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Average rating:
4.6 out of 5
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Positive Comments: Personally, I have made the K5000R the mainstay of my sound, having three modules running side by side. The expression provided by the real-time controls is very sweet, with the most noteable results achieved with the power provided by proper programming of the formant filter and envelope. The factory presets are decent, and often make excellent examples to work off of, and the book sold by "Wizoo Publishing" makes an excellent reference point to begin programming this unit. Additive synthesis can be tricky, but it is certainly worth the time and effort if you are truly nuts about having full control over your sound.
Problems: Kawai states with reserve that the K5000 series have "32 voices", but in all practicality, you must often layer sounds to achieve desired results. Beyond this, the minimum permitted sources per patch is two sources, not one source (with one source equivalent to one voice), which effectivly cuts polyphony down to 16 notes (one note per two voices). I also would desire channel voice allocation and poly-pressure. OS 3.0 is somewhat buggy from time to time, and I dislike the differing attacks which range somewhere on a split on PCM wave sample 398 (this problem is quite apparent when playing in the upper realm of the keyboard), but I believe this exists on OS 3.0 only. Beside that, the power provided by these modules far outweighs the disadvantages, which I more or less overcame with the purchase of three modules (which also demonstrates how I can't say enough about this unit).
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What do I think? Excellent doesn't describe my feelings for this awesome synth! I am consistently asked 'What's that cool synth sound in the background?' It's usually the K5000R making the noise. This unit is not for the faint of heart in the synthesizer realm. It's a unique beast onto its own. If you want natural instruments, or a first synth, this is not the one for you. Want something different for dance or new age? Then this is possibly the monster you're looking for. With the knob box, this thing just absolutely opens up the possibilities for very unique sounds. The arpeggiator is to die for as well! I've owned this synth for almost a year, and I'm still using it very consistently, and I really haven't done much in the way of editing. I've mostly been using the stock sounds it comes with with version 3.0 of the OS. Although this synth has been discontinued, if you can get your hands on one, it's well worth it if you want something TOTALLY different in your rig with a very signature sound!
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An excellent sythesizer. Steep learning curve, but well worth the effort. Has an entirely unique sound. It is not a replacement for the K5 should you happen to have one.
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