Kawai K1

The Kawai K1 is a 61 key  synthesizer manufactured in 1988 by Kawai. It is an entry-level and low fidelity synthesizer and not as feature rich as the Kawai K4 and was released to compete with the Roland D50 and Korg M1 synthesizers. The patch memory can be doubled with a DC-8 memory card which was available separately.

Features
The K1 features 256 8-bit PCM waveforms (204 additive waveforms and 52 acoustic samples), AM (Ring modulation), and a 16×2 character LCD.

Modes
The four modes of operation are:


 * Mono
 * Polyphonic
 * Split
 * Unison

Percussion
The K1 includes drum kits and sounds (acoustic and electronic kits, cymbals as well as some tuned percussion), so can be used to create full rhythm backing when sequenced. The K1II model has 32 percussion sounds.

Mostly known for
Percussive sounds, organs, haunting pads, strings and FM bass sounds and acoustic bass.

Notable users

 * Bile
 * Cirrus
 * Drexciya
 * EMF
 * LFO
 * Lab 4
 * Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble (band)

Kawai K1R and K1M
A 1U rackmount version of the K1 was produced called the K1r. Also a module version called K1M was released. Both have the same synth engine as the keyboard version.