Hello James, please be patient.
In Mp5, the single sound / tone can be modified by Attach, Decay etc.. and especially by Cutoff and Resonance (very useful for me)

In fact I managed to create the beautiful sound of Rhodes, and many think is NOT a sample of Kawai
(If anyone wants, I can send in private the settings SETUP)

Question.
In MP6 there are other parameters and filters, or are the same that Mp5

IMOLA, yes the MP6 features all of the parameters found in the MP5, plus a few more.

Cheers,
James
x

Looks like Sweetwater and GearNuts have it at $2499, available early October:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MP10
http://www.gearnuts.com/store/detail/MP10

That seems like a good price - I assume it will be about AU$3000 over here in Oz. I thought it would be more than that.

Greg.

Those pictures are 3D renderings not real pictures ....

Greg, get yourself down to Melbourne and try it out for yourself at the AIMS!

Cheers,
James
x

Either a 3D rendering, or the MP10 is made out of monochromatic gray plastic - including the knobs and sliders. Not sure I like the incomplete look of the end caps, is that to form some kind of hand-hold or finger grip area while pitch-bending? I do approve of the mod/pitch wheel location though - Roland, take note.

This is what they say at Sweetwater - are they correct about UPHI , or is it the cheaper PHI they should have written in the specs ?!

Kawai MP6 88-key Stage Piano Features at a Glance:
Ultra Progressive Harmonic Imaging
88-Key piano sampling
RH action with let-off
Ivory Touch key surfaces
2 sets of piano sounds + original MP5 piano set
EP sounds
Tone wheel organ generator
Effects and amp simulator w/ drive
USB recorder/player - MP3, .WAV and MIDI
USB storage for user settings
Continues MP5 controller keyboard concept
4 independent internal and external zones
256 sounds / 256 user setups
3 band EQ with sweepable mid
MIDI Transport controls
F10H pedal w/ half-dampering
Heavy duty music rack

EDIT: It's gone ?!! It was there for a moment on the site for $ 1499 with the MP6 picture and all and now I can't find it back. Really strange...(James ?)

Yup, both are gone from both Sweetwater and GearNuts now.

Aaron

It sounds like a mistake. UPHI is reserved for the MP10, unless they've suddenly had a change of heart at Kawai...

You know, if the Sweetwater price is correct, that's not too bad a price considering the Yamaha CP50 is $1,699, the Korg SV-1 88 is $2,199 and the Roland RD-300GX is $1,599. Hopefully, it will play, sound and operate better than all of those.

Now you see it and now you don't ! I'm getting a little fed-up with these "marketing" practices directed by corporate Kawai. I'm only this close to ordering an FP7F or RD700NX . What is this ? Seek and hide ? Are we living in the 21st century or still in the pre-internet age Kawai ?

I think they didn't expect that when they posted the so called release on the Japanese website that the word would spread ?? It's 2010 and when you post something it's out over the world in 60 sec. Then people want to know three things: what is it ? how much does it cost me ? when can I have it ? So every modern company has these three questions covered with the release on their websites, marketing material and for the dealerships. What on earth is Kawai doing ; if they didn't want people to know they shouldn't have announced it, if they DO want people to know, then they should have the mentioned information ready for the people, so they will be properly informed and lets hope BUY the product.

I'm seriously starting to reconsider my next purchase because of the way things are (not) being communicated. Roland becomes more interesting everyday ; at least I know exactly what I get, what it costs and by good estimate when I can have it. Can live without the RM-keys if I have to, PHA-III isn't complete rubbish and you get the same SN in ALL models.

J

I don't think the "now you see it now you don't" aspects are intentional marketing practices, more by-products of control paranoia. It would seem that they are nervous about bits of information getting out without an express say-so from HQ. Trouble is, there doesn't, as you suggest, seem to be much coordination going on.

More to the point, where's the big problem in letting us all know exactly what is going on? Is it going to give anyone a competitive advantage? I doubt it: the lead time on these products is too great for Roland or Yamaha to be able to do much in the way of spoiling tactics.

As for the sound engine, I have said on a number of occasions that it seems counter-productive to dumb down the lighter-weight model, as that is likely to push purchasers towards a company that puts its best engine in almost its entire new range. People who put down $xxxx on stage pianos are serious purchasers and don't deserve to be treated as puppets for marketing puppeteers who want to try to "control" the market.

If they only want to sell the RM3 keybed as the most wanted and best feature of the Kawai's, they may as well put it in a silent masterkeyboard (aka Roland A80, the old KX88and such) and leave the whole sound engine out altogether. You can't replace good hardware when you're talking about keybeds and such, but the chip technology and sound engine are replaceable in the digital age of 2010. I think that discussion has taken place already (PHI, instead of UPHI in Mp6 and CA13). What really bothers me most now (again) is what's happening with the sales information. The fact that Sweetwater has to pull the info isn't a coincidence and in line with the anxious antique marketing Kawai shows; I don't care if it takes a while to build and ship these units - I just want to know if I can buy one, for how much and when. Just want to know. Is that sooooo hard ?! I know I'm repeating myself, but this last push/pull of info was really annoying...

Thanks for posting the Sweetwater link. I managed to buy the MP6 before they removed the item. The salesman from Sweetwater called to confirm my order, so it seems the price and date are valid. He said Sweetwater "jumped the gun" putting it up for sale, so they had to take it down. He expected it to be back up for sale very soon.

My guess is that Kawai has a North American sale date that all retailers are supposed to abide by in order have a fair marketplace. It seems that day is coming shortly.

Well, congratulations! You're probably going to be the first North American recipient. As such, a great weight falls on your shoulders to tell the rest of us what it's really like. I hope for your sake as well as for us wannabes that it exceeds expectations!

Did they give you a ship date or when to expect the piano?

The week of October 3rd which I took to mean October 8th.

If it's anything like the day we got our Kawai RX-2, my wrists will be too sore to type on the computer. (Can you tell I'm a Kawai fanboy?)

Oh, you lucky, lucky person! I'd love to have a Kawai grand (and the space for one!). Ever since I first tried a Kawai acoustic back in the late 70s, I've held them in high esteem. I so much prefer their tone to Yamaha. That's one of the reasons I so want the new MPs to live up to that pedigree.

It is difficult to say if it is a good price without knowing more about the technological specs or how the MP10 and MP6 play.

Price could play a key role in the success of these pianos.

Whatever the view of the MP5-MP8ii, those stage pianos really were an incredible (and oft overlooked) value. The MP5 was $1100. I often couldn't believe the folks purchasing P-85's over the MP5, without even considering the MP5. Yamaha has brand equity that Kawai simply does not have.

Prices do have a strong psychological effect. I recall seeing a recent wine-tasting study in which some psychologists changed the prices on bottles of wine and asked wine aficionados to taste the wines. The researchers found price played a strong role in perception and evaluation of the product's quality -- even affecting taste perception.

I assumed %1200-1300 for the MP6 and $2000-$2100 for the MP10. A price of $1500 for the MP6 and $2500 for the MP10 is considerably higher.

At those prices, the MP10 will need to be a better instrument than the RD700NX. The MP10 loses price advantage over Roland at $2500. That's a considerable loss, as their brand is not as well known with as strong a distributor network.

Like many here, I was waiting for Kawai's new stage pianos. I have always appreciated the design and warmer tone of their pianos (for all its technical usefulness, DPBSD does not capture warmth of tone). I am not as impatient as some, and I can wait to try them.

However, if 1500/2500 is the price point for MP6/10, I am going to take a longer/harder look at Roland RD700NX, which someone recently posted that a retailer listed at $2400. Roland seems to be getting a warmer, thicker tone with each generation. At those prices, even Yamaha CP5/CP50 deserves a second look, although to date their brighter tone of their acoustics and digitals has not been my taste.

I don't think it's just a price consideration, Scooby Hoo. The weight of the MP10 will figure in a lot of gigging musicians' assessments as well. The RD-700 series, while heavyish, are not out of the question for a lot of people, but add another 15 to 20lbs and players who have to move their piano unaided will probably think twice about the MP10, even if it's cheaper than the RD or CP5. Even the MP6 is quite chunky at over 50lbs, but hopefully that speaks to the build quality.

I agree about the MP5's value. (Unfortunately, I bought my RD0300SX just before the MP5 was released.) But I still think that up to $1,500 is reasonable for the new model - as long as the sound quality, action and build are all up to par.

Interesting thought.

I would be much more interested in the high-end sound module only, with a similar control layout!

It is also much lighter to carry.

That's wierd since the launch date is in the month of December according to the japanese website Kawai.co.jp

not to crush your hopes or anything

I would buy such a product in an instant. (And I don't think I'm alone with this.)

[Edit: since computer technology (and thus, software pianos) advance so fast, I guess most users are going to replace the built-in sound engine at some point, so in the end, on the long term, it's just dead weight. I could certainly live without it.
Now, the speakers are a different matter... but since noone is willing to sell a unit with speakers, but without sound engine, I would go with the MIDI controller direction... if only Kawai had one.]

Too bad the big manufacturers have essentially given up on modules and controllers.


We're really there in terms of speed, availability, and cost of DP technology that would be useful over the long-term.

Just make something like the Nord Piano, but with at least 10x the Flash ROM space (would add $5 max to the price) or USB3 drive port. Then either support it really well like Nord is doing, or (preferably) let the open source programmers at it. One could easily be satisfied with that for decades.

Good morning chaps,

I believe the following information should answer most of your queries regarding availability of these new MP models outside of Japan:

MP6
Information release: October 4th
Availability in stores: Early November

MP10
Information release: October 25th
Availability in stores: Early December

Kind regards,
James
x

That's helpful. Thanks, James.

Ah, good to know, thanks James!

Aaron