Kawai K5m Digital Synthesizer Demo
Vložit
- čas přidán 20. 12. 2015
- The Kawai K5 is a digital synthesizer that uses additive synthesis to create tones. The K5 was first released in 1987. Unfortunately, probably because of new ROMpler workstations like the Korg M1 and Roland D-50, the Kawai K5 was quickly forgotten.
In the demo, you'll see and hear the Kawai K5m, which is the rack mount module version.
The K5 creates tones via additive synthesis. Users can manipulate up to 128 individual harmonics. Programming it can seem complicated at first, but there are some shortcuts to working with it.
All of the original sound presets for the factory bank and the external card banks are still available from Kawai for free download.
For more information on the Kawai K5, this is a great resource:
www.kfuenf.org - Hudba
I had the Kawaii K5m synth module in 1987, along with a Korg DDD-1 drum machine and the Korg SQD-1 sequencer. Those were some magical sounding times.
I LOVE KAWAI
I have a beautiful K5000W, which I love, but I think this synth sounds as good, just different. I'll probably pick one up one day on eBay or whatever!
The 5000 was a later version of the same synthesis engine.
Amazing! Thanks for share this!
The sounds of the electric pianos are really shiny and cristallyne . Love them :)
I just bought a K5M for $100 and it’s going on the bench for a full restoration. New display on order from SNAFU, new tact switches, recap and battery. Thanks for this demo, can’t wait to get it completed!
How does your display work? Was it easy to install? Thanks.
@@cortical1 I ended up only replacing the backlight acquired from instrumentalparts.com. End result is pretty good and much brighter then the OEM backlight. The whole light slides out from behind the display as a thin rectangle of some kind of plastic the same dimensions as the actual LCD display. The K5M is a weird case design, a little bit of a PITA to get to the actual display. When you finally make it in, just two wire to snip, clean up solder pads and solder on the new power leads once the new light is slid into place. I’m a 40 yrs electronics engineer as my mortgage maker income and I’d give it a low medium skill level to accomplish. Take pictures, label interconnects with Ideal wire marker numbers, keep fasteners in order of what they came from and take your time. It will turn out well. Best of luck!
This is the only decent demo I´ve seen/listended from this synth. Despite these are the factory presets, there are some many very good sounds and it looks like it has a big potential.
I love all Kawai "K" series synths. I´d love to listen a long custom sounds demo from this wonderful, but sadly forgotten, synth.
Literally the best thing about the K5 was the keyboard.
Some nice sounds. One of the better demos. I have the K4 the smaller brother, but for me, the K4 sounds much better nicer pads. Thank you for sharing.
Some of those sounds remind me of scenes from "Purple Rain"..
I'm gettin one..
Great memories of a fabulous synth! thanks
A warmer sounding DX7, but a tricky synth to programme anything nice on. The display back lights go and the display is defo necessary to programme the harmonics. One of those synths capable of making loads of sounds that roughly sound the same.
Great emotional review! It is very important that there are text comments of what is happening in the video.
Love the sounds
i got one a coupla years ago... just _had_ to have it for its architecture... its so unique...
thanks to Cloudwalk Music for the vid! and Abraham Music Project for the add'l background info!
Its amazing how similar it sounds to the K5000 series. Sure, the K5000 is more sophisticated, having more envelopes, partials etc, but the character is very similar. I've hear the K5000 is 16 bit and the K5 is 8 bit, don't know if thats true, but yeah the K5000 is brighter, more HIFI.
I bought one of these and just found it unused for at least twenty five years or so, it's been in a box stored away in my attic, I cant find the power cord though so looks like that on the shopping list. I also found my old DX9 up there I used with it too. Cool vid, brings back some memories trying to work it out with no manual lol
its an easy synth for begineers, its capable of good hammonds, good rhodes, good bells, pads. Unique sounds and personal sounds can be made with this synth.
I bought a 120v version off ebay and thought I might be able to swap over the transformer, so took it to bits and then realised I couldn't. But it's a complex beast to reassemble and I didn't get around to it. So I have bought a UK model, at least I will be able to use that and get the other back together. I will probably swap the screen for modern LCD displays though.
Also, why do they always have a scratch down the front of them? :)
I swapped the display for a modern LCD, no buzzing transformer now. All working fine. Can't find a Kawai RAM card so bought a HP 32k card on the off chance it is compatible.
@@6581punk Where did you find a suitable lcd? I have always suspected the screen for making that everlasting high bzzz-tone under every sound on my K5m.
@@dennistrouble9971 They're a standard LCD module (I used this part: Winstar WG24064A-TMI-VZ#). Some mods required. Check this guide. wp.visuanetics.nl/kawai-k5-display-upgrade-cleaning/
To bypass the inductor: "You put the resistor from the top left hole to the bottom right hole (as you’re looking at the PSU with with LCD output on the right)."
I NEED IT
yup sounds like the 80's. Nothing wrong with that
kawai has "it"
Olá amigo! Você tem esse arquivo para fornecer? Syex! Obrigado!
Hi,
Thank you for uploading this video. Can you recommend any midi editors for Kawai k5m?
I was looking at this kfuenf page and kfuenf`s program seems like only “bank/patch manager” and the real editor was never really finished. Hmm there is written that something new will come in spring 2017 on the page…interesting!
Andreas Marco check out midiquest at www.squest.com
github.com/eclab/edisyn Really good editor.
Kawai Desu
This makes me wonder if an FM synth can have just as bright attack transient.
super skad moge pobrac te barwy?
6:02 - what reverb was used? Thnx ;) Cool demo
Thanks! That was a digital plate reverb effect, on an old Ensoniq ASR-10 sampling workstation. The ASR allows you to route live audio through its onboard effects, and that reverb has always been a favorite!
@@cloudwalkmusic3303 ouu... Thank you! I had an ASR-10R .. I miss his effects ... I seem to me I need to find DP4 ;)
@@EuroDJ I know what you mean! I’ve had the ASR for over 20 years and it recently broke down! I really miss it!
Kawai site doesn't have the patches anymore, anyone still got em?
Vintage Synth has a ZIP of the patches on its K5m page: www.vintagesynth.com/kawai/kawaik5.php
I’m looking into buying one of these now online. Are sound cards hard to find now or can I just buy those sound files they have for sale on eBay?
I don't know how easy the data cards are to find, but kfuenf has a free software librarian where you can download all of the orginal factory sounds and card sounds. www.kfuenf.org/en/library.html
Also Kawai has an archive on their website where you can still download the K5 patch library for free in several different MIDI software formats.
THNX! What external reverb you use?
Sorry for the late reply! I fed it into the analog input of my old Ensoniq ASR-10, and used the effects processor. It’s the same processor as the old stand-alone Ensoniq DP2 effects unit. Gorgeous plate reverbs and nice combinations of delay, chorus, and reverb!
Is this compatible with the previous, k4r version and it's patches at all? Does it have all the waveforms?
The K5 actually preceded the K4 and K4r, which came out in 1989, and they are very different. Whereas the K5 was more of an additive synthesizer, the K4's design is actually more of a digital ROMpler, using a collection of preset waveforms to build sounds on. Part of these waveforms are digital samples, but the K4 also uses a similar technology to the K5 to produce waveforms that use additive synthesis. This gives the K4 a nice library of waveforms to choose from. However, the K4's additive waveforms are all static presets. The K5 differs as its additive synthesis is fully programmable. You can custom build each waveform from scratch, and then have the harmonic character of the waveform change and shift over time.
Cloudwalk Music Hey, thank you for the quick response!
So, in theory, it would be possible to manually rebuild most of the K4r waveforms on the K5m, even though one has to go all the way down to root level and go up from there?
I'm mainly after those atmospheric bell-ish synth sounds & choiry pads from the K4r.
I think you could do it. One thing I wish they included on the K5 would have been the ability to save individual waveforms as presets you could easily call up when creating patches. Then you could easily run through them and audition different waveforms. Unfortunately the K5 can be pretty tedious at times to program from scratch.
That's why Kawai put in copy functions... pretty easy to copy any section of the synth over to another patch. You could copy the harmonic structures used in the K4, though you could make the sounds way more animated on a K5. The K4s waves are not as accurate as K5s. There used to be a website that compared the purity of the sine waves and the K5, K5000 had the most pure sine waves whereas the K4, K1 had extra harmonics in them.
I like to think that the K5000 combined the K5 and K4 into one. But it's probably a lot more than that.
for the sake of not having to lug around a K5 or K5m i get a very similar sound from the Virsyn MicroTera plugin.
didnt this synth use attack samples like the D50 to create its sounds ?
All of the waveforms are created using Kawai’s version of additive synthesis. However, you can create attack transients by either using the envelopes to control specified harmonics in the Synthesis section, or by using multi-Timbral mode to layer attack sounding presets with other sounds.
Cloudwalk Music that’s why I prefer a D50 😀
PEPINILLOS AZUCARADOS That’s a beautiful synth!
Jan Hammer used this synth . Anybody knows if he used some presets?
Philippe Zsiga I didn’t know that Jan Hammer had one! I think the only artist I’ve heard specifically is Jean Michel Jarre. He’s got a soft spot for odd synths.
@@cloudwalkmusic3303 here are some quotes from Jan Hammer (Sound on Sound jan 88 issue): "these days it (the signature lead guitar sound) comes from the DX7, the Kawai K5 or the Oberheim Xpander." also: " Mostly I use presets but I do edit - especially when it comes to lead sounds; " and again about the K5: "I don't like weighted keyboards that try to reproduce the piano action - they feel bogus to me. The DX7 and K5 keyboards feel beautiful."
There a high probability Jan used the K5 on the fourth season of Miami Vice; and even some K5 presets as he said in the interview that he had no time for editing sounds and the K5 is time consuming to edit....i ve just bought my K5 on ebay today!! i am excited to have it in front of me!!!
@@cloudwalkmusic3303 also from this interview it s nearly sure that Jan used the kawai R100 drum machine on the 4th season of Miami Vice
@@cloudwalkmusic3303 In the august 1990 Sound ou Sound magazine issue, you can read about the K5 :"The few excellent voices which are included begin to show just what the K5 can do, although the best advert is possibly the majority of Jan Hammer's music for , which utilises plenty of K5 sounds [see interview: SOS Jan 1988].
@@cloudwalkmusic3303 again from the SOS issue january 88: Jan hammer said :"Sometimes if nothing comes, I shut off the TV monitor, stop thinking about the show and just go fool around with anything - it might be playing with the Fairlight Series III or trying to create a new sound on the Kawai K5. "
je voudrais savoir l'utiliser MERCI HELP
Un son est composé de 128 harmoniques ou 2X64 selon le mode choisi. Ensuite il y a 4 enveloppes. Vous pouvez acheminer n'importe quelles des sinus vers une de ces 4 enveloppes. Cela permet de faire des sinus courtes ou des longues. Comprenez et jouer déjà avec ça. Vous pouvez allez très très loin avec ce synthé mais il faut être patient. Je l'ai eu. J'ai recréé un son et je l'ai vendu. Pas assez de patience. Je ne ferais sûrement plus cette erreur aujourd'hui. Vous pouvez Recréer tous les sons avec ce synthé.
seems old roland sound canvas wannabe, but sounds better
k5 keyboard for sale if anyone is interested.......
after hearing this demo, I can say - nothing you coudn't do with a DX7 in better quality
Considering these are all factory presets... what do you think the competition was at the time? Why would you use it today to imitate a trite ass DX7?
well we need some skilled synth programmers who show us what the K5 can sound like - its real potential. I did not hear something yet, what a DX7 could not do.
The K5 has 16 voices, is multi-timbral, and can stack up to 16 sounds at the same time. The DX7 can't do that. The K5 isn't difficult to program either. The same can't be said for the DX7. This audio demo doesn't even scratch the surface of what the K5 can do.
I wanted to just have a video of factory sounds, since there aren't many decent demos of the synth. Some day I will have to upload a demo of my own patches. After working with the K5m for a little while, I found it is easier to program than I thought, and you can pull out a lot more sound out of it! I actually took me a long time to warm up to this synth, but I'm glad I worked with it! I like to think the K5 would have fared better had it been released a few years earlier. It may not have beat out the DX7, but it would have given it some good competition. Unfortunately, the Roland D-50 and Korg M1 came out about the same time as the K5 and people went crazy over them, almost abandoning the older digital synths like the DX's and the K5!
yes, the year 1987 was great for Roland with its D-50, but a hard time for other synths like Ensoniq SQ-80, Kawai K5, Korg DS-8, Yamaha DX7II