KAWAI K4
Overview

DMS

K4's synthesis engine is called DMS - Digital Multi Spectrum. This seems to refer to its 2 classes of sampled waveforms; DC and PCM. DC are sincle cycle loops and PCM are longer ones.

Up to 4 oscillators can be layered in a Single Patch. The sounds are processed by AM (Amplitude Modulation) and digital resonant filters.

KAWAI K4 SINGLE Patch Block Diagram
KAWAI K4 SINGLE Patch Block Diagram

Waveforms

K4 has 96 DC (Digital Cyclic) waveforms. DC means single cycle loops derived from various acoustic samples, reconstructed by additive synthesis.
Other waves are called PCM - longer samples. Some are single point and others are multi point samples.
The ROM size seems to be 1 or 2MB. Some looping options are provided as preset PCM waveforms - reverses, Jam Loops, and each point out of the multi samples.

Filters

K4 assigns one 12db filter for 2 oscillators. When 4 oscillator are layered, 2 filters can be used; they can be cascaded to make a 24db filter. It reaches near self-oscillation.

One notorious drawback is that K4's filter tend to produce clicks, especially when modulated by envelopes.
It can be bettered by using minus envelope depth. Phones out should better be used instead of the Main Output. I heard the Noise Gate of the Main Output contributes to the filter clicks.

Vibrato / LFO

The LFO for pitch is called 'Vibrato,' and the LFO for filters is called 'LFO' in K4. K4 has only 1 Vibrato and 1 LFO that affect all the voices at once. Auto Bend works in a similar way. They are what I call Monophonic Modulation Source.

Output

K4 has a multi effect processor with 16 FX types (Reverb1-4, Gate Reverb, Delay, Chorus, Overdrive+Flanger, Chorus+Delay, etc).
The rackmout K4r has no effect, but 6 Individual Outputs instead.

Utilities

In the Multi Patch, 8 patches can be assigned to any MIDI channels.

The Drum Section is a set of 61 Patches assigned to the keyboard. 2 waveforms can be assigned to a key. Layering synthesis are possible but no filters are available in this patch.

K4 is a rare keyboard which has release velocity. Both K4 and K4r responds to release velocity.



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6. 26. 2005