The Ultimate Vintage Budget Hybrid Synth? | Kawai K3 | Synths that Time Forgot

[@johnutz907]

Ah, after the K4, this K3 sounds so sweet!

[@mastercylinder1939]

I think Kawai are the unsung hero’s of synth manufacturers, everyone’s heard of Roland, Yamaha and Korg, but Kawai flew under the radar.

[@LDB3Music]

I still like them.

[@amplifier2]

They have a rather underwhelming sound. Can be a good thing in the mix at times.

[@glenesis]

They were very successful. You'll hear them all over movie soundtracks. The atmospherics are outstanding. Roland lifted the concept of LA Synthesis from Kawai's hybrid synths. There are so very many out there that they were very cheap used til recently. There were literally mountains of these for sale at Sam Ash back in their day. They're VERY common. I got a k1r for $50 this year with a card. So many are out there

[@mastercylinder1939]

@@glenesis I bought a K1 with a Roland case for $100 recently. The case was probably worth $200 at least.

[@SeverityOne]

They have the second MIDI manufacturer I'D, after Oberheim. That is saying something.

[@alexandarlfo]

Your presentation of the synthesizers is a real refreshment among the crowd :)

[@spiderfingers2005]

The K3 was my first synth. I also had the R100 drum machine. Good times!

[@rachelar]

Woody (Allen's) Piano Shack. 👍 Kawai def underrated but Big in Japan- main rival to Yamaha in piano market and used to have a national chain of schools/shops...now down to two

[@SacSynths_Jack_Z]

Love these too! I have a K3m, K1rII, and a K4r. Can't go wrong with Kawai

[@danaoldenburg4772]

You could also hook it to the K3m to give you 12 voice polyphony. Also (small programming note): the last parameter that you adjust before saving can have its value changed “on the fly” by just turning the alpha wheel… Pros (IMO): fat analog resonant filter, linkable to module for expanded polyphony, easy to program (3rd party programmer with knobs can be found, if that’s your preference), surprisingly holding a considerable value (🙂) Cons (IMO): no mod wheel (you have to route functions to aftertouch; not really a problem…), only 32 waveforms, although you can program a 33rd using [limited amount] of partials like the K5.

[@captaindapto6463]

I really like how Kawai explored left-of-centre ideas at the time. Perhaps this was too far-reaching for the average punter, and classics like this and the K-5 are usually neglected in retro reviews. Bravo for bringing this gem back to light !

[@novakattila]

This has a lot of SSM2044's, filter chip used in among others the famous SP-1200 sampler.

[@DestroyER82]

Friend who visited my while ago called it the most analog sounding digital synthesizer ever. When one starts deep diving into options (I use ctrl external programmer) it gets more and more awesome. I think it was dismissed a lot initially, because stock presets really are plain bad. And thats a big change against pretty awesome stock presets in DX7 or DW8000 etc..

[@brightstarlit]

Just bought one for under 400 with a Bonus Casio HT 3000 for free! 😀 some of those tones you played give me Enya watermark vibes! I love the sound of this synth!

[@tedpedersen123]

Wow what a score! Congrats and enjoy! 🎶✌️ they seem to bottom out at $700 currently

[@JobimSynthMusic]

The kawai k line is a beautiful sound world. Unfortunately the k3 seems to be the rarest of those hybrid synths. I got an esq1 and a k1m and love their sounds.

[@charizmawolf6490]

Unison with 12 oscillators..weighted keys..after touch and SSM filters, don't really see how you could go wrong

[@charizmawolf6490]

Come by Syntaur sometime 🤘🏾

[@johnutz907]

at 7:11 you hear the aliasing in that patch likely due to the digital side sending the otherwise excellent curtis analog chips a higher frequency signal than the curtis chips could handle

[@Novaheart1998]

I have had a K1, KII, and have currently a K3 and XD5 , I like the K3 best. I don’t have a K4 or K5. I got them for cheap, -$200-300 so yes its worth it for me.

[@MrAnselm77]

My first free synth

[@anoniconoclast2030]

Another good one by the dude.

[@asoundlab]

🙏🏼

[@IRONSILVER22]

I appreciate all your reviews!

[@McN4styFilth]

Absolutely love my K3. Monster of a pad machine and can get real rumbly.

[@LDB3Music]

First digital synth I bought. I still have the rack, spent a lot of time writing patches for this one.

[@pizzagogo6151]

Nice overview thanks. Just as many have said Kawai were fantastic contributors to 80s synths- such a shame they dropped pro-audio after the K5000. Build quality always good, I’d probably just give sound to the Korg DW but not by much ( but way better than the ESQ1). I got this before a JX10 and remember being disappointed in how much more “digital” the JX10 sounded!. K3 bit underrated I think mainly due to, as you mention, close to the suckiest presets every released on a polysynth!! Love the chorus effect, pretty much same as the 106!

[@glenesis]

They were very successful. You'll hear them all over movie soundtracks. The atmospherics are outstanding. Roland lifted the concept of LA Synthesis from Kawai's hybrid synths. There are so very many out there that they were very cheap used til recently. There were literally mountains of these for sale at Sam Ash back in their day. They're VERY common. I got a k1r for $50 this year with a card. So many are out there

[@kannjanichtsein7700]

I have had the K3m. Loved the Chorus and the LFO. Quality built.

[@Conforce]

found this for 250 bucks. on the same level of the esq-1. a bit smoother though. wish the lfo could mod the osc level balance...

[@dannymolns3573]

I got an esq-1 and now I have the option to also grab the k3. Would owning both be a good idea?

[@DadoSimicStudiostriver]

I`m glad i spotted this video, never heard of this synth before. I wish it has more synth kind a tones, brass, leads etc to observe is it capable of something warmer. Gonna start hunting for YT video to here various patches. Kind regards.

[@josejuarez4477]

At first sight, the case reminded me of the Roland JX-8P. Having aftertouch for its time makes it kind of more similar to the JX (I own one, and a K1-r btw, but the latter doesn't sound like this). Kind of makes me want to look for one in Ebay.

[@TheJesterboy1969]

What makes the K3 and k3m so great are the Curtis filters. I sold the module but still have my K3. It can really sound close to a juno 60. Great chorus.

[@Conforce]

i have made three sound sets for this synth

[@tonyjackson5261]

The Kawai K3 was not intended to be a workstation. It was just like it's competition the Roland JX-8P and the Yamaha DX-7 note the buttons and the keyboard feel. Also by 86 arpps were not the norm.

[@cindyc4810]

Thank you so much for your in-depth discussion and demonstration, Zach. I purchased the K3 in 1987 and would now like to more fully integrate it with my DAW. Do you know where I could find a setup script for the K3 that I could use with Cubase 11 Pro? Thanks so much!

[@Deepwatermusic]

Truly a great and underappreciated synth. But the word is getting out so watch the prices soar.

[@mastercylinder1939]

The K-3 has a membrane button per function, so no menu diving.

[@Rsonixtunes]

I can’t believe these things are around $500 shipped. Unreal deal. Ironically, the K3r (rack) is three times as much. Just buy the frikin board. It’s amazing

[@mastercylinder1939]

Kawai also released a drum synth.

[@madness8556]

It was the XD5.

[@mastercylinder1939]

@@madness8556 yep, I was fortunate to purchase one. I have the R-50 drum machine as well.

[@madness8556]

@@mastercylinder1939 Kawai IMHO was very underrated when it came to synthesisers and drum machines mainly due to their bad marketing.

[@hemibass]

Nice demo. Those pad sounds are great. On my shopping list. How much do you think is reasonable to pay for one?

[@asoundlab]

$500-750

[@TakeTheRide]

I would really like to know more about the K5 and what it can do...

[@cletusbeauregard1972]

Wasn't the K5 an additive-synthesis machine?

[@madness8556]

Yep

[@SeverityOne]

The K3M is definitely on my wish list, as are the ESQ-M and EX-8000. Perhaps not all of pi together, though. The Ensoniq is nigh impossible to find, and the Korg gets crazy asking prices. So, that leaves the Kawai. I think €500 should be the going rate, but the people who have one on offer obviously disagree.

[@80ssynthfan48]

I saw a K3 (keyboard version) for sale for about 500 Euro last year Only the fact that they weigh a ton put me off.

[@SeverityOne]

@@80ssynthfan48 Yeah... and I live on an island, so local pickup is relatively limited.

[@SeverityOne]

Meanwhile, I've found both the EX-8000 and the ESQm. Both from the USA, though. The EX-8000 is easy to convert to 240 volts. The ESQm, less so. K3Ms only show up in the USA, and I'm getting a bit fed up of paying around 20% in tax and import fees. Although both units still worked out considerably cheaper than if I'd bought them in Europe.

[@gordon2402]

K3 was/is the best (imo)

[@joemcm1]

another good synth but not amazing-had and sold.from that sort of era ive had k3/dw8000/jx10/esq1-didnt keep any.the best are the k3/dw8000 but just not ...i dont know

[@mastercylinder1939]

Yes, it’s worth it, but now you’ve let the cat out of the bag, the prices are probably going to jump through the roof! I have a K-3 and a K-5.

[@asoundlab]

Grab a few before they do ;)

[@aerodynamik9771]

@@asoundlab There is one on Ebay right now. Closes in a few hours.

[@distanceresearch]

Yup, getting cheap synths has been all but erased from a young musicians option, so the only thing affordable is made by Boringher. I got mine with memory cart and manuals for $75. Won’t happen ever again, thanks to the infomercial of synth reviewers.

[@dannymolns3573]

Any. Hance you have an esq-1 as well?

[@mastercylinder1939]

@@dannymolns3573 yes, I have an esq-1.

[@2kBofFun]

Is this really a budget synth? I get the idea it can buy you 3 pieces of DW8000.

[@n8goulet]

Right idea, wrong synth. The ultimate vintage budget synth/s in the 80s were the Casio CZ's. CZ-1000 if you wanted full size keys, CZ-101 if you could deal with smaller keys and absolute cheapest model. You could also upgrade between several models all the way up to the top of the line CZ-1 and keep your sounds and knowledge of the synth. Something I wished companies like Korg had learned, as to upgrade from my M1 to another so called upgraded synth, I had to give up most everything from the past, including my sound patches. This idea Casio had that you could start off with a $300, and later upgrade all the way to a $1400 synth and retain all your sounds and everything you learned was great, or some of the other models in between. From other companies, typically upgrades were small from one model to the next, and you lost everything in the transition. Fortunately Yamaha finally learned this with their Yamaha Montage & MODX, where you can transfer between the inexpensive model to the more expensive model, and also retain their famous MOTIF series sound collections plus DX7 and other 80s FM synths too. I started out with a CZ-101 in the mid 80s simply because it was the most affordable model. A year later, I upgraded to a CZ-1000 as I wanted to play in live rock bands and sold my CZ-101, and the mid sized keys looked kind of silly. Another year later, I bought a 2nd CZ-1000 and a Yamaha FB-01 FM sound module (a low budget, compact module alternative to getting a DX-7). In the early 90s, I added the best model, the CZ-1 and in the late 90s I bought a 2nd CZ-1. This gave me the ability to have a set at home and for gigs, and a set at practice to save a lot of time and effort, plus peace of mind if one of my keyboards broke or got stolen, I had another of each at a different location. The CZ-1 also made a great MIDI controller for my modules and later soft synths, supporting aftertouch and much more. I still use them for this. The CZ's were very popular, unlike the Kawai. I don't have sales figures in front of me for reference. The CZ's turned out to be much better synths than I was originally expecting, and capable of reproducing many of the famous analog synth sounds my bands were covering. Little did I know at the time, the DX-7 couldn't even do that as the lead sounds tended to be analog synths, and the DX-7 was really for different types of sounds. The CZ's were some of the very first synths to support MIDI, and many sound collections were available in various computer formats to load sysex patches in. No matter what computer you had, you could find CZ sysex patches. Cartridges that held 64 patches of your choice were widely available. I bought two of them. There is a great series of videos on KZbin demoing how the CZ's can faithfully reproduce many famous sounds from much more expensive synthesizers. People's minds were blown watching some of these videos. These include the Van Halen Jump sound of the Oberheim OB-Xa (which I covered in many bands since the 80s), Yamaha CS-80 sounds, Roland Jupiter 8 sounds and many more. Look up these videos. People commented that they expect the prices to be greatly driven up on CZ's after watching these videos. The CZ's were also highly reliable, light weight and portable. Especially compared to their classic analog synth counterparts. The CZ's can really be thought of as analog synths that work digitally and don't go out of tune. Also capable of some digital sounds. I thought these were great up until VST's could pretty much reproduce just about any classic synth I want with whatever MIDI keyboard I'm using at the time. In the 80s & 90s, the CZ's didn't really get a lot of respect. People assumed being from Casio, these must be toy synthesizers as Casio was best known for. Those of us "in the know" made out great with these. In the past 5 - 10 years, the CZ's are finally getting the respect they deserve from many vintage synth collectors, and the CZ's engines have been made available as soft synths from large companies like Arturia who only offers clones of desirable synths.

[@asoundlab]

Agreed with all of the above on the history and perspective about the CZ’s - my title is more a reference to being a good budget value in today’s market - the k3 is cheaper than some of the CZ’s to buy at this point. Thanks for the long and thoughtful post! Great to hear it from someone who lived it.

[@distanceresearch]

Someone likes the CZ series huh?

[@n8goulet]

@@distanceresearch Lots of people. Companies like Arturia don't model synths that weren't well liked or didn't have great abilities. The problem with the CZ's was back in the 80s, and even 90s, the Casio name was synonymous as a toy keyboard manufacturer. They made next to nothing else as far as keyboards went, so when they put out a serious synth, most of their market didn't catch on that this one wasn't a toy too. Most musicians simply spent more money, often on less capable synths, because they didn't have the trust that Casio would put out something decent. Surely it must be a toy since it says Casio on it. Right? That was the vibe going on. But to those of us that knew about Casio's secret, the CZ's were the bargain of the century. Real synths, for dirt cheap prices that were very capable, often more reliable than others, and early adopters of MIDI and the ability to load sysex sound collections. By the mid 2000s the secret however was out. Now the CZ's are fairly respected amoung professional musicians, but back when they were out, it was more of a secret. Enough people knew about them that they still sold in decent numbers. Many like me were not expecting them to be as great as they were, and especially not to offer a synthesis engine more on par with classic analog synths like Moog, Oberheim & ARP than the Yamaha DX7 digital synth that they were really aimed at as an alternative to. In reality, they were a much better synth to have than a DX7 for those of us seeking analog synth sounds, but Casio presented it in a digital way.

[@distanceresearch]

@@n8goulet I was referring to your incredibly long winded reply, it was supposed to be funny. You’re preaching to the wrong synth guy though. I have had 2 CZ101’s and currently own the CZ5000. I also have the SK1, SK2, SK5, Kawai K3, Korg DW8000 and a bunch of DX’s. Of course I bought all mine when no one cared for them. Now we have to sit also long winded “Synthfluencers” on KZbin now, as they are inauthenticity using the attention to help spring board their careers, so they don’t have to sell pianos or coins on late night TV.

[@n8goulet]

@@distanceresearch On the topic of budget synths, it seemed appropriate to enthusiasm how great the CZ's were/are. I don't use them a lot now because I run most soft synths of the instruments I copied the sounds of with the CZ's. But in their day, in the 80s & 90s, they were great. And for those that prefer hardware than software, and want to get a lot of great sounds that otherwise would be very expensive, or large bulky keyboards with high maintenance, the CZ's are a great alternative. The DW-8000 seems like a good choice too.

[@tommy2nes]

I think this is possibly the worst digital synth ever made

[@Kung_Fu_Jesus]

No that accolade goes to the SY85

[@Kung_Fu_Jesus]

SY85???