Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai MP10 v1.04 software update - now available

Good afternoon folks,

Kawai Japan has recently issued a software update for the MP10 stage piano. This update (v1.04) addresses the following issues:

V1.04 (October 2011)
- Fixed: The "TemprKey" parameter no longer affects the User Temperament.
- Fixed: The User Temperament’s ‘A’ note can now be adjusted without affecting other notes.
- Fixed: Playing EP sounds should no longer result in truncated rhythm pattern beats.
- Fixed: PGM numbers above 9 are no longer ignored, the default# is selected.


The software update and update instructions can be downloaded directly from Kawai Japan at the the following URL:

http://www.kawai.co.jp/worldwide/support/updates.html

MP10 owners are encouraged to update their instruments to use this latest software version. Please feel free to post your feedback in this thread.

Have a great weekend!

Cheers,
James
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James, do you know if there are plans to add the "silent replay" feature in a future firmware update?
I read that it might have been fixed on the MP6.

Thanks

Jdiggity1, may I ask you to define what you mean by 'silent replay'?

Cheers,
James
x

James, "silent replay" is fairly established phrase and I am a little bit surprised you are asking. Anyway, here's the common description:

1. Press the damper pedal
2. Play a loud note/chord and release the keys (while you continue holding the damper pedal)
3. While still holding the damper pedal, play silently or very lightly the same note/chord (depending on whether the piano allows silent press of keys) and hold that note/chord with your fingers
4. Release the damper pedal

Expected result: the loud note/chord from point 2 should continue sounding

Usual (faulty) result of some pianos: after the release of the damper pedal in point 4, the sound abruptly stops (or switches to very quiet if silent press is not possible) despite the note/chord keys being held under your fingers.

Just as a note, that's also not possible on CA63 and we have requested it since long ago.

Okay, thank you for the clarification.

I'm not sure why this functionality would be implemented in the MP6 and not the MP10, but will try to confirm this for you.

I wonder if you are confusing this with 'silent key on', whereby playing notes very, very gently no longer produces a sound? This functionality was recently added to most current generation Kawai models with the 'String Resonance' feature.

Kind regards,
James
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James, while on that topic, is there any chance that CA63 is still supported and we may expect any further firmware improvements, for example the silent replay?

BTW, I don't like the name "silent replay" because it suggests a very specific scenario which is mostly artificial and unrealistic.

I cannot come up with a better name but I have been struggling with the more general consequences of that issue quite often, here's the realistic scenario (for example the Chopin's Em prelude)
Play a repeating decrescendo chord with the damper pedal pressed and while holding the last chord repetition with the fingers, release the damper pedal in order to prepare for the next change in harmony. Even though the chords were going quieter, the total amount of sound is kept which is mostly supported by damper pedal and the initial loud chord. However after the damper pedal is released, the total sound volume drops to the level of the last chord which is never the case on a real piano. It may not be noticeable for first time especially if you haven't played the same piece on an acoustic. The theory is pretty simple: the real piano has only one (just for simplification) string per note and it doesn't distinguish between whether dampers for that string are lifted by the damper pedal or by the key itself, however on the digital piano there are multiple oscillators used for a single note repetition and when the damper pedal is released (while the corresponding key is still being held), the poorer algorithms clean up (mute) all the oscillators except the last one triggered by the key and thus the accumulated sound is not preserved.

CyberGene, thank you for your additional explanation.

Regarding your query, I believe Kawai is committed to supporting customers of its current generation instruments, especially when providing bug-fixes to problems that may be reported on this forum or to Kawai' distributors directly. However, please understand that the engineering team are constantly developing new instruments, and therefore may not be able to spend large amount of time implementing additional features for existing models.

Kind regards,
James
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Thanks for the response James, and thanks CyberGene for helping me explain what i mean.
And to clarify, it is different to the 'silent key on' feature, which thankfully was fixed.
I am probably asking too much, seeing as though the only DPs i know of that has this issue fixed are the Roland models that use the SuperNatural engine.
But i have seen this issue to be the deal maker (or breaker) for some people when choosing between the RD-700NX and the MP10.
(very picky people might i add)

Cheers