The Kawai K1-II is a nice instrument for the money, and offers a lot of features, but sometimes these features aren't entirely easy to use. One example is the Multi-Timbral capabilities. While it is indeed true that the K1-II has eight sound multi timbral capability, actually using this may be a bit more complicated than simply sending out some program changes on various channels and playing. Part of this is due to the way the patch memory on the K1 is organized. There are three blocks of sounds in the internal memory, two banks of what are called single-patches, and one bank of what are called multi-patches. The single patches can be made up of up to four sound sources. A multi-patch is made up of up to eight single patches combined, along with some additional parameters that are common to all of the singles making up the multi-patch. In order to play different sounds at once, all of the sounds must be within a single multi-patch. This will often mean making your own multi patch. For this discussion, let's say that you want to use a bass, guitar, piano and sax sounds together in one work. First, some of the sounds you want to use may not be in the set of sounds currently in internal memory. For example, you may have files on your computer's disk with sets or blocks of sounds (a block of sounds is 32 patches, either singles or multi's, a set of sounds is a set of two single blocks and one multi block). So, first you download the set (or block) of sounds that has the sound you want to use into the external memory of the K1 (the RAM card). Select the sound you want using the patch select buttons (for example, Ea1). Press the WRITE button, then use the patch select buttons to select the location in internal memory where you want the sound. Press the YES button two times and the sound will now be stored in internal memory. Once you have all of the sounds you are going to use in internal memory, you will need to construct a multi-patch using those sounds. The basic mechanics of this are covered adequately in the K1 manual. One thing to remember is that you will probably want to assign the sounds to various channels so that you may play them individually, either from the keyboard or from your sequencer. Once you have your multi-patch constructed and have used the WRITE button to write it to internal memory, you may want to upload the whole set of sounds from internal memory to your computer so that you have a backup copy of the set. So, now that you have all of the sounds you are going to use all ready, it's time to play them. For this example, let's assume that you have made the following channel assignments: Bass-ch1, guitar-ch2, piano-ch3 and sax-ch4. Let's also assume that your MIDI interface on the computer is set to pass it's input back out through the output, like a MIDI thru. Ok, you start playing on the keyboard and all you can play is the bass sound. This is because the default transmit channel of the K1 is channel 1, and the bass is the only sound that is 'listening' to channel 1. Here's an easy way to play the other sounds. Press the SYSTEM button, and use the + and - keys or the joystick to select SYSTEM=TRS. You will see that the K1 is transmitting on channel one. An easy way to switch back and forth between the various sounds is to leave the K1 display on this function, and use the joystick to change from channel one to channel two and so forth. In this manner you can record each sound into your sequencer individually, and then play them back while you record additional parts. So there, that wasn't really all that difficult now was it?