Kawai K1, K4 and K4R

Instruments
1

Forum user Tomas Peterka made a preset for the Kawai K1.
Nicely made , I’d say.

https://app.electra.one/preset/6vtmnGDSZbMgbDOdFcCO

I don’t have a K1, but I do have a K4R so I’m building on top of his work to make a K4/K4R preset.

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2

@NewIgnis Jeez man! you really have many many synths! I bet this will be the first time you can build sounds with pleasure on the K4R. I hated editing in that screen!

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3

On the K4, and I assume on the K1 too, once you choose a waveform and press a note, and then you change the waveform, the running note will keep the chosen waveform until the note Off. This can be used musically as well.

So I programmed what I call a ‘Dynamic Wave’ in my preset. It allows each of the 4 wave sources to independently change their waveform (within a selected range) for each incoming note.

The modulation you hear in the demo of my K4R does not come from the lfo, but it’s the Dynamic Wave logic in to preset that changes the wave for each note press.

The effect is best using Poly 2 mode. In Poly 1 mode, the running waveform gets cut off.

K4R

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4

New preset available: Kawai K4R

Comes with patch parsing, name resolving, and 2 additional features:

  • Source Mute (not the one from the Kawai itself)
  • Dynamic Wave: the E1 will let you alter the chosen wave on every Note On.

Due to an resolved bug the Envelopes page is incomplete, and the Performance page will be added later.

https://app.electra.one/preset/AlCQizaQSu25PlvypH3l

Further documentation:
kawai-k4-k4r-service-manual.pdf (3.0 MB)
Kawai-K4-Synthesizer-Manual.pdf (4.0 MB)
Kawai-K4-Wave-List-and-MIDI.pdf (430.4 KB)

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5

New version V2 for the K4R preset

New to V2

  • Dynamic resonance added (Kawai doesn’t do that on its own)
  • 2 Balance faders between sources 1-2 and 3-4
  • Color schema changed for esthetic reasons
  • Unused parameters are toned down in color for better readability
  • The patch name now appears in the lower right corner
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6

Just by incident I bought a K4r this week! :grinning:

Thanks so much for this! :heart_eyes:

BTW I could not spot any free patches on the internet for it which is quite I surprising for such an old synth. Do you have any links?
Edit: Here are quite a bunch: MNX2010 KAWAI K4 SYSSEX DOWNLOADS

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7

Hi @moss ,

do try the dynamic notes page, and tell me what you think. If you engage one of the 4 voices or 2 resonances, it’ll allow you to set a range for the E1 to choose a wave or resonance setting from, for each MIDI Note On it receives.
I found that, when keeping the range within similar waves, and having some spread in the resonance without engaging settings 6 or 7, it gives an addtional edge to this old bugger.

On the download site you mention there are some patches in .SND format. Any idea how these work?

Some other download sources, most of them paying unfortunately

I don’t have facebook , but there seem to be a K4 group: Kawai K4 and K4 rack synth Public Group | Facebook

And there’s a new group on Gearspace, they are also looking for patches: https://gearspace.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-and-electronic-music-production/1418897-kawai-k4-fan-club.html

8

Sadly, I cannot make the template work. Is there anything that needs to be setup?
My K4r seems not to react to it’s Sysex messages. I am routing it through MIDI-OX on Windows 11 and see that the messages are sent out. I also copied some of the messages to the sysex editor of MIDI-OX and they did also not get received while I could sent sysex files successfully to the K4r from the same window.
On the other hand I could make the Atari ST editor and librarian from the link I posted above work with the Steem emulator :slight_smile:

9

Midi channel? It’s on 11 in the device definition.

10

Ah, thanks! Did somehow overlook this! Will check tonight!

BTW the SND files are also sysex files, just a different file suffix.

EDIT: MIDI Channel 11 made it work! Thanks!

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11

I summed up my experiences of the 1st week with my K4r in a video incl. this awesome template!

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12

great!

@NewIgnis put quite some effort in this indeed.

It is worth mentioning that the primary goal of E1 was to bring vintage MIDI devices with awkward user interfaces back to life. I am really happy to see it is actually happening.

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13

I forgot to mention that I got regular freezes of the Electra One (Mk2 with latest 3.5) when tweaking the Filter envelope. Not sure if this is a bug in the LUA code or a firmware issue.

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I have been in touch with @NewIgnis on that. I have an input from him and the preset is also being restructured.

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15

I have the same with the amp envelopes every now and then. @Martin is helping us out on the root causes.

Once we’ve figured it out, I’ll correct the preset and let you know.

In the mean time I’m figuring out a generic mod matrix that I can apply to a Moog Minitaur, so it enriches that little bass synth’s mod capabilities vastly :slight_smile:

EDIT @moss I commented out the print command in the Parameter On Change function in the lua. That will reduce the load on memory and traffic a bit. You might do the same, or reload the preset.

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16

This is a great editor, but I have a couple of small issues with it, so far.

For some reason the patch name does not appear for me in the corner. If I go to the name page, the name shows there. It would be good for this to work as the K4R screen shows the message ‘Data Dump Completed’ on every patch change, hiding the patch name until dismissed with the Single button.

Also, the E1 patch request button always call patch Internal A-1, no matter what patch I am on. I can still pull the patch I want by selecting the correct patch number and pressing the select button.

17

Well the work wasn’t finished. That preset still needed some improvement. I’ll let you know when you should try again

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18

@Red_Hector Hi, found the root cause and correcting it. But improving all logic at the same time, so the look and fell will change a bit. That’s why I’ll first add it as a V3 and keep the V2 in the public space for a while. Do gimme your feedback then what you liked about V2 that disappeared in V3.
V3 is due later today.

Question : do you know how to engage AM from Source 1 into Source 2, ànd then mute Source 1 so it’s only used for modulating source 2, without being output itself ? Manual says it’s possible, but it’s not well explained.

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19

New preset version V3

https://app.electra.one/preset/z2DCM3IKhAgkh3ywQWLR

Be aware:

  • check the MIDI channel (= 11)
  • the source Mute buttons are specific to the Electra One and have nothing to do with the source Mute of the Kawai.
  • Make sure none of the sources are muted on the Kawai itself. Kawai’s SysEx does not allow to control this.
  • The preset reacts to incoming Program Change.
  • This preset can also be used for the K4, but it does not contain effect parameters.

New in V3.0

  • Bugs corrected,
  • Logic adapted for FW 3.6.1
  • Duplicate parameters are now reduced
  • Performance page added

Main DCO/DCA

  • Voice mode, AM and main source settings

DCO mod

  • Vibrato, Autobend and DCO modulation settings

DCF

  • Filter and LFO

DCA mod

  • DCA velocity and key scale settings

Pressure / Name

  • Name and all pressure related settings

Performance

  • E1 specific: Dynamic Notes Switches
  • E1 specific: Balance faders sources 1-2 and 3-4 -Output, Pitch Bend Range and Mod Wheel settings
  • Patch select

Envelopes

  • All individual ENV settings

Dynamic Notes

  • Dynamic Notes changes the chosen waveshape per source and/or resonance per filter, each time a MIDI note On is received. Something the Kawai can’t do on its own. Make sure the E1 receives the played note data in order for the Dynamic Notes to work.

Not yet in the preset: Multi settings

1 Like
20

Wow. Version 3 is brilliant!!

The redesigned page layouts are amazing. It is much more intuitive. I can’t think of anything that could be better placed.

There are a few parameters that could perhaps be renamed to reduce confusion:
DCF page
VEL.DEPTH to VEL> CUTOFF
VEL.CRF.DEPTH to VEL> ENV DEPTH
Release velocity is used for release time. I have tested this with a k2000.
VEL> REL TIME to REL VEL> REL TIME
DCA Velo Mod page.
Also uses release velocity for release time, again.
VEL> REL TIME to REL VEL> REL TIME

The ring mod is incorrectly depicted in the manual diagram. S1 does mod S2, but the ring mod output comes out of the S1 output. S2 output remains as the unaltered S2 sound. The unaltered sound of S1 is muted.
S1 level controls ring mod output level and S2 level controls unaltered S2 output. You can then blend the two to taste.

I have tested, and the E1 source mute button do control the source mute status on the K4r. Setting the source level to 0 changes the mute status on the K4r. You have move to another parameter page on the K4r screen before the source mute status indicator (CCCC) will update to something like C-CC.

There is nothing so far that I miss from version 2, if anything is actually missing. I have not noticed anything.

Overall, a really great update. Thank you so much.

1 Like