Kurzweil PC3 LE6 61-Key Performance Controller
First things first on this 61-Key Kurzweil Keyboard:
Fantastic sounds, reliable performance, musical expressiveness, ease of use; these are the things Kurzweil believes are essential to the design of an affordable keyboard. The 61-key Kurzweil PC3 LE6 keyboard combines the amazing sound quality and performance control features of their enormously successful PC3 with a streamlined, intelligent user interface that provides an interactive experience that is bound to inspire creativity.

It's the sound:
Under the hood, the Kurzweil PC3 LE6 features the same groundbreaking chip technology that has made the PC3 one of the most talked about keyboards in recent years. All of the PC3 keyboard's sounds are included: the famous Kurzweil grand piano, vintage electric pianos, Clavinets and Mellotrons, dazzling Orchestral and Strings collections, stunning VA virtual analog synths, KB3 organs, realistic basses, drums, guitars, percussion and horns, general MIDI, plus nearly 200 new programs developed specifically for the LE piano keyboard; over 1050 programs in all. Kurzweil has improved the method for navigating through such a massive sound set—programs in the LE can be viewed and selected with a fresh set of category buttons. Select Leads and you'll see a list of all the synth leads in the machine, grouped together. Same goes for the other 20 categories, everything from Synth Bass to Mallets to Guitars.

These programs take advantage of Kurzweil's V.A.S.T. synthesis engine, using pristine samples paired with detailed programming of literally hundreds of synth and effects parameters. Whether it's the rosin of a bowed string instrument, the resonant harmonics of a piano's damper pedal, or the thumps and squeaks of an electromechanical keyboard, Kurzweil has done their homework and provided the level of detail and realism that has earned Kurzweil keyboards such a strong reputation. This means you can focus more on the important business of making music.

The Kurzweil PC3 LE6 comes equipped with over 700 onboard effects chains from which to choose, all with real-time controllers already assigned to relevant parameters. With world-class reverbs that decay into complete silence; warm, classic sounding phasers; flangers and choruses; plus burning, saturated distortions; you'll have everything you need to make your music sound like a polished, finished product from the outset. The Kurzweil PC3 LE6's architecture provides up to 10 insert effects, which can be distributed among 10 channels, with an available auxiliary effect as well.

Interactive Kurzweil Keyboard:
In the PC3 keyboard, Kurzweil introduced the Info feature, which is a soft button-press that allows the user to see which controllers have been assigned to parameters within a program. For the PC3 LE, Kurzweil has taken this to the next level, with an interactive user interface that communicates directly with you whenever you move a real-time controller. Turn a knob, hit a button, or move a wheel and the Kurweil PC3 LE's screen will display the controller, its real-time value, and the parameter being affected. An example would be moving the modwheel on an organ program when you would see the following displayed: "Modwheel 79 Distortion Drive". This system never breaks down; you can change effect chains freely and all of the info remains intact and updated to reflect the new chain you've selected. Also, this info is transferred seamlessly to Setup Mode so you can see whatever controllers have been assigned to programs used in any zone of a setup.

Customizing your sound:
Kurzweil wanted to give users the quickest, easiest possible way to adjust the PC3LE6's sounds to suit individual tastes and needs. In any given program or effects chain, the relevant parameters (the ones that you'd want to tweak and adjust) have been assigned real-time controllers. Just move a controller and hit the Save button; you'll get no menus and no pages with endless parameters but you will get you get one-touch sound customization. Also, Kurzweil understands that flexibility in a keyboard is important when it comes to customizing your sound. Don't want filter frequency control on a knob? Prefer to have it assigned to the modwheel? No problem. The Parameters page on this Kurzweil keyboard allows you to re-assign any controller to any available parameter. You can save your custom sounds to the user bank with over 1000 ID slots.

A different drummer:
With the PC3 LE6, Kurzweil is introducing an innovative set of dynamic physical controllers: 8 backlit, velocity-sensitive drum pads that can be used to trigger sounds, sequences, chords, and arpeggiations. Every program in the machine has a drum kit assigned to the pads, so you'll always have access to a rhythm track when you need it. As a bonus, Kurzweil has included a set of over 100 additional drum programs, with acoustic brush kits, slammin' rock kits, and a number of heavily effected techno/electronic kits, in addition to the 24 existing kits from the PC3 keyboard. Just as Kurzweil put a great deal of effort into making sure that their keyboard action feels just right, the drum pads were implemented with precision and care, with the utmost attention given to how they feel when played. After all, this is a Kurzweil keyboard and not just a piece of technology.

Everything else you'd expect:
Complimenting the PC3 LE 6 keyboard's additional features are a few old familiar Kurzweil favorites; Setup Mode, Quick Access Mode, and Song Mode are all taken directly from the PC3.
Setup Mode enables the LE to act as a powerful MIDI controller as well as providing 16 simultaneous, independent, fully programmable arpeggiators, with factory and user-programmable patterns. On top of that, each setup can have up to 16 simultaneous Riffs (sequences that can be triggered by buttons, drum pads, or notes on the keyboard). While Setup Mode (with up to 16 zones each with its own program) is still as powerful as ever, Kurzweil has added a Split/Layer button to make the creation of simple setups quick and easy.

The Kurzweil keyboard's Quick Access mode allows you to create custom banks of 10 sounds that can be accessed by a single button-press. Song mode delivers a full-featured, 16-track sequencer with all of the powerful editing features that you'd find in a high-end workstation: event editing, swing, controller scaling, input quantize, input filter, and chasing controls. User memory provides over 1000 ID slots each for your own QA banks, Setups and Songs.

Connectivity:
Saving, loading, and updating the OS are all made easy on the Kurzweil PC3 LE with the inclusion of both USB Host and Device ports. You can save your user programs, setups, and songs to a USB thumb-drive or directly to a computer. OS updates can be loaded from a thumb-drive or directly from your computer, and of course the LE sends and receives MIDI over USB. Standard MIDI jacks are also included for In, Out and Thru. For audio, the Kurzweil PC3 LE6 keyboard features high-quality, hum-cancelling, stereo-balanced analog outputs, with 24-bit DACs as well as a 24-bit stereo S/PDIF digital output at 48K.