Veteran Kurzweil users may already know this but for you more recent K2600 and K2661 owners, here’s a bit of holiday relief for those moments when you’re sitting at your keyboard and can’t think of anything to do. Kurzweil had you in mind by including a single-player version of the classic arcade game “Pong” in the operating system! Here’s how to get to it:
- Press the [MASTER] button
- Press the (UTIL) soft button. Notice that there’s a soft button (second from the right) that’s empty
- Press the empty soft button
- Finally, press the [SETUP] button.
The screen will display, “Welcome to the K2600 game!” Use your data wheel to move your “paddle” to meet the bouncing ball. When you’ve run out of steam, press the [EXIT] button 4 times to return to Program Mode.
If you’re stuck with a case of crushing writer’s block, Kurzweil Pong actually outputs notes from MIDI channel 16, changing notes depending on the ball’s position while you play. Assign any program you want to channel 16 and Pong yourself a new melody. Or try setting Channel #16 as the Drum Channel (on the [MASTER] page) and choose a suitable drum program. This way you can claim to be actually making music!