Kawai K3 Digital Analog Hybrid Synth

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Note the K3 is not really a wavetable synth per the listing. It has static digital waveforms you can pick from, vs a wavetable of waveforms you can morph through in real time. If the K3 is a wavetable synth then so are PCM sample based synths. That said, I owned one and it is a great sounding synth. The SSM analog filters open up the sound and you can get those classic PPG bell like tones. It also has user additive waveform slots. It is an underrated synth imo.

"It has 32 waveforms, some of which are samples of acoustic instruments like piano and percussion as well as some unique waveforms. By combining two of these waveforms you can create unique new sounds or add a twist to a traditional sound. Since there are only 32 of these waveforms, the K3 also features a programmable digital waveform where you can tweak the harmonic content of a waveform allowing for added flexibility and range of sounds.

What's really neat about the K3 is that (unlike the K1) it has analog filters and envelopes! So although the sound may be digital at first, it sure does get warmed going through the filter. The low pass resonant filter even has its own envelope generator. There's also a high pass filter and a highly flexible LFO. The K3 is an interesting synth, nicely bridging the gap between the analog and digital domain of vintage synthesizers.


* The Kawai K3 is a very professional hybrid synthesizer. It’s a mix of digital oscillators, additive/substractive synthesis and analog filters

* VCF and VCA give the sound a lot of depth and warmth

* The wavetable oscillators, on the other hand, can easily produce sounds similar to a PPG Wave synthesizer

* The Kawai K3 is a very good background synthesizer, thanks to the soft character of its sound. No wonder it gets along so well with digital and analog instruments in a mix. It leans more toward PPG-like bells and pads than toward classic Oberheim/Sequential-like brass sounds. It’s perfect for dreamy, softly evolving arpeggio sounds and for cool drawn-in-delay electronic patterns

* The OSC BAL(ance) function is very professional. This parameter determines the mixing balance for the two ocillators. “-15” is oscillator No.1 only, “0” is even, and “15” is oscillator No.2 only. PRES(sure) OSC BAL(ance) is even more effective, allowing for modulation of the mixing balance between the oscillators via aftertouch. This results in organic, evolving sound clips.

* Keyboard-tracking of VCF and VCA is very flexible, too. Settings may be positive or negative, making the keyboard an important and expressive tool"