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If you're worried about a good music stand. Why not buy one? Put it behind the keyboard? Problem solved.

I'm looking forward to buying the VPC. I want a keyboard. Not a music stand.

Sometimes, people sound like they expect a keyboard to be a transformer. Transforms into this and that and...in the end they got a kid's toy.
No hillbilly solution. Easy solution. I want a music stand. I buy one.

Oh gee....I'm paying all this money and I want.... You want to whine!

theJourney, if you do not believe the music rest included with the VPC1 is suitable for your needs, I would suggest an alternative from a music stand company such as K&M.

e.g.



http://produkte.k-m.de/en/Music-stands/Conductor-stands/12342-ORCHESTRA-CONDUCTOR-STAND-black

I also tried Googling 'table music rest' and found the following websites:

http://www.musicstandsalone.com/tabletopsheetmusicstands
http://www.djmmusic.com/items.asp?cc=MusicStandTT

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
James
x

Thanks for your suggestion.

I expect the Kawai VPC-1 to fulfill the function it is advertised: " A virtual (software) controller from a real piano company". Real piano companies deliver usable music stands that hold paper properly and with industry standard distances to the back of the keys c.q. to the player's eyes.

Placing a stand behind the keyboard becomes even more of a problem than mounted on the back of the keyboard....

The distance from the back of the keys to the base of the music stand on my Kawai RX-2 is adjustable from negative to about 13 centimeters and on my Roland HP-307 is about 10 centimeters.

Placing as you suggested a (standing?) floor music stand (assume an orchestra director version for required width?) behind the VPC-1 would mean a distance of greater than 30 centimeters). That is three times the distance and completely off the scale for a piano and becomes unusable for someone with reading glasses, bifocals or even normal eyes. It is a good thing the newer, deeper keyboard is not on board or you might need binoculars to see the music!

If you find the discussion uninteresting, there are any number of threads that might interest you. There is no need to type OT remarks or to be unkind. It certainly doesn't help with brainstorming on the most optimal solutions...

Asking for workable solutions seems to be quite far removed from Kawai bashing. I don't know about you, but I have spend more than $25.000, on Kawai products and am a loyal customer.

However, lately, I must admit that Kawai has not been making it easier for me to spend more money on Kawai.

Ok, I'm out ; didn't wat this to become a Kawai or James bashing issue. I'm sorry it got so far ! It was just a suggestion for a next generation Kawai DP or an aftermarket accessoire that would be a welcome addition to many people who are planning to actually use the stand a lot with different kinds of papers and book layouts . That's all. Hope at least it will make the requested feature list in the development team ! Over and out. Again sorry for turn in tone the thread became.

Thanks. I think what I need is something like you used to see in secretarial typing pools or like a microphone boom that I can adjust above the keyboard. Perhaps I need to put one together myself.

This is a controller keyboard from a real piano company. If you want a real piano and not a controller keyboard. Buy it!



Looks to me. If something else is not in the way. A music stand would put the music in about the same spot as the mounted stand on the keyboard?
Besides....I know the music stand companies make stands that will put the music forward from the base of the stand.



Lets give you the benefit of the doubt.
I wear reading glasses because my arms get tired holding a book at arm's length just to be able to read it. Now if I make sure the music is far enough away. I can get rid of my reading glasses!
Oh gee! I forgot! I already do that! Doh!


Now I need to criticise james for his suggested stand. After all....it won't hold all my music, plus my laptop, plus my monkey who hits sticks together for timing. My monkey is very important to me. Where will he stand? Oh James....you blew it!

How about something like this, from the same company (K&M)?



http://products.k-m.de/us/Mic-stands/Accessories/115-2-SHEET-MUSIC-AND-DOCUMENT-HOLDER-black

Or this (www.musicstandsalone.com):



Or perhaps this (www.musicstandsalone.com):



Indeed, the same website even has a shot of a custom stand on an MP9500:





Ah, this one from Manhasset looks ideal:



I hope this helps.

Cheers,
James
x

But James....What about my monkey!!!!!??????
My monkey isn't going to be happy!!!!!????
It's all Kawai's fault!!!!!

That, in an orchestral wide version, is exactly what the doctor ordered! Haven't seen any of these in stores before.

It should be able to also match the exact position of the RX-2 music stand that way.

Thank you!

Very mature.
Shouldn't your Mom be getting you off to school by now?

They kicked me out of school. It's all Kawai's fault.

Bingo!



Actually, I've got to admit... that does look pretty slick.
'Hard Finish' surface too!

James
x

Makes it look like Dolly Parton. I like the original.
Darn that thing looks classy. Without the Dolly music holder.

Oh....you forgot the miniature Empire State Building. So my monkey can act like King Kong. How about a Godzilla for him to play with? HHHhuuuummm?
Not that's an idea! James...
Kawai needs to come out with a Godzilla that bangs two sticks together. It can be the Godzilla Metronome! Straight from it's home in Japan! Kawai will sell a million of them!

Haha, perhaps it can be a bit bigger , I think it's rather small like this ;-) And I would really like to get my hands on the Godzilla metronome ; it will definitely make my playing-style better ! When is it out - can it be pre-ordered ?????

Kawai already makes this stand. Only have to adjust the footprint (space between supporting legs). How hard can it be..., if there's a will... Still a missed opportunity IMHO.

My "music stand" is a computer monitor. Since I'm using the computer to run the VST anyway, I just scan my music and display it on the monitor.

I keep meaning to get around to mapping my soft pedal to page-down so I can flip pages without using my hands.

Back when I used paper I cut a piece of black foamboard and put it on the wire stand (my MP8 has this same music rest and I don't find it good for loose sheets, which I seem to use often). It looked pretty terrific and could hold like 6 sheets or something.

So many people today have their sheet music on iPads, and there are plenty of iPad stands that should work fine on top of the VPC.


I like the external pitch bend + mod wheel box idea. 90% of the people on this forum may not care about it, but I think that would still leave a substantial number of people who would like it. Moreover, it would be a device you could market to a much bigger group of people, not just Kawai owners. Over in another forum, people periodically complain that there's no way to add wheels to any of a myriad of keyboards people are using. Yamaha used to make the MCS2 for that purpose, but that was a long time ago. In a way, you could even use it as a stealth marketing device, to get Kawai onto the radar of many players who haven't typically looked at any Kawai products.

To go a little further out on a limb, looking at the $2500 price of an MP10 and the $1850 price of a VPC-1, I wonder if Kawai could offer a rack module with the sounds of the MP10 for under a grand? Another thing you don't find in the market anymore are pianos in rack modules. Yamaha, Roland, Kurzweil, Korg have all offered them in the past... all that's left now are the piano patches in the high-end multi-purpose Motif and Integra modules, which is not the same thing. A half-width module would be ideal (with optional full-width mount brackets), but if it can't be that small, full-width is still okay. I think the MP10 sounds really nice, and it's a shame it's not possible to gig with that sound without a 70+ pound board. I think a lot of people with boards half the weight of an MP10 (or less) might consider a reasonably priced box that would give them a much better piano sound than what most of the lightweight boards provide.

When tablets become more and more powerful and with bigger storage AND with more professional software synths and softare piano's , hardware modules will probably become absolete altogether. They may replace even laptops , cause a tablet is so much more compact, easy to operate and put in an ergonomically good position on the master keyboard. I think it will take a few more years to fully mature for playing music in a professional manner , but certainly not much longer.

I've followed and played with roughly all software instrument developments since the early days and toylike efforts and after initial sceptisism about quality of sound and speed of the laptops (90's remember ?) , it matured really fast and since several years laptops can be used as full blown HQ sound sources for almost every situation. I guess the same will happen with tablet based solutions. It would really provide for a much more compact , sturdy and flexible way of playing than with current laptops IMHO.

For now there are indeed too little seperate hardware boxes available, if you're reluctant to carry a laptop onstage. But I doubt there are any manufacturers still willing to invest in niche products like a piano module. Sad, but true. Only alternative option you have is buy an expensive Integra and use only 10% of the available sounds and features.

I agree about the potential of the tablet. But I think it may well be a few years yet before you'll be able to get...
... a tablet capable of running a high quality piano sound, rock solid and glitch free, with no noticeable latency, plus
... the audio interface, plus
... the piano software itself,
all for under a grand.