Anyone heard the new Kurzweil board?  Keyboard mag raves about the quality of sounds and ease of use for performers; online sound demos are very impressive to my ears.

Kurzweil PC3 review.

I heard, very good piano sound, but keys action not acceptable to me.
Also not much other interesting sounds. XS wins easily here.

Just got one today and I’m loving it already.

Hello all…
I own the Motif XS and the Kurzweil PC3X...and they’re just different beasts...both awesome.  The sounds of the Motif are top-notch first class, and in my studio sound great.  The Kurzweil, by comparison, can sound less flashy and glassy, if that’s the words.  Yet, in a live situation (like with my bebop jazz group), the Kurzweil comes alive and shines like a gem.  My favorite piano of all of the workstations is on the Kurzweil (the PC3x sounds rich and full solo like a American Steinway, yet cuts thru the band like a bright Japanese piano...and the orchestral sounds are the best as well(and I do have the orchestral sounds from the Motifator website).  They are both top notch pro pieces.  If I am laying down tracks in the studio, I prefer the Motif.  If I am playing live, I prefer the Kurzweil.  I find that the Yamaha is more user friendly, but that’s just because I have had every Motif made, and am used to the way they are set up.  VAST can seem very daunting, and I am still trying to learn it.

...but one BIG advantage of the Motif is this website/forum.  No other synth that I have or know of has the support of players/programmers like the Motif.  Motifator.com is absolutely phenomenal...I just wish that Kurzweil had a similar resource for their gear.  Sonikmatter has a forum for the PC3X, and Dave Weiser (the PC3 expert) contributes a lot; but it still pales by comparison the this forum/website.  Just my $.02 worth…

abwdoc - 28 July 2009 09:09 PM

...but one BIG advantage of the Motif is this website/forum. .

I absolutely agree.  I am considering buying a Motif XS8, so have been reading the forum, posting questions etc.  Fantastic resource.  I have owned and own Korg, Kurzweil, and Roland.  Korg has Karma Labs support, which is very good.  There is nothing comparable for Kurzweil and Roland.

Lawrence

There is a big difference carrying a Motif XS88 verses the PC3x. For that reason alone I prefer the PC3x.

My friend has a PC3x...its a mixed board...great piano/organ/orchestral. The rest of the categories are not as fresh as the Motif XS...particularily brass and guitars are much better on the Motif XS!

Also, the screen on the Motif XS beats the Kurzweil hands down...not to mention the Sound Tower Editor (According to my friend), a 3rd party editor for Kurzweil, has a few bugs still.

Motif XS also has sampling and Audio-In, crucial features missing on the PC3x...Motif XS’s high quality lush reverb algorighm is hard to beat...Kurzweil has good effects processors, but Motif is a bit more fresh with the DSP.

Kurzweil’s PC3x are controller synths, and not workstations like the K-series, so only a new reincarnation of the K-series will have sampling.

Overall: Motif XS: 8, Kurzweil PC3x: 6… out of 10