From: jt@cortex.physiol.su.oz.au (John Tebbitt)
Subject: Re: Kurzweil K2000 Sample Board
Keywords: K2000, Sampling, Options
Organization: Department of Physiology, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 04:30:59 GMT

In <4182@equinox.unr.edu> takem_b@pyramid.unr.edu (Brian Takemoto) writes:

>In article <7790.2A62E507@stjhmc.fidonet.org> Jason.Alexander@p16.f215.n163.z1.fidonet.org (Jason Alexander) writes:
>>Has anyone seen the new Sample board for the K2000 yet?  Does anyone know
>>how they expect to fit it into the present NON sampling K2000?  I'm going
>>to be ordering a K2000 WITHOUT the sampling option because of a) price and
>>b) I will use a $350 Peavey SX and totally awesome Steinberg Avalon on the
>>Atari ST instead of spending $1000 for the sampling option.

>I've seen the Sampling Option.  On the back of your K2000, you'll have
>a small panel that can be removed to insert it.  Version 2.0 of the
>software is needed to run it, and with 2.0, you're supposed to be able
>to read Ensoniq disk samples as well!  I've seen the sampler in action
>with beta 1.6somethingish software running it and it was impressive!
>We listened to sampled parts of data straight from a CD (with NO
>editing in between) and couldn't tell the difference!

>>I expect that you'll be able to sample via the auxilary outputs that
>>double as inputs.  this will prevent them from having to drill into the

>The sampling board had four plugs on the back of it (one being optical if
>you're lucky enough to be working with one of those) and I'm assuming
>them all to be inputs.  As for the other aux inputs/outputs already on
>the back of my machine, I'm not sure if/how they're used...

>>case of the K2000.  At least they were smart enough to pre-wire all
>>necessary items for a true sampler such as the SCSI port and the software
>>chip space.  It's all sitting there, just waiting for the chip. The new

>Someone out there is also making a 600mb internal that'll fit into this
>thing.  The external SCSI port is nice too!

>>card supposedly has souped up sample editing software not much different
>>from that found in the Akai S-1100.

>Dunno...  Didn't have enough time to go in depth with it and I don't know
>anything about the Akai S-1100.
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>takem_b@pyramid.cs.unr.edu or ucbvax.berkley.edu!pyramid.cs.unr.edu!takem_b
>#include <sig.h>    /* unfriendly control codes with ascii self-portrait */
>Anything that can go wronx3%se  Pnews: segmentation violation. core dumped.

I have purchased a K2000 with the sampling option,  32 Meg of sample RAM
( 2 by 16 Meg SIMMs ) and a Syquest 88 M byte cartridge drive.

I am very pleased with the K2000 itself allthough the Sampling option is in
such short supply that I am awaiting delivery.

The option board has line level analog input and AES/EBU , SP/DIF and optical
inputs.  This is so that you can sample from differant sources.
It has AES/EBU digital outputs so that you can dump direct to digital tape
decks ( read here ADAT ).  I am more than simply impressed with the overall
simplicity of operation and the quality of the onboard samples and effects.

I have been told that there are quite a number of upgrades planned for the
future and some of these are mooted to be,

	1/:	SCSI sample interchange. Very fast sample exchange!!
	2/:	Improved onboard sequencer.
	3/:	2 by ROM sample expansion to give 24 M bytes total!
	4/:	2 new programming Video tutorials!
	5/:	The entire K250, K1000 and K1200 sample library on disk.
	6/:	Widespread Third party support re: sample CD ROM
	7/:	synchronised sample play back!!
( This would be over the top as it would give a K2000 with say 64 Meg of RAM
the ability to do some serious digital editing on tracks,  in the fashion of
Sound tools and other digital editing workstations.  Don't forget that this
machine is a stereo sampler and that maximum file length of files is 64 Meg.
On the strength of these upgrades,  plus my previous experiance with the
other models in the K series I was prepared to part with my dollars ($9500)A
to get my hands on this beast.  The fact that I can use my S1000 samples to
get my sample library going is icing on the cake.

On the subject of internal hard drives,  I would remind you that there is
available a fan kit as an upgrade.  Think about it,  with 64 Meg of RAM
and the sampling option,  this machine will be putting out some heat.

All in all,  I think that this machine is the bargain of the decade,  and is
destined to become the next in a series of classics from this group.

		John Tebbitt
	Manager : Megaphon Sound Recording Studios.
	Systems Support,  Dept. of Physiology,  Uni. of Sydney

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