Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai MP10 compared to FP-7F (actions and AP sounds)

virtu, please don't read too much into my 'next ES6' remark - I was just trying to make the point that a future ES model (and indeed a future P-155 model) would be expected to compete on features, specifications, and price with Roland's latest FP-7F.

Similarly, I could write that the following about console DPs:

HP305 vs. CA63 vs. next CLP-340.

Anyway, congratulations on the purchase of your ES6 - it's an excellent portable DP that will continue to be competitive instrument for some time.

Cheers,
James
x

Ok James =P
So a nice chart is:
FP-7 x ES6 x P155

After 8 months looking for a nice DP that will fit my needs, the P155, RD300GX and FP-4 was in my range, but in October I read about Kawai and in less than 3 weeks I made my mind and got it a brand new ES6 =)

So, back to main topic, IMHO I have to agree with you that FP-7F can´t be compared to MP10. They are distinct DP (Roland) SP (Kawai) with difference purposes. RD700GX is the best match for MP10.

Thanks again.

Well I plan on comparing the MP10 to my CP1 because they seem to be pretty similar in approach with a few additional features on the MP10. Of course by the time I have my MP10, I hope I have found a new home for the CP1.

I don't think the AP on the MP6 is as good as the MP10.
The AP on the FP7F is most likely as good as the RD700NX.

The action on the MP6 is not RM3, so I think it possible it's not as good as the PHAIII.
The action on the FP7F, as came forward in this thread, seem to be very similar to the HP307/RD700NX.

My only two priorities are the action and the AP sound. I look at the toy features and the speaker on the FP7F as a bonus

Also price is not considered because they're all inside my range. But why pay extra for the RD700NX when I get all my bases covered with the FP7F?

I think it depends. These instruments have so many voices and features that probably nobody uses all of them.
For those, that dont use the extended MIDI controller capabilities of the MP10 the comparison makes sense.

And I really think that only a minority of MP10 users or buyers really uses all MIDI functionality thats built in.
Peter

Hi James,
I really take in high consideration your posts. But now... it's sound quite odd to me.

I think that FP7F SN is better (or comparable at least) than MP6 PHI and PHAIII FP7F action is rather better than MP6 RH. Furthermore, FP7F price will be higher than MP6 price.

That said, I can't understand why you don't compare FP7F directly with MP6. Not enough: you put FP7F a step lower than MP6.

Uhmmm...

Funny. I was considering what the next ES6 would be up to! If they UPHI that though, the situation will confuse me even further.. From my experience, the MP6 versus the P155 question is obvious. The MP6 is better than the 155 in virtually every way although lets face it, the P155 feels more in competition with the current ES6. I didn't think much of the P155. It's hardly ground breaking..

Regards. Rimmer

Qbert,

I wasn't intending to 'rank' the instruments in any order of quality, but rather to illustrate how the different product ranges compare across the three major brands.



Largely because the FP-7F features built-in speakers and is arguably less of a 'traditional' stage piano. Again, I'm not attempting to compare the specifications or even assess the quality of the two instruments, but rather analyse the segment that they will likely occupy within the market.

I hope this explains my previous post.

By the way, may I ask why you believe the FP-7F's PHAIII action to be better than the MP6's RH action? If it's just the presence of a third sensor, does this automatically mean that Casio's PX-130 action is also better than the MP6 action?

Furthermore, how are we defining 'better'?
Cheers,
James
x

I think James classified them by portability, embedded speaker and ruggedness - not necessarily by price.

Ok, I misunderstood your point. Thanks for the explanation.



Well, I just suppose that PHAIII action is fairly better comparable with RM3 than RH. Am I wrong?

I think the MP10 sound will be very similar to the CA93 when using headphones. So does anyone have anything to say about the CA93 AP vs Roland SN AP?

Maybe the Roland SN sounds wonderfull in the shop but after owning it for a month small artefacts will become obvious and all of the sudden the CA93 will sound much better :-) I know this is very subjective but still I would appreciate to hear some points of views.

Been in the shops and playing DPs a lot lately, and my impression is that

Roland has the better keyboard action
Kawai has the better AP sound
Roland has the better EP sound

JH.

May I ask which DPs were you playing?

Interesting how different opinions on this are:

My impression is that

Kawai has the better keyboard action
Roland (although it's not my preferred sound signature) has technically better AP sound
I don't care for EP sound

RE: the Roland EPs (SN), from what little I have heard, it sounded to me like the very beginning of the attacks were missing. (has anyone else noticed that?)

Greg.

Yes interested in that too since this is the complete opposite of the combined 1000+ post of 700NX and Kawai threads. Personal opinion I know but still.

My own experience is the Roland AP in 700GX without SN sounded mellow and not that great, action was so-so. CA93 (which is almost the same as mp10) was really good. HP307 (which should almost be the same as FP-7F) blew me away. Both were good but hp307 connected better with the sound (no idea why). Then I heard the action of 700GX and HP307 (PHAII vs PHAIII) is technically almost identical so back at square one. If it's the SN thats making hp307 feel better I have no clue.

FP-7F in my ears and fingers win slightly over mp10 thanks to the better connection. But both are really good and have similar mellow aproach.

I played about everything that was in the two big shops (Musikhalle Klier and Musikhaus Thomann).

I started with Kawai ES6 (piano sound ok, keyboard action terible), tried MP5 and MP8 (i.e. not the new stuff yet), an dthen the home pianos, because they have the latest actions already. The action of CA63 was dissappointing. The action of the CA93 is much better. I expected a lot from this one, because of the long wooden keys. It's quite good, but still in a different (speak: lower) class than Roland's PHA 3 action.

Roland: FP-4 has a horrible action. I mean, I would have called this "decent" some years ago, but others are far better now. FP-7 (old model - thats's PHA 2, I think?) is quite good. But the V-Piano and HP307 are simply the best piano-like actions I had under my fingers yet. Better than most actions of real upright pianos I found in the same showroom.

I also liked the action of the Yamaha CP-5 and CP-1. This came as a surprise, because I don't like the feel of Yamaha's Upright pianos, or Yamaha's older stage and home piano models. In direct comparison, the Roland PHA 3 is considerably better, though.

I didn't make a direct (as in walking back and forward between) comparison between CP-5 and Kawai, though.

All this is highly subjective, of course, and mainly tells you which type of keybaord action *I* like: As far from "springy" as possible, i.e. the weight being a dynamic load and not a static load for the fingers.

As for the sound, I'm probably accustomed to the Kawai sound (my previous model is a Kawai), which I'd describe as "round and balanced", whereas Roland is more on the bright side, and if it's set darker (closing that virtual lid), it also becomes less direct. But I think sound is something I get accustomed to (neither of them sounds like a Bösendörfer), but action is very important to me.

I'm leaning very much to the upcoming FP-7F (asuming it has that very keyboard action), and I hope they have implemented at least one decent Rhodes sound (nothing such on the HP307 !).

JH.

Not having a dual voice mode like the CA93/CA63, I'm curious how far the MP10 AP's can be tweaked. I'd have to compare directly with the FP-7F during a playing session in a music store. So, no conclusion yet from my side.

I took the plunge on a black FP-7F yesterday. Should have it end November or shortly after I'd hope. I'll get my friend to play something and I'll record the output of the machine at 24bit using my RME Fireface and upload it somewhere for people to get an idea on the quality. I'm quite happy to record using a specific midi file people may want to hear (and I mean the people i am familiar with on this forum only so no general request from random people from around the internet thx!!). I'll do a review once I've had a play around with it!!

Regards. Rimmer

Congrats Rimmer. I see most UK online stores are showing w/c 26/11 as having the FP-7F available. May I ask which store and the price? Please PM me if you don't want to disclose that publicly at this time.

PM'd