Kenji's K5000 Message Board Digest - Overview K5000 Resources - Overview
The Eat at Joe's Kawai K5000 Message Board Digest
The K5000X


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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 

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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 


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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 

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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 

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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 

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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 

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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 

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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 


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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 


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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 


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