From: burd@hydra.unm.edu (Stephen Burd ASM)
Subject: Re: Kurzweil 1000 PX - sounding thin over upper middle range.
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 92 19:55:19 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <1992Sep11.151113.23871@funlwb.enet.dec.com> sullivan@nodename.dec.com (Greg Sullivan) writes:
>
>The Grand definitely does not suffer as much - but (in my opinion) it's still
>there. 

I've just spent a half an hour listening to all the piano samples over the
full range of the keyboard at a variety of attacks.  I can definitely
hear some cheesy sounds in the more contrived samples but the grand piano
sample sounds very clean to me.

A few comments that may explain Gregg's impression of the sample.  No piano
sounds identical on every key.  Also, there are 'built in' variations at
different key ranges (e.g., the shift from one string at the low end
to two strings in the lower middle, and three in the middle and high 
ranges).  In some cases, the approach of sampling every fourth or
fifth note and transposing to fill in the gaps has exaggerated these
differences.  Thus, what might have been a smooth transition on the
original instrument has been converted to something resembling a step
function change in the sampled version.

>Another question. I have been speaking to someone else, who has a PX with A
>soundblock _only_ (I think, not 100% sure). He has a soundfile called 
>'Stereo Grand Piano 1', which is used on a preset called Stereo Piano (single
>layere preset). I was told that the upgrades are purely additive by the sales
>rep. That is, one never _looses_ soundfiles. I do NOT have a soundfile called
>Stereo Grand Piano 1. What's going on? Have they renamed soundfiles somewhere
>along the line? This person says that he prefers the Stereo Piano preset (which
>I also do NOT have, but I that's not as important as a missing soundfile) to
>the standard Grand Piano. I'm wondering whether I'm missing out on something
>worthwhile....

Now I'm confused too.  First, my recollection of the evolution of the PX
series is as follows (some one please correct me if I'm in error):

(1)	Original PX, 8 buttons

(2)	PX+, 23 buttons (additional buttons are for calling stored
	presets from the front panel).  The PX+ incorporates the sounds
	of the PX and those in the A block expansion.  The A block
	expansion could be purchased separately and used to update
	the original PX.  The A block also included a minor upgrade 
	to the operating software.

(3)	B block expansion released.  It included additional samples and
	another operating software upgrade.  It was sold in combination
	with the A block to expand either a PX or a PX plus.

My box is a PX plus.  Thus, it should have identical samples to a PX
with the A block upgrade.  Quoting from the manual, all of the samples 
(Kurzweil uses the term 'soundfiles') in my box are:

	Grand Piano
	Bright Piano
	Very Bright Piano
	Mellow Piano
	Hard Strike Piano
	Soft Strike Piano
	Extended Dynamic Piano
	Extended Dynamic Piano 2
	Alien Piano
	Electric Piano Wave
	Dual Electric Piano
	Soft Electric Piano
	Hard Electric Piano

To my ears, the soft strike and hard strike pianos simply sound like
two halves of the grand piano sample.  The remainder of the list up to
and including extended dynamic piano 2 sounds like heavily processed
versions of some piano sample (I can't tell if it's the grand piano
sample).  The processing on some of these leaves much to be desired.
In particular, there are flagrant inconsistenices between note ranges
on several samples, such as those Gregg heard in the Stereo Extended Piano
program.

Whether or not this renders the instrument useless is a matter of needs
and tastes.  I had never heard the inconsistencies in the processes 
samples until Gregg pointed them out because I never use the programs that
include those samples.  I use the grand piano sample exclusively for
piano sounds.  If you need high quality processed piano sounds then 
this is probably not the box for you.  But there's quite a bit of 
programming flexbility provided to alter the included samples to suit 
individual tastes.

-- 
FROM:      Stephen D. Burd			AT&T:      (505)-277-6418
USNAIL:    Anderson School of Management        FAX:       (505)-277-7108
           University of New Mexico		INTERNET:  burd@hydra.unm.edu
           Albuquerque, NM  87131
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