Technics KN7000: save your work to a card or floppy

Saves, songs and folders

A save copies data from the keyboard’s memory to an SD card or a 3.5-inch floppy disk. Loading it later puts the data back. Source: Manual, pp. 122, 138

With the power off, the keyboard keeps the panel’s settings, panel memories and edited sounds for about a week. Recordings, the styles in the composer (the style editor) and the pads’ own phrases last about 80 minutes. To keep them longer, save them. Source: Manual, p. 198

On the card, each save is called a song. A song here is one save, not one tune: one song can hold all ten of the sequencer’s recordings, the panel memories and more. The sequencer is the keyboard’s built-in recorder. The floppy screens call a save a file. Source: Manual, pp. 27, 131, 147

A save can hold 11 kinds of data, in two groups:

PERFORMANCE: the current panel (the settings on the panel now), the panel memories, the sequencer, the composer (the style editor’s memories A, B and C), the sound memory (edited sounds), the performance pads’ own phrases and the effect memory.
BACKUP: the MIDI user settings, the favourites, the home page and all 20 custom styles. A custom style is a style kept in one of the CUSTOM 1 to 20 places.

Source: Manual, pp. 27, 122

A save normally holds the PERFORMANCE group. Source: Manual, pp. 131, 147 The KN7000 page lists every kind with how long it lasts with the power off.

A card holds 99 folders of 20 songs. Folder and song names can be up to 16 characters. Source: Manual, p. 148
A floppy holds 20 saves. It can be 2DD (double density, 720 KB) or 2HD (high density, 1.44 MB). BACKUP data needs a 2HD disk, and a 2HD disk formatted as 2DD can’t be used. Source: Manual, pp. 122, 125, 135

The SD and DISK buttons are at the top of the panel’s right-hand end. The SD card slot is behind a lid on the strip below the panel, on the right. The floppy drive is in the front of the keyboard’s right-hand end. Source: Tested on a KN7000

Where the SD and DISK buttons are. Drawn from a KN7000.

The SD and DISK buttons. The yellow numbers match step 2 of each list below. Drawn from a KN7000.

The SD card slot, behind its lid on the strip below the panel, on the right. The yellow number matches step 1. Drawn from a KN7000.

Save to an SD card

A new card needs formatting in the keyboard first: see Prepare a new SD card. Source: Community report

Open the lid of the SD slot fully. Push the card in until it locks, then close the lid. Nothing works while the lid is open.
Press SD. The screen shows the SD MENU.
Choose SAVE, then TECHNICS FORMAT.
Choose a folder number, then a song number, with the buttons below the screen.
- The frame on the right of the screen lists the kinds of data that will be saved. To change them, see Choose what goes in a save.
To name the save, press SONG NAMING, enter the name and press OK.
- FOLDER RENAME names the folder the same way.
Press SAVE. If that song number already holds a save, the screen asks first: YES saves over it, NO cancels.
Wait for the SD IN USE light, on the strip by the slot, to go out. Press SD again to leave the SD screens.

Source: Manual, pp. 26, 138–139, 147

The save screen also shows how much space is left on the card. Source: Manual, p. 147

Save to a floppy disk

Check that the disk’s write-protect tab covers its hole. A disk with the hole open can’t be saved to.
Push the disk into the drive until it clicks. From the main screen, the screen changes to the DISK MENU. If it doesn’t, press DISK.
Choose SAVE, then TECHNICS FORMAT.
- A disk that hasn’t been formatted brings up DISK FORMAT instead. See Format a floppy.
Choose a file number with the buttons below the screen.
To name the save, press NAME, enter the name and press OK.
Press SAVE. If that file number already holds a save, the screen asks first: YES saves over it, NO cancels.
Wait for the DISK IN USE light to go out. Press DISK again to leave the disk screens.

Source: Manual, pp. 124, 130–131

Format a floppy

A disk used on the keyboard for the first time must be formatted. Formatting erases everything on the disk. Source: Manual, p. 130

On the DISK FORMAT screen, choose 2DD or 2HD to match the disk. If the keyboard can tell the type itself, it skips this step.
Press YES to format, or NO to cancel. Formatting takes about 1 to 2 minutes.
The DISK NAMING screen follows. Enter a name for the disk and press OK.

Source: Manual, p. 130

A 2HD disk has a second square hole, opposite the write-protect tab. A 2DD disk has only one. Source: Inferred FORMAT in DISK TOOLS, on the DISK MENU, also formats a disk. Source: Manual, pp. 130, 135

Entering a name

The buttons below the screen enter letters, and SHIFT switches to numbers. The TEMPO/PROGRAM dial also picks characters. POSITION moves the cursor, DEL deletes a character and CLR clears the whole name. Source: Manual, pp. 131, 147

Choose what goes in a save

This works the same on a card and a floppy.

Choose the folder and song, or the file number, as above. Don’t press SAVE yet.
Press PAGE to go to page 2, SAVE OPTION.
Set each kind of data to YES or NO.
- PANEL MEMORY offers NO, 3 BANK (banks A, B and C only) or ALL.
- PERFORM selects the whole PERFORMANCE group, and BACKUP the whole BACKUP group. ALL OFF sets everything to NO.
Press SAVE.

Source: Manual, pp. 132, 148

Fewer kinds of data make a smaller save, and it takes less time. Source: Manual, pp. 132, 148
The manual suggests keeping the BACKUP group in a save of its own, not in everyday saves. Source: Manual, p. 122
All the custom styles together make a large save that is slow to save and load. CUSTOM STYLE LOAD/SAVE, on the SD MENU and the DISK MENU, saves one custom style at a time. Source: Manual, pp. 122, 124, 139

Save one recording on its own

Page 3, SEQUENCER SONG SAVE, saves one of the sequencer’s 10 recordings on its own. The screen calls them songs 1 to 10. Choose the number with the buttons below the screen, then press SAVE. Source: Manual, pp. 132, 148

If pictures have been loaded for the screen but the recording doesn’t use them, the keyboard asks whether to save the pictures too. Source: Manual, pp. 132, 148

Save a recording as a MIDI file

A MIDI file is a standard song file that other instruments can play. The sequencer’s recording can be saved as one with a separate choice after SAVE: SMF FORMAT 0 on a floppy, SD-SOUND (SMF) FORMAT on the card. A MIDI file keeps the notes, but not the chords, the style or the composer data. A TECHNICS FORMAT save keeps all of them. Source: Manual, pp. 131, 133, 147–148

On the card, the recording goes into the card’s own list of MIDI songs. SD-SOUND EXPORT, in SD TOOLS, copies it out as an ordinary MIDI file for other instruments. It works one playlist at a time, and not from the DEFAULT PLAYLIST, so the recording first needs a playlist of its own. Source: Manual, pp. 148, 152

While saving

Don’t take out the card or disk, or switch off, while the SD IN USE or DISK IN USE light is on. Source: Manual, pp. 124, 139
The keyboard makes no sound while it saves to or loads from the card. Source: Manual, p. 139
A write-protected or full floppy stops the save with an error message on the screen. Source: Manual, p. 203
To take the card out, wait until the SD IN USE light is off, open the lid and push the middle of the card to release it. Source: Manual, p. 139
To take a floppy out, press the eject button on the drive. Source: Manual, p. 122

Manual pages

KN7000 owner's manual, pp. 26–27, 122, 124, 130–133, 138–139, 147–148.

Corrections: hello@knarrangers.com

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Guide D1 · last checked 13 Nov 2026