Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai CA63/93 owners: How did you decided?

Well Snazzy, if we also add Roland to the equation then it appears that the Top 3 DP manufacturers all use firmware updates as their current best practice method to further improve their products after market introduction. If you don't like that then you'd better buy an AP. People tend to love them, partly due to the fact that they never are/remain really perfect.

Personally, I think Kawai was fixing problems, as discussed in this thread, and others...getting rid of crackling noises and other troubles, is not what I call adding improvements...more like repairing problems.

You, no doubt, are a Kawai owner...I can understand your defensiveness...that's cool, and nothing to be ashamed of.

I already own an acoustic piano, a Steinway B, and apart from needing to tune it, which I dislike immensely, it is a rather nice piano.

However, I believe a Yamaha Avant Grand (next generation) will be my next major purchase....up until then, my humble Yamaha P-85 (which has needed no firmware repairs) will suffice nicely.


Snazzy

Well, regarding P85...

http://www.audioforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26046

Okay, okay, it's not easy to find any flaw for P85

Snazzy, I find your generalising remarks about brand owners amusing, because it reminds me a bit of the ancient Commodore against Atari user wars, but at that time I was like 12 years old. By the way, is it even allowed to also own Yamaha gear?

Although I like the Avant Grand series (not the price), I have to warn you already now that the next generation will probably not be without any flaws during market introduction. This is because products are getting much more complex than your P85

Snazzy, P85 is uncomplicated digital piano, it has no damper pedal resonance, no string resonance, no multiple velocity samples, no key-off, no pedal up, no pedal-down. Actually it has only one interesting feature - stereo samples. That's why it is highly unlikely that something gets wrong with that single feature since it is a reliable technology from the early digital synthesizers of 1980-s and used for thousands of sounds, not just pianos. On the other hand, CA63 and more advanced pianos have a lot of piano-specific features which interact with each other and it is more likely that something gets uncaught during the quality assurance process since it involves quite complex scenarios. So, it's up to the personal preference:

- A simplistic piano with dated technology working flawlessly, with no need and hence no possibility to be updated.
- A realistic piano with modern technology that may eventually exhibit some flaws but it can be easiliy fixed and updated.

You chose the former, I would choose the latter. There is something for everybody An the world is happy place

TADutchman, that reminds me of old days when I was young...

My very first keyboard back in 1985 was a CASIO (!) CZ101, which was great because it was one of the first with MIDI build in, and I connected it to my Atari 600XL (sic!) with a DIY MIDI interface, which was kind of tricky since there was almost no information about the technical specification. Those were the old days!

Next was the legendary Roland MT-32, which was a great piece of MIDI expander! Followed by Kawai K1, Korg M1, Roland JV-1010 and others.

Nowadays I only have software synths and some software pianos, other than my beloved Kawai CA63 as input device (it's such a great improvement over the Fatar Studiologic SL990). But currently I usually only play piano... that's most satisfying.

(Ooops, I sound like my own grandfather...)

There is no such thing as a 'perfect software release' without hidden bugs or unintended interactions that lead to problems. Even multi-million dollar communication networks with 99.999% availability and reliability have software bugs that are regularly fixed and released as patches.

Mostly due to the internet, software companies can easily release fixes as problems are discovered. If Roland, Kawai, Yamaha, or ..., find a problem in their product, then I surely want (and expect) a fix. This is not "deplorable" behavior, but is rather a good way of doing business.

I've had no issues with MIDI...I use the P-85 to control my arranger/workstation.

The P-85 is rugged, and stands up to a lot of use...I've had no problems with crackling noises, or noisy loose keys...the former would render an instrument unplayable, while the later would just be inconvenient...I've had to deal with neither.

I get kidded about being a pro and using a beginners piano, like the P-85...until they hear it being played, especially through the Logitechs...it weighs only 25 lbs, and is a marvelous gigging instrument.

All the pedal noises and key off sounds that manufacturers add to the digital piano, were basically flaws in the acoustic pianos...I can live without them...we always tried to mask them as much as possible in the studio when recording an acoustic.

I like to to shut that racket off, if possible, on any digital I play...I didn't buy an electronic piano to hear the flaws they couldn't hide in an acoustic.


Snazzy

It sounds interesting to me as you described it. Could you post solo recordings you've done with it?

Agreed... but this doesn't apply to pedal down resonance and string resonance at all. This is a must-have for me. Without this a piano usually sounds quite sterile.

I'm sure P85 sounds amazing - Yamaha is known for a very clear sound within a mix.

I don't post my stuff on a public forum...but you can easily hear the P-85 on YouTube by entering "Yamaha P-85" (without the quotation marks, of course}.

I've been using the arranger/workstation these past few months...it's a nice change from playing the piano only.

Snazzy

Been using the same DP for nearly 10 years. Never needed a firmware update. Gotta say it irks me when a company releases a DP and <***edited***> to make it work right.

Anyway, I'll get to try a CA63 within the next few days. Too bad the store doesn't also have a CA93.

Snazzy,

You can enjoy your flawless P85, myself playing P80 for 10 years,
I got used to its limitations, it is time to upgrade, don't you think?
I am going for Kawai CA63 or maybe CA93 thanks to many enthusiastic reviews on this forum.
For a quarter price of AvantGrand one could have three additional upgrades in Kawai CA line,
while AvangGarnd could stay unchanged like P85 for years if you find it flawless as well,
before committing just read about Yamaha GT2 and its problems with sound module.
By the way with your arranger/workstation setup, do you play any classical music?