Kawai K1

Kawai K1 Image

The K1 is one of Kawai's most economic digital synthesizers in the K-series. The K1 has 256 digital samples of waveforms, 50 of which are from acoustic instruments. You combine up to four wave shapes to create very new and unique sounds. The K1 is capable of very good acoustic recreation, excellent unique synth sounds or at times, completely noisy walls of complex sound.

Kawai K1-rack Image

The K1 comes in many options: the K1m module/desktop version and the rackmount K1r (pictured above). It makes a great entry-level or back-up synth. Budget digital D-50-like synthesis doesn't get much better than this! It is used by Cirrus and Lab-4.

49 Visitor comments
mel
June 14, 2013 @ 6:11 pm
is there a way to put my K1 sounds back to factory reset? i created a patch yrs ago, in the multi int section. i want my Perc Ens back. is there a way for me to get back to the factory preset forD-8 (Pers Ens)?
tomek
June 11, 2013 @ 4:18 pm
On the top of my head I can think of these artists who used the K1 on their tracks/albums:
- LFO - LFO (obviously)
- Clock DVA on the Man Amplified album
- B12 on the Electro Soma album

The K1 string sounds are very recognizable, as mentioned before in this forum. The "Visitors" preset is also a popular pad sound in many commercial tracks.
robespierre
May 7, 2013 @ 12:05 am
skyler:
the Sysex data is part of a separate manual called "K1 Wave List". It's available from Kawai at www.kawaius-tsd.com.
skyler
March 26, 2013 @ 6:29 pm
Justin Hand ,
i checked out the k1r owners manual online and still need help.
http://www.houseofsynth.com/hos-downloads/manuals/Kawai/Kawai-Owners-Manuals/Kaw ai-K1r-Owners-Manual.pdf

i looked at this and saw no list of sysex editing :-(
Justin Hand
March 25, 2013 @ 2:56 pm
midi CC only cover very basic stuff (volume, sustain etc.), you have to use SysEx to edit it. you can find the manual online, which includes the full midi implementation.
 
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  • Demos & Media
  • YouTube Thumbnail
    Video 1
    - Kawai K1 Demo

    Manual - Read or download the complete and original owner's manual (in PDF format).

  • Specifications
  • Polyphony - 16 voices
  • Oscillators - 256 PCM waveforms (4 per sound)
  • LFO - Standard LFO
  • Filter - No filter!
  • VCA - Standard ADSR
  • Keyboard - 61 keys (velocity & aftertouch)
  • Memory - 64 single-patches or 32 combo-patches
  • Control - MIDI (8-part multitimbral)
  • Date Produced - 1988

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