Kawai K5000, good stuff?

Kraftwerk did use the K5000R. It's a workstation with Additive Synthesis capabilities on board. What it usually comes up with are bell-like sounds, organs and stuff like that. Don't expect it to do fat analogue-esque sounds. Kraftwerk used Moog and Arp for that heavily.

Overall it's a fun synth but difficult to program. Make sure you get at least the K5000S as it comes with some knobs to make it all a little bit easier.

[Jim Stout]

Killer machine! It has a very unique sound.

Almost Prophet VS"ish" / PPG "ish"

One of the best digital synth ever made

If you have a chance to pick one up, do it!

[Jake]

Go for it! I love the K5000. As others note soundwise it's in the same family with the PPG/VS/Wavestation, although it utilizes an entirely different synthesis engine. Not sure what sounds you're looking for but here's my quick and dirty on it:

Strengths: long evolving pads, bells + percussive sounds, leads, organ+ep's, sfx.

Weaknesses: emulations of acoustic instruments, anything realistic, deep bass, some analog especially bass (although the K5000 can passably emulate some analog sounds).

It's really not too hard to program if you have a basic understanding of the harmonic content of waveforms. It can, however, be tedious to program.

As I've mentioned in other posts, the real trick to the K5000, its secret weapon if you will, is its formant filter. More than the additive waveforms, the formant filter is the trick to much of its unique sound.

It's a pretty unique synth as far as I'm concerned. Not for everyone or everything for sure, but it's almost certainly not redundant of other synths you use either.

[chrisso]

Originally Posted by Jake

Not for everyone or everything for sure, but it's almost certainly not redundant of other synths you use either.

I owned the K5000s for a couple of years and never found it exciting.
Overall it always sounded thin to me.
I couldn't recommend it, but I'm aware the synth has some big fans around the place.
So my advice would be to check it out in person before you buy, or buy one and sell it on if it doesn't do anything for you.
(I've owned a VS and had PPG's and Wavestations on long term loan)

[pyvnd]

If you are going to get it, get the S model with knobs and arp. It doesn't sound fat and it will most certainly be a niche synth. But it does sound good, and it has an amazing keyboard so it can be a good controller. It is a heavy beast too so it will probably stay in the studio forever. Shipping will probably cost a lot on it. Mine came with a side-panel cracked and they were out of dark blue panels and eventually both side panels were replaced with a black model so it's all black and silver. It looks good and it sounds good. But again, do not expect a versatile synth. You will definitely need to have your other sound areas covered. It's amazing for pads though and just unique mellow sounds. Very ambient.

[plastic ships]

dont buy the W go for the S! you cant go wrong with this synth. here are some demos

marsholie - Kawai K5000S Â*Advanced Additive Synthesizer

[SurveillanceP]

I bought the k5000w, and still have it. It collects dust now.

Its a tedious tedious synth to program, and soundiver makes it little better. Sounds good sometimes though...

Originally Posted by marsholie

you cant go wrong with this synth. here are some demos

marsholie - Kawai K5000S Â*Advanced Additive Synthesizer

[plastic ships]

to go into more detail those who dont learn it or feel they cant learn it it might as well be used as a boat anchor. sadly enough SurveillanceP there are alot of k5ks out there are collecting dust. this synth in my opinion is only good for programmers. if you play presets and only presets this machine sucks. the manual for the K5K is useless. you have to find the Wizoo Guide to the Kawai (its in the links section on the page with the demos). that will help you to learn it. If your still having problems there is always ebay

another thing i would buy the K5000s if i were you not the K5000w. the W is missing the arpeggiator and on the K5ks the arpeggiator is one of the best around. The W is also missing the real time control knobs. another must have with the K5K. the W has a sequencer but its not worth the trade offs in my opinion.

the results you can get with this synth once learned are very good. listen to the last sound on the first demo. i call it electronic sea gulls because i was able to program the sounds of seagulls in the back ground as the synth waves crashed in. and those damn bells in the second demo are some of the best bells i have ever heard. but its obvious lecafard some love this synth and some do not. to correct myself this may not be the synth for you. buy one try it out and if you dont like it sell it.

[DevonB]

To add a few things that people haven't mentioned -

The K5000W is the Workstation. The K5000S is the Synthesizer. The S has the knobs, the W does not. That does NOT mean you cannot get the knobs. There is the Macro Control Box that can be used on the W and the Rack version as well. If you need the knob box, let me know, I plan on selling mine eventually to the right buyer (meaning I'm not selling it if you don't already have a K5000 and really need it. )

The amount of prests are extremely low on the K5K. It's different as it can store "up to" so many presets. The more complex the patches you have saved on the unit, the less presets you can save. The shipping presets are pretty poor, and I think there was only like 70-100 presets? It's been years since I've owned one so the memory is fading.

Make sure to get the Sound Diver edition for editing. At least it gives a much better visual represensation of the harmonics in a patch. The front panel is tedeous, to be sure.

Ultimately, while it has a nice, unique sound, it wasn't the synth for me. Oh well, I moved on.However, if I had the need for a good quality keybed, the K5000S' keybed feels fantastic, and has poly aftertouch if I do so remember correctly. (Correct me if I'm wrong here, guys, I only had the rack and played with a friend's K5000S.)

Devon

[plastic ships]

you are right but you would still be missing the arpeggiator. yes the amount of patches are limited. luckily i have a unit with the memory expansion. i think its roughly (depending on the complexities of the patches) 70 patches out of a possible 128 that you average per bank. the stock unit has two banks (the w has more??? a general midi bank?). the upgraded memory gives you two more banks. so it would be well worth it to find a k5000s with expaned memory being you have so little as it is. keep in mind there is also a built in floppy drive for storage. the knob box from what i read is rare is it not? would be cool to own with the rack mount k5k. i think you can still use an aftermarket box like the Behringer BCR2000 and match cc#s??

[Bhang]

Originally Posted by lecafard

I want to buy a Kawai K5000W, impressive sound in youtube and mp3s demos, my musical project si in Kraftwerk style, is it good for this?
Any experiencies or ideas about this machine?
Alternatives?
Thanks!!!!

Well .... New Kraftwerk or old?
New stuff uses a far larger variety of synths, such as Nord Lead 2, Microwave and, ofcourse, the drool worthy K5000. the older stuff, like Man
Machine would be closer to a Prophet 5 or the minimoog. Modular set ups we're big with them too. They're new set list shows a whole host of Doepfer modules.

[pyvnd]

btw if you write kawai they send you several floppy disks of patches for free.

[DevonB]

Originally Posted by marsholie

you are right but you would still be missing the arpeggiator. yes the amount of patches are limited. luckily i have a unit with the memory expansion. i think its roughly (depending on the complexities of the patches) 70 patches out of a possible 128 that you average per bank. the stock unit has two banks (the w has more??? a general midi bank?). the upgraded memory gives you two more banks. so it would be well worth it to find a k5000s with expaned memory being you have so little as it is. keep in mind there is also a built in floppy drive for storage. the knob box from what i read is rare is it not? would be cool to own with the rack mount k5k. i think you can still use an aftermarket box like the Behringer BCR2000 and match cc#s??

Be missing the arpeggiator on what? The Rack mount? It has the arp. I'm sorry, I'm not exactly catching what you're referring to about the arp?

Knob box rare? I never see them around. I bought it brand new when I figured I better hurry up and buy it before hte K5000 was discontinued. I think I bought it like 6-12 months after I had bought the K5000R. Can you use a generic knob box? Absolutely. But I don't know about you, but having a box that is the right size, with the right labels all ready to go for the unit in question is worth it. I've used it for years to just send MIDI CC to VST's. I've had zero issues with it, it's a solid metal box.

Devon

[plastic ships]

lecafard was asking about the k5000W. as stated in previous messages the k5000W is missing the arpeggiator. dont know why but thats how it was made. it has a sequencer but no arp and no knobs. to clear it up for you i was suggesting that he buy the k5000s instead of the W becasue then he wouldnt need a knob box and he would have an arp. and about the knob box i think it would be ideal for the R and the W. it looks great. if he doesnt have room for the k5000s then the k5000r with the kob box would work. but then he would be missing that keybed from the k5000s. and man oh man what a keybed it is

[chrisso]

Originally Posted by Bhang

Well .... New Kraftwerk or old?

ElectronicShadows ---- Tech Talk

[lecafard]

I like old Kraftwerk sound, with minimoogs, mellotrons, arps, etc. Demos and reviews show me the K5000 palette of sounds, i remember Blade Runner textures, ciclyc pads and vintage sintesyzers.
I don´t like software instruments, but Gforce Oddity is interesting tool.
My Virus Indigo 2 is pretty close to that vintage sounds, i looking a complement for this, the new generation sinths (nord lead, waldorf, dsi) sounds too plastic for me.
Maybe an ATC-1.......

[klas1]

I am new here, but did you purchase the K5000w?....or are you still looking to purchase one??

[gransonik]

Do the K5000W and K5000S share the same keybed?

[KevBKeys]

Originally Posted by gransonik

Do the K5000W and K5000S share the same keybed?

I played a W and S that were sitting on the same stand back when they were new. I remember thinking the keybeds felt similar (both Fatar I think), but I thought the K5000S was slightly nicer to play.

Hard to describe feel, but the keystops on the K5000S seemed to give a nice rubbery response, where the K5000W by comparison felt a bit harder.

To be certain, you might want source the service manual or drop a line to Kawai to check the actual model of keybeds installed.

[El-Burrito]

I Have K5000S that i got from a friend. I have never got any usable sound out of it. It is just so different from subtractive sounds so i don't know how to use it.

I mainly use as master keyboard as the keys are ok. It has the older OS that has problem with resonance. I tried to upgrade it, but never got it work. No i don't own floppy drive so i could try it again.

[sammytaters]

Every additive plugin on the computer annihilates the Kawai. Nobody really wants one so its hard to resell. The insides are a nightmare for repairing.

[EvilDragon]

You're completely and utterly wrong.

[cramseur]

Originally Posted by plastic ships

dont buy the W go for the S! you cant go wrong with this synth. here are some demos

marsholie - Kawai K5000S Â*Advanced Additive Synthesizer

I agree. The Macro Controller (a knobby box which gives the W the editing functionality of the S), goes for $3-400 by itself. Of course, you lose the "workstation" stuff in the switch.

[KryoShift]

There's a knob box on ebay now for $500 They're about as rare as hen's teeth and sell for $400-$500 if they do come up at all, from what I've seen. The K5000S itself tends to go for around $700-$750.

Also, the memory expansion is extremely rare, but (at least a couple years ago) there is a guy in Germany that makes an excellent clone for around 90 EUR iirc. It's in my K5000S and works great.

It's a beast to program, so many parameters, but it's very rewarding, too, if you're patient. If you're not patient it can be a miserable nightmare

I love everything about the keybed

I think it's definitely a love it or hate it synth, even if you like purely digital synthesizers. Killer arpeggiator, and can do a pretty wicked acid line if you want it to

All that said I just don't have room for a ton of keyboards at this time so no longer use mine :(

[choond]

Originally Posted by KryoShift

Also, the memory expansion is extremely rare, but (at least a couple years ago) there is a guy in Germany that makes an excellent clone for around 90 EUR iirc. It's in my K5000S and works great.

It's a beast to program, so many parameters, but it's very rewarding, too, if you're patient. If you're not patient it can be a miserable nightmare

I love everything about the keybed

Thanks for that information about the memory expansion- I've always wanted to upgrade my K5000s.

FYI The keybed is the same as the Virus ti keybed, made by fatar.

The arp is really nice- you program it via a 32 step sequencer, analog style. You can send the arp patterns via midi to control synths that don't have arps. The sounds sit really nicely in a mix, definitely not thin.

[cramseur]

The memory expansion clone is great, and works perfectly.

Here is the website for it

MARJORIE - Technische Informationen f

They shipped quickly to the US.

[KryoShift]

That's the one! He can't ship the batteries over mail, just FYI. not a huge deal at all; just so people know they'll have to snag one on their own.

[Crawling Wind]

I'm looking forward to using my K5000 to control NI Razor. Now
that sounds like fun!

[projectwoofer]

Originally Posted by KryoShift

There's a knob box on ebay now for $500 They're about as rare as hen's teeth and sell for $400-$500 if they do come up at all, from what I've seen. The K5000S itself tends to go for around $700-$750.

Also, the memory expansion is extremely rare, but (at least a couple years ago) there is a guy in Germany that makes an excellent clone for around 90 EUR iirc. It's in my K5000S and works great.

I have the rack version with the original memory expansion installed. Bought it used a few years ago so I guess I was a bit lucky!

Don't have the knob box although it's just a simple MIDI CC controller so I use an E-mu X-board 25 which with its 16 knobs makes a wonderful dedicated controller for the Kawai...