Kawai K4 16bit DIGITAL SYNTHESIZER - High Quality Sound-Demo
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2024
- The Kawai K4 Synthesizer was build from 1989 on and was a competitor to the Roland D-50 and the Korg M1. I have chosen several sounds to show what the K4 is capable of.
What a beautiful synth! Most people do not know but this is a beast! How Kawai forgot this market and put the focus just in pianos? (very good ones also but.......)
My favourite digital synth. It has something magical... it can make sounds that make you travel through your imagination. The last pad (from minute 5:42 to the end) is simply incredible (and the user´s playing too). When I was looking for my first synth and listened the K4 demos I fell in love with it.
Never parted with mine. When I wore out the keyboard, I bought the rack mount. fired it up this evening and sounded as great as ever.
Had one in my 90's home studio. Had quite a few of my own patches, and had a couple extra 3rd-party patch cards. Sequenced it with an Alesis MMT-8, multi-tracked it into my Tascam Porta04. Long gone now, but those were the days.
Love this synth, bought it 15 years ago and still sounds great
A very underrated digital synth IMO,beautiful warmth and also some nice effects on it,it has a punchy and dynamic character
For an mid 80's synth I am still happy. My battery finally died so I found a few hundred more midi samples I have not found before to replace both factory and other users creations. It still performs a very useful role. You can make what you want out of anything if you put the old noddle to use.
it's actually a really inspiring synth.
My dad gave me this synthesizer but didn’t have the soundcard or cords for it. Looks like Im going to have to order them online now. These sounds are magical
has the coldness of a digital synth, but I like that for film score kind of composition. just bought one. Has its own sound. Came out apparently to compete with The DX7 and M1, D50. Wonderful thank you for sharing.
Those digital pads are perfect in typical nearly 100% analog compositions. It creates a magic vibe.
I agree. thank you.
this was a really nice and probably underrated synth and very versatile. 16 track multitimbral too, though it was only 16 note polyphonic but you could assign 16 sounds in a track and use all 16 MIDI channels. Oceanwatch at 2:24 - I remember that sound name! I still have the K4 under the bed in the front bedroom and have not played it for at least 10 years. I need to fetch it out and see if it still works!
+Dave Bellamy at 2:24 you see the name Oceanwatch on the screen but you do'nt hear it ! Oceanwatch is at the end, from 5:42, where you hear the surf in the background ;-))
For a purely digital synth, the K4 sounds very warm. (& fuzzy) Nice demo. Great sound selection & playing. It showcases the K4 perfectly.
gjc82071 - I would not really say warm, but full of nice charakter. The filter can sound harsh when you push the resonance to hard. Its all about the "low quality" samples combined with the internal effects and smooth filters. There is a lot of aliasing and grittyness - love it!
+synthtools Well, It sounds very warm to me, at least, much warmer than many other digital ones, and even more "analog" than many VA synths.
I cant believe the sound to be frank
Fantastic quality
Ah, I miss my K4. I had some amazing times with it. I love its filters, you could really abuse them to get some really fresh, hard-edged and cutting sounds.
Very beautiful sound! Especially pads, brasses, strings.
Man, i miss this synth.
A video of good taste, job well done...
I still use my K4 on stage...
I just purchased a Kawai K4 for only $149.00 and it will be arriving today by UPS. I already own the Roland Juno Stage and the Casio XW-P1. From what I can tell, the Kawai is an awesome pad monster.
Wow, that's some good playing. Still sounds great today, even by modern standards.
Josh Lehan - Thanks! :-) I also like this old digital sound. Has a nice special charakter.
K4 owner here. It uses a common battery to save the patches. When the battery dies you loose the factory patches. There are online articles how to restore it. I have not attempted yet. You need a battery, a midi interface and a sysex editor. Kawai was helpful with advice and can provide a link for the factory pstches. The sound card it used seems scare and pricey. It is definitely more atmospheric than the other popular synths at the time, but they all had their virtues. Shame Kawai turned away from Synths, they seemed pretty good at it.
How? A common battery that you buy in foodstore? AA? Or is it difficult to put on place. Im on my way to buy a K4, but battery and the D knob is out of function. Is the D knob multimode something that I can fix or should I jump this purchase? If someone goodhearted knows please give som advice ❤
hello, if you haven't found your answer yet, it is a cr2046 battery, one of the larger watch batteries you can buy in any store. You have to open the synth, but you can pop out the old battery and put the new one in.@@wega4105
those patches are awesome...the pads are fabulous!
I have a K1, but this really makes me want a K4....
Yes!!! The very original guitar sample is inside the K4 ... :-)
EXCELENT. BEAUTIFUL. THANKS
Sounds like something future would use on one go their tracks in the beginning lol
Excellent demo!
I'm really amazed by the wonderful sounds. I don't know how much this baby goes for these days, but I was put off with it's predecessors' by how cheap they are to buy now. I didn't expect too much.. Some lovely pads here. nice playing too. Thanx for sharing. LOL.
I still have my K4r which I have owned for 25 years now. I'm so glad I kept it. I sometimes miss my Minimoog and Korg Monopoly, but now with Arturia Minilab I am happy again. But the Kawai ... no way will that be available as a virtual synth at any point IMO. Too obscure. And quirky and glitchy. But it can make make the most atmospheric psychedelic sounds. There is nothing else like it. If anyone has any suggestions about repairing/replacing the front panel buttons, please let me know.They are not indestructible by any means.Fortunately I have the original documentation, so it can be programmed via midi. The K4r has two other features I love - the drum section is sick. So much potential for percussion synthesis, and there are 8 separate audio outputs, allowing instruments in multi patches to be routed to individual processing. Magic.
me y have 4 k4 at home cause i love this synth...but i would like repairs 2 pieces cause the button of voices are blocked..were can i repair him??
I'm a k4 owner... since 89-90. Still use it along side "modern" synths today. There is now a K1 softsynth for free if you search. No K4 yet. :-)
thanx, well done! I am still using the K4, besides.
Sounds friggin wonderful! Thanks for upload
BEAUTIFUL THNKS FOR THIS DEMO
This the second best digital synth Ive ever heard second only to the Mighty DX7 MK2. It doesnt have as much punch but does great pads.
heavenly
demonic sweaters - Absolutely :-)
Nice selection of sounds and great playing. I have two K4Rs nowadays, the K4 was one of my most loved keyboards during the Atari / Cubase days. I have made three complete patch banks for it with more sounds like these. :-)
Great, and would you care to share these three banks ;-))
bitley.laconicsounds.net
The K4 is an excellent alternative to DX7, sounds great. I have programmed various percussive acoustic-like sounds on the K4.
At 5:49 ...incredible sound !!!!
Cool Synth
Beautiful sound architecture, advanced for the time, quite comparable with its concurents DX7IIfd and M1, but so original and different as well. Even today sounds acceptable and useful. In creative hands still can be mighty machine, with clever use of effects and mixing . I possesed one in the nineties, it was powerful both on live gigs and in studio, especially with pads and leads. Quite a pity that Kawai abandoned synth production far ago, their gear was so creative and inspiring.
Cool.
Simply an incredible demonstration of this wonderful synth. Do you have these patches shared or for sale?
Great question mate!!
What a pitty they haven't succeed to develop synths further on, it was mighty for sure!
Still have mine.
great!
Nice keyboard and beautiful sounds!
KAWAI : K4 ; SINTESYZER -
DIGITAL ; TOP - SINTESYZER - DIGITAL -
KAWAI : NEW - MODEL -
GERAÇÃO : K4 ; TOP .
2023 .
Prefer this than a DX7 any day.
Love both, DX7 for bass and K4 for pads
Both totally different synths for different things. Each can do what the other can not.
ce synthé a été complétement occulté par le D50 et le M1
DOMMAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cyrus-music.com c'est bon pour nous, vu le prix qu'on peut l'acheter :-) donc dommage pour les ignorants ;-)
The sound-patches came from the banks available somewhere in the internet. I am not sure if youtube has a PM function .... ;-)
I have 2 K5M's and 1 K5000R.....SWEET!
exzellent Sounds , dreams Traume.
Really great demo showing the best of K4. Probably one of the best.
Do you have this sound demo as a patch bank that you want to share?
2:42 ohh my god that pad!
5:35 - calling mr. vain!
Excellent Demo!
I guess i would buy this synth if i got these patches.
Could you please send me?
Best regards
Is it just me or does this synth sound FKIN AMAZING!!!!!!!1 Damn I really REALLY wish You had the list of patches or at least know the source of them. I have the oportunity to buy that synth for 140$ so it would be really stupid of me not to buy it. Great demo sir!
Thanks! As I have written several times. The patches are collected around the internet, and sorry, when I did the video no notices where made :-(
synthtools what a shame :'( Do at least remember where did You get those from (any websites)?
der hammer...call me mr vain;)
I lost all of my K4 sounds 2 years ago and haven't been able to get back those same patches. Can you are can anyone out there help me out?
This is a great demo. There have been several questions in the comments below about the availability of the sounds used in the video. Would you be so kind as to answer them? If they are not factory patches... you have several persons offering to buy them if you will make them available.
I like it more than D-50
Very nice.Are these preset patches you are playing or your own original sets of sounds.Seems it's capable of making spacey warm pad sounds (and it looks like a synth that just plays some standard lame piano and organ sounds etc).
i have one...20 euros….love it
Did all sounds use in this demo like factory sounds or there is something like VOICE CRYSTAL card added ? thanks
Rastislav Suchanek - All sounds did come from the K4 without addotional effects. And no, it were not only factory sounds but also banks that are available from the internet. I do not have the list of the sounds anymore, but you can just try them out.
I owned the K3 for about month , it had great sounds but a bit limited in the sound editing aspect. How would you rate the K4 abilities in that area ?
I received a used one and it turns on and everything but no apparent sounds - not sure if it's broken or I don't know how to use it
Eigentlich finde ich den K4 ja nicht so dolle (externes Netzteil, Timing-Probleme im MIDI Multimode-Betrieb, klickende/knacksende Nebengeräusche je nach Parameter-Einstellung, Grand Piano und dergleichen können ein Roland U-20 oder ein JV-80 besser usw.). Aber wie ich hier bei YT inzwischen gelernt habe, gibt es kaum ein Gerät, mit dem man diese D-50/M1-artigen Sounds (Bell Pads und "far away"-Flächen) so gut hinbekommt.
I wonder if Kawai will ever get back in the synth game?
It is 100% kawai no processing by external effects?
Yes it is. Be aware that this is the K4 Keyboard with internal FX. The K4r Rack Version does not have built in FX.
Tnx, just i listened that it's mono synth...
Does it have built in low pass filter?
Yes. It is digital but also resonant.
AND, in addition to the filters being resonant, they can be routed in SERIES in "Double" 4-oscillator mode to produce 4-pole 24db/octave cutoff (or else two 12db/oct parallel filters in "Twin" 4-oscillator mode, if you wish, or a single 12db/oct filter in "Single" 2-oscillator mode).
I Have one!!
Does anyone know how to use a Kawai K4 with FL Studio? I'm sure there are tutorials on this somewhere but I can't seem to find them.
is it only possible to save your “multi-settings” if you have a card?
Lembra o Roland D-50
hmmmm maybe i think it sounds better than D50... its more soft/mellow ...not as digital as D50 8-)
Warmer for sure... I have both.
I have a K4 stashed away, the last time I tried it it just wouldn't power up. Does anyone know if there's any known issues I could look at? I never really explored it but there is potential for some nice sounds.
Same issue here
Hi, if you dont use electronics for a long time is a waste, as you have noticed.if you always using it, is better for the electronics.i try lending unused gear ( or selling/giving away ) to other people who take good care of it.Those elco`s go bad, so you might need to replace those to start up again.
Unfortunately I cannot help directly, but I would like to add that I have had a K4 which has been running 24/7 for the last 15 years; I had bought it in the very early 90s. So it has already turned 25 - my first synthesizer! I remember reading somewhere that it is a not good to keep electronics off for years on end because certain components suffer from not being used and then the sudden power causes them to permantently malfunction. (Don't remember the precise physics though. I think it was the capacitors.)
Maybe you can change the little round battery inside (only if you find a battery inside of course) sometimes it's the solution of the problem !
I thought my Nord MicroModular and Yamaha Motif Rack was dead once, turned out it was just the power supply.
Hello, what sound card you used for capturing audio of Kawai K4. Thank you very much!
Even when it does not matter for the sound-quality - it was a RME Fireface 400.
Thank you been really nice ! I too have a Kawai K4 , and I agree that the sound it produces is very clear and clean . I venture to hope that you produce other beautiful videos like this . I have a good day!
How do I use this multitimbrally?
Please, if possible i like to have this sounds in my Kawai K4.
The sounds are in Single or Multi-Player?
Can you send the patches or tell me where can i download this?
Thanks
Do you have a link to the patches? And tools to get them onto the keyboard?
Just got a K4 from ebay, battery needed to be replaced --> there are now *no* patches on that thing besides one ugly organ sound, and I can't get putting the factory k4.mid thing onto it like described on the kawai site to work with cakewalk...
I'd be happy to have any useful sounds on it for now, not the damn organ sound *howls like wolf* ^^
does it have a syncable sequencer built in ? cheers
No...
Patches Download Link?
2:45 - whats the patch name :) ???
Is it quite easy to use?
druidical - This is relative. Most of the 80s digital Synths are only easy if you have the abstraction level in your head and program tham via the LCD and a few knobs. Same to the K4. The K4 is a up to 4-Layer Synth. Most of the sounds you hear use two or four layers and this is quite sophisticated to program from the scratch.
You can find a Windows K4 editor on the net ;-)
Does it have integrated speakers?
No...
I NEED THESE PATCHES!!!
Sysex, synthtools?
They are great, aren't they? Unfortunately they are picked out of diverse banks I found in the internet, not sure if I find them ever again :-| But they are available somewhere.
Pour ce qui aime ce clavier voici mes compos alexandre-dominois.blog4ever.com/