Kurzweil KME-61

Engine version 1.10. This keyboard does have a simplified manual, like the machine itself. Overally speaking, strings and electric pianos, together to choirs and brasses, sound essentially good compared to other's products in this price category. Indeed, edition is a not an intrincate subject for its low level of raw edition. Possesses good double effects, just basic parameters, no means of cut-off or amplitude altering; in spite of that, sounds do have good-sounding standard variations in controls. Pity, so few sounds, but more than 80% being very useful, mainly in live situations (rarely could we use more than 50% without edition in other keyboards!). Needed GM and more variations on sustaining strings, brilliant pianos and hammond-ish organs.

Middle level weight keys don't get to help in the action department, with 3 levels, being the heavier the unique to offer more realism. Just 32 voices, mainly in performances with only 3 internal layers, are inadequate in this price range (nowadays, 48 would be the minimum, I guess). Good MIDI capabilities help this model to use modules and usual pedals, besides having dinamics with aftertouch and pressure sensitivies enabled, very well! No sequencer or disk present, OK! Look at this price range!

Having hoping to buy a Kurz so long time ago, and having honour to own a simpler model like KME 61, made me anxious to play in this one.
Unlike many other keyboards I had (Farfisa, SD1, M1, T3, N5, etc.), I played, in first night proof, more than 4 hours without interruptions. No fatigue! Miracle. An inspiring limited keyboard to play for hours (basses and pianos, little orchestras, awesome pads, ethnic percussion, interesting metals and choirs, full strings, great electric pianos)! Very interesting reaction to our actions in playing.

Very sturdy machine, just take care with wet hands, you could keep for some days with no OS functioning! Good for gigs, don't know about voltage variations, some american and italian products suffer with 90 volt instead of 115, for instance. Japanese could bear better here! As a second line of different sounds would be an unbeatable product.

Good customer support in Brazil, but just a 6-month guarantee!! Almost used it, but was unnecessary, it proved to get repaired alone, OS worked like a chairm!

Nowadays, I use my KME 61 in ceremonies. If I were stolen, wouldn't buy another, should consider an used PC2 (76 keys, 64 voices and GM).
Might I say, as a Hammond enthusiast, that its organs don't satisfy me like my last N5, SD1 or VK1000. Neither its pianos. Or lack of voices, more presets and performances, more edition, no GM!! I use it with a K6II 450MHz PC and JBL's Control 1, together with Sibelius 2, Cakewalk 9 and SoundForge 4. But I know it's a truly hoped Kurzweil's son and, in this department, it's good value for my money. Good to play for a couple of hours at home and live. Perhaps an EX Yamaha with a kurz module and Suzuki soft with a Mini McIntosh would be an ideal system in future?? Otherwise, nothing is a substitute to experience and study in Music, all instruments are just tools! Luck!

KME-61 I purchased has O.S. 2.01 version which adds separate control source assignments per "Zone" in Setup mode... The presets sound pretty good in all categories.Programs can't be edited, except for effect level and type. The manual is clear, but I didn't need it very much: front panel doesn't allow to get confused!

Though KME-61 has a synth-type action keyboard, it responds very well at velocity; has aftertouch and release velocity (!!!). Its effects work well and are very easy to use. It has just 32 voices of polyphony: for live use it's ok, except for long scales and arpeggios with sustain pedal. No expansion,no sequencer.

There are many good patches and some excellent ones... In short, for the 16 sound-categories:
-Piano 1: beautiful classical pianos, from mellow to bright ones, very well sampled:9
-Piano 2: rock grands and very nice piano-pads:9
-E piano 1: superb stereo Rhodes and very useful hybrid el.pianos:10
-E piano 2: beautiful Wurlitzer en DX7-like pianos:8
-Pop keys: strange but useful bank, with lot of sounds in "Janet Jackson way":8
-Clavier: excellent Clavinet samples, standard but well-sounding modern harpsichord,clavichord ad accordion:9
-Organ: well sampled monophonic percussion and Leslie speed chenge on B3-sounds:8
-Brass: good for short R'n'B riffs. One superb patch of classical brass:8
-Strings: sampled in sections, useful for pop-rock gigs, but fade out very soon: 7
-Voices: superb Take6 samples, but too many "Doo" and scat-sound: 8
-Synths: beautiful lead and synth basses, ideal for funk and R'n'B music: 8
-Pads: from classic analog to Wavestation-like sound and textures, very effective: 9
-Guitar/Bass/Drums/Percussion: very well sounding, but I don't use these patches in my live gigs.
I purchased KME-61 as main keyboard for live gigs with my Funk-R'n'B-Dance band, and for this is perfect, easy to use, light-weighted and with lot of useful sounds

I'm happy to say that KME-61 made my gigging life easier:with my Yamaha CS2x as "analog sound source", I have the perfect pair of live-keyboards! Now I use my loved Kawai MP-9500 and Korg Bx-3 just for very important piano and organ-based gigs...with lot of comfort for my spine!!!

The presets on this sound pretty good. The pianos are way better than my Alesis QS6, the organs not as good. The drums are really good. Most everything else is pretty comparable. There's not a lot of editing of the presets. You can get in and check some effects like reverb etc. The user setups are interesting because you can combine sounds in interesting ways. What programming you can do is very simple, it's just not very extensive. The manual is decent, though some things are not explained in minute detail, it gets all the info out you might need. I didn't feel like I needed to spend a lot of time with the manual to be able to use the keyboard. If you're looking to edit the sounds, it's not really about that and I'd only give this a conservative 7 but for a plug'n'play keyboard, it's pretty simple. It seems like it'd be a good live keyboard

The action is good, and the polyphony suits me fine. It has reverbs and other simple effects. I'm not sure of technical specs. There isn't a sequencer.

Most of the sounds are really realistic. the Organ presets are not really exciting, but then you can combine them in a user setup and they have a lot more character. The leslie effect on the organ works well with the modulation wheel. This board would work wih a lot of different types of music. The strings are really quite nice. The horns not so great. the synths are pretty nice.

I just got it, but it looks pretty sturdy

I might get a better board with more editing capability. But it is easy to use. I haven't been playing too long. I have an Alesis QS6, which is sort of old and beat. I'm mostly a guitar player. I like the feel and the piano sounds. I've been making a lot of music with this, aqs I really like the piano sounds way better than the QS6

It's easy to use.

I don't know about editing. I just use the presets. Doesn't have as many sounds as I would like. It's pretty limited.
I also don't like the sensitivity of the keys. If you hit one note, it's too hard; hit another note, and it's too soft.

The pianos aren't bright. They sound OK. The voices are good. But most of them are "DOO". How often do you need background vocals that say DOO? Personally, I think it would be great for Kurzweil to make voices that say A - E - I - O - U and Ahh. That would cover whatever you need for the background vocals.
The solo horns aren't good. Neither are the solo strings. The string ensemble patches, for the most part, are good. Better than anything else I've heard in this price range - and I've tried them all: Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Alesis.
The goofy thing about the strings is that they don't sustain. When you hit a note on string ensemble patches, they are strong for about 2 seconds, then they quickly fade. Some fade out completely within 6 seconds, even with the sustain pedal on. ???? Why do that? That's retarded. Strings should be strong as long as you sustain them. There should be no compromise in volume when sustaining the strings.
The other noises and sounds are decent enough. But for the price, I think the only thing this has going for it is the quality of sound with the voices and strings.
Otherwise, it's just OK.

Don't know.

Don't know.

Overall, it's not bad. It's not great. It WOULD be great IF: 1) they allowed the string ensembles to SUSTAIN; 2)the voices weren't just "DOO"; 3) they would offer more sounds. I think the total sounds is just over 200; 4) have the solo horns and strings sound more realistic.

Here is where I wanted to reveiw this keyboard. I have a Yamaha PSR550, and although some of the sounds are decent, the strings and voices are HORRIBLE! They're not realistic at all! They have that annoying loop sound.
So I found the Kurzweil for $599. The voices are taken from the jazz vocal group Take 6 - and they are excellent! No irritating loop sound. Same goes with the string ensemble patches. They are very smooth.
I just wanted to give this review for those of you who, like me, use string ensembles and voices a lot and wanted something quality at a low price.
The pianos are not as clear as the Yamaha PSR550. But most everything else is alot better. For me, it was all about the strings and voices.
I'm giving it a 9 because the pianos are not clear and bright, like I want them. But they're still good.
The only complaint I have on the strings is that they fade just a little too quickly. But the quality of sound makes up for that.
(note to Kurzweil: have the strings SUSTAIN BETTER.)

I just got it, so I don't know about reliability. I have compared this to Roland, Alesis Korg in the same price range. And this is hands down better in the voices and strings department.
I think Kurzweil should offer a module just for strings and voices. That way you can get the pianos from whoemver you want but have nice, smooth realistic strings and voices at a low price.
But that's just me....