Technics KN7000 Keyboard used as an expander with the Yamaha AR 100
Having now purchased one here’s my non technical preliminary appraisal after one month’s use as promised. I know, it’s no longer made, there is no manufacturers support any longer, probably spares are scarce, certainly there are few of this model keyboard about for sale, but switch it on and listen, it’s not outdated in content.
Earlier I read of guest’s posts dating back to around 2006 that one or two were using KN 7000’s for backing and recently I had posted a request for any interested member already using a KN in this way to contact me but none have been forthcoming so I must assume that no one has or is not using one at present.
It’s big, almost 4 ft long and quite heavy so mounting it above your organ in some way as I believe some owners may have done could be a problem, certainly special brackets would be needed and what would happen to the AR’s original music rest, that would be in the way I fear so I doubt that would be a practical way, I only found one reference to location and that had the keyboard freestanding alongside the organ...
The operating panel with it’s 8 inch wide screen makes for easy reading but the button identifications are rather small, the panel also doubles as a lid for the keyboard, when closed the whole keyboard looks very smooth and of course it would be easy to store in this manner. .
Setting up was quite straightforward, in fact apart from setting the keyboard chord channel to 2 so it could receive the organ’s lower keyboard messages the remainder was just tweaking volumes etc.but I did have considerable help from the unofficial Technics KN7000 forum who were only too eager to help.
However my main purpose is to report on it as a backing unit and I must say in my opinion I think it is outstanding. The built in styles available number some 220 with variations and the poor old AR simply can’t compete with this when it comes to auto accompaniment, the rhythms are so polished and professional and vary with every different variation of style. You are really spoilt for choice.
To add to that Technics enthusiasts have re created the original web site and a sister site full of free software downloads taken from many of the other Technics range of keyboards which can give you a further 700 plus styles with different intros/endings, so although the official Technics company no longer has any involvement there is lots of information and support available out there, it is very much alive and well !
Using the AR voices and the keyboard just for backing the set up can be kept very simple, the KN has a mode button which shows individual volume control sliders so you can mute or adjust selectively each item such as the voice parts 1,2,& Left, and all the individual accompaniment instruments as well of course save the setting in the keyboard so it can be retrieved instantly with the push of one button.
The auto accompaniment follows most keyboard arrangements with 4 style variations which can advance one place at a time with a fill or reverse the route if required, this advance function can be turned off and the variation manually changed without using fills, also there is an intro / ending with two choices of patterns. Some organists find playing and having time to push the fill in buttons etc easy, I prefer to use a 4 pedal foot controller set to fill1 & 2, and Endings 1 & 2 . there is also the function of auto rhythm start when you play the first chord ,this method makes for a very easy to concentrate on your organ and it gives your hands more time to do other things.
In addition to the Auto accompaniment there are 6 Performance Pads, if set to auto they change to suit each style selected but can be overridden by deactivating the auto button and you can pick the from a menu of 10 different themes such as Latin ,Big Band etc.. These Pads supply a variety of extra accompaniment sounds from pianos. guitars, brass, woodwind to vocal do wah’s, many of which loop and all play within the auto accompaniment, also there are two dedicated to 8 bar solos with progressive chord changes in a variety of instruments.
Having got all this set up with the keyboard voices muted all you have to do is whistle up your favorite AR voice/s saved into the pistons. I mention this simply because Technics own voices are restricted to a choice of 2 or 3 depending on if you split it’s keyboard controlled by 3 conductor buttons so at best you can only have two choices for the right hand and one for the left whereas as we all know the AR has a wide range of voices available, so this set up allows you to have the best of both worlds.
As is quite common with many expanders the AR’s expression pedal will not ( as far as I can find out ) control the volume of the KN7000, no matter which AR Midi mode you choose this I believe is a fault with the AR.
However I find this has never been a problem with any expanders I have owned where the volume can’t be controlled from the AR, with both units set with plenty of ‘spare’ volume adjustment by just using only the variable AR volume pedal you can increase or decrease to the accompaniment’s advantage.
Location in your playing area has to be considered and can be a serious drawback if space is at a premium, but with sufficient length of cabling and foot controllers the keyboard can be placed close by on it’s own stand if you have one or on a small table alongside the AR, but desirable as this is with a foot controller you don’t have to have it within operating reach while playing, however this would probably be unacceptable for anyone wanting to play a medley where style changes are needed.
I said earlier keep it simple, but the capability is available to save style settings in advance into the panel memories so you could switch styles instantly, but that is getting a little deeper than I intended to explain at this stage.
A final drawback would be if you have to dismantle it every time after playing.
Although there seems no point in the exercise you can of course mute the AR and use the AR’s keyboard/s to play the KN using it’s own voices, but it is a joy to play the instrument direct as well and much more can be done with the performance this way.
A description of playing the keyboard on it’s own and it’s features would probably require including the owner’s manual. It is a complicated instrument with so many features and if like myself you have not used one for some years it takes some assimilating.
There are a multitude of ways of accessing styles with Song lists and One Touch Play features , even a favorites list and very impressive ways of saving your settings into the panel memory , it also contains a floppy disk drive, SD slot, USB outlet for the computer and recording to a sequencer.
All in all quite an instrument.
