The manual rather glibly suggests simplifying this selection process by setting your sequencer to 'PC2 mode' to access the same name/number/bank assignment as the Kurzweil PC2. To swap from the first MIDI bank to the other, you have to send a MIDI Bank Select controller message (Controller 32, value 6 to select the bank, and then the program number from 1-8). Still more confusingly, all the sounds numbered 1 to 8 in the 16 front-panel selection banks are in MIDI bank 0, while all those from 9 to 16 in banks A to P are in MIDI bank 6, so the division for MIDI banks cuts across sensible sound groupings. When selecting sounds via MIDI, however, the programs are split between just two MIDI banks, 0 and 6, each of 128 sounds. As you can imagine, setting up the sounds on all 16 channels can take some time, and you aren't particularly gratified to discover the fact that all the settings are lost on power-down, defaulting to Bank A, Program 1!Īs already mentioned, the ME1 has 256 sounds, and for the purposes of front-panel sound selection, these are organised into 16 banks of 16, accessed by choosing a bank (from A-P) and then the sound number (1-16) from that bank. You then press the Mode Select button twice to select Program mode, and use the Bank button and Data knob to select your sound.
This latter selection method involves pressing the Mode Select button so that the channel LED is lit, and selecting the channel itself via the data knob.
There are two basic ways of setting up the Micro Ensemble: you either do it via MIDI (of which more in a moment), or via the front panel. When you switch on, the dot-matrix display scrolls across reading 'Kurzweil Micro Ensemble' and when the program mode LED lights up and a '1' appears in the display, you're ready to play. What is new is that the Micro Ensemble is fully multitimbral across all 16 channels, and with 256 sounds that cover most musical bases. The unit is still powered by an external PSU, though. Round the back, we find MIDI In and Thru sockets (though there's no MIDI Out), left (mono) and right audio outs, and a headphone jack, which was missing from the Micro Piano. Three LEDs cover program, channel and global, and a dot-matrix display shows operating status and parameter settings. There are just two buttons for Mode and Bank/Menu selection, and 'Panic' (pressing both buttons at once) will generate an 'All Notes Off' message. Instead of the black casing of its predecessor, the new model has a brushed aluminium finish, and the build quality is sturdy, well up to what we expect from Kurzweil. At first sight, the Micro Ensemble looks almost identical to the Micro Piano: it's a half-rack, 32-note polyphonic module, the front panel is similarly minimal, and the data and power/volume pots are the same. Photo: Tom FlintFast forward to 2002 and the Micro Piano is gone, replaced by the new ME1 Micro Ensemble, with sounds derived from Kurzweil's PC2 keyboard. Not surprisingly, it had a lot of fans and sold well over the ensuing years. Despite its name, the Micro Piano also offered some nice organs and strings, making it a fine source of quality sounds, and although it was only monotimbral, it did have generous (for the time) 32-note polyphony.
For musos on a budget, the 1000 series provided a range of modules with K250 sounds at a relatively affordable price (see my Retrozone article in SOS April 2000), while many players gained access to K2000 piano sounds via the diminutive Micro Piano, a half-rack 'plug in and play' sound module reviewed in SOS April 1994 by Derek Johnson. The classic K250 certainly stood out from samplers of the time, while the K2000, 2500, and 2600 have maintained a dignified presence at the top end of the market with their multifarious upgrades and add-ons. Right from their beginnings in the early '80s, Kurzweil have always done things in their own way. Kurzweil are well known for their high-quality sounds, but less so for affordable hardware in which to house them.