Alesis specifications Chapter Introduction, Overview of the K2661

Introduction

Overview of the K2661

Chapter 1

Introduction

Thank you for purchasing a Kurzweil/Young Chang K2661 instrument.

The K2661 is packed with great acoustic, electric, and synth sounds—combined with some of the most advanced synthesis features available, which you can use to create almost any sound imaginable. The K2661 incorporates most of the features of the K2600, and provides several new features as well.

This manual, along with the Musician’s Guide and Musician’s Reference (provided on the CD- ROM) will get you started with your new instrument. As you become an advanced user, you will want to spend more time with the Musician’s Guide and Musician’s Reference to make the most of your K2661’s many capabilities.

Overview of the K2661

The K2661 is a versatile performance instrument and an invaluable tool for multi-timbral sequencing and recording. Its Variable Architecture Synthesis Technology (V.A.S.T.) lets you build sounds from realistic instrumental samples and sampled synth waveforms—then modify the nature of those sounds through a wide variety of digital signal-processing (DSP) functions. The K2661 also generates its own synth waveforms, which can be combined with the samples or used on their own. Onboard sound ROM includes the Orchestral and Contemporary sound blocks, as well as a fine set of General MIDI (GM) sounds. You can add one or both of the two available option ROMs (Stereo Dynamic Piano and Vintage Electric Pianos), and you can load samples from disk into sample RAM.

Before we get into explaining VAST, here are a few of the features that by themselves make the K2661 an impressive stage and studio machine. It’s fully multi-timbral—different programs can be played on each MIDI channel. It’s 48-note polyphonic, for a full sound no matter how many chords you play. There’s an on-board digital effects processor, providing up to five simultaneous effects, including real-time effects control, internally or via MIDI.

In addition to the standard stereo audio output pair, there are four balanced analog outputs and eight channel digital output.

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