Kawai MP6 first impressions

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Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions dewster #1756808 09/21/11 06:04 PM
Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales V voxpops OP 3000 Post Club Member
OP voxpops 3000 Post Club Member V Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales	Originally Posted by dewster Originally Posted by Kawai James voxpops, have you applied the latest software update I sent you? Yea, yea, do the software update! What could go possibly wrong? I must admit to feeling a little like Daniel before the lion's den. But knowing that Kawai stands four-square behind their products, I'm confident James will arrange to fly me out a brand new replacement if the update fails. "you don't need to have been a rabbit in order to become a veterinarian" mabraman, 2015

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions voxpops #1756818 09/21/11 06:13 PM
Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 19,096 Hamamatsu, Japan Kawai James Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Kawai James Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 19,096 Hamamatsu, Japan	Erm... Seriously though, the reason I suggest trying the software update is because it tweaks/improves the touch curves for AP and EP. Cheers, James x Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own. Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player.

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions Kawai James #1756824 09/21/11 06:24 PM
Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales V voxpops OP 3000 Post Club Member
OP voxpops 3000 Post Club Member V Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales	Originally Posted by Kawai James Erm... Seriously though, the reason I suggest trying the software update is because it tweaks/improves the touch curves for AP and EP. Cheers, James x It certainly does. That, plus the "no sound at MIDI velocity 1" are the most obvious changes. Since the update (which is mega-easy, by the way) erases any personal settings, I've reset the grand piano to Mellow 1 this time, as the new velocity curve helps the control of dynamics. I'd actually like a Mellow 1.5 setting, but I think either mellow 1 or 2 will work for me. Thanks for the update, James. I'm sure the next one will add a couple more velocity layers, yes? "you don't need to have been a rabbit in order to become a veterinarian" mabraman, 2015

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions voxpops #1756831 09/21/11 06:35 PM
Joined: Dec 2009 Posts: 4,675 Northern NJ dewster 4000 Post Club Member
dewster 4000 Post Club Member Joined: Dec 2009 Posts: 4,675 Northern NJ	Originally Posted by voxpops Thanks for the update, James. I'm sure the next one will add a couple more velocity layers, yes? Good question actually. I wonder how many DPs have their sample sets residing in updatable ROM? The DPBSD Project! THE RD-700NX Thread! DPs Exposed! (nekid pichures!) !IMO!

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions voxpops #1756835 09/21/11 06:46 PM
Joined: Dec 2009 Posts: 4,675 Northern NJ dewster 4000 Post Club Member
dewster 4000 Post Club Member Joined: Dec 2009 Posts: 4,675 Northern NJ	Originally Posted by voxpops Sounds rather mushy. Not jangly or super resonant, but ill-defined - and you lose that sense of wobbly decay as the sounds fade. From your description it seems like it could at least partly be a delay diffusion effect. Thanks! The DPBSD Project! THE RD-700NX Thread! DPs Exposed! (nekid pichures!) !IMO!

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions voxpops #1756837 09/21/11 06:48 PM
Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales V voxpops OP 3000 Post Club Member
OP voxpops 3000 Post Club Member V Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales	James, how do you tell the zone faders to act as drawbars in the updated software? I can't seem to find that parameter in the menu. "you don't need to have been a rabbit in order to become a veterinarian" mabraman, 2015

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions dewster #1756840 09/21/11 06:51 PM
Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales V voxpops OP 3000 Post Club Member
OP voxpops 3000 Post Club Member V Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales	Originally Posted by dewster Originally Posted by voxpops Sounds rather mushy. Not jangly or super resonant, but ill-defined - and you lose that sense of wobbly decay as the sounds fade. From your description it seems like it could at least partly be a delay diffusion effect. Thanks! You're welcome! I am subject to a delay diffusion effect when I try to play a solo after a couple of Stellas. "you don't need to have been a rabbit in order to become a veterinarian" mabraman, 2015

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions dewster #1756850 09/21/11 07:19 PM
Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales V voxpops OP 3000 Post Club Member
OP voxpops 3000 Post Club Member V Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales	Originally Posted by dewster Originally Posted by voxpops Thanks for the update, James. I'm sure the next one will add a couple more velocity layers, yes? Good question actually. I wonder how many DPs have their sample sets residing in updatable ROM? Here you go, Dewster. Let me know when you find the AP sounds! "you don't need to have been a rabbit in order to become a veterinarian" mabraman, 2015

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions voxpops #1756851 09/21/11 07:20 PM
Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 19,096 Hamamatsu, Japan Kawai James Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Kawai James Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 19,096 Hamamatsu, Japan	Originally Posted by voxpops Thanks for the update, James. I'm sure the next one will add a couple more velocity layers, yes? Yes, although it may result in overloading the CPU, thus causing problems with MP3/WAV playback. (joke) James x Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own. Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player.

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions Kawai James #1756853 09/21/11 07:23 PM
Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales V voxpops OP 3000 Post Club Member
OP voxpops 3000 Post Club Member V Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales	Originally Posted by Kawai James Originally Posted by voxpops Thanks for the update, James. I'm sure the next one will add a couple more velocity layers, yes? Yes, although it may result in overloading the CPU, thus causing problems with MP3/WAV playback. No worries here - I never want to hear my mistakes twice! "you don't need to have been a rabbit in order to become a veterinarian" mabraman, 2015

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions voxpops #1756858 09/21/11 07:31 PM
Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 19,096 Hamamatsu, Japan Kawai James Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Kawai James Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 19,096 Hamamatsu, Japan	Originally Posted by voxpops James, how do you tell the zone faders to act as drawbars in the updated software? I can't seem to find that parameter in the menu. Time to crack open that owner's manual! (page 37) Or alternatively, try this. It's a little convoluted, but remember that the faders were primarily intended to adjust the levels of the four zones, not the tonewheel drawbars. 1. Select one of the DRAWBAR sounds from 6-8 for Zone1 (note that 1-5 are PCM and therefore cannot be changed). 2. Press the MENU UP/DOWN buttons until the 'T.Wheel Enter RegistMode' screen is shown. 3. Press the VALUE UP button to enter the tonewheel registration mode. 4. Use the faders to adjust the four drawbars below the cursor, and the MENU buttons to move the cursor left and right. 5. Press the EXIT button when you're finished to return to the previous menu (the faders will return to controlling the Zone levels). Cheers, James x Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own. Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player.

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions Kawai James #1756862 09/21/11 07:37 PM
Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales V voxpops OP 3000 Post Club Member
OP voxpops 3000 Post Club Member V Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales	Thanks, James. It sounds like I got hold of the wrong end of the stick. This is not designed to be a live drawbar controller, more for setting drawbar preferences for a setup, yes? Is there any MIDI control available for drawbars, yet? "you don't need to have been a rabbit in order to become a veterinarian" mabraman, 2015

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions voxpops #1756871 09/21/11 07:49 PM
Joined: Dec 2009 Posts: 4,675 Northern NJ dewster 4000 Post Club Member
dewster 4000 Post Club Member Joined: Dec 2009 Posts: 4,675 Northern NJ	Wow, thanks! It's not the two chips at the upper left marked "ESMT M12L2561616A-6T" - those are 4M x 16 Bit x 4 Banks Synchronous DRAM (64MB total, 166MHz). It's probably not the two chips marked "Kawai K022-FP" - I think those might be processors of some sort. The last chip I believe is marked "72030K200FP" - which doesn't turn up anything via Google. It's a QFP, so I don't think that's programmable. My gut feeling is whatever programmable ROM there is is mounted on the back of this PC board. Interesting to see this board. Looks like stuff we used to build about a decade ago at my telecom job. TSOPs, QFPs, and slow tiny DRAM. The DPBSD Project! THE RD-700NX Thread! DPs Exposed! (nekid pichures!) !IMO!

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions dewster #1756876 09/21/11 07:58 PM
Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales V voxpops OP 3000 Post Club Member
OP voxpops 3000 Post Club Member V Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales	Originally Posted by dewster Interesting to see this board. Looks like stuff we used to build about a decade ago at my telecom job. TSOPs, QFPs, and slow tiny DRAM. "Evolution not Revolution" I doubt whether the internals have changed much from the old MP4, released around 2005. "you don't need to have been a rabbit in order to become a veterinarian" mabraman, 2015

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions voxpops #1756880 09/21/11 07:59 PM
Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 19,096 Hamamatsu, Japan Kawai James Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Kawai James Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 19,096 Hamamatsu, Japan	Originally Posted by voxpops Is there any MIDI control available for drawbars, yet? No, not yet. However, it's possible that we may see some developments in this area in the future. Cheers, James x Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own. Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player.

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions voxpops #1756881 09/21/11 08:03 PM
Joined: Dec 2009 Posts: 4,675 Northern NJ dewster 4000 Post Club Member
dewster 4000 Post Club Member Joined: Dec 2009 Posts: 4,675 Northern NJ	Originally Posted by voxpops "Evolution not Revolution" This is more like the undead walking among us. The DPBSD Project! THE RD-700NX Thread! DPs Exposed! (nekid pichures!) !IMO!

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions dewster #1756887 09/21/11 08:06 PM
Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales V voxpops OP 3000 Post Club Member
OP voxpops 3000 Post Club Member V Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales	Originally Posted by dewster Originally Posted by voxpops "Evolution not Revolution" This is more like the undead walking among us. Yes, but since the price increase from $1,099 to $1,499, the undead now wear Prada... "you don't need to have been a rabbit in order to become a veterinarian" mabraman, 2015

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions voxpops #1756891 09/21/11 08:10 PM
Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 6,730 A anotherscott 6000 Post Club Member
anotherscott 6000 Post Club Member A Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 6,730	Originally Posted by voxpops This is not designed to be a live drawbar controller, more for setting drawbar preferences for a setup, yes? I think the fact that there are only 4 sliders largely creates that restriction out of the box. Still, assuming all the other functions work normally if you don't go to his Step 5 (that is, nothing else becomes non-functional if you don't exit the tonewheel edit mode, apart from obviously losing the use of those faders for other purposes), I'd imagine you could do some live manipulation there in a pinch, albeit more easily if everything you might want to alter in a song happens to all into a bank of 4 consecutive drawbars, where any others could be left out of the registration, or at some fixed amount. I have to say that I think it's kind of cool they put this functionality in at all. (Though I do cringe a bit when I hear a Leslie effect that doesn't alter the two rotors' acceleration/deceleration independently!)

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions anotherscott #1756895 09/21/11 08:17 PM
Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales V voxpops OP 3000 Post Club Member
OP voxpops 3000 Post Club Member V Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,237 Wales	Originally Posted by anotherscott Originally Posted by voxpops This is not designed to be a live drawbar controller, more for setting drawbar preferences for a setup, yes? I think the fact that there are only 4 sliders largely creates that restriction out of the box. Still, assuming all the other functions work normally if you don't go to his Step 5 (that is, nothing else becomes non-functional if you don't exit the tonewheel edit mode, apart from obviously losing the use of those faders for other purposes), I'd imagine you could do some live manipulation there in a pinch, albeit more easily if everything you might want to alter in a song happens to all into a bank of 4 consecutive drawbars, where any others could be left out of the registration, or at some fixed amount. I have to say that I think it's kind of cool they put this functionality in at all. (Though I do cringe a bit when I hear a Leslie effect that doesn't alter the two rotors' acceleration/deceleration independently!) Trouble is, it seems like as soon as you hit any other pre-programmed switch (e.g. to try to control the "Leslie") you exit the drawbar mode, and I think you have to hit that switch again to get the function you want. Then you're out of drawbar mode and have to go through all the menu steps to get back to zone-fader control. It's too clunky for live use. "you don't need to have been a rabbit in order to become a veterinarian" mabraman, 2015

Re: Kawai MP6 first impressions voxpops #1756901 09/21/11 08:21 PM
Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 6,730 A anotherscott 6000 Post Club Member
anotherscott 6000 Post Club Member A Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 6,730	Originally Posted by voxpops Trouble is, it seems like as soon as you hit any other pre-programmed switch (e.g. to try to control the "Leslie") you exit the drawbar mode, and I think you have to hit that switch again to get the function you want. Then you're out of drawbar mode and have to go through all the menu steps Ah. So much for "assuming all the other functions work normally if you don't go to his Step 5" -- it sounds like they don't. Yup, MIDI control of drawbar levels would be the solution.