All user reviews of 4/5 for the Kurzweil K2000

The Kurzweil K2000 is a professional looking as well as a professional sounding synth. The layout of the synth is very well organized and put together. The workflow of the Kurzweil is very simple an that was the reason that I loved using it. The Kurzweil K2000 has a lot of on board effects, including flange, rotary simulation, re verb, chorus, delay, and multi-tap just to name a few. It has an on board sampler with 2MB of RAM and you can even expand the Ram to 64 MB for a reasonable price. Though the Kurzweil K2000 came out in 1991 it still has all of the up to date specs to still make it a great board in the current music industry. The Kurzweil K2000 is a 61 key board with velocity and after touch.


UTILIZATION

You will have full control over the patches on the Kurzweil K2000. The manual is clear and easy to understand, you will need to glance at the manual a few times until you get the flow of the keyboard down. It is set up different from other popular keyboards and plus with it being over 20 years old, there are a lot of changes. It comes loaded with over 200 patches.


SOUNDS

Sounds are realistic and they have warmth and depth to them. The effects are pretty standard for today's music, but at the time when the Kurzweil K2000 came out the effects were great and up to date. After touch and velocity on the Kurzweil K2000 are pretty good, as they are on most all of Kurzweil’s boards.


OVERALL OPINION

The quality of the Kurzweil K2000 is one thing that you just cant deny, that is the best part of the board. It is well built and well design. You will have no problem using it, and its built like a tank. I have used a lot of Kurzweil boards over the years and they have all been well built. So anything from Kurzweil is a good idea to purchase. The K2000 is a great choice.

This is a very complete synthesizer which is difficult to detail all the possibilities. Acclaimed in the 90s, this model has inspired many machines for nearly 20 years. Upon its release, the K2000 brings everything was done better and goes beyond, with a very open architecture based on the famous DSP. Accordingly, the synthesizer provides a set of algorithms consisting of many advanced features to sculpt a sound from the base of a collection of samples internal, external samples (like any good sampler) or forms of elementary waves generated, as will the latest "virtual analog". In the end, it almost makes a kind of "modular digital" that explores many worlds of sound.
The K2000 is a machine of great strength. We feel that we are dealing with high-end of the day. The keyboard seems poor at first with small plastic buttons. However, to use it proves to be a master keyboard of choice through both its strength and great expressiveness.
I inflated my K2000 with 64 MB of RAM, the chip's latest OS and an external SCSI hard drive full of sound banks each more impressive than others. This configuration seems recommended to enjoy all the possibilities of the craft. Incidentally, I also replaced the sound chip factories by those newer sounds of the VP series, equivalent to those of K2500.

UTILIZATION

In retrospect, ergonomics lacks buttons or sliders to edit the settings. If the proposed Kurzweil, the K2000 would have resembled the ideal would be wonderful synth beat virtual analog fashion. Unfortunately, it was not in the era of time (despite the release of JD 800 and perhaps precisely because of his mixed success at its release). Suddenly, the interface is kind of menus / submenus / sub-menus shown in a LCD and it must be admitted that in absolute terms, this is not the best.
However, when compared to other machines of this type and his age, the K2000 is exemplary: the organization of functions has been thought in the interests of clarity and efficiency. The main dial is really welcome. Of course the wealth of functions requires the efforts of grip but the interface design is admirable sense. Anyway, reading the massive manual is highly recommended to enjoy the power of the engine.
My main regret today for the management of memory, especially for external programs and samples. Even with the solution of the SCSI disk, navigate the file tree is fairly laborious and time loading point out that the technologies used are from another era. This is not an obstacle but a frustration that makes use less direct and less pleasant.

SOUNDS

The sound quality is very professional, clear and precise. The machine is extremely versatile, it excels in almost all types of sounds. The imitation of all kinds of instruments is very correct and it's going to the symphony with analog synthesizers. The wealth of features to create rich textures and complex.
In short, it would be almost perfect but I think the K2000 is suffering a bit from a lack of personality. I mean, a lot of famous synthesizers have made a specific sound, recognizable, and although it's not too much the case that the K2000 on this subject, is rather chameleon act. Although not entirely neutral, it is rare to specifically choose the K2000 to bring a distinctive sound when it is the main reason for using a D50 now or Wavestation example.

OVERALL OPINION

I bought the K2000 because I was looking for both a good synth and a general good master keyboard for an affordable price.
I do not regret this choice that allows me to have hands a very powerful machine, very professional and versatile. Of course, we can find better today but it is more expensive. And if it is assumed that it was a reference for years is that we must still make good music with today ...
Finally, its complexity and neutrality are perhaps less attractive as a synthesizer of others but I think it is his philosophy that let the user express his own creativity and originality. In short, the K2000 is an instrument that does not reveal its value to those who demonstrate perseverance. While at work!