Kawai K3m Oscillator Waveforms

Just a short video showing the wavetable oscillator waveforms of the Kawai K3m. To me, this synth is a bit lifeless and cold (though still sounds generally nice) and I wondered why, since it has the terrific ssm2044 analog filters. So I decided to put the oscillators on the scope and this video demonstrates what they look like.

Many of them have a lot of extra high frequency content, and I can hear aliasing noise at low frequencies. Interesting to me is that they didn't include any basic SAW, SQU, PULSE waves, but there are a few very SINE looking waves.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• synth
• synthesizer
• waveform
• oscillator
• analog
• digital
• hybrid
• kawai
• japanese
• 1980s
• roland
• yamaha

[0e0]

hey..if you you have the hipass filter at 0 there is a slight bass boost (similar to roland highpasses ala MKS50 etc) so the wave forms are deeper and rounder.

however if you have it at 1. the saws and squares actually look like they are supposed to on the oscilliscope.

[sterling1984]

My K3 came with a card that shows the waveform and roughly the spectral composition of each wave.

I actually like the sound of this synth and how easy it is to program and how expressive it is to play. You do need to use the filter or chorus if you want to make it sound more analog.

[ProphetVS]

Interesting video. The waveforms in those 80s hybrid synths fascinate me. They were an attempt to go beyond the standard saw and pulse waveforms of analog synths.

If you get your hands on a Korg DW8000, it would be an interesting comparison between it and the K3. Some of the waveforms are very similar. Ditto for the ESQ-1.