Kawai K5

Bought it new but at half the original price (received it, in fact ;-) ) 13 years ago... this was my first synth and I still own it for some reasons described below.

Presets : as already mentioned by others: some (most) presets are cheesy, some are really great. But the point is really not there: it's a REAL synthesizer and you have to consider it like that.

Editing : given the fact that it was my first ever synth (I was 17, knew nothing about synthesis or midi) and regarding it's complexity, I think I can say that I've fully understood it's inner working within 2 years. Of course I had to read articles about general synthesis and Fourier analysis (for this, forget the manual.. almost useless).
BUT I didnt said that I know how to programm a sound I have in my head: the theory says that Fourier synths can emulate/create any sound but it's faaaaar from true (on this synth...).

Midi/Multi-timbral use is a breeze... From far the best I've seen on any synth/sampler I've used/owned.

Since my K5, I've own
Kawai R5
Akai S-01, S950, S2800i, CD300i
Roland JV-1080, Alpha Juno 2, Juno 106, Xp-50
Elektor Formant Modular
Realistic Concertmate MG-1 with midi
Yamaha EX-7, RY-30
PAiA Fatman
and sometimes used Korg Prophecy, 01/WFD, Yamaha CS1X, SY77 and some others
plus tons of VSTi's

Never tried an editor... but just downloading one ;-)

Regarding all of that, I'll say that the ease of use is simply excellent. Putting an 7 because the button layout was made for a lefty: that really sucks on a synth you'll spend dozens of hours programming sounds. Ohterwise, it would have been 10.

- 16 voices poly
- 15 parts multi-timbral
- 5 mono outs (1 main, 4 assignable)
- No effects
- Came with a handy memory card (singles & multis)
- keyboard is semi-weighted, velocity and aftertouch sensible. A REALLY EXCELLENT ONE
- usual expression and pedal input + a LINK input:
the LINK function lets you choose a patch sequence (say Piano, Strings and Bass) and "play" it by the push of a button or a footswitch, enabling you to change the patch you're playing to the next in the sequence. Really handy in a live situation.

Some intruments come close to the "real stuff" (pianos, organs) but the best are the bells and percussive : without a doubt, the best synthesized marimbas, glockenspiels, church bells, and chimes before the advent of the K5000 of course.
There is also the most beautiful, sharpest string I've ever heard since: it was far from thruth but so sharp it always made me thought about a razor blade...
There is also some special, really interesting sounds .. if not fxs

BUT... there are 3 main drawbacks:

1) there's a click each time you trigger an enveloppe, which makes it hard to use for anything else that organ/percusions in a recording environment
2) it's quite noisy
3) last but not least... I sounds cold. Really cold. No guts at all. Forget basses, forget even half-warm pads

On an expression standpoint, I guess it's ok for a synth that old: velocity, aftertouch, pitch and mod wheel.
AND it's the most incredible synth keyboard you can find: I've tried dozens ans not a single can come close to the quality of this one. The keys are quite heavier than the average "semi-weighted". A real pleasure to play with. I think that's the main (and only) reason why I've kept it and would not let it go, as I did with all my other gear, naively thinking that VSTi's would fit all my needs. But that's another story.

This synth could not be useful to make techno/dance stuff. Sounds are not beefy enough. I used it in a kind of new wave-pysche-punk band and it fitted well. Some trash sounds I've made also fitted perfectly on metal-like songs.
Anyway, I'll recommend it to people seeking for unusual digital sounds; like ambient, IDM or industrial.

I played and gig with a band several years with this keyboard as my main intrument. I've always been very careful with my gear.
But I have to say this synth, despite its solid construction, is quite fragile:
I had to clean almost every buttons with contact cleaner spray 2 or 3 times -- they are not protected from air or dust--, some key needed to be cleaned and re-carbonated too and the screen backlite took maybe 3 years to die slowly.

Good point: both synth and memory card batteries are still functionnal after almost 20 years in service!!!

So... I would go on stage again with my K5 with a new screen and new batteries (who knows ;-) )

Never dealt with them, repaired it myself.

So...

At the time, it was worth the price (half the catalog price).
If stolen, I think I'll buy another just for the keyboard, if the price tag is not too high (250? max)

It could have been better without the noise and the envlp click. About the coldness of the sound: you must see this as a part of the synth itself. Also, they could have pushed the additive concept way further by providing more than a simple sine wave for the harmonics. I can't imagine the sonic scope it could have reached with other simple waveforms like square, saw, etc...

Its sound bores me but I love it. Maybe because its my first synth...
I put a 7 because I think it's a great synth, despite its drawbacks and because it's almost the only affordable additive synth ever made.

And if you're lookin for a good master keyboard and you have the chance to find one, do not hesitate.

If needed, you can find tips about ordering and repairing a K5 screen there: http://www.kfuenf.org/en/techhelp.html
http://www.kfuenf.org/en/techhelp.html

The presets are pretty bland (I am convinced that Mark Mothersbaugh used one of these on the Rugrats soundtrack). Editing patches is wildly complex, and nearly impossible to get the sound you want unless that sound is a mutation of a patch. The manual isn't much help.

It really takes a rocket scientist to understand this thing.

It has very good polyphony, the keyboard action is excellent and very realistic. There are no built-in effects. The expansion capabilities are restricted to a series of memory cards that are very hard to find these days. The MIDI is excellent, however, and is very suited to being a controller. There is no on-board sequencer.

The instruments sound excellent and are just a few buttons away at any time. However, if you want to use it for something other than a digital piano, you're pretty much out of luck. Other than a few gimmicky patches (like "TV gameshow" and "3-2-1 Race"), there isn't much there of any value. The velocity and aftertouch are pretty good, but not great, and it's not a very flexible synthesizer (unless you know how to program it, which is far more involved than it needs to be).

I can't really use it for much other than a midi controller or a preset-instrument, so it's okay for that. There is no such thing as on-the-fly sound creation or alteration with the K5, so there's not much that can go wrong unless a key stops working.

Kawai still provides software updates and downloads for the K5, but no longer offers service.

If it were lost or stolen, I would not replace it. I hardly use it at this point. The sounds are very full and the keyboard is good, but it's essentially a digital piano. That is, unless you're willing to learn how to edit patches, which is far, far more involved than it need be. It is more of an obstacle to creating music than a help, which is why it is relegated to collecting dust. I will probably sell or trade it soon.

The K5 was released in 1987.Kawai tried to make a big step in
synthesis.To offer Fourier synthesis at a reasonable price in a box
wich should be easy to handle.
My opinion is,that Kawai reached all of their goals.

Fourier synthesis itself is a very complex thing,of course the K5
could not do that what mathematical cracks wanted.
But it came in a very userfriendly format and with many more gimmicks.
Kawai found the golden way to make Fourier nearly easy to use.
Unfortunately it was released at a time,where ROM Samplers and Samplers
started their carreer.
The K5 is easy to use.Also for someone,who never had an idea before,
what Fourier synthesis is.
With its big LCD,it is really simple to programm the K5,eventhough
it needs time to fix each harmonic.
But Kawai implemented some helping tools in the OS,to edit also fast
and to do later the detail work.
The K5 is really easy to use.The manual is a little short,but gives
the most important informations.
Also it must be said,that Kawai expected,if someone will buy this
machine,he has already knowledge of Fouriersynthesis.
The selling marge showed it bitterly.The K5 was not a Topseller.
So only a few were interested in such a delicous machine.

The K5 is at last really easy to use.Easy to edit and with a logical
flow.No confusion at all.

16 Voice Polyphony.Each voice has two OSC.
No FX and No Sequencer.
15 part Multitimbral(!),with free routing of Volume,crossfading,
detuning and so on.Very flexible in Multitimbrality.
RAM Card Slot,full Midid Implementation.
Pitch wheel and Mod Wheel.
A very fine keyboard action.This keyboard is really good.

Yow,here it comes.The presets are sometimes cheesy and sometimes
pretty good.
It does not really sound realistic.But it has some great Piano sounds.
Only a sampler can do a better Piano sound as a K5.
A DX synth never can realize-by pure synthesis-such a Piano sound.
The best synth based Piano sound ever made.
The K5 is also strong in analog Brass-Sounds.Strings are also very
warm.EPs are kind of easy for the K5.Also Fairlight or Synclavier
sounds can be realized.
The Filter section of the K5 is really not bad.It is a smooth filter.
Has resonance,but not with self oscillation.Also it it offers a BP
Filter.The Filter sounds sweet.For a digital Filter of early
digital times really not bad.
The EGs are not so complex as in the Casio series,but with six steps
they are OK.
The real heart of the K5 is beating in the Multitimbralsection.
You can use it as normal Multitimbral with 15 Midi-channels,but you
can use it also as a Mono-Synth,where you stack and layer and crossfade
as much you want.The results are always amazing.
It is like a kind of "Multisampling" then.And the big Piano set of
the K5 demonstrates it very well.The best synth based Piano sound
ever done.
A K5 will not do very extreme sounds like with DX or PD synthesis.
There is missing to much.A Ringmodulator,wich works between the two
sources of a single sound,would have brought in more dirty sounds.
Like Kawai did later with the K1.
The k5 sounds first always static and bloodless,but Kawai implemeted
enough tools to bring this sounds alive.It is on the programmer to
let this machine overheat.

VElocity and aftertouch and also ex-Mididcontrols let the sounds
steam.
A totally underrated synth.

Eventhough it looks like a tank and has its weight,the dilemma
starts here.After years some buttons give up to work,the keyboard
has also its problems after 15 years.The LCD Display works still
well.
So better use a Software Editor(if you will find one).The quality of
the buttons is not good.
I have a VZ1 from Casio,all buttons work still perfect.Only the back-
light of the LCD has passed away.K5 Display still shines like the sun,
but therefore the buttons are resting in peace.

It is really funny,but Kawai still tries to help,if you ask them for
devices wich are already ran out for support.They try to help you.
Good service,but not for free.

The Kawai K5 is one of the most underrated synths ever build.
At launch it had a bad start(People were tired to programm each detail)
because the romplers and samplers ruled the market.All should be easy
done.No complicated system anymore.
Today each function has nearly a knob again,but this virtual clones
are only covers of the old analog fraction,and the analog sounds still
more better as the virtuals.

Vituality is then needed to step on a new field,like Yamah once
started with the VL series.Unfortunately,this was only a marginal
Lookover.Also Yamaha returned to the old recycling.

In this view,the K5 like other digital synths,were from intention and
invention moiles aheaed of that,what is sold now as brandnew.
The early digital days were full of passion,joy and power.
The actual digital world has become a sitcom.Old Jokes in new
pictures or clothes.What a mess.....

The K5 stands for more as synthesis.As synthesizer the K5 is nowadays
still usefull,but not the mother earth.
The K5 shows also,that at earlier times,revolutionary synthesis was
not touched by profit thinking.This times are over.

The K5 should not be lost or stolen.Someone who will take it away from
me plays with his own life.A K5 is rare,a human life not.
So be careful !

unknown version #
Most of the factory patches are semi-cheezy although there are some brass (prshorns!) and EP patches that werent too shabby.
Patch editing is rather difficult, however the large backlit display makes it at least feel a little more civilized.
Didn't have a manual...

8-voice polyphony. 61 keys, semi-weighted synth action. It is one of the best-feeling synth-action keyboards I have EVER played.
No FX, although with the right tweeks you can simulate reverb, delay, and chorus effects.
Accepts RAM/ROM cards (that look EXCATLY like PCMCIA cards). Footswitch and volume pedal jacks on back.
MIDI in/out/thru. Sends and receives velocity and mono aftertouch.
No sequencer.
Large backlit LCD graphic display. Large data entry knob.

Many of the factory patches are cheezy. Several of them stand out as very useable and playable however!
Brasses and electric pianos are where the K5 excels. One EP patch I had created from scratch is the second best EP patch I have ever heard come from a non-sample-based synth (only the DX7 EPs were better).
I have used it for Ballads, Rock, Country and pop/dance.
I LOVE the feel of the keyboard on this! Very lively action!
Has adjustable velocity curves. Not sure about aftertouch programming.

It is almost all-metal in construction. It's heavy compared to other synths of its generation, but the weight says 'RUGGED'...
I would use this as a master controller if i needed to and yes I have gigged with it, and would do so without a backup.

Haven't had to bother with support...

I probably would look for another K5, just for the awesome keyboard action.
It was a borrowed synth but it was great while it lasted!
It definitely helped my music making abilities...