Kurzweil 1000 Expanders
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A support site for Kurzweil 1000 series music keyboards and expanders
K1000 keyboard

 

Basic K1000 and K1200 Upgrade Info *

Kurzweil sold the 1000 series instruments with a strategy of upgrading the modules in a series of steps. The motherboards had 12 sound ROM sockets but only 3 or 6 ROM chips were included with the first modules.

Upgrades: Various upgrades add more ROM chips to the empty sockets and upgrade the 4 OS/Setup chips (2 in the Keyboard) to add new features and so the module can find the sound.  Some upgrades had names such as: SXA, HXA, PXA, PXB, AX. With each upgrade more chips were added.  When all 12 sockets were filled with ROM chips the final modules were renamed: Pro1, Pro2, Pro3, and K1000 Pro 76.

This upgrade project is to clone the missing chips for the early modules or the K1000 SE keyboard to create one of the final Pro Series Instruments. The Keyboard version (Pro76) is possible from the K1000 SE or on some earlier models if you have the daughter board installed. For more details click on the Evolution menu link.

The Pro1 and Pro2 are excellent orchestration modules. Opinions vary as to which is more useful.
Pro1, Pro2, and Pro3 have 370+ unique sounds in the modules.
6 Pro2 voices and 18 Pro3 voices appear in the Pro1.  Thanks Bruce for that information! 
The Pro2 and Pro3 share 54 voices with each other.

There are many modules on the used market from the initial series which generally bring $41-299 on eBay. Most of these can be upgraded. Here are possible upgrades:

Pro1: from PX, PX plus, PXA, PXB  ( 8 button or 23 button box.)
Pro2: from HX, HXA, SX, SXA SXB, AX, AXplus ( 8 button or 23 button box.)
Pro3: must start with a 23 button carcass, and have ALL sound ROMS in sockets. All ROMS will be replaced so it's expensive.
Pro76: KX1000, KX1000se with any options installed. (But the RAM will not be doubled as in the real K1200 / Pro76)

The following modules have been modified: 

model # buttons quantity   upgrade to passed failed
K1000 Keyboard 1   Pro76 1  
1000 HX 8 button 5   Pro2 4 1
1000 SX 8 button 5   Pro2 5  
1000 PX 8 button 9   Pro1 9  
1000 GX 8 button 4   GX ver 5+ 4  
1000 AX+ 23 button 2   Pro2 2  
1000 PX+ 23 button 3   Pro1 3  
generic 8 button 1   Pro3 1  
generic 23 from EX 1   Pro3 1  

 

eBay pricing in 2004/2006 was:   appearance on ebay was about 3-5 per week. 
       
  model low price high price   recently   Patience on eBay will land you modules on the low end of the scale within a few months.
  PX $86 $223   $122  
  SX $66 $89   $150   Ebay bidding is highly variable on these modules. 
  HX $41 $103   $102   $41 -> 299 have been seen   
  GX $57 $199   $100    
  EX $39 $172   $100   Read the troubleshooting tab below and if you are careful, most anything
  PX plus $90 $199   $142   can be repaired.   
  AX plus $106 $211   $168    
  Pro1 $66 $250   $66   DO NOT DISCARD A CARCASS.  Some smaller parts are needed like buttons etc. 
  Pro2 $62 $280   $210   A faceplated Pro2 has been located, they are extremely rare. 
  Pro3 $185 $299   $248   An 8 button Pro3 is now possible.  October 2006.

Disclaimer
This concept came from the Yahoo Kurzweil users group and the desire to upgrade our old modules. We notified Kurzweil of our intentions both in writing and phone calls. They were not interested, and never responded. I personally phoned them, and I was told, "Very interesting! We'll get back with you…" (the proverbial brush off) I am not selling chips here, we are sharing information to keep our modules running.  These are not Kurzweil chips, they are chips that will work in a Kurzweil.

* From the ex-Alzerom site with approval of David B.