Kurzweil PC2X

I am using v1.50. I've had this keyboard for 4 weeks and find it easy to navigate and use. I haven't gotten around to reading the manual yet as the controls are rather intuitive.

The action on this keyboard is a true delight. I have been wanting a baby grand for my living room for a long time. This keyboard has completely satisfied my desire. I chose this keyboard for the sounds, playabilty, and midi options (which are exceptional). Additionally, there is room for 3 foot pedals switches and 2 continuous foot controllers (expression pedals).

The piano is very realistic. I have listened to each sound and know that most are usable professionally and for recording. The exception are the basses. I found them to be lacking in both usefulness and realism. Back to the Piano sound... This is why I bought this keyboard. I tried Yamaha, Roland, Kurzweil 2500, Korg Triton, (the list goes on). This is by far the best stock piano available out of any box. Its playability and expression has truly inspired me. It is also the best Piano sample I've heard short of the GigaPiano disked based sample. I haven't bothered with the KB3 sound yet. I tried the strings and they are good. But the Piano sample is so good, I prefer to play it with no other samples. As a sound engineer and musician, I can tell the difference between this and a grand piano. In ensemble use, that difference completely disappears. For solo and personal use, the reverbs that come built into the keyboard mask the subtle differences. Only the dry piano patch (seldom used anyway) doesn't compare to a real grand. Note: you must use high quality speakers and amp (stereo) to truly enjoy this keyboard to its fullest. I don't care if you send a mono signal to the house mix, just make sure that your personal monitor is in stereo. It makes all the difference in the world. (The quality speaker and amp suggestion is true for all keyboards)

In the past 4 weeks, I have hauled this keyboard both with and without a travel case to 9 gigs. I haven't had the fainted hint of any problem. Nor have I experienced the black key noise that other posters have noted. My purchase was in the 1st week of January 2001. The only thing that has been disturbing is then sound that is made when I place the keyboard in its case or into the back of my car. An odd metal against pastic sound is made as the keyboard casing flexes as the first edge to touch the floor start to bear some weight. Again, I haven't had any trouble with the keyboard, but the flexing of casing and the strange sound makes me a little uneasy.

Without hestitation, I would certainly buy this keyboard again. It is worth twice what I paid for it. I have been playing 20+ years and own many midi devices, controllers, sound modules, and numerous other acoustical instruments. I play sax, bass, piano, flute, recorder, harmonica, and others. My point is that I know the acoustic signature and nuance of each of these real instruments and appreciate their qualities. Once again, this keyboard has the finest matched keyboard action and piano sample I have ever played. The sound signatures are all there from "pp" to "ff". Chords that only sound beautiful on a real piano actually sound beautiful on this keyboard. (ie LH: G - G, RH: D G A B D)
This keyboard has definitely inspired several songs since I've had it.
I only wish it had useful bass patches and more woodwinds.

I owned a PC88MX since they were first introduced last century. The ease of use was right on for a neophyte keyboard-programer like me. I traded that board in for the PC2X (especially after hearing the KB3 sounds) The saleman looked like he wanted to buy the PC88.

The preset sounds are excellent, even compared to the PC 88. I do miss the GM voices; I used a lot of them in set-ups, especially the brass and woodwinds.

I had version 1.5 and uploaded version 2.1 with relative ease. (I think my midi in and midi out ports are mis-marked) The upadated manual was a blessing. The factory manual was good, but had no info on the factory midi-setups. They are included in the upgraded manual.

Working with new set-ups is even easier with the PC2X. Very intuative with a short learning curve. Kurzweil has a supplemental manual for the PC88 on its web site. Get that for learning basic setting up. It is easier to follow and relates to the PC2X also

Excellent feel. I have compared it to other brands and I like it the best.

Plenty of buttons to assign stuff to. I really love using the sliders as drawbars for the organ. Very cool. very realistic B3, though I wish the ramp speed was easier to control.

There are tons of effects, including flanges and halls. I have just scratched the surface of these.

Why the proprietary semi wall wart, I do not know. I think adding the extra couple of pounds on the keyboard would be worth the ability to use a standard cord, like a computer cord, which would be easier to replace. The midi-cable-like plug interface seems very delicate to me. I won't let any of the other band members plug it in for fear soming might get forced and broken.

Beautiful piano sounds. Easy to mix sounds. I can't imagine that creating a set up with piano, bass and percussion could be any easier.
I miss the GM sounds for simple brass, woodwinds and strings. How about an upgrade, Kurzweil?

I gig with this keyboard every week end. The KB3 is the coolest thing we added to our band since lights. It has added a great dimension to the songs, and is very realistic and easy to tweak during a song.

My PC 88 had a problem with some curcuit boards coming loose after years of road work. G#4 came loose from its weighting; it still worked but it was very floppy. I think that with all the hard playing I do, all the travel, all the fluctuating New England temps, I good not ask for more from any instrument.

Never had to deal w/ Kurzweil, except to get repair location.

Music Mart in Massachusetts fixed my above problems for $200. The Boston shop screwed up a ribbon cable putting the keyboard back together, but when this was discovered, the Lowell store gave me a free loaner for 2.5 weeks, even though I did not buy the board there originally. Kurzweil:? Music Mart: 8

I'd buy another. Wished I had kept my PC88 for the kids, maybe in a few years. Buy eather one. 67 year old acoustic piano snob I know liked the feel and sounds through my Peavey KB/A 300 amp. (Think I have a problem being heard over the two guitars???)

It is everything a garage band keyboardist could want in a piano/organ/midi set up.

Software V2.10 (installed by the dealer for me, free of charge).
Presets are outstanding, much cleaner than my PC88MX.
Haven't gotten into editing patches yet, but there's not much to edit anyway (LFO, Envelope).
Manual is outstanding. Very easy to understand and walks you through all the paces with this keyboard.

It's everything I need in one keyboard: Pianos, amazing EPs (Rhodes and Wurlitzers),
and a KILLER B3 emulator Kurzweil calls KB3 Mode. The sliders and mod wheel
act as drawbars. Put through my Korg G4, only seasoned pros would be fooled.

I had experience with the PC88MX and many of the features are the same on this board.

It is an extremely easy board to use. The only problem I had initally was the clacking
of the black keys (as reported by many other reviewers). But by shifting around the PC2X
on my keyboard stand (QuikLok double-braced X) the clacking went away.

You will soon be able to install new sound banks via MIDI-SysEx, or so they say on their site.
Their site has said that since this board came out last year. I've been patient but, c'mon guys!
Hurry up with the new banks!

Oh, and they finally got around to putting a REAL Power adaptor together.
Sure it's still got the "lump in the middle" cord, but now the end that attaches
to the keyboard isn't a wimpy 9V plug. It's a good solid plug that won't
go anywhere. Kudos to Kurzweil for that improvement.

I use this for a classic rock band and it fits the bill to a T.

Pianos are outstanding. I couple this with a Roland MKS-20 for my piano sounds.
The MKS takes care of the "cutting through the mix" piano (Piano 3-7), and the PC2X pianos add
warmness to the overall piano tone. Electric Pianos are great, with a nice
selection of Rhodes and Wurlitzers. KB3 organs are amazing. I'm currently using
a Roland VK7 for my B3 sounds, but am seriously considering selling it as this
board does everything!

I bought it on a Wednesday, and was fearful after reading all the
bad experience people had with theirs. I used it at a gig that Saturday (bringing
no backup, mind you) and it performed like a champ!

My PC88 never let me down and I doubt this will.

I was having problems with Slider number 1 controlling the volume
for both Zone 1 & Zone 4 when I only wanted it to control the volume
for Zone 1.

I sent an e-mail to Kurzweil Support and David Fox e-mailed me back within
2 hours giving me the solution to my problem.

Other than that, I haven't had to deal with them. I'd rate them a 8
just for benefit of the doubt, though.

I would buy this again in a heartbeat. I've been playing piano for
over 20 years. I've been using digital pianos for about 9 of those years
and this is definitely the cream of the crop, in my opinion. The only
other boards I looked at were the Yamaha S80, but I'm not into programming
my own sounds, and the Roland A90EX, but I didn't like the action (too stiff for me)
So the Kurzweil won out. I like almost everything about this board.

The only thing I wish is that they actually had 9 sliders for the KB3 mode
as on a real B3. You have to hit a button to access the other 4 drawbars. The
highest drawbar is controlled by the mod wheel in KB3 mode.

Other than that little compalint, it's a fantastic board.

Easier to use now that Im running v2.1 of the OS. That smoothed up the midi slave issues a bit. Selecting sounds is easy - but I dont find that the second sound bank of programs contributes very much - perhaps the "flute" is almost usefull. Editing patches in easy enough once you get the hang of the layout. The manual is Good.

64 note poly as far as I know - which is enough. Keyboard action is the best that Ive felt compared to the Rolands, Yamahas, Alesis, General Music, etc. A pity there is the occasional "clack" sound that has been described by other people due to the tight chassis. THere is room for expansion cards, but Kurzweil didnt end up making the music stand attachment - I doubt that they will make the expansion boards.
Midi - a little hidden, but acts as a 16 channel slave. The effects are a little confusing to use - I dont understand how to adjust each one for each slave instrument, with no help in the manual (got most of what I know from a KEYBOARD mag). Is easily controlled brom an iMac with a USB MIDI interface.

Beautiful, Beatiful pianos. Lovely, lovely feel. Good for classical, jazz, rock, blues, some great electric piano's rhodes, and a great Hammond which I play via a midi controller (unweighted). The best piano Ive played in a keyboard. Really feels like a beautifull grand under my hads, responsive, accoustic. The effects are high quality but simple.

Seems sturds and reliable.

Kurzweil in Australia is SLACK. But I managed to address some problems (with the OS0 over the web at the Kurzweil website. They emailed me back too, which was good.

I would but another. Its the only board I own at the moment. Im into Desktop audio workstation recording using a powerbook laptop, and this provides me with high quality sounds (digital out) and enough instruments (16 at once) and polyphony to be controlled by a sequencer. Its YUM.
Recently owned a Korg triton, but its definitely not a piano players keyboard - with heaps of dance oriented sounds, shocking keys, and no scope for recording audio tracks despite its good midi sequencer. The General Music PRO2 i had for years just doesnt match to this keyboard.

I wish for multiple outs, and a slightly more intuitive OS.

The presests sound very good. Editing is simple though requires some scrolling thru the menus. The manual is fair.

The ACTION:
The knocking black keys:
I found that loosening or tightening the under screws under the keyboard beneath the knocking area can decrease the knocking of some black keys. I could see the bottom actualy flexing outward when I took some tension off the screws.

Piano is better than other brands and boards. E PIanos are fair but not nearly as good as the Rhodes on the Yamaha S 80. The Roland RD 600 is a little better too for Rhodes. ORGAN with Leslie simulation is very good on the PC2X.

Email will get a reply from david Fox at Kurzweil.

CAUSE OF THE COMMON PROBLEM OF KNOCKING BLACK KEYS DISCOVERED:
I found the easiest solution for the occasional knocking black keys on the PC2X.

Conclusion:
Cause of the problem:
The action fits so snugly in the housing of the PC2X that when the keyboard rests upon a stand, the weight of the keyboard and the stress points of contact against the stand cause the housing to bow slightly causing some black keys to knock (clack) inside against the housing when fully stroked.

I reached this conclusion thus:
I experimented by placing a 1/4" cork table place mat as a wedge between the keyboard and the metal keyboard table stand. As I tried this cork "shim" in different locations between the stand and the keyboard I noticed different groups of black keys clacked. The shim was bowing the housing to different degrees. I then removed the cork shim altogether and pushed the keyboard back on the table stand, so 1/2" of keyboard hangs off the back of the table stand. This seems to stress the front of the underside of the keyboard. THIS position bows the body in a subtle way such that NONE OF THE BLACK KEYS KNOCK!

I have proven to myself that the PC2x housing bows slightly and that changing the stress points upon which it rests on the stand cause black keys to clack against the inside of the housing.

I am wondering if opening the housing and placing some internal shim will prevent the black keys from ever knocking against the inside of the housing.

New version 1.50 Operating System and version 1.03 of the Setups for the PC2.

This version adds a few new editing menus, as well as fixing various bugs. Upgrading to this version involves updating both the Engine (Operating System) and Setups (Preset Objects) files.

The following bugs have been fixed:

1. Previous to this version, you might encounter a "Low Battery" message when powering up the instrument. In fact, the battery was fine but the battery voltage was misread on power up. This has been fixed, and you should no longer see a Low Battery message unless the battery is actually low.

2. Treble EQ. The old values of +11dB and +12dB values were not correct and have been fixed.

3. Compare mode is no longer allowed if there is not enough memory available. Also fixed a problem with the wet/dry mix display for Setups when using compare.

3. Fixed a problem in which sysex dumps were not allowed due to the reserved memory being used. Now sysex dumps are never disabled.

4. Fixed a bug where the cancel button would not work properly while in numeric entry on some menus.

5. Fixed a mono mode problem in the "Vox Lead" program, when layer 4 was enabled.

Sounds the best of all digital pianos on the market. Nice action.

Instrument is very easy to use. I had the PC88, so I found it familiar.

It has all the stuff I'm looking for, except the big huge downside. Read on.

Piabno is great. Rhodes is pretty good, as is the wurly.

This keyboard stinks in this catagory. Incredibly lousy. I took the first model I bought back to Guitar Center bacause 3 out of 5 times, the unit could not boot itself up when turned on. The second piece I got had a completey different problem. When pushing certain notes (somewhat random, but usually A flat, D flat and G flat) they would sound a number of times. It was as if the arpeggiator was engaging or something. Back to Guitar Center. Third time the charm? Nope, same problem with the note doubling, as well as a really clunky action. What the hell is this company doing? The guy at Guitar Center told me that I wasn't the first person to have so any problems with the PC2X. I think now I'm going to call Kurtzweil and tell them that they should ship me a unit that actually works. It is really frustrating to have to play a gig and not be able to rely on your $2500 piece of gear. Man I'm pissed!

We'll see...

No matter how easy it is to use something, or how good it sounds, you need gear that works. It is absolutely shameful for manufacturers to put our equipment that is not quality tested. Kurtzweil owes me an explanation, and an apology for the aggravation that they have caused me, not to mention the amounts of time I've spent dealing with this problem.

The controls are easy to use for programing. The only complaint is some programming switches require a double stroke.

It lacks no features I would want. The action on the PC2X is by Fatar and feels good, not too heavy or too light. HOWEVER: some of the black keyes are making an annoying clacking sound (right out of the box). So were some keys on the floor model at the retailer and also on my neighbors PC2X. The floor model at another retailers was fine, no noisy keys at all. An old Kurzweil PC88 (previous version of the PC2X) at the store was also fine. I also own a Fatar weighted controller and it was fine too, so I know what I am talking about. I recall Kurzweil had this same problem with many of the actions in the PC88 ( I know 2 pros that had their entire actions replaced oin the first months of purchase). Another friend experienced the clacking in his PC88 and had individual keyes replaced. It did not solve the problem. He had to buy and entire keybed action and installed it himself and the problem went away. He thinks it could be related to an alignment of the overall key action assembly and I have noticed when i lift one end of the bpard (causing a slight structural bowing) the clacking is greatly reduced on some keys. Another theory is that whne being shipped, the shippers drop the boxes and cause cracking in the plastic keys which contain metal weights. That is what Kurzweil claims.

I am a jazz pianist. The sounds are marvelous. The samples are all new and stereo samples! They are far better than the PC88 sample sounds. The piano sound had great presence, it does not sound distant as on the Yamaha P 80, or tiny or recorded souding. The piano sound is rounder sounding with a longer decay time (greatly improved) and not harsh as on the PC88 and Micro Piano. It sounds woodier and is smoother and easier to listen too. Chords seem to blend and harmonize more smoothly. The Rhodes sounds are a big improvement from the previous Kurzweil electric pianos. The organs are very good (sound fat and analog) the strings, voices , all are great,.

I thoink it's dependable except for the Fatar action is questioanble (see other comments)

This is where Kurzweil Co. fails pretty poorly. I have been waiting 3 months for a replacement unit due to the key clacking problem. They say it's taken this long (since May 2000, now Aug 200) to get another boatload (500) from Korea. Now that they are in, they are really leaving me hanging. Kurzweil keeps saying they are sending a call tag (picking it up) and I keep waiting by bthe door for many days and they never come. Call tags come 1 or 2 days later according to UPS, it's been 10 now since Aug 1, 2000. Thanks Kurzweil. I have called many times and the story keeps changing. They somehow need more time to issue a simple call tag. It's very upsetting.

The PC 2X is my favourite keyboard ever, aside form the clacking keys and customer service. I am a jazz pianist and have been witing for this style board for years. I only wish they put a bigger piano sample into it with even greater detailing (never enough!).
I rate Rolands RD 600 #2 (totaly diffenet sound, like a live piano with a mike shoved in it sound) #3 The Korg SG Pro #4 Yamaha P 200.

After owning a PC-88mx for two years, I am happy to say that Kurzweil has done a amazing job of improving usability of this keyboard. Over all, it's a breeze to play and use. The sounds are layed in to 16 groups (pianos, drums, bass, etc.) with 8 sounds in each group. the keyboard remembers which sound you last used in each group and you can hold one sound, switch sounds, and play the new one while the 1st one sustains, which is a wonderful feature for live performance. The 4 sliders are well used for various effects in different sounds and there's a general pattern to everything, so you don't have to remember what slider does what for all 128 sounds! Creating setups is far easier than it was on the PC-88, you can layer, split, and split layer sounds with the push of a button. The arpegiator is much more integrated in the layout of the keyboard. Many of the sounds have buttons deicated to the arp. and make it far more easy to use. My main compliant comes when you start using it with a midi sequencer and when you start editing sounds. If you use a sequencer, such as MOTU's freestyle with Freemidi, that doesn't recognize the PC2 and doesn't always even cope with the PC-88mx too well, you'll have to manually assign sounds to parts in the midi recieve menu and if you add a new part or go to a different program or the desktop while the sequencer is still running, you may have re-assign all the sounds again if it gets reset. this is no fun! Also, when editing sounds, you can't get out of sound edit mode without erasing everything you were just doing unless you store it. So if your editing a sound and you want to see how it sounds in mono and you get into the global menu and switch to mono, you'll return to find your sound gone. This can be a pain, but as long as you store things before you get out of sound edit mode, you won't have any problems. Lastly, the KB-3 mode is real simple to use. All the main controls for percusion, chorus, vibrato, and leslie are at your fingertips without getting into to massive menus. The only thing about it is the fact that you have to 4 sliders to control 8 drawbars, so making drawbar settings takes longer and sometimes it can hinder drawbar ideas. I guess it would have increased production costs to include 5 more drawbars, but when your spending $2,000+ on a keyboard, it seems like they could cut some more holes in the frame and add a few things to the software. All in all though, there's really no gaping flaws that make it tough to use.

Unlike the PC-88mx, all the sounds on this thing are included in the 64 voice polophony claim. that's nice! The KB-3 mode was actually the thing that made this keyboard stand out from the rest for me. The sounds are incredibe, but the fact that they didn't treat the organ like just another sound but actually made an entirely seperate mode for it is what sold me. Also, this bad boy is expandable. They're gonna come out with two more rom blocks and a 128 polophpny expansion. I'm looking forward to that. It doesn't have a sequencer, but the arpegiator can be used to make some really simple patterns that can be played over. It has two effects processors, one with only reverbs (about 30 of them I think) and one with reverbs, chorus, flange, phaser, leslie, distortions, compressor/limiters, surround effects, delays, etc. You get the idea. TONS of effects. One thing I love about this is you can dictate the wet/dry balance for each of the effects generators on each of the 16 multitimbral tracks. this comes in handy when sequencing. The key action, I think, is the best. I compared this keyboard to the roland RD-500 and XV-80, the Yamaha S-80, and the Alesis QS-8.1 To me, kurzweil has the best feel. I think there's two parties when it comes to keyboard action- the roland party and the kurzweil party. I guess piano players like Roland action better, keyboard players like kurzweil acion more. Personally, I've player piano for 11 years and I find kurzweil's action better. The edges of Roland's weighted keys bother me, especially for organ playing. It just feels unatural to me. Keyboard mag. went on about the yahama s-80's action, but I found it cheap feeling and to edgy like the Roland. Kurzweil feels rock solid and real... to me. Others would dissagree I'm sure. I wish it were a little lighter, it something like 50-60 pounds, but that's how they all are.

This is where this keyboard really shines! The pianos are, plainly, the best available. They have a certian organic feel to them that none of the other keyboard makers seem to catch. There's actually three different sampes at different velocity points, not just the same one louder or only two, like Roland. It's pretty convincing. It's still no piano, but it's enough to make you feel like you've got something 10 time better than every one else. The organ presets outside of the KB-3 mode are pretty useless, but the KB-3 mode sounds great. The leslie sounds pretty good. My main complaint is that you can't alter the rise and fall time. They must be trying to emulate a 50 pound rotor because it takes probably 10 times the time to rise and fall as the horn does. Also, the controls for speed they give you are strange. You control the slow speed in hertz and then the amount of change the fast speed induces also in hertz. Both of these can also go into negative numbers, maybe for spinning the other direction? The amount of possible combinations they give you combined with the obscure controls provided makes it difficult to create a good sounding leslie on your own. It takes a while to get used to, but once you do it sounds pretty good. I'm pretty picky about the leslie sound and this one is fairly good. It can sound a bit fake in the high range, but if you turn on the chorus as well you get a really fat, satisfying sound. The organ itself sounds good, you can control the quality of the keymap and the quality of the organ itself. You can control sound leakage between tone generators or whatever those spinning things are inside a real organ. Overall, the KB-3 mode rocks. The rhodes and wurlitzers, especially the wurlitzers are tremendous. They can be spanky or smoothe just by how you play them. They really sound good. The bass sounds are actually VERY realistic. There's a new synth section with some very usable sounds in there. You can be jan hammer or an underground european techno junkie with these sounds, it's pretty cool. The drums are wonderful. There's actually 10 different kits, ranging from rock, blues, hip hop, electric music, whatever. It's all there, except for a brushed snare. The cymbal samples aren't like others, they last a long time, no need for plate reverb or anything. The bass kicks sound real good. The PC-88mx kicks lacked bass extrememly, but these don't at all. All the snares are good. The strings are mouth-watering. Good clav sounds. Lots of percusion stuff. the Brasses are wonderful. There's a solo sax sound that blows me away in authenticity. It's kinda strange. The effects sound very good and there are tons to choose from. Most of the sounds play very well too. They don't play like a keyboard, they play like the instrument you're playing. It's amazing.

After having it for a day, I started getting low system battery messages. Maybe a bad battery, right? A week later, I was getting it again from the new battery. Also, I had a part of the plastic on the end ship off (a pretty large section actually) Luckily, I was able to take it back at guitar center and get a new one, not problems yet.

haven't had to use it yet

I've never had a keyboard I've been more content with, this thing is incredible. If it was stolen, I'd give up meals and get a new one. It's great! I've been playing for 11 years (since I was 5) and never has anything come along like this. Don't get the S-80, RD-600, XV-88, or QS-8.1. Save your pennies and get the kurzweil, it's worth it. Hopefully the price will come down, I found a good price @ 8thstreet.com and had guitar center match it, but it's still a bit steep. Never the less, with sounds and features like this that are easy to use, you can't go wrong.

I only have had this keyboard for about 2 weeks, and I have found it very easy to navigate. The presets are very high quality, and editing patches are fairly simple once you read the manual.

The polyphony is 64 voice, which is enough for me. There is going to be a polyphony expansion coming out, which will increase the polyphony to 128. There is also room to install 2 ROM boards which are also going to be released later.

I bought the 76 key lightly weighted keyboard version, because I hate playing B3 sounds on fully weighted keys. The semi-weighted keys is just right for me: not to light for piano, and not to heavy for B3.

The effects sound very good. The two effects processors are of the same quality as on the K2500/K2600 KDFX. The rotary, which is very important to me, sounds very, very close to my Motion Sound Pro-3T (Which I used to have until my apartment was robbed!!).

The MIDI and controller capabilities are of course great. It has 4 sliders, a pitch wheel, a mod wheel, 5 switch buttons, 3 footswitch pedal inputs, 2- CC pedal inputs, a Breath Controller input, Ribbon Input, and the MIDI thru can be switched to act as another MIDI out. It also has an arpeggiator. The only down side, is guess would be that it doesn't have a sequencer. But, no controller keyboard does.

The instruments are very realistic. The main reason I bought this keyboard was for the piano sounds. I compared every other keyboard out there and the only one that comes close or is equal to the PC2's piano is the Yamaha P-200. I thought the Roland RD-600 doesn't even compare. I think the Ensoniq ZR76's "perfect piano" is better that the RD-600, but still not as good as the PC2. Today, no keyboard can take the place of a real piano, but the PC2 comes very close.
All of the other sounds on the PC2 are great and I am very pleased. I especially like the KB3 mode, which emulates a B3 very well. The 4 sliders and mod wheel can be used to change the drawbar settings in real time. The 4 zone buttons are used to control the percussion and 2 of the switch buttons are used to activate and cycle though the vibrato/chorus settings. You can also change the type of B3 you play, such as a B3 in good condition, one that is fairly kept up, or one that is junky.

I have only had it for 2 weeks, but it looks and feels like a reliable machine.

I called Kurzweil once to find out if and when they would be coming out with just a ribbon (and no control box like the expression mate) to plug into the PC2 ribbon input. I left a message and they called me back in two days and said that a ribbon will be coming out soon for around $50.

I have been playing for about 6 or 7 years and have done a lot of research on keyboards and I found this one is the best for what I need, TOP QUALITY sounds (mainly Piano and B3). The last keyboard I had, the Ensoniq mr-61, was fairly good, but I think I spent more time on trying to get good sounds out of it than I made music on it. That's why I didn't even consider such keyboards as the Korg Triton. They have a lot of features, but the sounds are not top quality in my opinion. I guess it would be good for R&B or synth music, but I felt that keyboards like the Triton are more of toys than instruments.
In the Piano controller group, the PC2 is on top with the best features and the best sounds. That's why I would without a doubt buy this keyboard again if in were lost or stolen.