Kurzweil Music Systems K2500X, K2500R, K2500 User Manual

Introduction

Welcome!

Chapter 1

Introduction

Welcome!

Congratulations, and thanks for purchasing a Kurzweil/Young Chang K2500 Series instrument. Whether you’ve just gotten a K2500 (illustrated below), the 88-note K2500X, or the rack-mountable K2500R, you’ve got your hands on an extremely capable musical instrument. The K2500 Series instruments are packed with great acoustic, electric, and synth sounds— combined with some of the most advanced synthesis features available, which you can use to create almost any sound imaginable. If you liked the award-winning K2000, you’ll love the K2500!

This manual and the accompanying Reference Guide, as well as the video tutorial, will get you started with your new instrument. You’ll definitely want to keep the manuals handy as you become an advanced user, too.

Headphones

Mix

D

Audio Outs

C

B

A

MIDI Select

MIDI

SCSI

Switch Pedals

CC Pedals / Breath

KDS Output

Power

R

L

R

L

R

L

R

L

R

L

Optical Out

Digital Out

Digital In

Optical In

LoZ Left In

LoZ Right In

HiZ In

Out

Thru

Out

Out/Thru

In

4

3

2

1

Breath

2

1

SCSI Thru

or

Assignable Controllers

Data Entry

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Master Volume

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

Program

MIDI

K2500

Mute 1

Previous Pg

1

2

3

Zoom -

Gain -

ABC

DEF

GHI

Setup

Master

Forty-Eight Voices

Mute 2

Mark

4

5

6

Digital Multi Effects

Zoom +

Gain +

JKL

MNO

PQR

Solo

Q Access

Song

Chan/Bank

Multi-Track Sequencer

Mute 3

Jump

7

8

9

Expandable to 28MB of Sound ROM

Samp/Sec

Link

STU

VWX

YZ

Mixdown

Effects

Disk

Layer/Zone

Expandable to 128MB of Sample RAM

+/-

0

FX Bypass

Compare

Clear

MIDI Faders

Record

Play/Pause

Stop

Edit

Exit

UPPER/lower

0 - 9

Space

Cancel

Enter

Variable Architecture Synthesis Technology

C4

SW1

SW2

For K2500R Owners

Sampler

Variable Architecture Synthesis Technology

Throughout the Performance Guide and Reference Guide we’ve simplified things by saying just "K2500" any time we’re referring to features that are common to all instruments in the K2500 Series. Obviously, though, there are some differences between the rack and keyboard models; we’ll point them out where they occur and mark them with a handy K2500R margin symbol such as the one to the left of this paragraph.

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Introduction

Overview of the K2500

Overview of the K2500

The K2500 has been designed to be a versatile instrument both for performance, and for multitimbral sequencing and recording. Its Variable Architecture Synthesis Technology lets you build sounds from realistic instrumental samples and sampled synth waveforms—then modify the nature of those sounds through a dazzling array of digital signal processing (DSP) functions. The K2500 also generates its own synth waveforms, which can be combined with the samples or used on their own. The K2500 packs 8 Megabytes of on-board sound ROM, and you can load samples from disk into optional sample RAM.

Before we get into explaining Variable Architecture Synthesis, here are a few of the features that by themselves make the K2500 an impressive stage and studio machine. It’s fully multi- timbral—different programs can be played on each MIDI channel. It’s 48-note polyphonic, for a full sound no matter how many chords you play. There’s an on-board digital effects processor, providing up to four simultaneous effects, including realtime effects control, internally or via MIDI.

In addition to the standard stereo audio output pair, there are eight separate outputs that can be configured as stereo pairs, or as individual mono outputs. You can also use the separate outputs as insert points for outboard gear.

The K2500 offers eight SIMM sockets (single, in-line memory modules) so you can add optional sample RAM, where you can store samples that you’ve loaded from disk. You can add up to 128 megabytes of sample RAM! (Sample RAM is not battery-backed, so RAM samples are erased from memory when you power down.)

For offline storage, there’s also a floppy drive and two SCSI ports, so you can store files on floppies or on an external hard disk or load them from a CD-ROM drive. The two SCSI ports make it easy to chain multiple SCSI devices together. There’s also provision for an internal SCSI hard disk. You’ll find all this storage potential extremely useful for saving and loading samples, which can be transferred to and from the K2500 using the standard MIDI sample transfer format, or the new, faster, parallel SMDI sample transfer format (SCSI Musical Data Interchange). See the Reference Guide for information about MIDI and SMDI sample transfers.

The K2500’s battery-backed RAM will store about 400 of your own programs, or 30,000 notes recorded in the sequencer. This sequencer (Song mode) lets you play back MIDI type 0 sequences, record and play back your own songs, and record multi-timbral sequences received via MIDI. For more onboard storage you can add the P/RAM option, which will increase your battery-backed RAM to about 1250K, enough to store hundreds of additional programs, setups, songs, and other objects.

The Local Keyboard Channel feature enables you to use the K2500’s tri-zone setups even if your MIDI controller can transmit on only one channel. The K2500 will also rechannelize incoming MIDI information and send it to its MIDI Out port, enabling you to control additional synths on three different channels.

An optional sampling feature is available, allowing you to make your own mono or stereo samples using analog or digital inputs.

And, of course, there’s the incomparable Kurzweil sound. The K2500 comes to you with 200 preset factory programs (called patches, presets, voices, etc. on other synths), as well as 100 multi-zone performance setups. Play them straight from the box, tweak them in any number of ways, or develop your own programs from scratch—which brings us back to the powerful programming capabilities of the K2500.

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