From: JROSSI@EAGLE.AAMRL.WPAFB.AF.MIL
Newsgroups: rec.music.synth
Subject: Re: K2000 teste drive (VS SY99) [Ignore header.. Reply to Scott
 Fahlman]
Date: 13 Aug 92 14:34:00 GMT

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Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 10:09 EDT
From: JROSSI@EAGLE.AAMRL.WPAFB.AF.MIL
Subject: Re: K2000 teste drive (vs SY99)
To: rec-music-synth@ucbbvax.berkeley.EDU
X-VMS-To: IN%"rec-music-synth@ucbbvax.berkeley.edu"


Since mine is the only K2000 with which I have ever played, I can only comment
on what mine does, or does not do.  Both Keyboard and Electronic Musician
(I think) commented on the noise generated by the effects processor.  I was
told at Sweetwater Sound that there had been an attempt to reduce the
effects of the noise.  It could be that there are differing versions of the
mainboard with subtly different wiring configurations for the Digitech
chip.  On the other hand, it could also be that I have a different sensitivity
to hiss than Scott.  I can't comment on hiss through the headphone outputs
because, with its anemic output, the K2000's headphone output barely drives
my Sennheizer headphones to a reasonable listening volume.  If there were
noise in that signal even 30 dB below the main signal, I wouldn't be able to
hear it.  On the other hand, my Mackie is dead quiet (when the Quads' returns
are disabled).  It took me several months of frustration to track down
every source of noise and hum in the studio.  I completely re wired the thing
with high quality audio lines and MIDI cables.  Additionally, I took the time
to foil shield any AC lines which came within a foot of an audio of MIDI line
and ran the shields to ground.  A pair of B&W DM5s remain my main studio
speakers.  Their response is very flat from about 90 Hz up to about 25K Hz.
Now, with the Mackie capable of producing about 60 dB of gain (20 dB in the
input trim section, 20 dB in the channel amplifier, ans 20 dB in the output
amplifier section) I can listen pretty closely to the sounds being produced
by the audio stuff in my system, just by boosting things way out of their 
normal ranges (i.e., anybody with a Mackie will understand the way noise and
distortion can be amplified just by throwing the channel and output faders
to their maximum positions).  It was using this system which I determined
that the quiescent Quadraverb hiss is about 20 dB higher than any other
noise and hum in my systen (i.e., it goes away only after attenuating both
the input and master faders well below their unity gain settings).  In
comparison, the K2000 is virtually silent.  Using the gain available at the
Mackie, I can amplify the K2000 so that the hiss becomes clearly audible
at all times when the effects processor is enabled.  However, this happens
well above unity gain and at a level of amplification at which the Quad
noise would be unbearable.  Also, except for my (ex) Expander, my Matrix 6,
and the Wavestation, the K2000 remains one of the quietest sound modules in
my system.  It is at least 15 dB quieter than the K5 (which is, by far, the
second noisest thing in my system after the Quads), and it is about as
quiet as the Px-MKS20 combination system.  It is also a lot quieter than
a DSP-128, MIDIVerb II, MIDIVerb III, MicroVerb-1, MicroVerb III, ProVerb,
SDD-2000, Lexicon LXP-1/LXP-5 and every other outboard effects box I have
ever tried.  Even the MicroWave has a tendency to output some kind of
digital grunge way above thhe K2000, although this is not noise (hiss), per
se.  As it turns out, in my system, if almost anny other fader or return is
enabled on any of my 32 Mackie channels, I have masked any hiss which the
K2000 might be producing at the time.  So, in my 'real-world' situation,
the Mackie does not contribute significantly to my noise floor.  Again, as
with anything else in compound systems the importance of things is relative
to the things to which they are compared.  As I stated previously, the only 
time I have noticed hiss from the K2000 was in long reverb tails and at the
end of very long delay repeat sequences (where you are listening to the
effects alone and there is no longer a dry signal).  Even then, I really don't
find the hiss to be 'that' objectionable.  However, since I still haven't
replaced the Quads, I seldom get to the point where that the hiss from the
K2000 is even noticable.

Scott:  BTY, my K2000 is currently in Pittsburgh (I assume you are at C-M).
If you want to do an A/B comparison or just listen to it, I should be able
to arrange it.  Send me personal E-mail.

John
Newsgroups: rec.music.synth,comp.music,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.sys.mac.misc