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Sorry if I appeared a little negative but the VPC does look a very nice product. I am just so surprised about the lack of certain features which will only restrict sales. I am very happy with my MP10 which is my studio master keyboard.

I take your point about the appearance of the Casio PX-5s maybe they will release a black version when it is released in the Europe market.

James,
I tried the VPC yesterday at NAMM (both at Kawai and at Synthogy) and found it to be a great piano controller. At first I was a little surprised by the minimalistic approach with no controllers other than the keys and the foot pedals, but having reflected a bit I am not so concerned about the business rationale. The goal is clearly to be the preferred keybed for virtual pianos and in this it is leading. In my view the other candidates mentioned above do not even come close. I welcome to have a real good piano keybed and then I will use another keybed for other sounds like e.g. organ.
I have a Nord Stage 2 and from the dimensions it seems that the Nord may actually fit on top of the VPC1 which would be great. I wonder if a MIDi signal coming in to the VPC1 via the MIDI connection can go through the VPC1 and out via the USB MIDi?
I hope Kawai implement a velocity curve for the Nord Piano Library and furthermore that the Editor very soon will be available for Mac OS.

Greetings all!

I just ran across this new video on YouTube...enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DU3yQHQ01Uk

K.

Kevin...
Much appreciate your posting the Kraft Music promo of the VCP. The rep did everything but play it!!!!!!! If there is anyone who has a link to the VPC where we can actually see and hear it being played, I would love to see it! Meanwhile, I'm still scouring the internet to find a link where we can see this board in action!
H.K.

Edit: In looking at the owner's manual I find that there are no connections to this board for external speakers; nor is there a connection for headphones. Just to clarify... if the board is to be heard externally or through a headset, these external and internal sounds would come through the computer's connections to audio out, and headset? Correct? Thanks!

I wonder whether I properly understand this VPC keyboard. Is it just a keyboard that feeds MIDI output? No tone generator, no amplifier, no speakers?

If that is so, then one would expect it to be less expensive then the more typical Kawai keyboard, one that includes the sound system. Is that the goal of this product?

If all of the tone generation is done on an attached PC, then what features would be needed in this keyboard. Not many, I venture.

There's nothing to hear! This is a controller, not a DP. There are no internal sounds, speakers or generators of any kind. You use a PC/MAC and play a virtual piano, such as Pianoteq, with your own choice of amp and speakers.

Right. It's an improved version of the MP10 keybed, in a product that is $650 less than an MP10. No sounds or speakers built in, it drives a VST piano in your computer.

voxpops...
Thanks for this explanation. Bear with me. Of course my present set up (MP6) includes line out, headset connection. With the VPC, I will still have the benefit of external and headset sound through whatever I connect to the computer not the VPC, correct?
Thanks!
H.K.

You would connect your headphones to either your PC (where your VST is) or the interface box you use.

I was getting ready to buy a MP10, but waiting for the NAMM show to see if anything new would come out. I have a couple of questions about the new VPC1 that Kawai James or others might be able to answer.

1) Piano Actions, What are the exact differences between the "RM3 Grand Touch" and the "RM3 Grand Touch 2" How does it affect the way it feels or repeats or anything else?

2) I am assuming that this would work well with Receptor 2 or any of MUSE Research products for the sound production?

3) Would an audio interface be needed or desired to connect the VPC1 to the computer or Receptor? And a recommendation if one is needed.

4) What type of recording software would you recommend to use with the instrument since there is not a recorder built in. I would like something simple, but with musical notation capability. I am wanting to make a Christmas CD to send to friends, but being classical trained, I respond better to Musical notation than to using my ear.

I live in Atlanta and have to go somewhere else to see the Kawai products such as the MP10. I have bought too many things that I really didn't need.

Thanks

Here is a link to a discussion of the Kawai VPC1 by Stephen Fortner of Keyboard magazine -- he does not demo the controller but does talk about his experiences in playing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoktYu4D9HU

1) I think it's just a 3rd sensor, pretty much like the difference between GH and GH3 from Yamaha (please correct me if I'm wrong). Lots of topics about those here, just use the search.

2) Never saw those before, but if it has MIDI in/out, yes, it should. However after a quick search I don't see MIDI on their specs, only mic and line inputs...

3) No, you just plug an standard USB cable directly on your PC, no interface needed. Not sure about the Receptor (see above).

4) For Mac, try Garageband, I like it a lot, and it has basic notation editing. For PC, both Audacity and Reaper are pretty simple just for recording, but I'm not sure about their notation capability.

An interesting option for the VPC would be a furniture stand with pedals and one of those soundboard speakers built in. Then all you'd need would be a laptop (& a DIY rubber pad of some sort under it).

So the various velocity curves are selected via the power switch and the piano keys? Hmm.

of course ... ITS A CONTROLLER !!!!

Huh, I missed most of this thread because I've been traveling for the last week. I almost feel like we should start a new VPC thread because it's very interesting but the first bunch of pages here are people (myself included) speculating about what it could have in a dream world, so what it delivers didn't really get fully appreciated. It looks pretty freakin' great to me:

1. Three-sensor Kawai wood action (not GF but still better than the MP10 has)

2. No unnecessary electronics and no nasty mod wheels

3. Three pedals

4. Pre-optimized curves for the most likely software we will use, as well as the option of setting our own curve in the hardware (which is better than doing it in the software after it's already been quantized into MIDI, presumably). One also presumes that there will later be updates to this so we can have pre-optimized curves for future software.

The last two are great surprises. The first one is just a tiny bummer, but it's better than we would have expected before GF came out. And maybe with GF it would be silly long.

About the price, I think the difference between it and the MP10 is pretty good. 650 bones. That seems right. However, the price for the MP10 is about $500 too high for what it is--I'd say the mp10 should cost about $2k and the VPC should cost $1500 or so. So I guess I'm a little disappointed in them both. We'll see what it retails for later, though. Maybe we'll get luck and it will be unpopular and sell at a discount. I'll probably buy one if I can find it for a reasonable price.

Interesting logic. You want it to fail so you can afford one?

Here's hoping the keys warp and the paint flakes off in shipment, that it's plagued with horrible firmware, cursed with crashing / nonexistent drivers, and just totally suck in general so that people return them in droves after getting their third DOA in a row - then we'll all be able to afford the controller of our dreams at half-off!

A beacon of positivity, as usual.

How about the price of the RD-700NX?

Peter B, HisKidd, pianobear100, I will try to respond to your queries later this afternoon, after lunch.

Cheers,
James
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