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Sweet Notes Early Fall 1998 Page 9
WE HAVE ALL THE HOTTEST PRODUCTS FROM ALL MAJOR MANUFACTURERS . . . IN STOCK!
by Daniel Fisher, Director of Soundware Engineering
Having read your way through much of this issue you
already know just how excited we are about the new prod-
ucts we saw at the Summer NAMM Show. It was also a
great chance to show the world some of our own exciting
releases. Unquestionably, the biggest draw to the
Sweetwater booth was our exclusive K2500SWx keyboard
package, which delivers the world’s most powerful syn-
thesis and sampling keyboard along with everything
needed to make it a world-class music production station
— one that looks as good as it sounds.
The real oak endcaps and oak music stand along with
the custom wooden keyboard stand will make the K2500SWx the centerpiece of your
studio. A customized, lazer engraved brass plate with your studio's name completes
the look. The K2500SWx not only comes fully loaded with every possible option inside
the 88-note weighted keyboard, includ-
ing 128 megs of RAM, 28 megs of ROM,
2.5 megs of P-RAM, and the powerful
KDFX digital multi-effects, it also sports
an internal 2 gig hard drive.
The K2500SWx has the latest
soundware and software upgrades in-
stalled as well which provide the very
cool KB3 organ simulation and the ex-
citing Live Mode which lets you bring
external audio signals in for “VAST-ing.”
Our K2500SWx is also unique in that it
comes with our entire Sweetwater
Soundware Library including the ac-
claimed Power Translator Series (with
the Roland CD-ROMs!), along with some
of the best third-party CD-ROMs in the
industry for a grand total of over 15,000
megabytes! There’s so much more to tell
about the K2500SWx, but I’ll leave it to
your Sweetwater Sales Engineer to fill
you in on the rest.
In other Soundware news, we're proud to announce our
latest offering for the E-mu ESI-4000 sampler called the
ESI Premium Rhythm Section CD-ROM ($99 list). It's
the latest of our $99 Mini-Series CD-ROMs which now
brings our award-winning Young Chang Stereo Triple-
Strike Grand Piano to E-mu owners (an E4/e64 version
is currently in the works). The CD-ROM also contains 5
of our GM Standard Drum Kits from the Total Stereo
Session Drums CD-ROM, 5 of our best Bass Guitars
and a Yamaha Rock Piano and C7 Piano. There's even a
classic DX-7 Electric Piano thrown in for variety.
This CD-ROM follows our other already successful
$99 "Mini" CD-ROMs including the Electron Bomb CD-ROM which features Dance,
Techno, Industrial, Rave, and Ambient VAST programming from Kurzweil gurus An-
drew Schlesinger, Gary Phillips, Brian Cowell, and Bruce Duncan. You'll find 100
Synthetica Volume 1 programs (regularly $39) as well as the latest Synthetica Volume
2 for Contemporary ROM (also $39). You
can “rave-on” with the 100 DEEPRAVED
Programs ($39) and push the limit with
our 100 Techno/Ambient programs (again
$39) and much more, all for just $99!
And don't forget our recent addition
to the $99 Mini CD-ROM series, the Young
Chang Mini CD-ROM for the K2000/K2500
which features our best 16 meg and 13
meg Stereo Virtual Grand Pianos. It even
includes an 8 meg Mono Virtual Piano for
your mono PA gigs all for the outstanding
"Mini" price of only $99. If you bought
these three floppy sets separately it would
cost you $227, but we're offering this
"mini" CD-ROM for only $99! Get your
copy today and start playing piano for real.
Well that's all we've got for this is-
sue. Next issue I'll be back to let you in on some really hot soundware that we're
developing for several of the other popular brands of samplers. You won’t want to
miss this one.
SIGNATURE 284: THE ULTIMATE DIRECT BOX FOR GUITAR
by Daniel Fisher
I have a confession to
make: I've been a keyboard
player for 30 years now
and all that time I secretly
always wanted to be a
guitar hero, too. This
passion got even stronger after working full time on Sweetwater's Ultimate Guitar CD-
ROM for the Kurzweil, with its 115 different guitars. The killing blow came when
Sweetwater started its highly successful “Custom Select” Premium Direct Luthiers
program which put literally hundreds of top quality guitars and accessories in the same
building where I work.
So I gave in and treated myself to an electric guitar. Being a trained musician and
soundware engineer, but only a beginning guitarist, I currently find myself focusing
more on tone than on highly technical playing. This has led me to explore all of the
fantastic tone-shaping products we carry for guitars and I truly believe I've found the
"Holy Grail" of all that is TONE! It's the new Lexicon Signature 284 (list $1099), an
all tube, Class "A" stereo recording amplifier and direct source. This hand-built, all-tube
amplifier was designed by tube guru John McIntyre specially for Lexicon.
What makes it so special? Well, one key factor is its low output power which allows
you to get the sinuous touch and gorgeous tone that only a fully-cranked all-tube amp
can deliver. With only 3 watts per side, its low-power design makes it ideal for recording
as well as live performance applications where high volume levels are undesirable. The
Signature 284’s unique design combines a high-gain preamp with a low-wattage, stereo
Class A power amplifier.The preamp section uses three 12AX7 tubes and incorporates a
switchable high-gain stage and beautifully voiced tone controls. To put the finishing
— Continued on Page 10
touch on the 284's tone,
a stereo power amp uses
two EL84 tubes in a
Class A configuration. A
tube-driven stereo
effects loop lets you
place effects in-line
between the preamp and power amp for sonic effects that can't be obtained at the
console. Simultaneous outputs let the amp drive any combination of stereo speaker,
balanced recording and slave amp outputs. The speaker outputs can handle 4 or 8 ohm
cabinets. Built-in speaker simulation lets you select "smooth" or "bright" independently
for each recording output. For silent recording, the passive load is automatically connected
when the speaker is disconnected. Because the slave outputs tap the signal after the
power amp, they carry all of the Signature 284's characteristic tone and can be connected
to any power amp and guitar cabinets for greater performance volume.
So what does this all mean to you, the guitar hero? It means that you can get the
best fully-cranked all-tube sound all the time, whether you're practicing with headphones,
recording to digital, or blowing away an amphitheater full of fans, using the same hand-
wired preamp and power amp. It means that your high quality analog and digital effects