From: scott@bbx.basis.com (Scott Amspoker)
Newsgroups: rec.music.synth
Subject: K2000R followup
Date: 5 Oct 92 22:29:59 GMT
Organization: BASIS International, Albuquerque NM

As I posted last week, I brought home my K2000R which is obviously now
shipping.  I promised I would give a few more details today.  Since
the K2000 keyboard has already been beaten to death in this newsgroup,
I will spare you kind folks a review of the synthesizer itself (although
I will make some brief personal observations).

The K2000R is a rackmount version of the popular K2000 keyboard.  As
far as I can tell, it lists at $2895 which is about $100 less than the
keyboard version (I paid about $2400 for mine).  There is no
apparent or obvious explanation for the small price difference
between the K2000 and K2000R.

It occupies 3 rack spaces.  While this may seem a tad greedy it seems
to require it.  The well-designed user interface probably would not
be as nice with a 2u module.  Also, the unit is *heavy* and feels
solid.  I haven't looked inside but it doesn't feel as though there
is much dead space inside.

It has a 1.4Mb floppy drive, two SCSI ports (one is SCSI-thru for daisy 
chaining), and ten 1/4" output jacks acting as 5 stereo pairs.
There are panels for installing the optional user sampling feature.

The 5 stereo pairs are labeled A, B, C, D, and MIX.  The signal
routing is very straight forward.  Any patch layer may be programed
to output to any of the 4 main output pairs A, B, C, or D (with
panning).  Furthermore, each MIDI channel can be configured to
override its programs' output selection and force all programs on
that channel to any output pair (with pan override as well).
By default, all output pairs are combined via the MIX output pair.
By inserting a mono phone plug into an output jack, its signal
is removed from the mix output.  The internal effects are added
between the A outputs and the MIX outputs.  This means that effects
will be applied only to signals sent to the A group and *only* if
the A group is coming out the MIX jacks.  If plugs are inserted
into the A jacks then the effects are not included.  The manual
states that the direct (non-MIX) outputs "are connected almost
directly to the 18-bit digital-to-analog converters with a minimum
of noise-inducing circuitry."

Stereo plugs may be inserted into the direct outputs for outboard
effects processing (ala Emu Proteus/Procussion).  In this case,
the returned effects are routed to the MIX jacks.

The K2000R comes with a cooling fan already installed.

For MIDI purposes, the K2000R can behave as though any connected
MIDI controller is ITS OWN KEYBOARD.  There is a parameter called
"LocalKbdCh" which may be set to any MIDI channel or "none".  This
causes the K2000R to collaborate with an external keyboard contoller
and behave as though it were a K2000.  It will transmit MIDI data
on the MIDI out port instead of the MIDI thru port just as though
you were playing the keyboard on the K2000.  Also, you may assign
different MIDI messages to several of the keyboard's controllers 
(such as the mod wheel).  All other incoming MIDI data (from a 
"non-local" keyboard) is simply processed with no special handling
and echoed to the MIDI-thru port.  This seems to be a clever way
to build a K2000 out of a K2000R+controller.

The O/S is version 1.28.  A separate sheet of paper identifies the
following as "new features" in the software:

    * SMDI (Sample Data Transfer over SCSI)
    * Improved SCSI device support
    * Import stereo samples, layers
    * New programming functions
    * Streamlined functional access and operations
    * Hard reset function
    * New degree of operational stability and reliability.
      [I guess that's one way to put it - SDA]

The ROM programs/setups/quick access bank are new.  An enclosed floppy
disk contains new demo sequences as well as the original K2000
program banks.

A seperate addendum more specifically documents some of the new
enhancements.  More notable are:

    * a new control source is available (Chan Cnt) measuring the number 
      of voices in use by a given channel.

    * Layers may be imported from other programs.

    * Stereo samples are supported at the layer level (uses two voices)

    * A "BendSmooth" parameter improves performance when playing a MIDI
      guitar controller.

    * The "load everything" disk operation will ignore a few
      configuration settings (such as display contrast) which are
      deemed to be undesired on a disk load.


COMMENTS
--------

Since I don't have much experience with a K2000, I can't say exactly
what is different about the K2000R other than the obvious things.
The software changes in the K2000R are available as upgrades to the 
K2000 so there is no real difference in features per-se.

It's a good thing I'm not writing a full review of the instrument
because in 4 days of intensive diddling, I still don't know what
to say about it in a nutshell.  I have never been so inundated with
power in a synth before.  There are control sources I've never
imagined, not to mention the FUN's which will simply take hours
of experimentation to learn to use.

The drum kits are very good but alas, my E-mu Procussion has me
hopelessly spoiled in this area.  The sound quality of the samples
is first rate and the resonant filters have an *attitude*.  There
is enough warmth and grunge in there that, after a while, I started 
to think of the K2000R as simply a wonderful analog synth.

The user interface is easy to use considering the flexibility of the
instrument.  I must confess that I find the large selection of
algorithms a bit confusing.  A glance at the algorithm charts in
the manual shows a great deal of overlap in the way different
DSP functions may be combined.  For example, the difference between
algorithms 8 and 9 is merely the list of functions available for
the F3 block.  I fail to understand why they needed two algorithms
for this instead of providing one algorithm with a slightly longer
list for F3.

Also, I'm impressed with the large list of control sources but
can't figure out the difference between GPhase1 and GPhase2.

All in all, I'm very happy with the K2000R and intend to spend
a lot of time with it in the upcoming months.

-- 
Scott Amspoker                       |    
Basis International, Albuquerque, NM |  Too bad ignorance isn't really
                                     |  bliss.  Then it could be outlawed.
scott@bbx.basis.com                  |
Newsgroups: rec.music.synth