KeySolutions Vol. 1

Keysolutions
Format : Kurzweil

Review by Clif Marsiglio
Saturday, January 22, 2000

KeySolutions Volume 1 is a living organic representation of the sounds we all need in everyday compositions, all at an inexpensive price. This disc is split into four separate areas: Pianos, Basses, Drums and Synths. What separates this disc from others in its price range is the amount of programming offered which truly make these samples sing.

KeySolutions Volume 1 has been a labor of love by 'Kurzrep' Mike Martin and has been sampled over a several-year time frame. As such, nothing sounds as though it has been slapped together overnight. These programs have maturity to them and the samples even seem to have heritage. The Piano, for instance - a Steinway D - was the personal favorite of Vladimir Horowitz. In fact, if you read through the documentation on the disc, you'll find more than you ever wanted to know about this piano. I love to read every last detail about the instruments I play, even if they are but an enhanced recording of it after the fact. I wish more programmers would take the time to document these little details. Unfortunately you will need a computer to get to these as the details were left off the printed liner notes. I'm not complaining, as I'd rather not have to cut another tree whenever possible.

Pianos:

The meat of this disc are definitely the Pianos. There are Steinway D's (two versions, three sizes each), the Yamaha C4 (25 and 10 MBs), the Yamaha CP70, and a pad from the Korg T series. Again, these pianos are very organic and lifelike, as are all the samples. My favorite has to be the CP70 electric, but the effects on my 2000 just don't do this justice. Mike promises that he will have a series of macros finished in the near future that will address the KDFX on the 2500 and 2600 series and thus eliminate the need for an external effects processor. At the moment, he has a few patches to update some of the standard programming on this set.

Ed. Note: These may be found on his website at Keysolutions.

Drums:

This disc could be complete if it only contained these pianos, and this disc will be included in the Sonik Piano Shootout in the near future. Unfortunately, I have to talk about the rest. Unfortunate for me because I have to keep typing, not unfortunate for anyone lucky to have this disc in his or her possession. The Drum section of Volume 1 includes two versions of one kit (6 velocity snare for realism included), a drum patch that was lifted from a tape of an unnamed band that needed some aural surgery and a set of Stomper Softsynth electronic drums. In addition there is a mixed bag of various keyboards. As I'm not a drummer and leave the rhythm section in the hands of more competent people than myself, I will not comment on this, other than the fact that my next door neighbor thought they sounded real enough to his ears to complain, though the police never did find that drum set when they asked me to quiet down my band practice.

Basses:

Included are several classic bass sounds which are as good as you will get from a sampler. I have never been completely satisfied with stringed instruments as represented by any sampler, but Mike does a pretty good job here. With the right playing styles, you wouldn't know that this was anything but the real thing.

After hearing these patches, I realize I need to buy a Fender Bass myself one of these days but this will do until I can pick one up. Every bass has several VAST programs to give you many variations on the 'base' samples. If you, as do most keyboardists, have to fill or double every instrument that the front men just can't seem to handle but want to appear to be playing, no one will ever know that these sounds came from a keyboard.

Synths:

Lastly, we have the synths. All samples in this area are complex waveforms as raw as one could hope. While there are many discs that have these types of waveforms, none seem to be similar to these. There seem to be some good VAST programming with great waveforms. One of the biggest complaints about the K-series ROMs has been the lack of raw waveforms for synthesis. Some of us have, unsuccessfully, petitioned for an Analogue ROM Block for years. The built in ROMs are way too regular and exhibit non variations. The ones supplied by Mike give several cycles and thus a bit more organicness. Add this to the programming and you have some really useful patches. I hope Mike will expand these programs one of these days to give us some more tools to play with.

The Verdict:

This is one of the best 'Meat and Potatoes' type discs that I've had the pleasure to play. It will definitely be in my permanent collection and with any luck it will be in yours as well. This is a relatively inexpensive disc; especially for all that you get and is distributed by Kurzweil America. Hopefully in the near future, KeySolutions will find distribution in the rest of the uncivilized world as well.