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Chapter 1
Introduction
Thanks for buying your PC2R MIDI rack-mount performance synthesizer! It features 16
megabytes of renowned Kurzweil ROM sounds in a convenient one-space rack unit that can
help you sound like a pro on stage or in the studio. We hope you like it.
The PC2R is perfect for adding 64 voices (or even 128 voices) to your performance controller— a
Kurzweil PC2 or any other keyboard or alternative MIDI control source, or a computer with
sequencing software. If you already own a PC2, you already know how to use the
PC2R—although the programming parameters are organized a bit differently. If this is your first
PC2 of any kind, you’ll still find it easy to learn, and highly adaptable to your MIDI system.
Basic PC2R Features
The Sound
The PC2R offers 64-voice polyphony that’s expandable to 128 voices. For maximum flexibility in
connecting to sound systems and processing or recording equipment, the PC2R provides analog
and digital audio outputs, which you can use simultaneously.
There are 256 factory programs, including Kurzweil’s new stereo triple-strike Grand Piano,
Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, stereo strings, brass, and Take 6 vocal samples—as well as
our critically-acclaimed keyboard, guitar, bass, drums, and percussion sounds. There’s also
room for two Sound ROM Option cards, for up to 48 megabytes of ROM sounds.
For serious Hammond organ fans we offer KB3 Mode, which uses tone-wheel synthesis to
provide superb recreations of the classic B-3 sound—including real-time drawbar control
response and multi-effects settings that include all of the essential features of a Hammond-Leslie
setup—percussion, key click, chorus and vibrato, tube amp distortion, and rotary speakers with
programmable speed control that ramps up and down like the real thing. You can play KB3
programs by themselves or with other programs in setups.
Setups make the PC2R a versatile performance instrument. Each setup contains four zones that
can cover any part of your controller’s keyboard (or any part of the MIDI note range, if you’re
using an alternative control source). Zones can also overlap across the entire note range. You can
program each zone independently—with different programs, physical controller assignments,
and MIDI channels for each zone. Each zone in a setup can be programmed independently to
have arpeggiation enabled or disabled.
Physical Controllers
You’ll probably control the PC2R’s sound from your MIDI source, using its Pitch and Mod
Wheels and/or other physical controllers. You can also control the sound from the front panel of
the PC2R itself, using the four programmable knobs to the left of the display. See page 3-8 for
more information about these control knobs.
