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.

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.

Elektrofotodynamika

December 26, 2010 @ 2:52 pm

to all folks complaining about cheesy presets - did you try to program your own? in no time (15 minutes) i got the most lush synth pads available under 100 EUR :-) - the recipe is simple - program a single patch (you have 4 generators available), then go to "multi" mode and layer this single patch triple, with some detuning applied... and voila. you have Matrix6 sound for nothing. try it, if you don't believe me. :-D

Lammergyer

November 27, 2010 @ 8:42 pm

The best thing about this is its usefulness as a budget 61 key controller. Its sturdy and roadworthy and the keyboard feels good.
The sounds: MULTI mode is the most useful, you get only 4 voices but the sounds are big enough to 'throw in the mix' solo , whatever and the Polysynth patch (JUMP!) is OK. I use K1 goes LA as a blending tone for piano and M1 orchestral. Smooth combination. K1 with M1 and/or Korg DW8000 is a very smooth, big sound.

fengland

November 17, 2010 @ 3:48 pm

I have one and I think it sounds bad. But I think m1s sound pretty bad too. the presets are bad in a cold 80s way. it is capable of bizarre cold scary sounds like 'visitors' and 'terminator' and some bizarre noizy metalic stuff with some editing. the ringmod feature is the only cool thing about it. But it just sounds cold no matter what - it needs filters.

Marco

November 10, 2010 @ 10:25 am

How does one change the Lithium battery? Is it easy or does it require soldering?

Robert

October 12, 2010 @ 5:32 pm

With some external fx, you can do some CS-80-like sounds as well on the K1.

What do you think about this?

http://www.speedyshare.com/files/24668917/blade_runner_2.wav

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