Differences between PC3K and PC3X

[kristianb]

Hi, i'm thinking in buying a kurzweil pc3, and I saw the PC3X is way cheaper than the PC3K, and i found almost no difference, a part from the wooden end caps, and the 128 ram sample memory.
What concernes me is: are those 128 mb ram saple memory so important?, and what happens if it has not?
Thanks in advance

Kristian

 

[delaware dave]

The 128 mb is flash ram. It allows you to add additional sample ram memory and programs from other K series, wav and aiff. Is it worth the additional dollars? You're the only one that can assess that need vs. the cost. It wasn't for me.

 

[kristianb]

can you update the OS, or import new programs and sounds to the keyboard without the 128 mb ?

 

[delaware dave]

yes; the latest operating system (V2.10) was just released in March nearly 4 years after the keyboard hit the market. You can import other user developed programs as well. See this cool site:

http://forum.sonikmatter.com/forums/index.php/files/category/3-pc3/

 

[kristianb]

ok, thanks, and a last question: where do the new programs go, and how do you import them?
Thanks in advice
Kristian

 

[delaware dave]

I use a PC3 and the file extensions of the files are '.PC3'. On a PC3/PC3x they can be loaded in one of two ways:
1) xD card http://www.ebay.com/itm/Olympus-1gb...gital_Camera_Memory_Cards&hash=item1c26e57789
2) USB interface from a PC/MAC (cable supplied by Kurzweil as part of the keyboard purchase)

The PC3K series allows you to load directly from a USB thumb drive, the PC3/PC3x doesn't. No big deal, the xD cards are widely obtainable (type M+,1GB). I have a few of them. So transfer the file to an xD card, insert xD card into the PC3/PC3x slot then load from "storage mode". You choose the file from the xD card, and press load. It's that simple. You can also save all user defined programs onto a PC/Mac or to the same xD card. When upgrading to a new operating system version (or doing a hard reset of the PC3) the memory gets wiped clean and reset. You would then have to reload the user-defined programs/setups from the xD card. I had to do this just once and it was when the last operating system was released (about 2 months ago). The operating system upgrade took about 5 minutes and the reloading of the user programs took about 30 seconds.....

 

[kristianb]

ok, thank you, very helpful