Re: K5000X discontinued Saturday, 21-Mar-98 04:43:48 153.34.231.34 writes: Maybe they are still in "selling a piano" marketing mode, and they think that the hardware is the selling point. I wonder if the marketing is more aggressive in Japan? Since we haven't heard from any Japanese users here (I have seen a link to my site from the Japanese page) I don't really know how popular the instrument is over there. I agree that it's very interesting how they describe the instrument - the formant filter particularly - in terms of how it can be used to synthesize acoustic instruments, and then none of the patches do just that. Here's a quote from their website: "This new Formant Filter can be used to simulate naturally occurring tonal characteristics (such as the tube of a clarinet or the body of an acoustic guitar)." Hmmmm... I haven't gotten my K5000 back to look at the patch yet, but is this what Leiter's acoustic guitar patch does? -Kenji ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: Re: K5000X discontinued Monday, 23-Mar-98 05:03:29 194.172.230.108 writes: The magazine wrote about bad acceptance on the North American market. This seems to be the most important market for Kawai. And it was emphasized that Kawai will continue to support the K5000 series. Thus, I understand that only the "X" version is considered to be a flop. Jens Groh ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Just talked to Troy at Kawai and here's the inside scoop Friday, 03-Apr-98 19:35:59 208.250.189.192 writes: I talked to Troy just now and gained some info. 1. There is no system 4.0 in the works right now, so I guess we just have to deal with the system as it is now. 2. The K5000X has not been cancelled. It is still in the works. He says it is basically the K5000W and the K5000S combined. It will have 76 keys, all of the memory banks of the K5000S and the K5000W, a sequencer and tone generator, the arpeggiator, and the macro knobs - all in one machine. I didn't get a due date. 3. Troy is requesting the "real life" values of all of the parameter settings and the algorithms used for these processes from the technicians in Japan. He thinks that most of it wouldn't be proprietary, so he should be able to get some of the info if it exists. The problem might be that it's not documented anywhere - although this seems highly unlikely to me... 4. He is also looking into some of our bug reports I sent to him. Well, cross your fingers everybody. -Kenji ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ New K5k series in Japan Saturday, 21-Nov-98 08:40:08 210.162.136.235 writes: In Japan kwai release new K5k series, but it is not real new one. It is renewal presets sound and memory addition. It is now 240 sound including 100 new program. Noteably Kwai says "by improving the system the user interface is advanced". I don't know that this means system version. It's price is lower than before. About $1000 for K5rk. K5k is not well sold in Japan compared to Roland or Korg. But I love K5k for its sound and potenciality! Shogo ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------