This is the only VAST video on RUclips that is complete for sound design including effects. An excellent video! Good steady camera, excellent teaching and at the perfect speed. No fast button presses making me stop the video. Just the best and ONLY tutorial video on YT worth watching...and I have seen every PC4/K2700/VAST videos there are on YT. You are the teaching master for VAST in 2025. Kurzweils lack of a tutorial manual, and almost zero internet/YT presence (in english) has probably lost them 75% of their sales. IF I was a normal human, I would have returned my synth after attempting to sound design on it. But I am staying with it. Like you, I have created a simple 4-5 layer patches using the KVA oscillators. I have sound designed on about everything from JunoAlpha2 to EnsoniqueEPS16+ to JD800, DX7, Minilogue, Gaia's, MicroBrute, Korg Krome, Roland Fantom, Jupiter8, and many more. Deep menu digitals to simple all physical analogs UI's. Kutzweil 2023 VAST (like your menu) in my PC4 has been the most frustrating. Between the constant system corruptions, and the hundreds of button presses to make a simple patch, and everything unintuitive. I have four pedals: 2 CC pedals, a half damper, and a switch, using these corrupts the system all the time, even changing patches to audition factory presets corrupts the system. But I am staying with this thing, can't afford to sell it now. Read the complete manual now 5x. 1.5 years with my VAST and not advancing very quickly because of the horrid manual without any tutorials, and the lack of YT videos. 57 years I've been playing keys: organ, piano, synths, been hearing about Kurzweil VAST for over 35 of those years, so I finally bought one. But it has not been a fun journey, your videos, if you keep making them will be a huge help. My goal is 100% understanding, such as series and parallel layers, and then make a complete video series. But maybe it won't be necessary if you make them.
Many thanks. This video was an experiment but I’m encouraged to make some more. Hopefully they will be a bit shorter but still at a steady pace. I have ideas for two or three quite simple, but hopefully useful videos at the moment.
I’m new to Kurzweil and the interface is no worse than other keyboards that I have had - but the newest of those is 15 years old, so I get what you mean! I first created this patch using the Soundtower editor on a PC, which has a more typical GUI where you can see more parameters at one time, but as I get slicker at using the K2700 screen I think I’ll find that more convenient.
The programming isn't bad, particularly compared to a DX7 or D-50. What I take exception to is such a small screen and no touch functionality for something that's supposed to compete with a Montage M, Fantom EX, or a Kronos. All of which have larger touch screens.
@@matthewgaines10 I've been working with this VAST synth for a year and a half. The UI in my conclusion should have had a mouse pad like on a laptop, then instead of 20 button presses to get to the bottom of a list of parameters, you would just drag and select. And yes, the screen is at least 50% too small. Is it better than the DX/D50 yes, but those are the worst of all.
Let’s hope the new K2061 & K2088 Kurzweil synths are easier to navigate and use, unfortunately the screens are no different, not bigger not touch sensitive!😏
From the little I’ve seen so far, they look like slimmed down versions of the K2700. Less memory, no trigger pads, but some new samples, programs and multis? I think they are predicted to be lower cost than the K2700.
A question I have been asking since many years. Could you please help here? Does Kurzweil have a "crossfade" feature during portamento on a multisample patch? (Similar to the PSR S920 Crossfade Portamento) Let me explain ... Say I am in a solo violin patch ... which I believe consists of many samples spread out in different regions of the keyboard. Key - C3 would have one sample of the violin, and then the Key F3 might have a different sample of the violin. Now if I turn Portamento On and start from C3 and without releasing it, press F3, does the sound just (1) merely change the pitch of sample C3 (till F3) ...... or ..... (2) Does the sound "Morph" the C3 sample onto the F3 Sample along with transitioning the pitch? Along with the above, can I control the volume? ... say as in the above example, I hit C3 harder but F3 slightly lower ... will the sound lower its volume while shifting from C3 to F3? Your response would be of immense help, as I am in a place where there are no displays of higher keyboards present. Kurzweil is almost nonexistent here, but would like to give it a thought.
That’s a good question, but not one I can answer at the moment. I suspect that your answer (1) is the correct one. I think that orchestral sample libraries running as VSTs / Kontakt etc. on computers would handle this properly in ‘true legato’ mode, but I have never been aware that keyboards would do it. It should be easy to confirm by setting up two distinct sounds (eg piano and violin) for the two notes you mention, and then sliding between them, to see what happened. I’ll do that when I have time.
@@chromatic-me Thank you for getting back to me. Reading the manual I have reason to believe that (2) might be true ... The Portamento crossfades between two samples. I read this section "Mono Sample XFade" in the K2700 musicians guide. But cant verify just by reading. And yes Yamaha PSR A5000 and the newer SX920 / Genos 2 has the Portamento Crossfade.
This is the only VAST video on RUclips that is complete for sound design including effects. An excellent video! Good steady camera, excellent teaching and at the perfect speed. No fast button presses making me stop the video. Just the best and ONLY tutorial video on YT worth watching...and I have seen every PC4/K2700/VAST videos there are on YT. You are the teaching master for VAST in 2025.
Kurzweils lack of a tutorial manual, and almost zero internet/YT presence (in english) has probably lost them 75% of their sales. IF I was a normal human, I would have returned my synth after attempting to sound design on it. But I am staying with it. Like you, I have created a simple 4-5 layer patches using the KVA oscillators. I have sound designed on about everything from JunoAlpha2 to EnsoniqueEPS16+ to JD800, DX7, Minilogue, Gaia's, MicroBrute, Korg Krome, Roland Fantom, Jupiter8, and many more. Deep menu digitals to simple all physical analogs UI's. Kutzweil 2023 VAST (like your menu) in my PC4 has been the most frustrating. Between the constant system corruptions, and the hundreds of button presses to make a simple patch, and everything unintuitive. I have four pedals: 2 CC pedals, a half damper, and a switch, using these corrupts the system all the time, even changing patches to audition factory presets corrupts the system. But I am staying with this thing, can't afford to sell it now.
Read the complete manual now 5x. 1.5 years with my VAST and not advancing very quickly because of the horrid manual without any tutorials, and the lack of YT videos. 57 years I've been playing keys: organ, piano, synths, been hearing about Kurzweil VAST for over 35 of those years, so I finally bought one. But it has not been a fun journey, your videos, if you keep making them will be a huge help. My goal is 100% understanding, such as series and parallel layers, and then make a complete video series. But maybe it won't be necessary if you make them.
Many thanks. This video was an experiment but I’m encouraged to make some more. Hopefully they will be a bit shorter but still at a steady pace. I have ideas for two or three quite simple, but hopefully useful videos at the moment.
I hate to say this, but Kurzweil had almost 35 years to improve the interface from the K2000 and this is it?
I’m new to Kurzweil and the interface is no worse than other keyboards that I have had - but the newest of those is 15 years old, so I get what you mean! I first created this patch using the Soundtower editor on a PC, which has a more typical GUI where you can see more parameters at one time, but as I get slicker at using the K2700 screen I think I’ll find that more convenient.
The programming isn't bad, particularly compared to a DX7 or D-50.
What I take exception to is such a small screen and no touch functionality for something that's supposed to compete with a Montage M, Fantom EX, or a Kronos. All of which have larger touch screens.
@@matthewgaines10 I've been working with this VAST synth for a year and a half. The UI in my conclusion should have had a mouse pad like on a laptop, then instead of 20 button presses to get to the bottom of a list of parameters, you would just drag and select. And yes, the screen is at least 50% too small. Is it better than the DX/D50 yes, but those are the worst of all.
These days, display screen sizes are very important features on any devices, including music keyboards.
what a small screen.Kurzweil,we are in 2025!Good tutorial .
Let’s hope the new K2061 & K2088 Kurzweil synths are easier to navigate and use, unfortunately the screens are no different, not bigger not touch sensitive!😏
From the little I’ve seen so far, they look like slimmed down versions of the K2700. Less memory, no trigger pads, but some new samples, programs and multis? I think they are predicted to be lower cost than the K2700.
A question I have been asking since many years. Could you please help here?
Does Kurzweil have a "crossfade" feature during portamento on a multisample patch? (Similar to the PSR S920 Crossfade Portamento)
Let me explain ...
Say I am in a solo violin patch ... which I believe consists of many samples spread out in different regions of the keyboard.
Key - C3 would have one sample of the violin, and then the Key F3 might have a different sample of the violin.
Now if I turn Portamento On and start from C3 and without releasing it, press F3, does the sound just
(1) merely change the pitch of sample C3 (till F3) ...... or .....
(2) Does the sound "Morph" the C3 sample onto the F3 Sample along with transitioning the pitch?
Along with the above, can I control the volume? ... say as in the above example, I hit C3 harder but F3 slightly lower ... will the sound lower its volume while shifting from C3 to F3?
Your response would be of immense help, as I am in a place where there are no displays of higher keyboards present. Kurzweil is almost nonexistent here, but would like to give it a thought.
That’s a good question, but not one I can answer at the moment. I suspect that your answer (1) is the correct one.
I think that orchestral sample libraries running as VSTs / Kontakt etc. on computers would handle this properly in ‘true legato’ mode, but I have never been aware that keyboards would do it. It should be easy to confirm by setting up two distinct sounds (eg piano and violin) for the two notes you mention, and then sliding between them, to see what happened. I’ll do that when I have time.
@@chromatic-me Thank you for getting back to me.
Reading the manual I have reason to believe that (2) might be true ... The Portamento crossfades between two samples.
I read this section "Mono Sample XFade" in the K2700 musicians guide.
But cant verify just by reading.
And yes Yamaha PSR A5000 and the newer SX920 / Genos 2 has the Portamento Crossfade.