Question:  "Why should I buy sounds from Pyramid?"

Samplers changed everything. Instead of having to buy another expensive keyboard, you can expand your capabilities with new samples. Your sampler is infinitely expandable, but in the end it is only as good as your sound library.

The Kurzweil is a fully programmable synthesizer, not just a simple sample playback machine. Sounds can have myriad permutations. Althougn the Kurzweil's user interface is more adaptive than most other synth/sampler, the learning curve is steep for most end users. That is, it takes a fair amount of time to become familiar enough with VAST technology to get meaningful results. Most Kurzweil users are musicians first and don't have the energy or the time to get involved in sampling and programming even if these aspects of music technology interest them.

Sound design is a process of anticipating a musical application and then implementing the Kurzweil's tone generation and modulation features to prodcue a desired result. Assuming you have the source material available for sampling, You could spend a great deal of time putting together a sound library. Using a 3rd party sound library is a viable alternative. For professional musicians, use of these libraries is in fact a way of life.

Pyramid specializes in the Kurzweil. We've been involved in sound design for the K2x00 series since VAST was introduced with the K2000 (we were programming synths before that). We have developed diverse, high quality libraries that give you the benefit of our expertise. The quality of a sound library is highly dependent on the environment in which samples are recorded. Our sample libraries reflect favorably on the high end recording studios where we have done this work. For your interest, one of our engineers was recently nominated for an Emmy for Technical Quality in Recording.

Customers tell us our sounds make it possible for them to do what they've always wanted to do with their Kurzweils.  Try our sounds for yourself. Use them for your music and discover how much they add to your capabilities!

Question:  "I've heard a lot about the Kurzweil.  What's so great about VAST?"

A typical synthesizer is a closed system with a finite number of onboard sounds and limited sound-shaping capabilities. With samplers it is possible to load new waveform material appropriate for a musician's changing needs.

Like simple ROM based synths (aka Romplers), most commercially available samplers have limited sound shaping capabilites. They simply play back samples without any attempt to generate new timbres by means of synthesis.

A sampler makes it unnecessary for you to buy a new synth when you need more sounds than what a Rompler has to offer. You can simply get a couple of new CD-ROMs that are dedicated to the types of sounds you're looking which cost substantially less than another closed system Rompler with a limited selection of stock sounds. Sample libraries usually feature realistic, dynamically accurate, high resolution stereo samples that sound much better than the small, compressed sounds on a typical Rompler.

The reason the Kurzweil is so powerful is because it is both a synth and a sampler. VAST (Variable Architecture Synthesis Technology) makes it possible to apply synthesis techniques to new samples or waveforms. It's the best of both worlds - synthesis and sampling.

 Question:  "What does copyright mean in relation to sounds?"

All Pyramid soundware products are "License Free," which means no clearance is needed for you to use the sounds in your production. We do not expect royalty payments resulting from the sales of your music if they involve our sounds.

Although your purchase gives you the right to use the sounds in musical projects, it does not transfer ownership or copyright of  the sounds. Pyramid holds copyright on the sounds. Each of  the Pyramid sound libraries explicitly specifies "all rights reserved," which means Pyramid retains all rights to their products, and can stipulate the limits of authorized use.

Ours is a standard licensing agreement that is observed by most soundware and software companies:

GENERAL LICENSE CONDITIONS: 
You may use these samples in any type of music production, i.e. making demos, records, remixes, commercials, jingles, post-production, commissioned compositions,  TV and film soundtracks, theatre, musicals, computer games, multimedia and any type of live performance.

Samples may not be incorporated or resold in a Music Library or Sample Library.  It is illegal to trade, lend, rent, copy, duplicate, upload or download our sounds to a BBS, FTP site, or any other database or server. Licensure is exclusive to the individual making the orginal purchase.  You are not to resell the disk if you retain any of the samples, programs, effects etc. for your use because this would be a form of unauthorized duplication.  Piracy and authorized duplication and distribution of soundware and software are legally actionable and are being successfully prosecuted.

Basically, files with KDFX won't load on a K2000 unless it has v3.87. Lately we've been seeing backward compatibility problems with several commercial CD ROMs for K2x00. Interestingly, though, it was not because of KDFX. Actually, most commercial CD ROMs do not implement KDFX.

There can be other reasons for incompatibility having to do with disk images. For example, formatting a hard drive with a K2500 can result in a CD product that won't load on a K2000 after the contents - including the file allocation table - has been transferred to CD ROM if the file allocation table relates to a hard drive that is bigger than what the K2000 is able to see. Rev 3.87 of K2000 would have addressed the issue, so this caution would apply mainly to earlier versions of the K2000 OS.  It also applies to very early version of K2500's.

As a quick pointer, if you're looking to buy a sound library, it may be helpful to ask what version of K2x00 they were mastered with. Getting this information up front can help avoid unpleasant surprises (e.g., not being able to load the disk).