Young Chang Piano: Kurzweil PC3X 88-key Performance Controller Review

I've just come back from my local music store after trying the PC3X and the SP2, and being assured by the earnest young sales clerk that the Kurzweil reps had told him their primary audience was not the workstation programmer but, as the name suggests, the "performer," who simply requires the best piano possible for his Saturday night gigging.

But no one could answer my questions about the instrument, nor could anyone draw up one of the many acoustic pianos for a head to head face-off between the PC3 and the SP2.This is a heavy board with everything on it and a steep learning curve--along with over a thousand voices and set-ups.Do I wish to spend a week learning how to call up a few of the most practical voices? Do I want to haul around 60 pounds worth of artillery (excluding power adapters, amplifiers, etc)? Do I really want an RMI piano sound (one of my first pianos, made by Rocky Mountain Industries, aka Allen Organ) and the Take 6 samples?(What! No Frank Sinatra sample?) Lastly, could I resist a price just under 2 grand?

The answer is yes.I decided on the SP2 (I've gone through three SP76s, and the SP2 has 76 notes plus semi-weighted rather than fully weighted keys. Significance: a keyboard you can actually carry).I have doubts about Kurzweil's concern for the performer even with respect to the SP line.While in the store, I couldn't figure out how to access the basses or layer on a ride cymbal.And the thing comes with a gratuitous drum machine.But it's at least 25 pounds lighter than the PC3. Nuff said.

(if you want a more practical piano, but only slightly less heavy instrument, with fully-weighted action, look at the recently discontinued PC1se, which the same Amazon vendor, 8th Street Music, is advertising at a great price (same as the SP2).I would have ordered it--but a roadie apparently doesn't come with it.)

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Product Description:
The PC3 offers an enormous sound set of over 800 programs, raising the bar once again for both audio quality and variety. With the best samples in the industry, and a powerful, responsive synth engine breathing life into them, you'll feel like you're playing an actual instrument, not just playing samples. Of course there's the famous Kurzweil Triple Strike Piano, with dozens of variations to accommodate every kind of player. All of the basic sounds - basses, guitars, drums, horns and synths - have been painstakingly programmed to reflect the needs of today's professional players, representing a broad selection of styles and flavors from the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and today.

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