KAWAI K3 - Synthesizer Review, Sounds & Demo | Vintage Hybrid Synth

Always loved the Kawai synths, the sounds were always rich powerful and dynamic. Look's like you have a mint example. Thanks for sharing this memory with us! 😎

Great synth with many possibilities for its age !
Thanks to sharing that wonderful antique gear !

Fantastic synth! Thanks.

Kawai buyed their synth chasis to the same manufacturer that Yamaha used for their DX and KX keyboard series. It was a very capable synthesizer, but the big mistake of Kawai was not to give their customers with a big pallet of sound patches.

i bought the K1 back in the day

Do u wanna be doug demuro?

sorry, but you speak much too slow for me

Great info. Great delivery. Some excellent sounds in there. I have the “m” version. Has been fun programming it from the front panel of my Jupiter 4 (Hamburgwave MIDI) via the CTRLR editor.

I have a K1 & K4 but the K3 really is a peach.

Wow... I remember these digital/analogue hybrids were big in 1985/86... I bought a JX8P back then but have to say this sounds way sweeter... can sound both cold and warm... love it.

Thanks, bro!

I really like mine. I always felt that digital or DCOs pumped through analog filters was a great hybrid approach. Seems like a resurgence of hybrids, with the Novation Peak/Summit and the forthcoming B. PPG clone. Shame the K3 was in the era of going knobless, killing a lot of desire to develop patches. I must commend Kawai for their tank-like builds with nice keybeds. Thanks for the comprehensive vid!

Reminds me of my sx 240 in many aspects

Another great review and demo of the K3. I really like this synth - despite the limitations, it has a very pure and precise tone and all the 80s vibes you need form DX7 type bells to Juno-esq pads. Reminds me somewhat of an a-Juno. Thanks!

When I tried to program user wave, and set all harmonics levels to zero with Erase button (counter showed 0 active harmonics), I suppose there should be a silence. But there is still some sound containing harmonics, it doesn't sound like sine wave.
I'm not aware of any mistake in my editing - OSC2 is on zero, OSC1 has selected programmable wave 32...
Could you please check how does your instrument behave here? I'd like to know if it is general behavior caused by OS bug or if it is some problem in my instrument. Thank you.

Aftertouch sensitivity and offset can be set by two variable resistors, see Service manual page 9, left corner down.

Adding a Stereoping Synth Controller makes a huge difference and really opens up the synth. I use it with my K3m, which I got for 150,- Eur around 2003. It was my first synth together with the Juno1.

I had this synth when I was about 18 and used it as my only synth for a few years. Under rated synth for sure!

I started with a K1 as a synthplayer for a coverband.... Pfff

Could you make a video about the Access Virus (model doesn't really matter)?

Ive always liked Kawaii. My first synth was a Kawaii sx-240 synth. A great sounding machine. My next kawaii was a k5000s. A very unique sounding synth.

Oh the filter! Wish id never sold it

Love that machine, I have adopted K3M that used to belong to Junkie XL. Since then used it all around my albums, for scoring etc.. Gorgeous instrument and to mention.. absolutely thunderous bottom ends, unbeatable in that regard by anything else I ever had in my hands. Overall really unique and pleasant sound.
Missing mod wheel is all fine for me, aftertouch takes care of that much better and doesnt take away one hand from playing.

Yeah I bought my "Kawai K3 and Kawai R-50e Digital Drum Machine", back in1985. I still have them and use them today. Combined with the "Ensoniq EPS Classic, Ensoniq ASR-X Pro, Emu Proteus 2000 and Emu Mo'Phatt". It's a beautiful sounding studio...

hey, so there’s this song that might use a korg polysix synthesizer as a backing synth. it’s called “ulterior motives”. the only problem is that its only samples are extremely low wuality. theres some isolations of the synths out there, and i was wondering if there’s a way for you to replicate them. i made a mockup of what i think they sound like on my channel. also, the lead synths possible use a yamaha dx7, and its sample is a bit more clear in another source. can you replicate that if possible?

Hoping someone clones this thing. Though with B having done the mini VS they may not be doing any more hybrid synths soon.

Fantastic overview

I really like this synth, i got one for quite cheap, but it only has one functioning output so it's effectively mono, I wish I knew how to repair the bad output so I could utilize the beautiful chorus on this synth, nice demo, i also checked out your ambient videos on this synth, they sound great! hopefully i can get mine restored to it's former glory... do you have any suggestions? thanks!