Anyone else just now realizing that this show has been a part of their Fridays consistently for like a year and a half? 😳 Thanks for all the laughs Florian!
I feel like for every cheesy '80s one-hit wonder, there's a cheesy '80s digital synth to match. Definite "heartfelt power-ballad meets SNES" feel here.
we definitely need more modern VSTs that capture the vibe of a lot of these late 80s/early 90s digital synths, I think. I feel like there's a lot more territory "those sorts" of sounds could capture, being nostalgic without being as full on cheesy, but don't want to have to shell out for a modwave or something
@@SisterRose - UVI has some sample packs that cover most of those instruments, and if you disable to software effects you have a lot of raw sounds there. Roland also has VST versions of the D-50 and JV-1080, both of which are excellent (I own the D-50 one and love it). Finally, there are various limited freeware emulations of synths from that time period, including one of the Kawai K3.
@@SisterRose - A current fave of mine is Audio Damage's _Phosphor,_ an emulation/extension of the old Apple ][ AlphaSyntauri synth workstation (that was my unattainable dream machine in the early 80s). Lo-fi in the good ways, very inspiring and easy to make great sounds.
Also - the reason for the minimalist "black surfboard" look of synths in the 80s came from a memo that was leaked out of SCI in the early 80s. They did a scan of all their repairs and returns and found that, regardless of how long someone owned a Prophet 5, 85% of their users NEVER CHANGED THE PRESETS. EVER. So, why make a synth with all these knobs that are a QA testing nightmare, when you can just make a box full of sounds for folks. don't even bother with a filter. East Coast synthesis wasn't interested in sound design. they just wanted funny buzzy noises for keyboard players to go buzz buzz with. The reign of the DCO unisoned Sawtooth began and Bleep Bloop died for a few decades. But seriously - it came out of that memo from SCI which quickly circulated through the industry. Other companies did the same research, and yup - no one was doing sound design, so all these expensive knobs were pointless. Enter: The Black Surfboard.
now I know why my SCI MAX has 6 voice multitimbral capability but literally no physical way to manipulate the 30+ parameters accessible via midi and is totally amnesiac
I attended an Ensoniq workshop at a local music store in the mid 1980s, and was asked the question “Do you want more, good, usable presets, or deep onboard editing capability?” The overwhelming answer from the attendees was “more presets”.
It actually make sense. When I am using synths with presets I usually do only some minor tweaking of sound. Also only about 20% of presets are rewritten on my machines. :-D
I somehow ended up buying this off craigslist some 15 years ago as my first synth knowing absolutely nothing about it and it's continually grown on me as my favorite sound. I love how raw it is . it lends itself perfectly to shaping or smoothing the sound further with external effects.
OMG... I was literally _JUST_ watching this video and a friend of mine sent me a photo of a K1 he had _JUST_ bought locally... for only $50, everything working. (Hadn't realized he was even looking!!!) I've had mine since '88 and sorry, but I love it still.
This videos are becoming more like videogames for the action and concentration required to see them. It takes me 30 minutes to watch each video stopping at every meme to read it, some last like 1 microsecond and it's difficult to catch them, meanwhile I also have to keep in mind the narration to not lose the plot of the video. I'm going crazy
I have the original, bought it shortly after it's initial release. It is still one of my favorites synths in my small collection. I've also put together a large sound library for it. The synth is capable of so much more. The review is good but it can definitely sound better, much better.
The 8-Bit short samples of this instrument gave me Amiga vibes, your 3rd jam nailed those Amiga vibes. In fact, I had to bite myself to realize we're in 2021, looked around and realized hm...I might not be the best example as my house is filled with 80's memorabilia. I also realized that sometimes it's a good thing to let the past be in the past and leave those as good memories and just that, memories.
My first synth was a K1 II as well (got it 23 years ago - sold it sometime after 2007). With my precious Atari ST running Notator/Creator it taught me the basics of MIDI. Once I got hold of the sounds of all ROM-Cards online, I was in heaven! I think I even had an editor/librarian software for the ST. Have been playing with the VST/AU version now, that sure does takes me back in time. Great episode, Florian! Keep up the good work!
I haven’t met a Kawai synth I haven’t liked. My uncle had one of these and I spent a summer at my aunt and his place messing with it. He knew I was diving deep and told me to just not lose a few presets he used for band and church performance. I totally changed every other patch in there into some fun stuff. He really appreciated that synth a lot more after that.
This was my first synth purchase ever and I don't regret it at all. You made it sound so nice with the end jam and I can't wait until I'm good enough to do the same!
YOU FINALLY DID IT! I own this exact model, and it's wonderful! The best part is with a basic sysex program and the Nils VST as a quick editor/librarian, you can totally overhaul the patch banks into all kinds of wild sounds. The MIDI implementation is really good, and I believe that Kawai even made a programmer device for it, so it accepts advanced sysex/CC stuff.... The the synth is especially great for pads, that's definitely the strong point.
I miss my K1m. Really impressed to see what you brought out the K1 II -- but them i'm always impressed by how nicely you frame gear's various timbres within your demos.
When the K-1 first came out, I was very impressed by it. It sounded so much richer than the FM and analog synths that were around then. And it was cheap: half the price of a D-50. Nowadays the features of the K-1 are very limited, but some sounds like the choirs and strings still sound very nice.
I'd actually argue that back then the K1 line was less impressive than the competition, because it had less of the highly desirable realistic samples and went into glitchy territory. Nowadays with Gigabyte-heavy VST libraries being the norm, that same competition has become less interesting. K1 & Co. are now more intriguing since they are different.
@@LeadingMotive What were the alternatives in 1987? It was analog, FM, the D-50 and synths with more primitive PCM waves, like the Ensoniqs. There were of course samplers and the Kurzweils, but they were out of reach for most people.
@@doordedeur The original K1 seems to be from 1988, that's about when I got my Roland U-110, a kind-of-affordable ROMpler. The U-220 came shortly after. Also the Korg M1 came out at that time. Edit: How could I forget - the E-mu Proteus 1 was released around 1989 too.
@@LeadingMotive I forgot about the Proteus and U-110. But I consider them as different beasts as the K-1. The korg M-1 was way more expensive than the K-1. Still, with effects applied, you can get M-1 like sounds out of a K-1. Especially the choirs and the organs.
The reason that this might remind you of the Super Nintendo is that the earlier version, K1 was actually the source of many Super Mario World samples. Koji Kondo had a K1r among his collection at the time. Check out the Ars Technica article "Super High-Fidelity Mario..." for some high-bitrate recreations of some SNES music people have been making.
I've spent some fun sessions with the free K1 VST called Nil's K1v this week, and suddenly Bad Gear hits me with this banger. The K1 is a nice piece of gear, sound-wise :D
The K1-II was my first proper synth (after many mini-key home keyboards). I quite regret selling it- I have very fond memories of playing and programming it. I don't think it was that difficult to program (but then I always shout about the Blofeld being much easier to program than many think)- and the parameter layout is far less arcane than Roland's D-50. Some of those grungy sounds can be great in the right circumstances. I remember it being sold as the most realistic sax sound at the time (you could use the aftertouch to get a bit of grit into the sound using the ring mod feature). I had a Sound Source sound card for it too- one of the sounds "Belfullness" has been reproduced on many of my synths, from digital to my Prophet'08. Some of the features were lacking- the midi messages were about quarter resolution - so the pitch/mod wheel and aftertouch jumps 4 steps at a time.
Thank you for covering the dear old K1! It's one of the few rompler synths to have any character, and programming your own patches is easy to get your head around. And the versatility of the keyboard makes it a pretty good MIDI controller, too. People who moan about it not having a filter are missing the point, and can go stick their heads up a K4!
So often in those little review quotes you put up on screen we see people complaining that the sounds of a given instrument are "outdated" or "cheesy." I've been in the synth game long enough (since '95) to know that all you have to do is wait a few years and those "outdated" and "cheesy" sounds will be sought after and considered cool again. 😄 👍
One of my go to synths for 90's industrial techno. Very easy to sequence multi timbral parts, intuitive menu and controls. Loved the bow scrape on violin. And it was $$$ cheap.I'd pair with my SQ80.
Sounds were so awkward until the last jam . You killed it . Another record breaking genre title , and gold medal in menu diving 🥇🏆. I got nostalgic when I heard that jam (for what I haven't a clue) excellent composition , and video !
I have the European K1r and that came with the Orchestra sound. However I tried finding the original sound bank sys exc file that mine came with, and it took me YEARS before I stumbled across it. Most out there are like the one on the Kawai website, which I guess is a USA or international version.
her: i love this type of music, what genre is it called? me: *what if 90s Coolio was hanging out with 80s techno nerds in a 70s soviet time machine creating zero years crunk-core for a hyper-pop trap future*
One of the funniest adverts I saw for a synth was in a music tec magazine back on the day. I think it might have been a Soho sound house advert. It read: 'Kawai, you've tried the jelly, now try the synth...'
“What if 90s Coolio was hanging out with 80s techno nerds in a 70s Soviet time machine creating zero years crunkcore for a hyperpop-trap future?” The ravings of a madman or a Bad Gear jam? You make the call!
Well said. Went for the modular system and never looked back. We used the Kawai K1m as a doorstop because we tried hard but could not get it to fit our liking. Nice to see you do your thing with it and sort of succeed in your perseverance.
Ah, my first synth! Bought one used in 1994. For a teen like myself with no prior synth experience to speak of, it was fun to learn and mess around with, and a few of its sounds made it into some of my early tracker music. I mostly ended up just using it as a controller keyboard, though - a purpose it served for nearly two decades!
I love seeing these older, partly lesser known synths. Nice vid again! 😊 It's kinda sad that Kawai stopped developing synths. All of them have something "special" to them. I'm especially interested in the Kawai K5000 as it is one the few hardware synths that use additive synthesis. I only know of the Synclavier and the Waldorf Wave, which offered additive synthesis in some way as well. Can't imagine what Kawai would've come up with by now, if they'd still be in the synth market. ^^
I have a K5000w from the 90s, and my first synth in the 80s was a K5. The K5000 is actually a great sounding synth, although pretty neigh impossible to program the additive engine from the panel. The workstation version I have doesn't have some of the panel controls the standard has, but I remember loving the sequencer and the extra PCM samples. Nowadays I hang onto it because of sentimental reasons, but occasionally the additive engine makes it into a mix.
@@hallucigenia it's easier with an editor for sure -- i like ruclips.net/channel/UCdurwMU6dD80Do6KJ14WLKQ videos like ruclips.net/video/lEKb7MGvCqI/видео.html
I am sincerely hoping for a new additive hardware synth. Additive doesn't need to be hard to program, I am confident that with a clever UI design, a modern and actually programmable additive synth could be made. I know that this kind of synthesis really shines when the levels of the individual harmonics are dynamically modulated and I am also fully aware of the fact that setting up modulations for 32 or 64 harmonics would be a Sisyphos Job. However, this is not necessarily required, as dynamic additive sounds could be easily achieved via intelligently made macros or via pairing additive with wave table synthesis. Think of the Hydrasynth, where you can create your own wavetables per patch via selecting your waveforms of choice. Imagine a synth where you'd have a wavetable with 4 or 8 waveform slots and instead of picking static waveforms, you'd instead create additive waveforms with 32 or 64 harmonics inside of each slot and then morph between these slots in the typical wavetable style. This would be a perfect modern additive/wavetable synth in my opinion. This would also make the need of using software editors for wavetable creation obsolete, as you could now make any imaginable wavetable directly on the hardware. I was honestly disappointed when the Waldorf Quantum / Iridium was introduced and while being a true synth powerhouse with several synthesis types, they've missed that opportunity. I really hate it when there are synths being so close to perfection and then just missing out on the last steps.
K1 was a very good alternative to D110 when it appeared on the low cost synths market. It was one of the first to provide " Dynamic Polyphony ", allowing some fixed or floating number of notes to different channels. It was interesting to mix it's sound with analog synths, and some pcm waves had some character. Not such a bad thing for late 80s pop :)
I had them both in the late 80s, I found the D110 far more flexible but still liked the K1 for the pads. Sold/swapped them in the 90s but bought again several yrs ago.
@@maccagrabme I worked demonstrating the K1 for Hohner, in Paris (Salon de la Musique ) I did use this synth a couple of years, but i didn't miss it a lot :) It was really cheap, but good . K4 never succeeded in taking a good place in the market . I really loved K3M and K5, wich were very interesting synths.
The LFO preset was 'Arrangement' Do I win a prize? This synth worked fine in my early 90's indie band, wouldn't recommend for electronic music, though it seems to have its fans. Nice use of Stalker in the end song!
Damn i knew someone was earlier. Bought a K1m back in 2015 and played around with this preset for the first days. Sold it this year because of the plugin and i rarely used it thanks to better gear i own now, but i always keep it in my heart.
@@squishmusic Actually, some of the pads are quite nice and useable, but the lack of a filter makes it pretty limited for anything else. I remember EMF hammering one on TOTP, but I don't know if it's actually on their recordings.
I haven't bothered looking through comments for it this time. Fun fact: the VM synth waveforms were created on the beloved K5 (the K5 was runner up with the DX7 MK II to the Roland D50 in Sound on Sound's best of awards '88 DON'T PUT IT ON YOUR LIST without consulting Jarre or Jan Hammer: "I shut off the TV monitor, stop thinking about the show [Miami Vice >50% K5] and just go fool around with anything - it might be playing with the Fairlight Series III or trying to create a new sound on the Kawai K5"
yes the K5 was heavily used by Jan Hammer on the season 2 to 4 of Miami Vice. . he used also the K3 on some episodes and one of the preset of the k1 seems to have been sampled in Jan’ s studio cause it s so close to one sound of crockett theme!
"VCR player" (shows XBox) - savage! "Bland musical motives" (shows David Guetta) - even more savage! Now I know why it always takes me at least half an hour to watch (*checks*) 9:26 videos like this one...
This video is under 9.5 mins but I swear it takes me 14-15 mins to watch as the memes/synth jokes are worth it. My hands are hovering over the left/right cursor keys & spacebar. 😂
Man, the crunkcore banger was my favourite so far amongst all others you've produced. Moody trance dark wave sh*t coupled with suspenseful agitating imagery I could listen and watch for hours. Pretty damn well executed.
Coincidentally, there was a Kawai K-1II for sale this week for $100, but I didn’t buy it because I bought a Kawai K1 this summer, also for $100. I also own a K3 and a K5. Kawai, the unsung heroes of musical equipment.
The k3 was my first synth when I knew nothing about synths. It was simply the only thing that fit my budget. It had a good sound with the analogue filter but the single knob that had limited steps made it somewhat difficult to use it for dynamic performance
Who needs a filter on the K1 - its not aimed for analogue-type of sounds, it really shines when the ringmod comes in underlining its digital character - so its a different perspective - a move away from the filter-centric dogma - and its truly refreshing - still, after all the years
Finally!!! I have been waiting for - a what if 90's coolio was hanging out with 80s techno nerds in a 70s soviet time machine creating zero years crunkcore for a hyperpop trap future - jam on this channel! That's def in my top 1,345 electronic music genres! Maybe my top 962!
For those who like the Kawai K1 (original model), there is a perfect vst re-creation for free on "plugins 4 free" (as mentionned is the video). It sadly doesn't have midi learn. I don't know of any other vst re-creation of a vectorial wavetable synth that is free (there is from Korg the vst of the M1 and wavestation, but they arn't cheap). Anyway, as always, a nice and fun Bad Gear episode. note : my first comment that said about the same was deleted by youtube. The allmighty algorythm can by a pain in the behind, its not like my message was promoting violence or had bad language or anything.... maybe is the mention of "plugins 4 free" that automatically deletes my message ?
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of that K1 vst... I've had K1 and K1m and really liked them paired to my beloved Kawai q80ex sequencer. Right now my current setup includes a Kawai kc10 Spectra for those lovely gritty, cheesy tones
@@AudioPilz It's a very stripped down to basics k1. Just two romples per patch, just two patches per multi. Super light in every possible way. you can put a strap and play keytar style if you dare...
2:13: take that, muffle it, and you've got 40% of the Amiga MOD basslines ever written. Seriously though: much as I love the C64's SID, it _shouldn't_ have ages better than the Amiga's Paula. And yet! Thank you, Bob Yannes, you god amongst synth designers!
Bought one of these instead of a midi keyboard a few years ago because the keybed was better than the M-Audio next to it, and now it's a staple texture in my studio!! Love this little synth ❤
The K1's joystick really is *not* similar to the SY-22. SY-22 patches store the *trajectory* of your joystick movement. This programmable trajectory envelope is what makes the SY-22 a real vector synthesizer, like the TG-33, SY-35, Wavestation series, and Prophet VS. The K1 is not: its joystick is just a real-time performance gadget. The K1's secret weapon is its ringmod, which is still used to this day by lofi producers to make all sorts of weirdness.
agreed. However the Joystick on the K1 can be used as a data value contoller, something the SY/TG didnt implement but should have! (TG33 did have a data knob thankfully) :D
Sadly the K1 stick does NOT output MIDI data as the Sy35/TG33, but it still useful to inject life to pads, great for dnb or ambient, really great for subtle movements and so on
@@AudioPilz Even more obscure is Cheetah's MQ8 sequencer, which was years ahead of its time for performance features - on-the-fly key changing on selected tracks, anyone? Only snag is the manual, which you need a magnifying glass to read!
' given the limited polyphony of sixteen voices ' ,... Okay, yes there's that. I'm pretty sure only professionals or die hard, OCD gear nerds are going to care that much 🤣😂. I love that you have a sense of humor about your reviews. Flashing a screenshot of Danny Trejo is priceless 😂🤣
True story: I implemented a synth engine on a device with only one button, and all the editing happened onboard! (I made firmware for a lightsaber, and the blade colors are generated by a simple synth engine where the oscillators oscillate through a 2D colorspace, and there's only one button on the hilt, so ... had to cram an awful lot of controls into just one button)
Been waiting for this one! Goes nicely with analogs. I had the k1rII for a long time, sold it, then someone gave me the keyboard one. It was meant to be I guess. I like it. It's so bright.
I do feel like the lack of filter on these did definitely harm them as there's a reason why the D50 was so dominant even with it's somewhat unusual and simple digital filter(that's actually responsible for a surprising amount of iconic "filter sweep" sounds)
It was much more expensive to implement a DSP filter in 1988/89, that's why only the higher end digital synths like the D50 had filters in the late '80s.
@@twiff3rino28 I might be wrong on this but as far as I know the D50 doesn't have a DSP filter - it's actually a phase distortion synth (that's why closing the filter all the way down gives you a sine wave).
I sat in the basement of Kawai with Rich Godinez and two other guys and programmed the original K1before release. On one hand, it could be crappy. On the other, it has buckets of character. The short and not so stellar wave ROM resulted in some loop warbles. Not your perfect choir, but a perfect choir chewing gum in unison. The fun part of this piece was the character, and the envelopes. The "slave" patch on the original is a classic example. I got a better non sampled sax and the best pan flute ever (if there can be such a thing) out of the K1 than most other gear at the time. And a screaming, evolving feedback lead guitar (run through a Rat and 60s Thomas Wah). I did a clinic in Austin. Called back a few days later to see what they thought, if they'd sold any K1 gear. No, the man said, But we sold out of Rat pedals and Wahs in two days." It's all about delivery. I bought a clean K1 not long ago for $125 US. For the simple reason that it's NOT pristine, has no effects and doesn't sound like everything else.
Great story! Two questions: 1) Why were all these large, very culturally Japanese, methodical, rigid, team-oriented, high-tech electronics manufacturers (often conglomerates) ultimately hiring rogue AMERICANS to design the presets, the very thing that sales of the products would hinge upon? (I knew Roland and Korg did this in mid-late '80s, maybe Yamaha, too, but didn't realize Kawai did, as well. I also know that sometime between DX7 and M1 debuted, these companies switched from different presets by country/region to a single worldwide set.) 2) Why then put the preset programmers in the BASEMENT?? 😳🤣
@@ShallRemainUnknown The reason for the change of venue for programmers was the complaint that all the presets coming out of Japan where "thin". It was decided this phenomenon was a cultural issue. Today it would be misconstrued as racism or profiling, but the truth is a simple preference. I had a meeting with Kurzweil over the K1000 series having the same problem. Those were ROMPLERS but the way they were programmed was again very thin, nothing about the originals reached out and punched you in the face. However, that's been the deal with Roland ROMPLERS forever. The sounds standalone are usually not impressive (unless they're multis) but they sit in a mix (and a demo) like they were born there. I was one of the original 3 sales/demo/everything guys at Sequential and Dave used to make of point of saying the sounds in the unit were rarely useful in the studio because they were designed to be huge, fat and impressive by themselves. As far as the basement goes, well, keep the unwashed pop culture people away from the piano people!
@@philhuston9426 Thanks. I guess the type of sound was a cultural thing, indeed. But Americans seemed to be deeply involved in the patch programming even before the pure PCM synths came out; the D-50 presets, and even the M1 samples sourced from the DSS-1 library were American. I think the K1000 series were all designed and even manufactured in USA (bought by Korean company in 1990). Preset patch creators in a strange place between pocket-protector-programmers and unshowered musicians. Maybe the basement is perfect place to keep them! ;)
The joystick was pretty cool, even more at those times when it came out. but if I remember correctly, it wasn't possible to record the joystick data as controller data (i don't know if it was possible with K1 II, i had the K1), which was sometimes annoying because you had to sample it right away. Nevertheless, the result of the crossfade effects were more than impressive in the price range at the time. You could edit that with an external effect like reverb echo chorus and you got super spacy spherical sounds that blew you away.
oddly i love my K1ii,, its my goto synth mainly because some of the buttons on my M1 need fixing.. I love the bonkers way new patches can be made from the existing PCMs... Also it works really well when I sequence using my amiga via midi. Also the reason i got mine was firstly its cheap and because of the bomkers patch 'arrangement' used on lfo lfo.
Kawai = childhood EVIL! I was 6 years and my parents forced me to learn playing on our Kawai paino (on purpose!) But now 42 years later I thank my parents for those hard moments ;-)
Back in the day I was debating getting the K1. I already had a DSS1 and a Prophet 2002 and a TX81z. The 2002 was a piece of crap compared to the DSS1 and I was going to sell it for Something Else. The K1 was under consideration, but its lack of a filter was a Big Nope. I ended up buying other things (an SPX90 and a new amp for my PA). People were so enamoured of the 2002, for reasons I really don't understand, it was easy to sell. The 2002 would be a good "Bad Gear" episode. Compared to other machines, it was not competitive. The DSS1 was a vastly better device with a filter, waveform drawing, and additive synthesis and two delays. The Mirage was fine and fairly cheap for what it did, and the Akai950 was just a better sampler, as was the Emax. But the Prophet 2002 was 'Murkan from the magic land of SCI. Sigh. Eventually I ended up getting a DX11, which, while basically a TX81z with a keyboard, was a really nice piece of kit, esp. when blown through a pile of processors (like the DSP128, SPX90 and MidiVerb all at once).
@@dreibel - totally. It was easier to make crazy sounds with a DX11 than a DX7. The extra waveforms made for much more complex tones and modulation. If I were into hardware, I would cheerfully acquire another DX11.
Anyone else just now realizing that this show has been a part of their Fridays consistently for like a year and a half? 😳
Thanks for all the laughs Florian!
Thank you so much!!!
Friday evenings in our house are not complete without Bad Gear! I’ve even started doing the “see you next time” pointy thing back at the screen 😂
It's my Saturday breakfast fix in NSW, Australia
I'm looking forward to it with joy every Friday, consistently
100%
I feel like for every cheesy '80s one-hit wonder, there's a cheesy '80s digital synth to match. Definite "heartfelt power-ballad meets SNES" feel here.
So true!
we definitely need more modern VSTs that capture the vibe of a lot of these late 80s/early 90s digital synths, I think. I feel like there's a lot more territory "those sorts" of sounds could capture, being nostalgic without being as full on cheesy, but don't want to have to shell out for a modwave or something
@@SisterRose - UVI has some sample packs that cover most of those instruments, and if you disable to software effects you have a lot of raw sounds there.
Roland also has VST versions of the D-50 and JV-1080, both of which are excellent (I own the D-50 one and love it).
Finally, there are various limited freeware emulations of synths from that time period, including one of the Kawai K3.
@@SisterRose - A current fave of mine is Audio Damage's _Phosphor,_ an emulation/extension of the old Apple ][ AlphaSyntauri synth workstation (that was my unattainable dream machine in the early 80s). Lo-fi in the good ways, very inspiring and easy to make great sounds.
The K1’s samples were actually used for Super Mario World
Also - the reason for the minimalist "black surfboard" look of synths in the 80s came from a memo that was leaked out of SCI in the early 80s. They did a scan of all their repairs and returns and found that, regardless of how long someone owned a Prophet 5, 85% of their users NEVER CHANGED THE PRESETS. EVER. So, why make a synth with all these knobs that are a QA testing nightmare, when you can just make a box full of sounds for folks. don't even bother with a filter. East Coast synthesis wasn't interested in sound design. they just wanted funny buzzy noises for keyboard players to go buzz buzz with. The reign of the DCO unisoned Sawtooth began and Bleep Bloop died for a few decades.
But seriously - it came out of that memo from SCI which quickly circulated through the industry. Other companies did the same research, and yup - no one was doing sound design, so all these expensive knobs were pointless. Enter: The Black Surfboard.
Wow, that's mindblowing. Do you have a source for that?
now I know why my SCI MAX has 6 voice multitimbral capability but literally no physical way to manipulate the 30+ parameters accessible via midi and is totally amnesiac
I attended an Ensoniq workshop at a local music store in the mid 1980s, and was asked the question “Do you want more, good, usable presets, or deep onboard editing capability?” The overwhelming answer from the attendees was “more presets”.
I know.. I know lol I had a PSS-480 😎
It actually make sense. When I am using synths with presets I usually do only some minor tweaking of sound. Also only about 20% of presets are rewritten on my machines. :-D
Nearly 50k sir. I vote for a "symphony of shite" special episode with your growing collection.
Yup, gonna start working on "All the Bad Gear Pt. 3" ;)
Just don’t bring Philip into it. He’ll ruin everything.
Yessss.... YEEEESSSSS!
I have the same collection 😂 Please, make it, Pilz!
@@AudioPilz Oh good! A synthetic nightmare!
I somehow ended up buying this off craigslist some 15 years ago as my first synth knowing absolutely nothing about it and it's continually grown on me as my favorite sound. I love how raw it is . it lends itself perfectly to shaping or smoothing the sound further with external effects.
Yeah, works great with stompboxes!
@@AudioPilz exactly
Agreed!
k1 rules the field of lo-fi pure digital. goes so well when mixed with analogue .
Agreed!
I have the desktop version, got it cheap about 3 or 4 years ago on eBay for $80. I’m definitely not getting rid of it. It sounds amazing!🤗
OMG... I was literally _JUST_ watching this video and a friend of mine sent me a photo of a K1 he had _JUST_ bought locally... for only $50, everything working. (Hadn't realized he was even looking!!!) I've had mine since '88 and sorry, but I love it still.
Nice find!!!
This videos are becoming more like videogames for the action and concentration required to see them. It takes me 30 minutes to watch each video stopping at every meme to read it, some last like 1 microsecond and it's difficult to catch them, meanwhile I also have to keep in mind the narration to not lose the plot of the video. I'm going crazy
Bad Gear videos aren't necessarily a linear medium;)
@@AudioPilz They are more a pois large
I like ice cream.🤗
Pause + "" will step frames.
Florian never, ever disappoints.
(And yes, you pronounced "archaic" correctly! :)
Thank you so much! (on both accounts;)
I have the original, bought it shortly after it's initial release. It is still one of my favorites synths in my small collection. I've also put together a large sound library for it. The synth is capable of so much more. The review is good but it can definitely sound better, much better.
Thank you for the feedback
hi Mike, where's the library! :)
4:44 - and in an instant, the price of these second hand has shot up because Florian demonstrated something vaguely like a gated snare!
The 8-Bit short samples of this instrument gave me Amiga vibes, your 3rd jam nailed those Amiga vibes. In fact, I had to bite myself to realize we're in 2021, looked around and realized hm...I might not be the best example as my house is filled with 80's memorabilia. I also realized that sometimes it's a good thing to let the past be in the past and leave those as good memories and just that, memories.
The tracker flavor is strong in this one!
My first synth was a K1 II as well (got it 23 years ago - sold it sometime after 2007). With my precious Atari ST running Notator/Creator it taught me the basics of MIDI. Once I got hold of the sounds of all ROM-Cards online, I was in heaven! I think I even had an editor/librarian software for the ST. Have been playing with the VST/AU version now, that sure does takes me back in time. Great episode, Florian! Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much!
I love my k1. You can get really brizzeling knistering frozen sci-fi-pad-sounds out of it …and with an additional filter the machine is ultra funky.
Agreed!
I haven’t met a Kawai synth I haven’t liked. My uncle had one of these and I spent a summer at my aunt and his place messing with it. He knew I was diving deep and told me to just not lose a few presets he used for band and church performance. I totally changed every other patch in there into some fun stuff. He really appreciated that synth a lot more after that.
Great! Maybe he spiced up the Sunday service with a few industrial-style low-pitched death rattle sounds;)
@@AudioPilz That was my intention all along, to bring them the darkness!!!
This was my first synth purchase ever and I don't regret it at all. You made it sound so nice with the end jam and I can't wait until I'm good enough to do the same!
Thanks!!! It's a classic!!!
It turned out better than I expected, this instrument sounds very great
I was surprised too!
Your genre descriptions for the final jams just get more brilliant and more accurate every episode
Thank you!!!
YOU FINALLY DID IT!
I own this exact model, and it's wonderful!
The best part is with a basic sysex program and the Nils VST as a quick editor/librarian, you can totally overhaul the patch banks into all kinds of wild sounds.
The MIDI implementation is really good, and I believe that Kawai even made a programmer device for it, so it accepts advanced sysex/CC stuff....
The the synth is especially great for pads, that's definitely the strong point.
Nice! 100% agreed!
This is one of the greatest machines you've reviewed
Greatest isn't necessarily the main criterion on this channel;)
I miss my K1m. Really impressed to see what you brought out the K1 II -- but them i'm always impressed by how nicely you frame gear's various timbres within your demos.
Thank you!!! Nice collection!
ahh I really wanted a Darkstar in the 90s. :)
@@squishmusic Me too. They had one set up to demo at the Mars Music store near my high school and I was so into it but could never afford it.
When the K-1 first came out, I was very impressed by it. It sounded so much richer than the FM and analog synths that were around then. And it was cheap: half the price of a D-50. Nowadays the features of the K-1 are very limited, but some sounds like the choirs and strings still sound very nice.
Agreed!
I'd actually argue that back then the K1 line was less impressive than the competition, because it had less of the highly desirable realistic samples and went into glitchy territory. Nowadays with Gigabyte-heavy VST libraries being the norm, that same competition has become less interesting. K1 & Co. are now more intriguing since they are different.
@@LeadingMotive What were the alternatives in 1987? It was analog, FM, the D-50 and synths with more primitive PCM waves, like the Ensoniqs. There were of course samplers and the Kurzweils, but they were out of reach for most people.
@@doordedeur The original K1 seems to be from 1988, that's about when I got my Roland U-110, a kind-of-affordable ROMpler. The U-220 came shortly after. Also the Korg M1 came out at that time.
Edit: How could I forget - the E-mu Proteus 1 was released around 1989 too.
@@LeadingMotive I forgot about the Proteus and U-110. But I consider them as different beasts as the K-1. The korg M-1 was way more expensive than the K-1. Still, with effects applied, you can get M-1 like sounds out of a K-1. Especially the choirs and the organs.
I've been waiting for the new Bad Gear video to drop already all day :D
Have a nice Friday;)
The reason that this might remind you of the Super Nintendo is that the earlier version, K1 was actually the source of many Super Mario World samples. Koji Kondo had a K1r among his collection at the time. Check out the Ars Technica article "Super High-Fidelity Mario..." for some high-bitrate recreations of some SNES music people have been making.
Nice, I will check that out!
I've spent some fun sessions with the free K1 VST called Nil's K1v this week, and suddenly Bad Gear hits me with this banger. The K1 is a nice piece of gear, sound-wise :D
Agreed! The plug is great!
thanks so much for bringing this plugin to my attention! k1 was one of my favourite synth back in the day. always regretted selling it.
I've got that VST, and Dexed(DX7), they are both great😊
The K1-II was my first proper synth (after many mini-key home keyboards). I quite regret selling it- I have very fond memories of playing and programming it. I don't think it was that difficult to program (but then I always shout about the Blofeld being much easier to program than many think)- and the parameter layout is far less arcane than Roland's D-50. Some of those grungy sounds can be great in the right circumstances. I remember it being sold as the most realistic sax sound at the time (you could use the aftertouch to get a bit of grit into the sound using the ring mod feature). I had a Sound Source sound card for it too- one of the sounds "Belfullness" has been reproduced on many of my synths, from digital to my Prophet'08. Some of the features were lacking- the midi messages were about quarter resolution - so the pitch/mod wheel and aftertouch jumps 4 steps at a time.
The sax should have been in the episode!!!
Thank you for covering the dear old K1! It's one of the few rompler synths to have any character, and programming your own patches is easy to get your head around. And the versatility of the keyboard makes it a pretty good MIDI controller, too.
People who moan about it not having a filter are missing the point, and can go stick their heads up a K4!
Pleasure! It works great with an external filter!
So often in those little review quotes you put up on screen we see people complaining that the sounds of a given instrument are "outdated" or "cheesy." I've been in the synth game long enough (since '95) to know that all you have to do is wait a few years and those "outdated" and "cheesy" sounds will be sought after and considered cool again. 😄 👍
I know, it's ironic;)
One of my go to synths for 90's industrial techno. Very easy to sequence multi timbral parts, intuitive menu and controls. Loved the bow scrape on violin. And it was $$$ cheap.I'd pair with my SQ80.
So breathy!!!
Yeah! I have the K1RII AND an ESQ1 - great combo.
Owned the k1rII rack version and enjoyed it for years. Very nice sounds.
Sounds were so awkward until the last jam . You killed it . Another record breaking genre title , and gold medal in menu diving 🥇🏆. I got nostalgic when I heard that jam (for what I haven't a clue) excellent composition , and video !
Yeah, I found this one rather challenging...
The K1II was my first real keyboard. Have lots of positive nostalgia for it, especially the orchestra sound with the bell tone on the attack.
Yeah, love that sound!
I have the European K1r and that came with the Orchestra sound. However I tried finding the original sound bank sys exc file that mine came with, and it took me YEARS before I stumbled across it. Most out there are like the one on the Kawai website, which I guess is a USA or international version.
her: i love this type of music, what genre is it called?
me: *what if 90s Coolio was hanging out with 80s techno nerds in a 70s soviet time machine creating zero years crunk-core for a hyper-pop trap future*
Great date guaranteed!
Which is just a long way to say “baby making music.”
One of the funniest adverts I saw for a synth was in a music tec magazine back on the day. I think it might have been a Soho sound house advert. It read: 'Kawai, you've tried the jelly, now try the synth...'
😂😂😂
Really like the idea of having Oscar Peterson making super fast jazz runs on the TB3 Aira.
Can we have a deep fake of this?
dude at the end with that smile broke me tf up! Some of these old videos are bangers
“What if 90s Coolio was hanging out with 80s techno nerds in a 70s Soviet time machine creating zero years crunkcore for a hyperpop-trap future?”
The ravings of a madman or a Bad Gear jam?
You make the call!
The answer is: YES!;)
I may be wrong but I think there was a smattering of Tarkovsky's 'Stalker' movie in there.
Well said. Went for the modular system and never looked back. We used the Kawai K1m as a doorstop because we tried hard but could not get it to fit our liking. Nice to see you do your thing with it and sort of succeed in your perseverance.
Wise but expensive choice;) Thanks!
Sugoi!
Edit: Damn this thing sounds really really good what the heck, that Smoke on the Water bit made me chuckle a little. :D
Arigato gozaimasu!
every time you find a new way to impress me with the names of the jams
Thank you!!!
Fun fact! "Kawai" comes from "ka" and "wai" - the two noises I repeatedly mutter while trying to program minimalist 80's synth interfaces. 😐
Mind. Blown.😂😂😂
Hahahahaha, nice! It's actually Kawa + Ai, meaning where two rivers meet!
Thanks for this episode Bad Gear
Thanks for watching!
Ah, my first synth! Bought one used in 1994. For a teen like myself with no prior synth experience to speak of, it was fun to learn and mess around with, and a few of its sounds made it into some of my early tracker music. I mostly ended up just using it as a controller keyboard, though - a purpose it served for nearly two decades!
Nice starting point for a synth addiction;)
Oh my gooood! You did it! Nice! Thank you so much for making one of the Kawai synths „exactly that gear I need“.
Thank you!!!
I love seeing these older, partly lesser known synths. Nice vid again! 😊
It's kinda sad that Kawai stopped developing synths. All of them have something "special" to them.
I'm especially interested in the Kawai K5000 as it is one the few hardware synths that use additive synthesis.
I only know of the Synclavier and the Waldorf Wave, which offered additive synthesis in some way as well.
Can't imagine what Kawai would've come up with by now, if they'd still be in the synth market. ^^
Thanks! Maybe additive synthesis is just more fun in a plugin;)
Add Casio FZ1/10/20 I have the 10. Nice. The K1 VM waveforms were made on the K5 btw
I have a K5000w from the 90s, and my first synth in the 80s was a K5. The K5000 is actually a great sounding synth, although pretty neigh impossible to program the additive engine from the panel. The workstation version I have doesn't have some of the panel controls the standard has, but I remember loving the sequencer and the extra PCM samples. Nowadays I hang onto it because of sentimental reasons, but occasionally the additive engine makes it into a mix.
@@hallucigenia it's easier with an editor for sure -- i like ruclips.net/channel/UCdurwMU6dD80Do6KJ14WLKQ videos like ruclips.net/video/lEKb7MGvCqI/видео.html
I am sincerely hoping for a new additive hardware synth. Additive doesn't need to be hard to program, I am confident that with a clever UI design, a modern and actually programmable additive synth could be made.
I know that this kind of synthesis really shines when the levels of the individual harmonics are dynamically modulated and I am also fully aware of the fact that setting up modulations for 32 or 64 harmonics would be a Sisyphos Job. However, this is not necessarily required, as dynamic additive sounds could be easily achieved via intelligently made macros or via pairing additive with wave table synthesis.
Think of the Hydrasynth, where you can create your own wavetables per patch via selecting your waveforms of choice. Imagine a synth where you'd have a wavetable with 4 or 8 waveform slots and instead of picking static waveforms, you'd instead create additive waveforms with 32 or 64 harmonics inside of each slot and then morph between these slots in the typical wavetable style. This would be a perfect modern additive/wavetable synth in my opinion. This would also make the need of using software editors for wavetable creation obsolete, as you could now make any imaginable wavetable directly on the hardware.
I was honestly disappointed when the Waldorf Quantum / Iridium was introduced and while being a true synth powerhouse with several synthesis types, they've missed that opportunity.
I really hate it when there are synths being so close to perfection and then just missing out on the last steps.
That 'Visitors' patch took me all the way back to high school, stoned AF at lunch time, up in the music room.
That's what I call proper education!
your jams always kick me away, so inspiring
Thank you!!!
One of these sits in my studio; I find myself playing with the sound engine more than I would have expected. Nice to see a review!
Thanks! One of these should be in every studio!
K1 was a very good alternative to D110 when it appeared on the low cost synths market. It was one of the first to provide " Dynamic Polyphony ", allowing some fixed or floating number of notes to different channels.
It was interesting to mix it's sound with analog synths, and some pcm waves had some character. Not such a bad thing for late 80s pop :)
Agreed! The D110 was much cleaner though. Not sure if a good or a bad thing;)
I had them both in the late 80s, I found the D110 far more flexible but still liked the K1 for the pads. Sold/swapped them in the 90s but bought again several yrs ago.
@@maccagrabme I worked demonstrating the K1 for Hohner, in Paris (Salon de la Musique )
I did use this synth a couple of years, but i didn't miss it a lot :)
It was really cheap, but good . K4 never succeeded in taking a good place in the market .
I really loved K3M and K5, wich were very interesting synths.
Great video! specially at the end when you show more sounds, thank you
Thanks!
The LFO preset was 'Arrangement' Do I win a prize? This synth worked fine in my early 90's indie band, wouldn't recommend for electronic music, though it seems to have its fans. Nice use of Stalker in the end song!
That's a bingo;) Thank you so much!
There are many imitators…
Damn i knew someone was earlier. Bought a K1m back in 2015 and played around with this preset for the first days. Sold it this year because of the plugin and i rarely used it thanks to better gear i own now, but i always keep it in my heart.
"wouldnt recommend for electronic music..." Uhmmmm, LFO! :D
@@squishmusic Actually, some of the pads are quite nice and useable, but the lack of a filter makes it pretty limited for anything else. I remember EMF hammering one on TOTP, but I don't know if it's actually on their recordings.
Joys-ticking all the boxes !!! Fire episode, bro!!! I love Kawai, some of their drum machines are incredibly dope 🤍🖤🤍
Thank you!!!
I haven't bothered looking through comments for it this time. Fun fact: the VM synth waveforms were created on the beloved K5 (the K5 was runner up with the DX7 MK II to the Roland D50 in Sound on Sound's best of awards '88 DON'T PUT IT ON YOUR LIST without consulting Jarre or Jan Hammer: "I shut off the TV monitor, stop thinking about the show [Miami Vice >50% K5] and just go fool around with anything - it might be playing with the Fairlight Series III or trying to create a new sound on the Kawai K5"
Thanks!
yes the K5 was heavily used by Jan Hammer on the season 2 to 4 of Miami Vice. . he used also the K3 on some episodes and one of the preset of the k1 seems to have been sampled in Jan’ s studio cause it s so close to one sound of crockett theme!
@@philippezsiga1125 that's cool - do you have a K1 - do you know which waveform?
"VCR player" (shows XBox) - savage! "Bland musical motives" (shows David Guetta) - even more savage! Now I know why it always takes me at least half an hour to watch (*checks*) 9:26 videos like this one...
Bad Gear isn't necessarily a linear format;) Thanks!
Great tracks as usual and great visuals too!
Thanks!
This video is under 9.5 mins but I swear it takes me 14-15 mins to watch as the memes/synth jokes are worth it. My hands are hovering over the left/right cursor keys & spacebar. 😂
Bad Gear isn't necessarily a linear medium;)
Man, the crunkcore banger was my favourite so far amongst all others you've produced. Moody trance dark wave sh*t coupled with suspenseful agitating imagery I could listen and watch for hours. Pretty damn well executed.
Thank you so much!
Waited all week for the next one!
Thank you for your patience!
Coincidentally, there was a Kawai K-1II for sale this week for $100, but I didn’t buy it because I bought a Kawai K1 this summer, also for $100. I also own a K3 and a K5. Kawai, the unsung heroes of musical equipment.
Nice deal!
The k3 was my first synth when I knew nothing about synths. It was simply the only thing that fit my budget. It had a good sound with the analogue filter but the single knob that had limited steps made it somewhat difficult to use it for dynamic performance
I love my k3, I feel like it’s a very underrated hybrid, I got the desktop k1m with it. Definitely my favorite two synths to work with
Finally! The Mighty K1 appeared here! Thanks for your show/ You make my fridays better!)
Thank you!!!
Who needs a filter on the K1 - its not aimed for analogue-type of sounds, it really shines when the ringmod comes in underlining its digital character - so its a different perspective - a move away from the filter-centric dogma - and its truly refreshing - still, after all the years
Yeah, its filterless versatility really surprised me
Plus...I mean, if you want to filter it for recording, you can just do that externally.
definitely some of your best work.
Thank you!!!
Found the original k1 at goodwill for 20 bucks
Used it on one song
Sold it 3 years later
Needless to say it was a great experience
Nice price;)
Finally!!! I have been waiting for - a what if 90's coolio was hanging out with 80s techno nerds in a 70s soviet time machine creating zero years crunkcore for a hyperpop trap future - jam on this channel! That's def in my top 1,345 electronic music genres! Maybe my top 962!
Moving up the list fast;)
"No, get the modular system" had me laughing for ages... :-D
Thanks! Happy to hear that!
thank you man! always a pleasure. you make bad gear great again!
Thanks for watching!
I almost got this in the 80s, but got the Kawai K4r instead, maybe outdated sounds, but certainly not bad. Have a nice weekend 😊👍
There is so much power in that old keyboard. Thanks for watching!
The fun thing is that these lofi sounds usually sounds awesome with a bit of reverb :) Never owned a K1, but had a K4 for a while. Nice video
True! Thanks!
Love to see the K series represented here! I have a K4 and I love it!
Nice, that one is on my list too!
@@AudioPilz Sweet! I also have a Kawai K4. I'd definitely enjoy watching you create some content with one!
7:35 That crooked key, It's causing me pain
It was really cheap tho;)
Wonderful episode as always, my good man!
Thanks!
Your long winded genre names are the best.
Thank you!!!
For those who like the Kawai K1 (original model), there is a perfect vst re-creation for free on "plugins 4 free" (as mentionned is the video). It sadly doesn't have midi learn. I don't know of any other vst re-creation of a vectorial wavetable synth that is free (there is from Korg the vst of the M1 and wavestation, but they arn't cheap).
Anyway, as always, a nice and fun Bad Gear episode.
note : my first comment that said about the same was deleted by youtube. The allmighty algorythm can by a pain in the behind, its not like my message was promoting violence or had bad language or anything.... maybe is the mention of "plugins 4 free" that automatically deletes my message ?
the crappy algorythm...
Thanks for posting. There are so many spammers on YT that I can understand that they act quite rigorously. Still a major PITA
Welcome to bad algorithm the show about the most hated algorithmic moves. Today we are going to talk about RUclips....
theres one in CTAG TBD which is open source so easily ported.
Oh, Stalker! Nice! Didn't expect to see my favourite movie here 🤣🤣🤣
One of my absolute favorites too!
Love your videos man, Keep it comin'!
Thanks!
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of that K1 vst... I've had K1 and K1m and really liked them paired to my beloved Kawai q80ex sequencer. Right now my current setup includes a Kawai kc10 Spectra for those lovely gritty, cheesy tones
Ah, the spectra. There's one in the local classifieds atm. Is it bad?;)
@@AudioPilz It's a very stripped down to basics k1. Just two romples per patch, just two patches per multi. Super light in every possible way. you can put a strap and play keytar style if you dare...
2:13: take that, muffle it, and you've got 40% of the Amiga MOD basslines ever written.
Seriously though: much as I love the C64's SID, it _shouldn't_ have ages better than the Amiga's Paula. And yet! Thank you, Bob Yannes, you god amongst synth designers!
Yeah, it definitely sounds like an old computer ;)
Man that bass in your intro rack sounds serious!
Yup, that thing got some serious low frequency content
I love my K1, dark and unique Sounds- nice for ambient and electronic Production 👍🍀
Yup, that's its sweet spot!
Bought one of these instead of a midi keyboard a few years ago because the keybed was better than the M-Audio next to it, and now it's a staple texture in my studio!! Love this little synth ❤
Yeah, I was surprised by the sound too!
The K1's joystick really is *not* similar to the SY-22. SY-22 patches store the *trajectory* of your joystick movement. This programmable trajectory envelope is what makes the SY-22 a real vector synthesizer, like the TG-33, SY-35, Wavestation series, and Prophet VS. The K1 is not: its joystick is just a real-time performance gadget. The K1's secret weapon is its ringmod, which is still used to this day by lofi producers to make all sorts of weirdness.
Agreed, I found the joystick of the K1 disappointing too
agreed. However the Joystick on the K1 can be used as a data value contoller, something the SY/TG didnt implement but should have! (TG33 did have a data knob thankfully) :D
Sadly the K1 stick does NOT output MIDI data as the Sy35/TG33, but it still useful to inject life to pads, great for dnb or ambient, really great for subtle movements and so on
I just took a trip to the 80s 😁 Happy Friday!
a e s t h e t i c
Also, would you be able to cover the Cheetah MS800? It's so minimalist it makes the DX7 look like an Arturia.
That one is really obscure! Great suggestion, thanks!
Laurent Garnier used a Cheetah back in the days. BTW are you talking about the MS800 or MS6? Cheetah was a brand, not a synth.
Richard D James also did an ep in the ms800. Love to see it appear on Bad gear
@@AudioPilz Even more obscure is Cheetah's MQ8 sequencer, which was years ahead of its time for performance features - on-the-fly key changing on selected tracks, anyone? Only snag is the manual, which you need a magnifying glass to read!
I have never seen a Cheetah in the States, they only seem to ever turn up in the UK
' given the limited polyphony of sixteen voices ' ,... Okay, yes there's that. I'm pretty sure only professionals or die hard, OCD gear nerds are going to care that much 🤣😂. I love that you have a sense of humor about your reviews. Flashing a screenshot of Danny Trejo is priceless 😂🤣
Being a Stalker is the new side hustle 😁
New? ;)
@@AudioPilz Fair enough 😆
@AudioPilz Your Poetry and Video Snips are outstandingly out of the ordinary!!!
Thank you so much!
True story: I implemented a synth engine on a device with only one button, and all the editing happened onboard!
(I made firmware for a lightsaber, and the blade colors are generated by a simple synth engine where the oscillators oscillate through a 2D colorspace, and there's only one button on the hilt, so ... had to cram an awful lot of controls into just one button)
Cool stuff!
Been waiting for this one! Goes nicely with analogs. I had the k1rII for a long time, sold it, then someone gave me the keyboard one. It was meant to be I guess. I like it. It's so bright.
They always come back;)
I do feel like the lack of filter on these did definitely harm them as there's a reason why the D50 was so dominant even with it's somewhat unusual and simple digital filter(that's actually responsible for a surprising amount of iconic "filter sweep" sounds)
Yeah, this one could really use some movement in the sound
It was much more expensive to implement a DSP filter in 1988/89, that's why only the higher end digital synths like the D50 had filters in the late '80s.
@@twiff3rino28 I might be wrong on this but as far as I know the D50 doesn't have a DSP filter - it's actually a phase distortion synth (that's why closing the filter all the way down gives you a sine wave).
I sat in the basement of Kawai with Rich Godinez and two other guys and programmed the original K1before release. On one hand, it could be crappy. On the other, it has buckets of character. The short and not so stellar wave ROM resulted in some loop warbles. Not your perfect choir, but a perfect choir chewing gum in unison. The fun part of this piece was the character, and the envelopes. The "slave" patch on the original is a classic example. I got a better non sampled sax and the best pan flute ever (if there can be such a thing) out of the K1 than most other gear at the time. And a screaming, evolving feedback lead guitar (run through a Rat and 60s Thomas Wah). I did a clinic in Austin. Called back a few days later to see what they thought, if they'd sold any K1 gear. No, the man said, But we sold out of Rat pedals and Wahs in two days." It's all about delivery. I bought a clean K1 not long ago for $125 US. For the simple reason that it's NOT pristine, has no effects and doesn't sound like everything else.
Great insights, thanks!
Great story! Two questions:
1) Why were all these large, very culturally Japanese, methodical, rigid, team-oriented, high-tech electronics manufacturers (often conglomerates) ultimately hiring rogue AMERICANS to design the presets, the very thing that sales of the products would hinge upon?
(I knew Roland and Korg did this in mid-late '80s, maybe Yamaha, too, but didn't realize Kawai did, as well. I also know that sometime between DX7 and M1 debuted, these companies switched from different presets by country/region to a single worldwide set.)
2) Why then put the preset programmers in the BASEMENT?? 😳🤣
@@ShallRemainUnknown The reason for the change of venue for programmers was the complaint that all the presets coming out of Japan where "thin". It was decided this phenomenon was a cultural issue. Today it would be misconstrued as racism or profiling, but the truth is a simple preference. I had a meeting with Kurzweil over the K1000 series having the same problem. Those were ROMPLERS but the way they were programmed was again very thin, nothing about the originals reached out and punched you in the face. However, that's been the deal with Roland ROMPLERS forever. The sounds standalone are usually not impressive (unless they're multis) but they sit in a mix (and a demo) like they were born there. I was one of the original 3 sales/demo/everything guys at Sequential and Dave used to make of point of saying the sounds in the unit were rarely useful in the studio because they were designed to be huge, fat and impressive by themselves. As far as the basement goes, well, keep the unwashed pop culture people away from the piano people!
@@philhuston9426 Thanks. I guess the type of sound was a cultural thing, indeed. But Americans seemed to be deeply involved in the patch programming even before the pure PCM synths came out; the D-50 presets, and even the M1 samples sourced from the DSS-1 library were American. I think the K1000 series were all designed and even manufactured in USA (bought by Korean company in 1990).
Preset patch creators in a strange place between pocket-protector-programmers and unshowered musicians. Maybe the basement is perfect place to keep them! ;)
I like the joystick idea. It should be included in all DAW interfaces.
Absolutely!
The joystick was pretty cool, even more at those times when it came out. but if I remember correctly, it wasn't possible to record the joystick data as controller data (i don't know if it was possible with K1 II, i had the K1), which was sometimes annoying because you had to sample it right away. Nevertheless, the result of the crossfade effects were more than impressive in the price range at the time. You could edit that with an external effect like reverb echo chorus and you got super spacy spherical sounds that blew you away.
Random person: What's your favorite genre?
Me: AudioPilz!
Random Person:??????
Me: Bad Gear For Life!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Great vid !! is the Yamaha Rx-5 drum machine on your list for a bad gear episode !?
Thanks! Great suggestion, I'll have a closer look!
Would be awesome 🙌
What a great sense of imagination to place this song in this very specific scenery. But I loved it!
oddly i love my K1ii,, its my goto synth mainly because some of the buttons on my M1 need fixing.. I love the bonkers way new patches can be made from the existing PCMs... Also it works really well when I sequence using my amiga via midi. Also the reason i got mine was firstly its cheap and because of the bomkers patch 'arrangement' used on lfo lfo.
The arrangement patch is indeed a classic!
Your concepts never fail to amuse me
Do you do any scoring work
Thank you!!! I did a lot of sound design for theatre but never film stuff. Totally interested though!
Kawai = childhood EVIL! I was 6 years and my parents forced me to learn playing on our Kawai paino (on purpose!)
But now 42 years later I thank my parents for those hard moments ;-)
Hey Roger! I never learned how to play them black and white keys (which can be quite frustrating;)
@@AudioPilz ah…so you use stand-in hands for the jams. Clever! 🤣
The one I own actually has an engraving for a middle school music department on it
loved the avatar intro! nice job man
Thanks!
Back in the day I was debating getting the K1. I already had a DSS1 and a Prophet 2002 and a TX81z. The 2002 was a piece of crap compared to the DSS1 and I was going to sell it for Something Else. The K1 was under consideration, but its lack of a filter was a Big Nope. I ended up buying other things (an SPX90 and a new amp for my PA). People were so enamoured of the 2002, for reasons I really don't understand, it was easy to sell. The 2002 would be a good "Bad Gear" episode. Compared to other machines, it was not competitive. The DSS1 was a vastly better device with a filter, waveform drawing, and additive synthesis and two delays. The Mirage was fine and fairly cheap for what it did, and the Akai950 was just a better sampler, as was the Emax. But the Prophet 2002 was 'Murkan from the magic land of SCI. Sigh. Eventually I ended up getting a DX11, which, while basically a TX81z with a keyboard, was a really nice piece of kit, esp. when blown through a pile of processors (like the DSP128, SPX90 and MidiVerb all at once).
Great suggestion, thanks. It looks so intimidating!!!
I wish I still had my DX11! That and the TX81Z were the best 4-operator synths Yamaha ever made.
@@dreibel - totally. It was easier to make crazy sounds with a DX11 than a DX7. The extra waveforms made for much more complex tones and modulation. If I were into hardware, I would cheerfully acquire another DX11.
My first synth was a Kawai K4. My dad bought it for me for Xmas in 1990. I haven't turned it on in at least 15 years. It has great pads and basses
Nice, really have get one of these!