Kawai K5000S

I'm surrently using 4.03 but I believe they just updated that to 4.04. Kawai provides its various preset banks (dozens of patches) for free downloading. Overall the patches are very good, but there no bread and butter sounds. I've heard the manual is pretty weak, I just have the wizoo guide which is pretty good. The user interface is actually quite good, IMO. If you've ever navigated a Kawai interfacce the use of sources/patches/multi's is very familiar and fairly intuitive. The display does a good job at showing an immense number of parameters at once. The hard part is learning how to program an additive synth, which is pretty difficult at best.

Fairly good assortment of features, especially considering its release date. It has 32 voices, but that is somewhat misleading as the maximum polyphony depends on how many additive sources you use per patch (each patch can use up to 6 sources). For some source heavy patches the polyphony is closer to 6-8 voices. Fairly small memory, but there is an expansion available (hard to find though). Thankfully the unit comes with a disk drive so storing patches is no problem, and you can load an entire bank of patches in a few seconds. The Keyboard action is simply the best you'll find short of a dedicated controller or digital piano. It's a joy to play. It also has knobs for programming and real time control of parameters. There is no sequencer but it has a very powerful arpreggiator. It has a wide variety of effects which are quite useable.

This is the ultimate love it or hate it synth. Nothing on it sounds remotely realistic, but that's not what it's for. With additive synthesis you have control over the individual harmonics that constitute a sound. It also has a wonderful formant filter which is also extremely powerful and not quite as hard to use.

Back to the sound, the K5000 sounds very digital but hardly static or lifeless. To the contrary, the sounds on this synth have a liveliness that I've never heard on other synths. As weird as many of the sounds are, they are all quite musical and beautiful to listen to. Ambient pads and sounscapes just drip from this synth, play a patch and sustain a note and chances are you'll hear the sound morf into a completely different timbre. Wonderful! Although realistic sounds are few and far between, it does produce excellent organs and EP's, and does some surprisingly good analog emulations for a digital synth. For what it's worth, it also has the most over the top digital filter I've ever heard. It doesn't sound remotely analog, but when you turn its resonance up it can demolish a small town.

The only reason I gave it a 9 instead of a 10 is that it the K5000 doesn't always lend itself easily to a mix, all those harmonics can really fill up a track quickly.

In the end you've got to hear one yourself.

Unit itself is very robust. I've had some software glitches and have had to reboot the OS a few times. But generally it behaves properly. Construction of the unit is top notch. For what it's worth it's also one of the sharpest looking synths around.

Never had to deal with repairs but for general info and help Kawai US is great. Here's a synth that was discontinued a year or two ago, but they are still upgrading the OS and offering hundreds of free patches. I have emailed the customer service reps and have received a response the next day everytime. Are you listening EMU, Yamaha, Roland?

The rating is entirely subjective and this synth will not work for everyone, buts it's destined to be a classic synth. The retail on these was around $1700 but Sam Ash ended up selling them for $450 after they were discontinued. On the current used market you can expect to pay between $500 to $600 for one in good condition and it's still a bargain. If nothing else, the K5000 sounds like no other synth on the market, and it can create sounds that no other synth can readily produce. Beyond it's exotic synthesis capabilities you get a wonderful keyboard, 16 real time controllers, a large display, and a powerful arpreggiator; all of which are contained in a beautiful brushed aluminum case. Forget bargains, for what these are selling for it's a steal.

I found this unit VERY hard to use... but that's one of the reasons it's so popular. The manuals are very technical and unless you have quite some time to figure the beast out don't buy this. The preset patches are nice and the BIG knob bank makes for some sweet preset twiddling. I never got to creating my own patches, I simply didn't have time to explore this unit. But from poking around the interface there are enough options to kill a horse.

The keys feel wonderful. It has an disk drive to load patches and I believe there is a memory upgrade available. There are a ton of knobs which make things sound very cool. Many built in effects.

This is the unit you need for pads. I don't believe you can do much else with it. I was using it for noise and it worked pretty well.

YES. This unit is built ROCK solid and is very very heavy. I think the only thing that would kill it would be getting shot or run over.

It's good. I didn't use it much, but with time and patience this unit can be used to make any sound you want.

In my recent review of the K5000S (See this page!) I forgot to mention one very important thing- the Keyboard action is one of the best, if not the best that I have ever played when compared to other unweighted keyboards- it is not mushy and it has a nice weight to it. That is the last thing I have to say (Lenti Lenko 26 11 99).

I had software version 3 but was about to get version 4 just before I sold it. It is available at all of Kawai's websites (this is good service!) Some of the presets are great but much more interesting results can be achieved by editing- once you get your hands around Additive synthesis that is. Whilst it has a nic big LCD screen- good for people with bad eyesight (such as myself!) I would recommend using the supplied soundiver editing software with your PC or MAC. It's not that the operating system is bad, simply Additive synthesis is very complex (you build the sound from the ground up not the other way around). Everything you need to know is in the manual, but it is often hard to find. The effects guide is good. My rating is for editing from the front panel.

32 notes of polyphony- up to 6 sources per patch- cuts polyphony down. Up to 4 patches per multi. It has some great sounding built in effects- 4 seperate busses with a dedicated reverb and EQ block as well as a wide variety of other interesting effects- 37 in all. They sound warm and a highly programmable. You can expand the patch memeroy with the ME-1 memory expander as using many multi-sourced patches cuts down the patch storage area. It has a disk drive (THANK YOU KAWAI) for storage. It has a quick MIDI mode for setting up zones quickly and is able to recieve on up to 4 MIDI channels- plenty for this type of instrument. No onboard sequencer but a flexable arpeggiator with 40 preset patterns. 16 real time knobs (4 user assignable) transmit MIDI controller info (GREAT!). 3 switches for extra functions reside above the pitch bend/mod wheels.

DON'T BUY THIS THINKING THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PROGRAM THE ULTIMATE STEINWAY OR LONDON PHILLHARMONIC ORCHESTRAL PATCH!!!!!!! There are no real sounding guitars, basses, saxes, trumpets, drums, pianos etc- THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS SYNTHE IS ABOUT. It is an additive synthesizer and a great soudning one at that. It sounds like nothing else on the market- AND I MEAN NOTHING ELSE!! It's architecture allows you to create some really great moving/evolving sounds right through to trully rude souding lead sounds- I must mention that the 'rock guitar' patch is the most realistic lead guitar sound that I have ever heard from a synthe (play it thinking guitar, not piano or organ). On the subject of organs, some of the organ patches are very playable with a nice souding leslie emulation for a synthe. I wouldn't go so far to say that this synthe was as clean as my Korg and Roland gear- gritty is the best word to describe it. This does NOT imply that is sounds bad- the complete opposite in fact! I would not be afraid to use just this synthe for some kinds of soundtrack work- It almost sounds WAVESTATION! It's filters are not the smoothest sounding and the resonance is quiet course, not very controlled- but this is what adds to the sound. My rating is for what I know this synthe is capable of. Bye the way, there is no general MIDI bank in this synthe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(THANK GOD!).

Never had a problem with it!

Kawai Australia have been very helpful on the 2 times I have had to contact them.

I sold mine, not because I didn't like it (I LOVED IT!) but because I need some extra cash and it was not being used to it's full potential in our studio to justify keeping it. Obviously, you wouldn't buy this as your only workhorse synthe (unless you only wanted those sounds). Those who already have the 'meat and potatoes' sounds (JV1080,Trinity,EX5,Protesu2000 etc)should really take a look at something like the K5000S. It really has it's own character. When these origionally were released, they cost around $3,000.00 Australian- very expensive! I played one of the earlier versions and concluded that it sounded shithouse. However the newer operating system really improved many of the features and this, combined with the fact that they are now so cheap (AND THE FACT THAT I SUFFER FROM A TERRIBLE DISEASE CALLED TECHNOLUST!) prompted me to buy one. I have heard that Kawai did not market these synthes very well and that is why they have been so heavily discounted- I only hope Kawai do not give up building synthes- WE NEED ADDITIVE SYNTHESIS FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT! When considering a K5000S, just remember that it is an extremely powerful synthe not a workstation or S+S synthe. I might buy another K5000S one day as I have a very strong feeling that they will become collectors items one day!!

Version 3.0. I will be upgrading to 4.0 shortly.
The presets are good -- some are great. The ones that aren't as exciting are things I can do just as well on other synths, so it doesn't matter that they're just okay. This is a synthesizer with a personality. It's not a bread-and-butter unit. It's for NOT sounding like everyone else.
Patch editing is probably much easier if you have the physics background. If you know what a FFT is, you're ahead of the game. I do not have that background, and I find the additive section baffling. The manual is useless if you don't already understand how to build additive sounds. The wavetable portion of the unit is just fine; clear enough. A patch editor will probably make a difference, but Sound Diver, the free Emagic editor/librarian, is not at all well documented, and I have lost patches because I didn't understand how it was working.

I don't recall the polyphony, but it's only 4-part multitimbral and I haven't yet run out of voices.
The keyboard action is very good. I have experienced stuck notes when playing glissandos while controlling my Kurzweil Micro Piano, but I do not know whether that's a problem with the K5000S or the Micro Piano.
The built-in effects are fine and usable. I'd like a more flexible routing scheme -- all four singles in any multi are routed through a single EQ, for instance -- but I've not yet encountered anything that was a major problem.
There is a memory expansion, the ME-1. I do not need it because I store my patches in Sound Diver (now that I've more or less figured it out).
The MIDI capabilities are outstanding. Sixteen rotary knobs send MIDI controller data. That means that resonance changes, ADSR changes, filter changes, and so on can be recorded into your sequencer. It does global aftertouch, and there are three buttons just above the pitchwheel and modwheel. One is a portamento toggle, and the other two are assignable. In the factory presets, one is usually a transpose control, and the other is a minor timbre change.
There is no on-board sequencer. Instead, there is a very nice arpeggiator.

None of the sounds are even remotely realistic. The strings do not sound like strings, and the horns do not sound like horns. That is not what this unit is for. It is a very musical piece of equipment -- the sounds are beautiful, interesting, and usable, and they seem to sit very well in a mix.
It could work for any style of music that is not acoustically based.
The onboard effects are fine. Nothing special, but all usable.
Velocity and aftertouch are fine.
I bought it because of the sounds.

It's been very dependable, with two excepions.
1. I went through three units before I got one that worked. The third one has done me right for over a year, no trouble at all. Kawai's product support was very good about this.
2. I lost an entire bank of sounds when trying to back up to my Macintosh. Somewhere, there's a bad bit of data in the Sys-Ex dump, which screws up transmission of the bank from the computer to the K5000S. I do not know where the blame lies.
I have gigged with it. No problems.

Alan and Troy at Kawai US have been fantastic, helpful, friendly, great.

I would get another one if this one were stolen. I've been playing since I was 5, so that's 28 years. I have a lot of other keyboards. I love its personality. I have no use for a generic sample playback unit. I did not compare it to other products. It's not that kind of instrument; it's the kind you hear and fall in love with, or don't. I wish it had more multitimbral parts and a more flexible effects section. It helps make music. My own ignorance of additive synthesis gets in the way.
Despite the few drawbacks, it's my favorite piece.
If you're interested in what I do, my web site is at http://www.woollymammoth.com/keith

OS. version 3.0. Lots of various present sounds. Editing is quite easy when understanding the concept of sound.(e.g. harmonics,fourier analysis) Making a new sound from scratch is very cumbersome. Better start with an exisiting one. Manual is very basic. A book from Peter Gorges is available but doesn't realy help. Nevertheless, playing around with the knobs is quite easy.

Polyphony is great 64. See other submissions. Midi features are good too. All controller changes are sent over MIDI and can be recorded in a sequencer. Lots of effects. expansion possible with extra memory board. Quite easy to install. Comes with extra patches. Features a formant filter. You can have up to the 128th harmonic. But most sounds only go up to the 64 harmonic. You can combine 6 oscillators. They can be additive or PCM. The PCM sounds are used for fat sawtooths and for a number of attacks. With only additive synthesis it is difficult to create attacks.

The concept is great. Additive synthesis. Although it sounds rather thin and digital. You can make unique sounds. Compare it with the DX7. Another way of making new sounds but you have to find your way around it. The sound could also be more crispy. although offering up to the 128 th harmonic the K5000 looses some high in its sound. The effects are fine. Lots of parameters can be controlled via the controller knobs or other midi devices. The same for the formant filter. Because of the formant filter the sounds seem to live. There is continuous development in the sounds. So dynamic indeed.

Well it does do some strange things once in a while. After switching it on the notes of the default start-up patch always hang. What is also strange is that you end up in the user menu of the K5000W (!) in the drum section. It doesn't have a drum section! I have it for a year now but no big problems encountered.

Kawai does realy make an effort. They ship new OS releases every now and than. (for free) and ship them with new patches. Other manufacturers are less customer friendly.

I have mixed emotions. On one hand it is a great concept the additive synthesis. You can learn a lot about sound by playing around with this device. The expression possibilities are also great. From the synthies I have I think it's the one with the biggest potential. But I you'll have to find a way to get it out. My yamaha TX81Z has given me the same feeling. It's IN it! But how do I get it out of there?
However, it is rather complex. So it won't be very popular in general. Hence, not a lot patches will be available. If patches will be generally available, just as in the case of the DX7 there might be a future for the K5000. If not. Better get your hands on one because it will be a collectors items. So I'll give it the benifit of the doubt. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

I just downloaded system 4 but still have system 3 on my machine. When you try this keyboard, assuming you can still find one, make sure you have some time to put the synth through it's paces. Some of the factory patches are good and several are of little interest to me. The test of a synth with good editing features, especially when there are so many onboard controls is to see what can be done with a uninteresting patchs. The answer is lots. And that is the beauty of the machine. It works on two levels, the ultra-complex additive/PCM patches that can be developed (using up to six sources- either additive or PCM) and tweaked to mind numbing levels or the precise editing of completely new and unique sound textures and colors. Make no mistake, twisting knobs will get you lots of cool sounds but the real power is learning how to program this sonic beast. The manual is decent and does a reasonable job of explaining the various operations of the synth. What would have been nice would have been some tutorials and CD ROM that had additional patches and instructional materials. It get's a seven not because the results aren't worthy but because the learning materials are not sufficient. In terms of flexibility it's a solid nine.

There are 32 note of polyphony. Depending on how you use the K5000S it will go fairly quickly. If you want to use this as a multitimbral unit you will be limited to four midi channels. This is somewhat inconvienient as I like to use several patches and prefer to assign them seperate midi channels. Instead I have to use patch changes. The keyboard is well constructed with beveled black keys. This may take some users a bit of time to get used to. But it is worth putting some time into it for the K5000S is an awesome controller. 12 knobs with static controller assignments but more importantly 4 additional knobs with user controller assignments. Add the standard pitch and modulation wheels and two foot pedal inputs and you have a controller that is worth close to the price of the synth when it was blown out after being discontinued. Effects are good but not distinguished, they do a good job. There is a memory module that is user installable. It allows for users to save more patches. That might sound like a luxury but because of the way system memory is handled you can't expect to get much more than 150 patches and 64 multi patches at any given time. The expansion allows a couple hundred patches for storage. Then again you can store a few hundred patches or banks of patches on the onboad 1.44 floppy drive. It's not a major problem since load times are fairly short and there are several options including loading specific patches. The aftertouch is global and the keyboard has a great feel that is adjustable globally and through individual patches for pressure sensitivity. Although there isn't a sequencer onboard there is an arpeggiator with three dedicated knobs, one for selection of presets and user patterns, the second for mode- in effect giving you several options on how the patterns play back, and speed. You can also use a soft button on the right side of the large interface which allows you to change subset's of patterns. Another nice controller feature is being able to use the arpeggiator features with any synth you use. Very cool. I don't care much for the multi mode midi implementation. It is more confusing than necessary. That said, it is, and I stress a minor inconvienince. I give it a ten because for what the K5000S is I have yet to come close to it's complete feature set. It's not a meat and potatos synth. It won't play your general midi files. It is a serious synth that was made for people that want to get to work making unique sound. This is the only synthesizer I know that can not be classified with the, "sounds like...." statement. Sure, you can emulate several ambient and classic synth timbres but you can go far beyond simply emulating past instruments. I can't say this enough, but what is the point to synthesis if not to explore? Don't get me wrong, I use sample playback synths for the kind of sounds we have come to expect from a synth. That also explains why the K5000S is so different and why it was so misunderstood.

Before serious preview of the K5000S one of my favorite synthesizers was the Korg Wavestation. It was evocative, it was unique and it was unlike anything in it's time. If I had to compare I would say the K5000S follows in the spirit of the Wavestation. No, it doesn't do wave sequencing or vector sequencing although with the onboard controllers you can out-vector a Wavestation with ease. Still it's not dark like the WS which is one area I wish the K5000S would have followed. Instead it is brigther and ultimately more flexible in terms of sound creation ability. The Wavestation will always have a place in synthesizer history but so will the K5000 series. Another analogy that speaks volumes on how little people care about programming their synths is the poor sales both synthesizers had. My advice to anyone that can still get a K5000S? Get it before the prices go up again. They will because the synth is already generating a minor frenzy to get the inexpensively priced remains. Remember, if you plan on getting a K5000S it's best feature is it's ability to create new sounds. Forget piano's, drums, guitars, etc. Get a sample playback unit with filters if that's your need. If you are looking for your own sound, a sound that can range from constantly evolving patches to squealing TB style speaker-busters it's there to be programmed. If you don't want to program this board then you're wasting your time. Yeah, it's fun to play with the knobs but it's like taking a race car out for rush-hour traffic. I use the K5000S daily as my preferred controller. Except for it being 61 notes it is about the best keyboard feel I've experienced. When you play this intstrument it feels substantial. If you doubt it pick it up. It's a tank.

My K5000S hasn't seen the road and although I'm sure it will hold up I almost don't want to bring it to any future gigs but I will....

Kawai US was incredibly helpful. I traded for this keyboard back in March '98. The next day I asked how much it would cost to purchase the latest system disk. The next week I was sent a system disk AND the sound editor disk at no charge. If I've had questions the responses were quick and useful. By far the best customer service experience I've had in the 25 years I've been in music.

I'm reading the standard questions... "If it were lost or stolen..." I'd be on the net the next day trying to find another K5000S while cursing profusely at my loss. The K5000S gets used with a bunch of different synths and modules. Currently it controls a Korg NS5R, Roland M-BD-1 Bass & Drums module and Yamaha TG33 (laugh if you want but this little module is a great compliment to the K5000S and the cheapest entry into vector synthesis.) My biggest complaint and it's minor, is the lack of onboard patch memory. I would love to get my hands on a Morpheus and Wavestation SR. These would complete my synthesizer desires although the Trinity rack looks nice too! But overall I'm happy and base my work around the K5000S. At the last price I hear of, $465 USD, I can't think of anything that is as unique or will be a eventual classic synth. And make no mistake about this, the K5000S already is a classic synth. Think about how many additive based synthesizers are or were available on the market? Then check out the depth of features in this board. There's nothing like it in the synth world. Oh, one more thing. The PCM memory is small and is limited to things like partials, a few sustaining loops and mixed multisamples. They add color to the additive waveform structures and that's all they're supposed to do. If you remember the K1 or K4 synths think about how they were programmed. Now imagine having incredible control over the additive wave samples in those boxes and remember, those wave samples were static and could only be filtered not shaped, morphed or individually tweaked per wave! I've spent a lot of time with a long winded, cheerleader kind of review. But this misunderstood synth deserves it. If you get a chance to play one and take a modicum of time you will understand why it is so incredible.

I'm running my K5k with the latest V 3.0 operating system. It adds very many features over the previous operating systems (for example, the ability to browse the patches with the dial!) plus makes it a bit more straightforward. The presets vary from crap to decent, but if you are thinking about this synth then you must really want to program. It's an additive synth, and the level of control makes it incredible. Editing patches is difficult at first, but once you get it down this synth just shines. The manual is kinda lousy. It explains some prinicples of editing and additve synthesis in general, but overall it's just useful for basic stuff.

The polyphony on the K5k is 32. Ive only had it cut out on me once, and that was when I was just fooling around seeing how far I can push it. Trust me, you arent going to get 6 additive voices going at once. The effects are very nice but they have a wierd glitch that they wont activate until after you've pressed the first key, and it only does this 1/2 of the time. But it can be really annoying. There is a memory expansion which adds two additional banks of memory locations. The bizzare thing about the memory is that the storage capacity is based on each patch's size, so if you have several patches with 6 sources, it will eat up more memory than a patch with just two PCM waves. One thing that I didnt know about this synth before I bought it: It will only respond to four midi channels. And the only way to get it to do that is to assign the patches you want to use to the "Multi" bank. It's very time consuming. The K5000S does not have a built in sequencer, but the other keyboard model, the K5000W, does. The main difference that sets the K5000s apart are the 16 control knobs on the panel. This is one of the most useful tools Ive ever had on a synth.

The built in presets are not so hot. Some are okay, some are just plain bad. But this synth was designed to be edited. And when you do, you will fall in love with this synth. They werent kidding when they said any sound you can imagine. I wont go to into that, just find one and try it out yourself. The effects are flakey, as my earlier comment states. Velocity and aftertouch are supurb. I have never owned a keyboard that has been more responsive to aftertouch as this keyboard. The keyboard action itself is supurb, much better than my other synths.

Very dependable. I would gig with it in a second.

Kawai's direct support is excellent. Perhaps the best Ive ever dealt with. Ive contacted them twice through email and received a response the same day (try that with Roland or Korg) What I dont like is that hardly anyone carries Kawai products, so it's difficult to find accessories.

Drawbacks: Built in memory is limited. The thing weighs a ton for a 61key. Wish I didnt have to set up multi banks for multi-timbral operation. I wish it had a little less daunting interface. This synth along with m K2000 are the main pieces in my studio.

Software Version 3.0
The preset singles SOUND great, but the names I don't like. Instead of clear names such as "Strings" a name such as "DreamMch." Once you figure out what the sounds are, finding the ones you want becomes much easier.
Patch editing is well laid out and organized, but it is REALLY complicated. The addidtive synthesis combines with PCM sounds to create quite a daunting task of editing. The macro knobs make it easy enough to fool around with sounds a bit on the fly, though.
The manual is very short, and is more like an extended glossary than an inscruction manual. I read through it a couple times, and while it did help me understand the many properties involved, I still couldn't sit down and get much sound from scratch. There is a Wizoo book out for it, and I hear it is very helpful.

The keyboard on this thing is really nice, with *perfect* aftertouch response. It has up to 32-note polyphony, depending on how many addidtive sources are used. I have never rat out of notes yet...
Effects... I haven't dinked around with these too much yet. They are accessed a source at a time in the vast expanses of editing windows.
I think both the S and R models support the ME-1 memory upgrade, which doubles the avaible memory. No new cards for it, but it does have a nifty disk drive for easy extra patch storage.
It has the standard midi stuff, plus Sound Diver for even more fun things to do. The S and R have no built-in sequencer, and are only 4-part multi-timbral. The W is a workstation, and has much great sequencing and midi support.
Helluva nice LCD display....

Sounds are really great. If you look through all of Kawai's preset packages, you will find a vast array of sounds. The strings, horns, pads, voices, etc. sound absolutly fantastic. It also does pretty good sound FX. I'm not so impressed with the piano-type sounds, but it does have some nice organs. As I mentioned before, my main complaint is the obsucure names of the presets.

I have no reason not to depend on it... as it is very durable and well built. I have had no problems yet.

I have not dealt with customer support on this keyboard, but I have dealt with Kawai before and they were very helpful. I have had no problem getting upgrades and patches for this keyboard from Kawai's site.

Overall, this is a great keyboard. Especially for the price Sam Ash offers. I did not have a large budget, so this fit in VERY nicely. The only downsides are the awkward presets, coplexity, and the fact that it is discontinued... and the manual is a bit disapointing!The main thing I'd like to see is more down-to-earth patches... Every aspect of this "beast" is great, with few flaws.