Kawai K1

Jazzy fluids by drexciya is supposed to be a kawai k1. Costs about 100 quid. LFO used it too on frequencies.

I picked up a K1M for around $50 shipped a few years ago, I REALLY like it. Easy to mod it for CV control of the joystick X and Y values, too, although I haven't done that myself.

I saved up most of last year and got myself a Linnstrument a couple weeks ago.  I've been using the K1m in Multi mode as an 8 channel MPE instrument and it works flawlessly, it has no trouble handling all of the control data and it's easy to set it up to do things like using note pressure to crossfade between different waves.  

Despite some opinions, I've also found it really fun and easy to program from the front panel.

$100 seems like a good price these days, I see them going for up to $200.  For $200 I probably would never have bought one even if I had the money to spare, but after a few years using one I'd also say $200 isn't actually unreasonable because it's a really cool sounding synth if you aren't expecting it to sound like an Arp or something.  It's really basic on paper (no filters, no effects, only a handful of available CCs, although you can edit everything via sysex if you have a controller that can send it - but apparently the sysex documentation is so full of mistakes it's almost useless) but  in practice it gets all kinds of strange, futuristic sounds unlike any other synth I've used, especially if you add an outboard filter and/or delay. If you have a BCR2000, there's a custom K1 template on Gearslutz.

just found the k1r for 80 something quid including postage

hope it's not sold out :-)

Anyone know the K5m? There's one for sale locally and I'm tempted.. then again I have an SY22 that I never use..

I would love a K1 has some very unique timbres. Global Communications used it too I'm pretty sure.

You can get the Kawai K1 wave forms to load into your sampler. Easily found on Google. I've got them loaded into my Rytm, for example.

  On 1/7/2019 at 11:13 AM, rhmilo said:

You can get the Kawai K1 wave forms to load into your sampler. Easily found on Google. I've got them loaded into my Rytm, for example.

Yeah baby

85 quid for a k1r.

They are 150 on reverb.com

  On 1/7/2019 at 1:27 PM, worms said:

Yeah baby

85 quid for a k1r.

They are 150 on reverb.com

Reverb is just a rip off though. The prices people put on there are totally inflated. I think £85 for a working K1 is a good price ..... dare I say a bargain so suggest you go for it!!! 

Yeah I know what you mean.

  On 1/7/2019 at 1:53 PM, worms said:

Yeah I know what you mean.

I've seen them around that price range on Gumtree before. Maybe as high as £100 but I wouldn't pay more than that for one because I always want a bargain lol. That said I don't have any space so I can keep dreaming eh.

What other cheap stuff do you own?

  On 1/7/2019 at 2:06 PM, worms said:

What other cheap stuff do you own?

Ooo erm let me think. I've got an Akai S2000 (bought for £40 I think), Roland JV1080 (bought for £95), Roland D110 (bought for £35), Roland TR505 (bought for £45), Yamaha DD10 (bought for £12). I think that's most of my bargain stuff!!

  On 1/7/2019 at 11:40 AM, mcbpete said:

 

  On 1/7/2019 at 11:13 AM, rhmilo said:

You can get the Kawai K1 wave forms to load into your sampler. Easily found on Google. I've got them loaded into my Rytm, for example.

Aye, have them for all poised ready for [the fabulous] TAL-Sampler: http://www.chvad.com/kawai-k1-samples/

 

Thanks a lot for this link. I really like me some single cycle waveforms. 

Nice, I'd been meaning to sample the waveforms from mine for ages but it seemed like a big hassle so I kept putting it off. Now I don't have to!

A lot of the magic of the K1 and K1m is in the joystick and ring modulation, but the waveforms themselves are really useful on their own.