Kurzweil PC3X Performance Controller

Kurzweil Music Systems has always been known for creating instruments that musicians want to play on with incredible sonic quality and beautiful, expressive tones. The new Kurzweil PC3X continues in that same tradition and certainly doesn't disappoint. Hall Piano Company was priviledged to take delivery of 2 pre-release units to try out while the final software revisions were being finished up.

Our first initial impression was that PC3X takes the best of two of their previous instruments and combines them into a single instrument that stands head and shoulders above anything else, and then adds even more on top. From the PC2X, the previous generation in the PC series of instruments, the PC3X takes its incredible sample set (which is a different, newer set than what is in the K2600 series and other previous instruments). These raw sounds form the basis of the keyboard's tonal palette.
 
First and foremost, the standard by which all keyboards are judged: the piano. Kurzweil's Triple Strike grand piano is a multi-velocity layered set of piano samples consisting of hard, medium, and soft strikes for maximum realistic tonal difference as you play with varying dynamics. Combined with the PC3X's improved V.A.S.T synthesizer engine (more on that in a bit) and improved Fatar keyboard action, the Triple Strike piano becomes even more of a joy to play.
 
Also included is a new String Section ROM, full of beautiful, lush string section samples as well as solo instruments. Kurzweil has always been famous for having beautiful string sounds and the new String Section bank ups that bar yet again. An entire bank of string programs is available for doing realistic orchestral scoring, as well as an entire bank of other orchestral programs.
 
The Classic Keys ROM of the PC2X has also been borrowed for some of the best Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and other vintage keyboard instrument sounds that you can get in a digital hardware instrument today. The KB3 organ mode is also available here as well, complete with real-time drawbar control (on 9 hardware sliders!) and even more improved Leslie cabinet simulation.
 
From the K2600 series, the PC3X takes most of its basic operating system paradigm, including Program and Setup Modes, Quick Access Mode (a must-have for live performance!), as well as a full 16-channel sequencer. Most of the interface will be very familiar and comfortable to previous K-series owners so you can sit down and start playing the instrument right away.
 
Besides just the interface, the PC3X also takes the core of the K-series synthesizer, and then upgrades it to V.A.S.T 2.0. Where the K2600 had Triple Mod Processing, the PC3X takes that to another level with Cascade Mode by allowing you to use the output of any layer as the input of any other. But it goes even further than that: in the K2600 you could choose from over 30 different processing wiring schemes or algorithms. In the PC3X, you can actually create and save your own algorithm wiring. For the sound tweakers out there like me, this is a long-anticipated feature and shows that Kurzweil has definitely been listening.
 
A new addition is Kurzweil's new VA-1 virtual analog synthesizer engine. The previous K-series instruments had the ability to create basic synthesizer waveforms using their DSP power, but these waveforms were static and also suffered from aliasing noise in the extreme upper registers. The new VA1 oscillators in the PC3X are anti-aliasing and are also "power-shaped", meaning you can smoothly adjust the partials of the waveform from sawtooth wave all the way down to sine wave without having to use up a DSP block for a filter.
 
What all of this technical stuff means is that there's a ton of horsepower under the hood of this instrument to take those already incredible ROM samples and process them into some of the best sounds available in a keyboard today. While not technically a complete successor to the K-series line (there are no sampling loading or processing functions in the PC3X), it's close enough that I'm already seriously considering clearing some space in my studio for a new arrival.
 
Brett Guillory
Keyboard Department Manager
Hall Piano Company
(504) 733-8863