I've been looking at getting a CP5, but now there are the RD700NX and MP6 due to come out. What are people's impressions of these (based on what information which is currently available)? Is it worth the wait to test something which may or may not be better? I'm in Australia, so they will probably be a while till they hit here.

Well, Kawai will be exhibiting both the MP6 and MP10 at AMAC/AIMS at the end of the month. I expect Yamaha and Roland will be there too, so if you could get over to Melbourne you could check them all out.

Cheers,
James
x

James, thanks for the suggestion!
That would be nice if I could get to that, however I doubt that I will be able to go to Melbourne then. If I could get some time off work that would be great!

Oh, and if anyone has any info on the mp6/mp10 and rd700nx please share it (especially how they compare with each other and the CP5).

Where I sit so far:

I've played an rd700gx (without the SN card) but I've also played the HP-307 which is meant to have a similar sound (SN). Despite the Roland SuperNatural sound specs looking better on paper, the sound seems more "digitised" in my opinion than the Yamaha. It's hard to explain. Perhaps Yamaha has better mastered how to make the sampling and the modeling to work together. So if there is no major improvement of the RD700NX over the RD700GXF, I’ll probably give Roland the miss.

I’ve never owned a Kawai Piano. If I was to go with Kawai, I'd probably go with the MP6, for portability’s sake. After looking at the specs, it looks like the MP6 should have all the features I’m concerned with (as do the Roland and Yamaha), though it looks like it might not have balanced outs. I can live without the balanced outs, and seeing as I expect Kawai to have a good action (all the older Kawai’s I’ve played in the store feel great to me), and I also like the Yamaha action (the fact that the keys on the CP5 aren’t graded is not important to me), so I’m guessing it will come down to the quality of the piano sound. Acoustic piano sound is significantly more important to me than electric piano, so long as the EP’s are decent.

I've had an RD700GX (without the SN card) for about two years and recently bought a CP5, with the intention of keeping one in the studio and using the other for gigging.

In the first few days with the CP5, I had a sneaking feeling that I might yet end up selling the GX, as the Yamaha seemed a real step up and I worried that I might find playing the Roland frustrating in contrast.

But a few weeks into ownership of the Yamaha, part of me suspects the exact opposite might yet happen. I have three specific issues with the CP5.

* The first is the action. Although initially pleasantly surprised at how little I missed the grading, I have found myself pinging the bottom octaves harder than intended, and as a result, when I now play the Yamaha, I do feel my hands held in a certain amount of tension to compensate. The GX action, with its escapement simulation, still feels closest to a real acoustic piano.

* The second is a lack of decent mono sound. The CP5 has no mono samples and the summed output suffers classic phasing and tonal collapse. Manipulating the middle frequencies via the master EQ helps but cannot prevent an uneveness in tone and "pinging" in the octaves above C3.

* Finally, the sound of the CF Grand, while initially very attractive, seems cold and clinical after prolonged exposure. Almost too perfect. The Roland, though problematic to get the best out of through PAs, is more characterful to my ears.

I've decided to give the CP5 a few months of gigging to do it justice, but I suspect I may end up swopping it for an RD700NX eventually, keeping the GX for the studio, perhaps with the SN card added.

Aiden,
Thanks for your insights!

The lack of a good mono grand is a little concerning, though fortunately at the moment, the places I play at have a stereo set up.

The non-graded keys are not really an issue to me, as I'm more used to playing on digital pianos than real pianos (even though I spent my first 10 years of playing purely on a real piano). Also, I think while the physical keys are not graded, the acoustic piano patches have software built in that make so that you have to hit the bass end harder to get the same equivalent level of volume (or so I've heard). Either way, I haven't had any issues with the action in the store. I’m used to playing on a number of different keyboards/pianos (including fully-graded/weighted, non-weighted and semi-weighted), so I can adjust pretty quickly.

I haven’t noticed the CF grand sound issue, but then again, perhaps I haven’t played it enough to get tired of it. Seeing I play mostly in a band mix, I’ll probably play the brighter piano (I can’t remember what it’s called) more often.

I’m a bit jealous that you have both the Roland and the Yamaha :-). I can’t justify spending that much money!

Cheers
Dan.

I wonder if this due to the decay portion of the note, which I find to be rather over processed and lifeless - it doesn't sound like there are 2 or 3 strings playing at the same time, there's no "wobble" to it.

I can also clearly hear the looping in the lower and mid notes and the stretching on the low end which isn't helping things at all.

So does the Roland and Kawai actually have mono samples, or is it just that the summed L+R seems to work ok?