Kawai K5000S

OS 4.3.
The presets its great!
Ease to use, but not same for programing. The manual its ok, but I bought a book for Additive Synthesis

Polyphony Its 32 and Keyboard Action its wonderful.

This is the board. I love vintage synthsizers, and I was looking for a Module or a keyboard for this when I professional keyboard player tell me about this machine. It's unbelieveble. You emulate Oberheim, Moogs, Arps, Mellotrons, etc...better than my monophonic Korg Prophecy. For expresiveness you have 16 knobs and modulation. If you like vintage sounds, buy one!!!!!!

There's no problem

It's one the better synths have made. Only a few people knew that. If you need vintage synthsizer sounds, you must to have one. Better than Yamaha AN1x and Korg MS2000 and don't use Physical Modelling.

This synth is fairly easy to use as long as you're not trying to develop your own sounds. This can certainly be done (made much easier with the included Sounddiver patch editor) but it's not all that much fun to do. HOWEVER, the presets are quite wonderful and you can modify the existing sounds with ease, so that is another avenue to explore rather than making sounds from scratch. I do love what this synth does thus far, but I haven't really discovered what it CAN do yet.

This synth really has a lot to offer in regards to features, which is why it also makes and excellent controller for any additional sound modules, or software you might be using. Plenty of polyphony (24 I think... can't remember right now) The keyboard is exceptional... like the Novation VAs the keyboard is apparently made by Fatar. Feels great. Touch sensitivity is nice. Great MIDI implementation. Has MIDI-through.

The built-in sounds are quite beautiful. Depending on the velocity of the hit, the sounds morph and evolve for some time. The extra knobs on the 'S' model enable you to change some parameters in real-time similar to a VA synth (though this is NOT a VA synth)

If you are looking for sampled sounds, this is not the synth for you. The sounds don't emulate real sampled sounds. Any of them. For that, go to the Roland section. But it does make a vast array of digital electronic sounds from sweeping pads to simple bleeps (at times you may want to turn the effects section off to get a less cheesy sound in cases like this... ) and it will make a fine complement to many types of recordings.

Oh... then there's the arpeggiator... one of its finest features! Fun! So many options! And it will sync to an external clock.

It seems to be built like a tank. You'll know when you see it. Its a solid piece of work. As I said, the keys themselves are of high quality. The knobs don't wiggle. Everything seems very solid.

Haven't needed it yet.

I checked out lots of other synths in this price range and this seemed to be a good choice. It felt daring, as I didn't know much about it when I bought it, but I am very pleased. It's capabilities as a controller will keep me happy long into the future when I want to expand with additional rack modules (I already have a couple and they work great with the Kawai). I also like the fact that they aren't too common so the sounds will bring some added uniqueness to your compositions.

This is no easy synthesiser to use. Ok, it is easy to play sounds and adjust sounds with the
16 performance knobs, which provides an amazing range of sound variations of a single patch.
However, the K5000s is a synthesiser and a true owner must make his own sounds from scratch, and that is
much more complicated. It is complicated because there are endless parameters to set, and most parameters
depend on each other and there are to few macro-parameters that changes a group of other parameters. On the other hand, it is probably the easiest-to-edit additive synth ever built. Prepare to spend time with it if you buy one.

One thing I must point out about the knobs is that they are knobbs for performace and not for programming like on most VA's these days, so it's kind of a menu-synth when you edit patches even if it has lots of knobbs.

The manual I got with the synth is for an early OS and Kawai doesen't seem to have manuals for the latest OS on their site. That is not good, because I know there
are lots of good features hiding in the synth I will never find out (for examples, one of the function-buttons sometimes act as effect-bypass switch). Also, like
most manuals, it explains the architecture and parameters from a technical point of view and ignores the musial point of view.

This synth has 16 voice polyphony (I think), anyway, it is too little to be
useful in multitimbral mode. I have often wished for another K5000s when
I have had more than two patches from it that I've wanted to use. The
multitimbral set-up can be a little limiting sometimes because effects
are assigned globally, not on patch level so if the two patches you want to use
haven't got compatible effects, you're out of luck.

The sound of the K5000s is unique and you need to here it to know if it suits you.
The properties of the sound of the K5000s I like the most is its evolving
character, its radical and subtle responses to modulation that leave most other synthesiser behind
and its wicked filter. The filter can distort heavily and blow your speakers.
Most of the time I use this synth, I have it connected to my mixer through a compressor (the RNC 1773 works well) because this synth has an almost disturbing dynamic range, especially with the resonance turned up.

The effects are good and got a certain character they too that I identify with the overall sound of the K5000s,
the only exception being the reverbs that is really bad. A big bonus is that the effects are organised as four independent effects, one global reverb and one global eq (I can't understand why almost every other synth misses the eq - it's essential).

Using this synthesiser you will sooner or later discover the performance-knob problem. You find a patch that doesen't
sound exactly the way you need, so you turn the knobs and woohaa you got the sound. The problem is now, that the synth cannot
remember this configuration of the knobbs, so the next time you need to use the sound, you must remember
the exact position of each knobb, and given the variety of sound these knobs can create,
you will not find the sound by guessing. I have lost a lot of cool sounds this way.

The synth is well built and the latest OS is stable. If you plan to gig with it,
your biggest problem will be to recover sounds you obtained just by turning the performance knobs.

My experience of this synth is that it sometimes a have trouble receiving too much MIDI information. The MIDI
implementation seems to be such, that note on and off have higher priority than control change messages,
so what has happened to me is that I've managed to stay within the polyphony limit, but
overloaded the synth with volume- and filter- change messages resulting in audible timing problems.
However, this will probably only happen if you try to record and playback the gated-arpeggiator in high speed in multimimbral mode.

This synth like many other these days loads OS from disc. It works fine.

The K5000s is a synth in its own category. It is hard to handle and it
never sounds the way you intend, but as a synthesiser for explorers
like me, it is a beloved source of new sounds.

There are many synthesiser today and there are big overlaps between how theses can sound,
but the K5000s (as well as a few other synthesiser) should not be
judged for what it can or cannot do, but for what it can do that no other synth can do.
You should only consider a K5000s if you need that. I own one because I do.

folks say its hard to use. ba!

there is a memory card. very hard to find. i found one. cost a bunch

nothing sounds like real stuff. its best feature.

kinda heavy. the best synth keys bar none. i have two. one dont work?

company is good. very quick emails. pricy manuals

it is my main controller. so i guess i would buy another one. in a heart beat

At first I thought it sounded kind'a edgy and digital but the more I play with it the more I find how deep and powerful it is... it can still be edgy and digital but in a cool, organic way. The sounds I come up with amaze me at the least!!!
The arpeggiator is sooooo cool too!

I tried to program the synth but soon abandoned the idea as futile due to its complexity... a lot easier to create new patches just by messing with knobs.

Would give 10 if it had more sounds...

Look and feels very sturdy.

I have not delved deep into patch editing but the big LCD screen is great for getting around. Accessing patches is easy, and the bank of knobs, switches, and mod/pitch bend wheels are a hands-on delight.

I won't go deep into the features of this synth as many people have already blown off lots of steam about the K5000s. What I will say in general is that I am a gear junkie and this is one of the best keyboards I have bought in a long time. The keyboard action is absolutely superb. The LCD screen and menus are clear and easy to follow. The knobs, switches & wheels are great for live performance and for plain-old sound tweaking. The 3.5" disk drive reads DOS and tons of resources are available on the net. The arpeggiator is a blast to fool around with. Overall, this is a really fun hands-on synth, even if you don't have a clue about "formants" and "n-th harmonics"...like me!

As stated in all these other reviews, this is not a synth for cut and dried piano, horns, etc. This is an extremely powerful synthesizer which really got me excited about synthesizers again. To beat the point to death, this is a synthesizer which actually puts meaning to the term "synthesis" -- in my opinion, this is one of the most important keyboards to come along in a long time, and it's a shame it's been discontinued.

The sounds range from gutteral woofer-blowing bass, to shimmering ethereal dreamscapes, to sounds that defy description. At times, depending on the patch, the sound is brittle, but the 16-bit nature of the beast is more than made up by how amazing the various patches shift, scream, and subside depending on their configuration, the mod wheel, and your own technique and aftertouch.

At times, some of the patches almost remind me of the PPG Wave, that funky blue mid-1980's digital analog synth hybrid. If you're familiar with recordings made using that synth, or with the PPG soft synth currently available, it's sort of like that. But in my opinion, the k5000s is better because of the extreme spectrum of sounds it can manufacture.

This would be a great synth for people involved in electronica, for people who compose for film, for people who do electro-acoustic music, or for people who would just like to add a really original sounding synth to their collection.

Mine was bought used and has worked fine since I bought it. The keyboard itself seems very solid and durable. This isn't like a light plasticky Roland keyboard -- it's got the semi-weighted feel of a digital piano. The entire beast is a heavy mother, and seems really solid.

Have never tried to access Kawai Co., but have found lots of k5000s support and info from various sites on the net.

Let me tell you a story: after being a huge gear slut when I was a younger man, I found that synths got more and more boring from around 1990 onwards. Tiny 2-row LCD menus, esoteric commands, lack of real-time controls, etc. I gave up on keeping up with trends and returned to basics, using just a good weighted controller with a handful of sounds that I needed for live performance.

However, recently I've been buying keyboards and modules that I believe are worth collecting, either because of their uniqueness or usefulness. The k5000s satisfies both of these criteria. After reading the other k5000s reviews here, I find it shocking that they were being liquidated for under $500 US. This is a synth worth much more than that, and if you have the opportunity to pick one up for a reasonable price, do it.

Again, I'm not big on understanding the theory behind additive synthesis, and I don't have a lot of time to sit and figure out how all the concepts work together, so I'm limiting myself to tweaking already-existing patches on the board and ones I download off the net. Even in this limited fashion I've envisioned dozens of ways a person could use this synth. Sorry for sounding like such a religious zealot in the Cult of Kawai, but this synth is great!

OS 4.0. The presets are actually not bad for a modern synth. They do only offer a glimpse of what the 5000 is capable of, but synths are made to be programmed and tweaked, my friends. Otherwise, buy a sampler or home keyboard. Editing can be deep, but the screen provides a lot of info and even shows the shape of the envelopes as you tweak them. Not only are the macro knobs handy, but the buttons near the screen are helpful as well. A patch editor might be a good idea, but I'm doing just fine without one. The manual is decent, but as everyone has recommended, the guide from Wizoo is a little more readable.

32-note polyphony (quickly reduced depending upon the # of sources used in a patch). The keyboard action rules. Heavy and deep keys that make it my fave synth key action. Effects are of good quality and are easy to use and tweak. The Ensemble effect reminds me of the Korg Polysix I used to own. There is a memory expansion slot if you need extra memory. The onboard disk drive is extremely slow compared to the one I used to have on my XP-50 and you can't play while it is loading, which is a bummer. Has an onboard arp which can be fun, but the controls for the arp are sometimes hard to read unless you're directly on top of them. I think the 2 best features of the board are the macro knobs (20 and 4 of them are user programmable) and the 2 buttons above the wheels (1 for transposing an octave down, 1 for activating portamento, and 1 programmable). This synth was made for live performance. Splits and layers can be saved as multi/performance patches.

I'm not shooting for realistic sounds here, so I could care less about acoustical emulations. This synth not only specialzes in ethereal, shimmering, ambient textures, but can also put out some ripping leads and ballsy bass lines. I've emulated a few Polysix patches with relative ease. The sound overall, in a friend's words, are "deep and full." The effects do add a lot (just as they do in any other modern synth) and you can get very expressive w/ aftertouch, velocity, the performance buttons, and the macro knobs. Be careful when tweaking the resonance knob as you can easily burst a speaker. The filter can be extremely harsh and will shred anything within walking distance if not carefully applied. Overall, it's like adding a breath of fresh air to my other synths.

No problems so far and Kawai's support is amazing. I would and will be using this for gigs.

Very cool people here. Troy (Kawai rep) was very helpful and responsive even though I didn't buy it new. How rare is that?! I will definately give Kawai a close look in the future should they release another synth.

If it were stolen, I would buy another one pretty damn quick. Incredible sounds, great key action, and performance controls make this a keeper for me and I'm pretty fickle. It fits in well my setup and compliments my other synths very well. I'm using it along with an OB-8, AN1x, Juno-60, FS1r, and CZ-101. I chose the K5000s as I wanted to add a new type of synthesis to my setup. It was either this or the more expensive Microwave XT. I really like the XT, but I needed another MIDI keyboard synth and I'm not about to pay the outrageous sums of money the XTk fetches. I might pick up the rack if I sell my FS1r anyway. The only thing I wish the 5000 had is a quicker disk drive. Using it with my band has already inspired some new ideas for songs as it brings a different sonic personality to the table. It's not popular, not "phat", nor is it a groovemachine or ROMpler, but a unique, powerful, ethereal, sleek machine nothing else can duplicate nowadays. Nice.

Haven't had the board long. I can already see the architecture is complex, as promised :-) Still, the interface seems fairly well structured to me considering the depth of the synth engine involved. It seems great for experimentation. But you could spend years learning everything additive is capable of.

Excellent real time control features. Most options I've had on any of my digital synths. (which they all are now) Great to see a disk drive on a non-workstation synth... makes life easier for patch loading. The keyboard feels breat. Aftertouch is not so hard as to not be usable. The performance switches right above the pitch/mod are convenient. All in all... a lot of control.

This blew me away. Everyone always says this board is "thin and digital" I find the sound very full. The filter can sometimes bite a bit and give a thin sound... granted. But the board itself has a very full range sound and can do fabulous warm bass and baeutiful shimmering soundscapes. I did not expect this from the K5000 and was very pleasantly suprised. The wavestation is the only thing I've heard compare to the amount of morphing that can go on here. Gorgeous!

I haven't had the board long enough to judge reliability. Luckily, several trusted musician friends online have used it extensively. I've never heard of one breaking down personally. Not to say they don't... I've just never heard of it.

Kawai still offers decent support for this synth, although it's been oop for a couple of years now. Software upgrades, patches, docs, etc on their website.

This is a lot of synth for the money. A controller with all of these features would be worth the price you can find them for. It has many times been called a fabulous controller with a nice synth tacked on to boot. If you like the sound of it... fantastic value. If you don't... still highly decent.

I'm using the 4.04 OS version; it works fine. Some presets are great, some good... and some useless, as any synth. Editing a patch is hard but remember, this is advanced additive synthesis... the hard editing is compensed by the enormous range of sounds that you can get. The manual explains well the FX section, but the synth engine section is poor.

32 poliphony, GREAT keyboard action, the best I have seen in a synth of its class. Smooth aftertouch, a LOT of real-time control (16 knobs sending CC MIDI data -cool!-, special buttons for fast real-time access to important parameters as arpeggio, etc). It has no on-board sequencer (who needs it, really?).

This is the strongest point of the K5000S. ASTOUNDING sounds, very clean, a lot of possibilities to work on.

Built like a tank, with a metal-grey looking (really COOL) case.

EXCELLENT on-line support from Kawai, they answer your doubts in a question of minutes or hours! My unit has no defects (I think it will never has) so I can tell about repairings.

In a near future, this synth will be a classic one. Flexible, reliable, cool-looking and over all, GREAT sounding and original. Let all those people play with their analogue things and go for NEW sounds for your music!

I am using version 4 downloaded off of the Kawai Australia
website (the best of the Kawai sites in English). The DOS-format
floppy is a real big plus, allowing easy upgrade, backup, and
playback of midi files copied off a PC without having to have
a PC always around.

the realtime control knobs, and flexible arpeggiator and
beautiful feeling keyboard, and DOS format floppy drive,
and unique sound creation potential, are for me the best features.

this is where the instrument really shines, in my opinion.
i dont see, or cant imagine, synths getting any more complicated
than this one, as far as sound-generation architecture goes.
I mean, who needs, or who can even comprehend any *more* features?

So I think this synth will be among the few classics made at the
high-water mark of true synthesizer design. it seems the market
is now being 'dumbed down' to the level of interactive beat-boxes,
which of course are fun too!

But there is no point in 'improving' on this instrument. It deserves
to remain in production relatively unchanged just like any other
classic acoustic instrument, e.g. a Martin guitar etc. For what
it does, it cannot be beat, and should remain available. I am
pretty depressed at the fickleness of the keyboard market,
in which many great instruments like this one, disappear forever
as 'technology' mindlessly marches on.

This instrument is like an acoustic fractal explorer.
You can effortlessly discover sounds literally no one else has
ever heard before in all history, and *play* with them as they evolve
into textures and spaces you never dreamt of.

Granted, the 'Hearts of Space' type noodling gets quite
tedious when you are just passively listening, *but* if you
are the creator, then it is a whole different story!

This instrument gives you true
access to the 'Hearts of Space' in more ways than one!

online updates and patches are quite available.
email response has been prompt and helpful.
the only detraction i have is that the Kawai US website is
quite incomplete. The Kawai Australia website is quite good.
And the Japanese Kawai website has no English translation.

They should merge all their info, into one large comprehensive
website.

I cant believe it was actually blown out at 450$ US a few years ago!
Some heads must have rolled somewhere at Kawai HQ!
Kawai probably lost tons of money on this instrument.

But the sound designers and engineers and craftspeople who
made this instrument can be truly proud of it, even if the
market hasnt yet caught up to it.

It is a sad but familiar story - it doesnt always pay to
be truly innovative. The keyboard synth market is merciless.

But I think in the long run, Kawai's
musical reputation will benefit from this instrument.