Contemporary ROM Soundblock
 K2000 sound expansion chip with pop/rock/new age/jazz/fusion etc. samples

Kurzweil Contemporary ROM chip
(image from kurzweilmusicsystems.com ) 


The Kurzweil K2000 Contemporary ROM Soundblock is a ROM chip containing many new samples and patches for the K2000.

It features 100 new programs (typically loaded in the "800" Program directory) and 50 new Setups (also typically loaded in the "800" Setup directory), but of course it's possible to use this chip as the base for custom sounds.  Since this expansion is ROM, there is nothing to load, and the programs and setups are readily available as soon as the synthesizer boots up.

The quality of this board is outstanding - Quite a few years have passed since its original release, but even today, these are some really high-quality samples and programs, and a superb addition to a K2000 series synth.

The electric guitars, Clavinet, percussion, and brass in particular are incredibly realistic... but all the other sounds are very good as well.

One thing I noticed early on, is how well all these new sounds "gel" together when they are recorded in the same mix.  The Kurzweil engineers have done a great job of meticulously sampling all the nuances and tonal character of each instrument, and present them in a way that is extremely playable, recordable, and ultimately, very enjoyable for a musician/keyboard player.

Check out some of the sounds from this expansion chip.

 

 

 

Programs

Program name with audio demo  My comments
800 Jungle Jam Great smorgasbord  of all kinds of percussion.
801 Mbira Stack Very nice patch.  
803 Prepared Mbira Wonderful program that samples well the African instrument and mixes it with metal percussion
805 World Jam 1 More excellent world percussion 
808 India Jam Superb patch with tablas, sitar - excellent expressivity thanks to the velocity and aftertouch 
809 Slo Wood Flute Beautiful wooden flute 
811 Chiff Brass Lead Classic Fusion lead sound, a la Roland D-50
813 Prs Koto Aftertouch engages the pitch effects on this nice koto patch 
816 Kotobira Cross between koto and mbira? 
819 Perc Pan Lead Very cool patch - optimal for New Age, or Fusion solos 
823 Dyno EP Lead Another nice Fusion type sound 
825 Super Clav Realistic Hohner Clavinet 
827 Touch Clav Great Clavinet with filter applied 
829 Rad Rotor Nice new organ with rotor effect -  
831 Perc Organ A very groovy organ with rotor effect, very gritty and 1960s rock sounding 
832 Drawbar Organ CS Cool 1950s organ - the CS slider modifies the harmonic content 
833 Bebop Alto Sax Very realistic contralto saxophone 
835 Soprano Sax A very good soprano sax patch 
837 Air Reeds CS Mainly a good accordion, by sliding the CS slider up, it becomes a very, very good harmonica! 
838 Jazz Muted Trp Typical sound a la Miles Davis 
839 Jazz Lab Band Superb, extremely realistic jazz brass section 
842 Neo Stabs Powerful synth brass, extremely 1980s 
843 Gtr Jazz Band Bass, ride, kick and snare on the left hand; jazz guitar and CS-slider-triggered brass on the right - very cool ensemble, fun to play! 
844 Full Rock Band :-D  Very fun program that combines rock drums, guitar, and organ, all in one patch - super fun to play thanks also to the aftertouch that bends the guitar! 
845 World Rave Kit Punchy drum sounds 
846 Punch Gate Kit Solid snare 
847 Shadow Kit Tight kit 
848 Fat Traps Gluey drumset 
849 Generator Kit Powerful 
851 Crowd Stomper Hip Hoppish 
853 EDrum Kit 1 Classic Roland TR-808 and other sounds 
854 EDrum Kit 2 Classic Roland TR-909 and other sounds
857 Two Live Bass Extremely clean, nice electric bass 
860 Chirp Bass Moogy 
861 DigiBass 1980s FM bass 
863 Touch MiniBass Mini style 
865 House Bass Classic House bass of the late '80s/early '90s 
867 Straight Strat One of the best samples on this board.  Fantastic, expressive and hyper-realistic Stratocaster guitar.  Mod wheel adds tremolo; CS slider brightness. 
869 Strataguitar Clean rock guitar 
870 Elect 12 String Yep - nice. 
871 Dyn Jazz Guitar Realistic hollow-body 
872 Pedal Steel Quite realistic 
873 Strummer DistGtr Realistic guitar with just a bit of distortion 
874 Rock Axe Typical hair guitar hero sound of the 1980s 
877 Attack Stack Soulful synth ensemble 
879 Q Sweep SynClav Very good, expressive synth Clavinet, with just the right amount of resonance of the filter - very 1970s funky 
881 Ballad Stack Full 
882 Big Stack Yep 
883 BrazKnuckles Huge syn brass 
884 Hybrid Breath Hypnotic 
885 Hybrid Stack Quality synth stack 
888 Sizzl E Pno Nice electric piano with voxy pad on top 
889 My JayDee Fabulous bell synth, presumably inspired by the Roland JD-800/990 
890 Slo SynthOrch Classy pipes 
891 SpaceStation Very nice rising, shimmering pad 
894 Mandala Scary a bit. 
897 Koreana Pad Beautiful, ethereal and fluffy synth pad 
898 Tangerine Psychedelic pad 
899 Planet 9 Perfect pad for sci-fi effects 

Setups

Setup name with audio demo  My comments
800 Dark Jungle Quality setup with dark pad and world percussion 
805 Stackz Fat, creamy synth brass 
809 Perc Body & Pad Wonderful melancholic breathy pad, with somber electric guitar on the left of the keyboard 
812 Hot Sauce Cuban jazz 
814 Mystic Nice bells over a bed of ominous synth 
816 Trippy Planet Beautiful, different pad, with plenty of LFOs/movement 
822 Amber Pad Ravishing soft steam pad 
825 Plucky Toys Nice bells with pad 
828 Low C Groove Cool percussion loop on the left, and slap bass on the right,  Quite the "Seinfeld" setup.
832 Ancient Future Beautiful and cinematic. 
841 Hybrid Split The K2000 does synth brass well
843 Mega Drawbars Nice Hammond with Leslie. 
844 Glory Days Presumably inspired by the keyboard sounds in Bruce Springsteen's song. 
845 Retro Rock Typical 1960s soft rock set. 
849 In The Trenches Vicious distorted guitar and a bell/vox pad 
850 Foggy Bells Cool bells and synth. 

The Contemporary ROM Soundblock came with an additional diskette that offered many more programs.  Many of these extra programs are standouts, especially the tone wheel organs!  Check out audio demos from this diskette:

Contemporary ROM Programs and Demos diskette 

Kurzweil K2000 Contemporary ROM diskette

 

 

Patch name with audio demo  My comments
ADEMO1 dir.
CS DIST B3 Solid Hammond B-3 through distortion 
CS MUTE GT Cool reggae style palm-muted electric guitar 
KIT 5 Cool 1980s drumkit, very Fine Young Cannibals
ADEMO2 dir.
CS Bongosynth Wild solo synth 
CS DIST LEAD Realistic distorted electric guitar 
FLANJ VOX Digi pad with flanger
KIT 1 Drum kit with delay fx 
ADEMO3 dir.
ACIDBATHGRAND Crazy effect 
POKES More craziness 
Tron 1 The K2000 can turn ugly 
ANASYNTH dir.
229 Arp Rise 2 Reso rise inspired by some ARP synth
BIPHAZE SAWZ Fat waves 
EYE SAW I Incredibly large synth stack - very analog sounding 
MINI PHAZE 1980s cool Minimoog
SEM PULSED Pulse wave inspired by Oberheim S.E.M. modules 
TRANCE MISSION 1 Cool detuned synth 
TRANCE MISSION 2 variant 
WARM OLD SAW Tasty analog syn brass 
BASS dir.
Anabass 3 Fat syn bass 
Bass 0 Groovy picked bass via flanger 
House Bass 1 Yep 
Minibass 4 Aggressive synth bass 
Mut Bass Ok 
Twangy 2 Ok 
BRASSWND dir.
Bad Sax prs pw Expressive saxophone
Wendy's pan the cool breathy flute sample 
DRUMS dir.
EDrums 1 Hip Hop 808 
EDrums 2 Dancey 909 
Kit 1 Solid traps 
Kit 15 F o n k y 
Kit 2 '80s 
Kit 7 Fat 
ELECTGTR dir.
Eruption Presumably inspired by Van Halen's song 
Grunged 2 Distortions. 
Rick N. Backer  Rickenbacker emulation, very nice 
Rock Axe 2 mono Typical feedback 
Super Komp Sweet clean electric guitar 
ETHPERC dir.
Misc Ethnic Maghreb 
Temple Bells 3 The East 
Tibetan Thing Mystical 
HYBSYNTH dir.
HEAVEN STACK 1 Typical Roland D-50 sounds 
HISS POWER Powerful 
Majic Stack Hard synth brass 
POrck Pad Classic digi synths of the '90s 
Sing Atlantis CS Nice and different 
Swirlite 2 Soft pad, nice. 
THE SYNBRASS More excellent K2000 brass 
KEYBOARD dir.  
Clav 1 Very good Hohner Clavinet patch 
Mellow Rotor Classy Hammond organ with Leslie engaged via modulation wheel 
Organ 1 Slow rotor action 
Perc Organ 2 Cuts through the mix 
Phase Clav Yep 
Soft Organ In a small chapel on a mountain 
Tone Whl Organ 1 F A N T A S T I C patch of Hammond organ with Leslie - excellently programmed!!! 
Tone Whl Organ 2 Same as above!!! 
Wah Clav 1 Yes 
LOOPS dir.
7-4 Loopy percussion loop in 7/4
loop 1 ok 
loop 14 weird loop 
loop 9 Lots of drum 
Saw Loop 3 Cool loop done with waveforms 
SYNTHTEX dir.
Air Pad 2 Stupendous atmospheric soft pad - perfect for New Age / Ambient / Chillout music.
BrassyFluty Lead Fusiony 
LO SAWVOX Ok 
MEDDLE RUB Dark and beautiful 
Multi Lead 2 More Fusion synth brass 
Pad 4 Moving pad 
SUBMERGED Huge metallic pad 
Yoo Lead Wild reso and vibrato 


Kurzweil K2000 Contemporary ROM Soundblock
Year of release: 199_
Polyphony:  
Sound generation method:  
Preset memories  
MIDI:  
Sound expansion capabilities:  
Sequencer  
Arpeggiator  
Effects  
Velocity  
Aftertouch  
Misc  

Resources:

Links

 

SITE Type of resource DESCRIPTION
  Manufacturer site home page
     

Kurzweil K2000 Contemporary ROM Soundblock with audio demo - January 28, 2009