AES: Kurzweil debuts Rumour and Mangler

US Kurzweil shows two affordable KDFX based processors 08/10/02

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Shown at AES for the first time ever were Kurzweil's new "Rumour" and "Mangler" effects boxes. While they were indeed working (Kurzweil Soundware Engineer Steve Aiello gave me a lengthy demo), the OS is not completely finished and certain features were disabled. According to Kurzweil, these units will be ready to go by the winter NAMM show, or sometime during the first quarter of next year. Definitely worth watching out for, in my opinion. They sounded great, and are tenatively priced at $650 list. The Rumour and Mangler are based on the effects algorithms in the KSP8. The Rumour is the "nice" box, consisting primarily of reverbs. It has three different reverb algorithms, including the "Laserverb". It also has a host of variations on these, tons of tones to play with. The Mangler is the "naughty" box, with filters, compression, distortion, etc. These are not cut down preset effects units, there are plenty of parameters to play with. The user interface is logical and natural to use. This is probably the best user interface I've seen Kurzweil come up with. No head scratching necessary, and manuals can stay on the shelf where they belong. These units are so new off the drawing board that Kurzweil didn't even have any promo material for them at the show. I'm going off memory as I write this, and will post more detailed info when I get it. As I remember, the unit is stereo in stereo out with 24 bit AD/DA converters, and also has 24 bit digital I/O at 44.1/48k. It's one rack space, and has a two line LCD. From the left, the front panel consists of the input level control, output gain, the LCD, then the rotary effect select knob, the rotary preset select knob, a value dial, and finally a rotary knob for selecting parameters. I think. That's the way I remember it anyway. What I do recall clearly is how intuitive the interface is, and how quickly I could dial up effects and edit them. You basically move from left to right as you edit. The units also have a global three band eq. The Kurzweil Rumour and Mangler are something to watch for around the beginning of next year. For more info: Kurzweil Music Systems Albert

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