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Here is presentation of Kawai MP10 and MP6. It is in german and the Kawai official is interviewed and asked about the layers. He answers, there are up to 7 Layers in the MP10 ;-)
@Craig:
This doesnt mean, it will only react to 7 steps of velocity. This is a common misunderstanding. Quality pianos all react to 127 steps in loudness and vary their timbre according to velocity. This means that the original sound source was captured at least in 7 layers and that the sounds where calculated from this recordings.
I think, comparable in price and features to the MP6 is the Yamaha CP33. This has only 3 layers. Test and compare those, if you can.
Both have the advantage, they have a full MIDI soundset, so if automatic accompaniement should be wanted, this can be done with computer software. The MP6 also has a rythm section so far I know.
Both have the disadvantage, no speakers. However if you already have a good stereo that you can connect, then this might not be important.
Another hint: To test those, best use your own headphones. The headphones that are given to you in the piano store are often cheap and crappy and give a total distorted sound experience.
Best,
Peter
Last edited by hpeterh; 02/27/1106:45 AM.
1929 Galaxy Blüthner Baby Grand acer aspire m3300 AMD Phenom II X6
Here is presentation of Kawai MP10 and MP6. It is in german and the Kawai official is interviewed and asked about the layers. He answers, there are up to 7 Layers in the MP10 ;-)
He let a major cat out of the bag. Now Yamaha, Roland, Kurzweil, Korg, and maybe even lowly Casio, will start layering their sample sets - oh wait...
basically the notes are sampled at different loudness levels from the piano. instead of just raising or lowering the volume on the keyboard speakers. we actually get to hear the string vibrate and give a unique sound when struck harder.
Here is presentation of Kawai MP10 and MP6. It is in german and the Kawai official is interviewed and asked about the layers. He answers, there are up to 7 Layers in the MP10 ;-)
He let a major cat out of the bag. Now Yamaha, Roland, Kurzweil, Korg, and maybe even lowly Casio, will start layering their sample sets - oh wait...
ya well if they get their keyboards nice and right Id hop right on a casio. I know that touch is not always an important factor to all.
Another question(if I did buy the mp10) I notice it has 3 layers of piano sounds. Im guessing that is dynamic as in p f ff. Would I be able to get a vst that does 4 or 5 when available? or is it a sensor thing that is on the piano that only looks for 3 velocity layers.
Most DP keyboards will produce all (or most) MIDI velocity levels from 0-127. Some actually don't produce levels much above 105-110, but it's easy to expand the range all the way to 127 in the computer that runs your virtual piano software. The number of actual sample levels captured (recorded) from an acoustic piano varies from as few as 3 in a DP to many more in virtual piano software (Ivory II has 18 captured levels for instance). DPs and virtual pianos will interpolate between the captured levels for the entire range of 0-127 velocity levels. The advantage of capturing more sample levels from the acoustic piano is the ability reproduce the acoustic's wide timbre range (as opposed to only volume changes) as the keys are struck at different velocities.
You said above that "my priorities are to have the best possible acoustic grand sound and to have the best possible touch feel to that of a real piano." IMO, you will never achieve your sound priorities with a DP. That requires many more captured sampling layers than normally found in DP's. It also requires sustain (damper pedal) resonance, sympathetic string resonance, release samples, and half pedaling capabilities that are typically either not included or not done particularly well in DPs.
I would be willing to bet that whatever DP you buy it will not sound nearly as good to you 30 days after you buy it when you've had the time and experience with it to discover it's limitations emulating an acoustic piano. (You will never be perfectly happy with virtual piano software either, but it's a lot less expensive to spend $100-$300 to upgrade, or acquire a selection of virtual piano software for different musical preferences, than buy new DP's). So my bottom line recommendation is to buy a DP keyboard for the touch you like (and be sure you get a proportional damper pedal) and any fun features you might like to fool around with, but pretty much ignore its built in piano sounds. Unless you spend considerable money for a DP, you can also ignore its built-in speakers and amplifiers because they also won't satisfy your stated goal. You'll have to provide a separate sound system if you want to approach the sound of an acoustic piano. Then get some first-class virtual piano software and you should be in pretty good shape to meet your goals.
Just my opinion, but it works for me.
Macy
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[quote=MacMacMac]So what exactly is meant by "layer"?
Timbre varies with volume, so the sound is more realistic.
I see that some pianos (Casio) feature "split and layers", while others (Roland) offer "layers, zones, and effects" ... which can be selected/configured.
So it seems that to them (Casio, Roland), layers means something quite different than sampling levels. Exactly what they mean I cannot say.
MacMacMac, I expect 'layers' in this context refers to the ability to combine two or more different sounds (e.g. piano with strings). In the Kawai world this is referred to as 'Dual Mode'.
In this interview, the interviewer explicitely asked about the samples, and how many "layers". He appeared a little bit to be a layman and did not know the right term ;-)
The Kawai man answered these samples are all totally new and incredibly big and "up to seven layers in the MP10". The other stuff that was talked about is not of interest here, it is commonly known stuff.
Ok, when he played the MP6, the interviewer wondered about the very "fat" sound and asked "is there reverb in?". Kawai man answered " no reverb, thats purely the pedal's effect".
;-)
1929 Galaxy Blüthner Baby Grand acer aspire m3300 AMD Phenom II X6
