The livery of the new instruments is the usual refined Technics grey with gold stencilling. Thirty Watts of sound is delivered from the 2 x 12cm, and 2 x 6.5cm tweeters on the 1600 and sixteen Watts via the 1400's 2 x 12cm speakers, with both instruments having bass ports at each end of the keyboard. The centrally located and slightly tilted large blue and white screen (similar to the KN 3000 although somewhat more Spartan) has an array of control buttons around it and for anyone who has played with the KN range, both keyboards will have a familiar feel about them. It will take virtually no time at all to find your way around. Sound and rhythm group buttons are located right and left of the screen respectively and the usual array of panel memory, part select, rhythm controls (stop/start, etc), variations and Manual sequence pads can all be found pretty much in their usual places. Both instruments have 61 keys with velocity touch, no after touch (well what do you want at this price) and a maximum polyphony of 64 notes. The 1400 has 375 sounds, the 1600 has 384 both including 128 GM. The sounds are typically Technics and I would guess many are the samples used on the KN5000, in fact the 1600 even has both jazz and rock sets of drawbars. To my surprise both instruments are equipped with "Acoustic illusion". Now if you haven’t come across this before then your in for a treat. I use this all the time on my 5000. Using Techno Jargon, you would say the keyboard uses "Three Dimensional Acoustic Modelling", in other words press this button and by the wonders of modern technology, the sound coming from the instrument acquires an enhanced width across the Stereo, a little like Surround Sound on a Hi-fi. Care has to be taken not to set the levels to high as otherwise everything gets too "toppy", but it really does make a difference.

The styles in these keyboards both use the format that the KN 3000 introduced with three banks of two intro/outro’s, two fills and four variations for each rhythm. There are 128 rhythms of which you may recognise some from other Technics instruments, and are all up to the high standard that we have come to expect from Technics over the years. I was disappointed that Technics have decided not to bring back the Dynamic accompaniment button for the styles, this facility was dropped with the release of the 5000. This is where you hit the chord to be played on the left hand a little harder and the pattern included a subtle change. There is of course the usual disk drive (which now has a busy light located on the front panel) from which you can load and save styles etc. The 1600 is also equipped with style convert. Theoretically this will convert styles from other keyboards to run on this one. Some people may like it, but my mother always told me if you can’t say something nice then don’t say anything at all. Enough said! Also included on the 1600 is the Style Explorer. At the touch of a couple of buttons, registrations can be set appropriate to the style being played (another thing I’m not a great fan of, but some will find it useful).

The sequencer has pretty much been lifted from prior models and will hold up to approx 10,000 notes in up to ten songs. Both instruments are GM and SMF compatible and can display Karaoke lyrics from Tune 1000 Midi Files (direct play only). The performance pads have had a nice little trick added to them as there are now two solo pads. Pre-registered chord progressions can be added at a single touch, good for those times when you want the music to keep going and yet do something while turning round to find that piece of music you want to play next.

There is a help button located on the front panel, again a customary feature for KN instruments, which may well be of use to those not familiar with the range (saves digging through the manual). Other points worth making are that the 1600 is equipped with modulation and pitch bend wheels which are located as usual to the left of the keyboard (KN 1400 has pitch bend only) and as well as Midi In and Out there is a computer port located on the back panel, this means you don’t need a midi port on the back of your PC as it can be linked to the serial port.

In Conclusion