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As he said ...bout $500 less then a RD700NX seems right ...for the MP10 that is .....

Hi Peter B,



That's good to hear, thank you. I'm hopeful that others expressing concern about the lack of pitchbend/modulation wheels will also change their opinion once they experience how great the action feels for themselves.



I'm not entirely sure - it may depend on the which type of NS2 you're using (weighted-hammer or semi-weighted keyboard). My Electro 3 SW73 has a depth of 30 cm, and sits perfectly on top, but any more and it might be too large without hanging over the VPC1 keyboard.



Yes, this is possible, using the VPC1 as a psuedo MIDI interface. Note however that setting this configuration will probably require the VPC Editor, which currently runs on Windows only.



Yes, me too.

Cheers,
James
x

As others have noted, the VPC1 itself does not produce any sounds - it is purely a controller for software/hardware sound sources. Therefore, headphones and amplifier/speakers will be connected to the sound source.

Kind regards,
James
x

Ok, I think the price will bitch us just for the begining. Each launch costs a little expensive at first, but then stabilizes at a more honest price. And like my mom said, "If this board be as solid as it seems, the price will be worth it, 'cause it will be a marriage."
So I start saving money already... maybe in a year or so we can have one...

Hello pianobear100,



Yes, I believe it should just be a case of connecting the MIDI OUT from the VPC1 to the MIDI IN of the Receptor.



I'm not overly familiar with the Receptor, but I believe if you're using one for the sound generator (e.g. running Ivory), it will not be necessary to use a computer. If you intend to use a computer, however, an audio interface may be recommended for higher quality audio and lower latency. Depending on the interface, you will either connect the VPC1 to the computer using traditional MIDI or USB, or to to the audio interface using traditional MIDI.



There are a number of MIDI recording packages available, ranging from fully-fledged DAWs such as Logic/Mainstage to more straight-forward notation-oriented packages such as Sibelius or Finale.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
James
x

Yes, it's a nice idea. Although, perhaps a little beyond the scope of the VPC1...at least for the time being.



The VPC1's five internal memories store velocity curves, key velocity offset, and other MIDI settings (routing, pedal CCs, etc.). These memories can be selected by using a power button+black key combination, or through the editor software. The previously selected memory will remain when the board is turned off/on.

Cheers,
James
x

Your mother is very wise.

James
x

Hello dear people @ pianoworld, and hello Kawai rep. reading this if ever,

I've been reading this forum for a long time without giving any opinion, keeping it as a wild forest untouched.

Yet as the VPC1 is coming along, the first 'first class piano controller', I feel the urge to ask about several issues as well, as I'm playing currently a Kawai acoustic piano that also has a midi interface, which I really enjoy each and every day since I first tried it.

The concern is about the way manufacturers decisively or repeatedly fail to take the demands of the musicians right on time, and keep on walking of some sort of tick tock marketing strategies that would only have tocks.

Kawai is at last addressing the concern about a decent piano controller, and that's great, but it's doing so a bit confusingly indeed :

- the action is certainly good, but it seems, not as good as it would have been if it were simply the best current available one. I'm ready to bet many people will have to decide if they catch the VPC1 train right now, or just delay their purchase to see if the coming VPC2 or MP12 will instead or not really be the complete deal at once. As it is, the VPC1 looks like the keyboard of the day before into the box of day to come, and the compromise is a bit of a turn off indeed.

- The missing mod wheels : it's a real question, why not include the mod wheels into a discrete trap onto the VPC1.2, so that you wouldn't have to face the technical detail if you don't need to, but wouldn't have either to buy or use another keyboard to simply access this necessary feature? It's a bit of a mean deal in a way, not to include these wheels, and, as well, while we're at it, after touch or a third wheel or button or beam or else you could assign to this function, still hidden into the cabinet. Construction wise, it would only be negligible extra cost, and it would contribute really to design a legendary controller.

- Custom stand and generic sound cabinet, as 2 separate but combinable options, like the Fender Rhodes were at times, in order to sit it on properly and retro-feed in the VSTI sounding. (but the CA65/95 compete on this, though in the old fashion way)

I'm certain the VPC1 might be a valuable good for 2 decades, but I won't be purchasing one now because of these (as for now) two major points 1 and 2, and it's a real pity to feel so, because if Kawai had say delayed by a half year the launch of the perfect piano controller to include the very demands of musicians, and, say had simply announced at winter NAMM 2013 such a launch within 6 months to go, the expectations would have retained many people from buying a current average other controller, and the VPC1 would really have started as a legend already, be it the price an extra 300-500$ to fill in the extra features. Maybe I'm wrong, I'm not into marketing after all, but maybe I read the comments and I feel the thing as well as many people do?

One way to turn this around would be to issue an optional separate 2 mod wheels+after touch solution adapted to the VPC1 cabinet, but it would still be an addendum. It would really help though.

To testify about my concerns, for now, even though it's the older technology of mechanical midi captors implemented into my Kawai upright, I will keep on with it : it's an acoustic instrument, it has a real natural feel (the slightly higher let off point is ok once you get used to it) in MIDI as well, and despite the older single captor only technology, by design it triggers the data at the bottom of the key action, and it's perfectly suited for fast repetitions because it responds to weigh pressure and not speed (as opposed to the optical sensing), which is after all the way it works acoustically. As for the velocity curves, I design my own, really easy to do in any sequencer on the market.

So What would the VPC1 be to me in this situation? I'm afraid to answer, not a replacement for the action of my midified upright piano or an alternate/stage solution, nor a fully satisfying piano controller for the studio, but an ersatz still, ok a one ersatz significantly better than the ones of the other manufacturers, but not the promised land's gear yet.

Is there a way Kawai could quickly address this questions, f.e. limiting the production of the VPC1 in quantity, modifying its pricing plan to sell them quick, and move on later this year to a VPC1.2 or VPC1 mkII or VPC2 with the full minimum package for the studio, the home studio, and the scene : the best to date wooden action with the bare minimum controls on board, elegantly hidden behind a simple trap into the cabinet, so that in 30 years from now, people do still remember this product as the thing to go with of all time? Think of the Gem Promega 3, or the first Yamaha hybrid pianos back then, they still hold their user's breath, why not the Kawai VPCX in this series?

And all this doesn't really reduce my enthusiasm for Kawai products, simply it reduces my interest for the purchase of the current VPC1. For the price difference, the MP10 or coming MP12 (or whatever the name) or the Ca65 might just be as good to a new comer. Some brands prefer to scale their products without compromising, highest price the highest value, but somehow Kawai DP dpt ask you to choose between best action/best sound/best value, and you can't seem to be able to get the best of it all, whatever the price, making it all tocks in a strategy that is hard to read and somehow unsatisfying in a way. I can understand the fact is due to the calendar of the market and shows and launch schedules, but it tends to last for years now, and while it keeps the interest alive, it keeps disappointing the people who really need these instruments and actually, happen to really buy them occasionally, or not at the end of the day.

Thank you for your attention

iasw

iasw, thank you for your thoughtful post.

There are portions that I agree with, and others that I do not, however even then, I can appreciate your opinion.

Kind regards,
James
x

Well, it's a piano controller. For that you don't need mod wheels. I can certainly understand that reasoning. If you buy an AvantGrand or a V-Piano, or pretty much any DP for that matter, you end up with no mod wheel. This is not a master keyboard. If you want a master keyboard then you'd also most likely want split functionality and whatnot. Where would you draw the line? Kawai decided to make it a pure piano controller and I can understand that.

Not using the latest action on the other hand is indeed a bit odd. I don't really know the differences in Kawai actions as I've never played them, but on paper it's a somewhat strange decision and almost feels as if it was done so to not compete with their own highend DP's.

I am wondering how much hollow space there is in the VPC for an aftermarket "optimizations" such as putting a tiny PC motherboard, etc. with say Vintage D preinstalled Something like "Dyno-My-VPC1".

(Sorry post was cut off by mistake)

Maybe the idea stipulating that 'less is more' is fully operating on this concept. Compare to the MP10 or CA65, it's less because it's a wooden controller, but it's much more because it's the promise of a couple of decades of a real solid reliable piano touch. I'm pretty certain in 20 years from now people will remember the VPC1 as a excellent virtual piano keyboard, and the products in this aisle of the hall of fame are quite not so many, maybe the Roland V-Piano, the Korg SV series, the Yamaha Avant Grand series, and some others will be as well. In this perspective of 'less is more' though, not including any rocket science optional board or expansion card ability is certainly coherent, as the laptop market will anyway always have so much more to compete with expansion, and at constant falling prices and raising capacities.

this is the league in which it is playing. A unique product today you'd still probably be wanting to buy used in a third hand deposit in 20 years from now. But maybe the 'less' of the motto is a little too restrictive with the VPC1 : it's clearly oriented toward DAW music production or virtual instruments playing, and in the DAW music production of today, the mod wheel, the after touch and the pitch wheel remain essential expression controllers, as well as software samplers and synths articulations and modulations necessities. And it's a little different not to have on board logical MIDI features like splitting and multi-timbral routing ability, because you can certainly fix all this from within the DAW software itself, and not to have the hardware wheels and MIDI implementations for current basic modulations, because it limits the range of use strictly and for good. In this perspective, including in a panel, hidden behind a trap into the unit or as an after-market option, 2 or better 3 distinct controllers for the available expression options of software gears, as long as they remain assignable on the software side to any of the available 127 controllers value, and you can do anything you want. In the old days this was summed up into an XY matrix controller with pressure as well on hardware synths, there are certainly ways to design an elegant button for that, it might require periods of intense testing for durability, but it should not be a problem to a company like Kawai to include this as a minimal service to the people who in the end will really make use of such a virtual piano controller, or should it?

You could as well see it from a customer casuistic point of view : 1) I am a piano player, then why not buy a piano instead of a controller? ; 2) I am a music producer, I need a fully operating controller ; 3) I'm a hardware junky, I won't see the difference between the wooden keys and the plastic one anyway ; 4) I'm a home musician and I need a dp to play at night, but I most certainly then don't have the patience to catch with the knowledge graph to plug VSTIs into a mute keyboard ; and so on.

So in the end who's left with a need for this certainly excellent, but quite slightly coming short of a button VPC1?

Instead of that, Kawai could have strike in right away, or the next time, with one genuine controller of which everyone would say soon enough to advise about DAW and piano music production : don't bother pal, VPC1 all the way for you as for anyone else, it's become a standard, can't go wrong with this. (I hope this will be the case anyhow over time.)

Concerning the keyboard itself, the fact that it's not labelled GF, maybe there's a general issue concerning the superlative outdoing into the process of this labelling, all across the market, like it were with software versions at times, DeLuxe, silver, gold, platinum, titanium, polonium or what not, etc. It would be simple to clarify this for Kawai and stop calling versions and confusing the end user all the time, it would furthermore leave the other brands to their label names dropping : why Kawai not to switch to a cristal clear marketing about their product lines, and simply explain they use the best keyboard available for the line and price range of the product, in a way that involved design and technology would be easy for the end user to scale across the same keyboard label once for all? I bet the one manufacturer that is able the first to cut the superlative overbid upon this labelling, will see its sales rise every September.

Looking forward to test the VPC1 in a local store

iasw

The Case is pretty similar to the MP10 Case, the front and top of the VPC at least look like the MP10 but without the holes for the buttons.

Both are also pretty much the same dimensions, give or take an inch.

Both use the same action (as far as physical volume is concerned the VPC1 action is improved though)

So I guess that the VPC 1 will offer more space inside than the MP10

I don't believe there's a great deal of extra space inside the VPC1 cabinet, however it would be interesting to see if an Intel NUC would fit.

Cheers,
James
x

[silly nonsense]



Indeed, and this would annoy the wisest man in the world - Jeremy Clarkson. Refer his comments about the Porsche Cayman here, at time 4:50:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riGejPAqNVw#t=4m50s

;^)

Greg.

And yes, she's very wise. She said: "if you save money and can buy it, sure it's not a grand piano, but at least you're not going to study in keys that don't let you grow. But save your money, and wait to buy the best combo."

I know that only if Kawai come with a GF action on the MP series, I'll not buy the VPC. And you can figure why.
But if not, I'll prefer the VPC plus or vst or one good rack as the Integra-7.

A small PC inside with wi-fi or bluetooth, your favorite tablet/smartphone with a dedicated application to make settings, change sounds and many more things, and you've got everything you need. Is anybody thinking in that direction at all?

The best current available one FROM KAWAI.

If it makes it silly nonsense, why just don't go with the Casio PX-150 or even the Yamaha NP11?

By design, he VPC1 is most certainly a gear that will last for 20 years without a problem, and you probably won't buy it in the first place to sell it the next semester if you like it, just like with a regular piano keyboard, so why is it so insane to ask to start from the best available action by the brand?

Again, it may simply be a labelling confusion, but then it's a communication mistake from Kawai.

Anyway, whatever you call it name it certainly is, dear Master nomothetics...

Nice day

iasw

The power button should not have been placed on the top but rather eg to the right of the upper key (or to the left of the lower key). If you have a (fullwidth) keyboard - or something else - on top you may not be able to get to the power button or even be able to see it to verify color/selection. In addition IMO the design had been cleaner and more pleasing without the button on the top surface.

I'm a bit lost on the negative tone and tenor of this thread. To me the VPC is especially defined by what is is NOT and does NOT pretend to be. Like a workstation, full blown master keyboard controller, Digital Piano (with BU sound) etc. It is in basis just a very good keybed in a nice and classy casing , nothing more / nothing less. All the extra features you might want or need can be added with third party hard- and software if you like. Finally a keybed that does NOT come with all those extra bells & whistles that only some of us want , but others specifically don't need but get anyway - AND have to pay for. See it as building blocks . The most important part and basis is the VPC and that basis should be simple but very good and reliable. I think that is exactly the gap that VPC fills in and on which it delivers very well.

If your not happy with that ; you could buy an MP10 , other masterkeyboard controller, workstation or something completely different. There will certainly be people who are happy that at least now they have the choice to buy a good set of keys - and ONLY the keys - if they already have all the rest, or have specific wishes for the rest of the setup that requires different third party add-ons anyway.

If only it came with a more classy paper rest ...haha ;-)