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It's not about an update, as I had already done so months ago. But thanks anyway. And yes, it sounds well. I have just come from my music school, where I have practiced for an hour on an upright (guess the make?) which sounds way worse than ES7 and has sticky keys. Now, mine seems a Bossendorfer.
Learning piano from scratch since September, 2012. Kawai ES7.Kawai K-200
So, it seems that most of us agree on going with the mellow piano and a bright voicing other than using the concert grand with a mellow voice...
I used the CG sound for a couple months now and started toying with the mellow piano a week ago... now whenever I go to the CG patch sounds really cold to me.
I have tried layering 2 pianos but did not like the output.
Regarding some sound "unevenness" on certain keys... I feel that the whole octave or so around F2 to F3 sounds a bit dry compared to the rest of the "zones" especially on concert grand. I take it as part of the "character" of this particular Digital.
I love this piano.
English is not my first language, please be patient!.
Hi, Kawai users! Excuse me for being a little bit off topic. I am in search of a good digital piano mostly for playing classical piano music and Kawai ES7 is at the top of my preference list. Additional pedals, solid piano stand and music stand for ES7 are also needed. So the total price here will be close to the price of Kawai CN 34. My question - how Es7 is compared to CN 34 in terms of piano sound and touch and is it really worth going for a portable es 7 at a price of full CN 34? Thank you!
Hi, Kawai users! Excuse me for being a little bit off topic. I am in search of a good digital piano mostly for playing classical piano music and Kawai ES7 is at the top of my preference list. Additional pedals, solid piano stand and music stand for ES7 are also needed. So the total price here will be close to the price of Kawai CN 34. My question - how Es7 is compared to CN 34 in terms of piano sound and touch and is it really worth going for a portable es 7 at a price of full CN 34? Thank you!
Hi EtwasBewegter, Clink the link below. This thread might you decide which is best for you.
Hi! I have followed a good advice from this forum and now I am a happy owner of ES 7 ! My question is about sustain pedal. When leaving sound with pedal pressed ,it loses volume and decays unnaturally fast- 9-10 seconds and absolute silence. The same effect on AP lasts twice as long. So the question- аre there any settings to improve this. I can`t find them in the manual and it is rather strange as there are so many other precise settings for different effects. Thank you!
Rather than open a separate thread I thought I could use the ES7 thread. I think I know the answer, but just in case ....... Is it possible to have a default touch on the ES7 to say, Heavy? I know it can be adjusted within a particular piano configuration, but I would like to be able to set it to Heavy for use with a software piano without having to have Local Control On and using a particular ES7 piano - although I suppose turning the ES7's volume control right down is a work around.
Conversely, I also want to play and record a blend of software piano and an ES7 piano. Playing is no problem but how to record? To explain: the heavy touch and the weighting which is right for me (reduced bass volume, heightened treble volume) complements the software piano very well.
If I could always have a heavy touch and have the options of just the software piano or the blend, plus recording both these configurations, I would be happy. At least this week!
When you say you don't want local control on, am I to understand that you don't want to use the built-in functionality to modify velocity curves in your software piano, which is almost certainly significantly more flexible and powerful than the settings in the hardware? Is there a particular reason for that?
I would think that the ES7's settings for touch sensitivity apply to the MIDI as well, but I don't know from personal experience. Perhaps someone who owns one can chime in.
As for recording a blend of the ES7 tone and that of a software piano, I can think of a few possibilities but none are particularly convenient. One thing you could do is play the piece, saving the MIDI using the onboard USB functionality and record the audio of the ES7 using your line-in or whatever. Then you could render the MIDI offline using your software piano. Finally you could mix the two. Sounds like a hassle, but it's the first thing that comes to mind.
"Conversely, I also want to play and record a blend of software piano and an ES7 piano. Playing is no problem but how to record?"
Your Piano voice and software voice will come out of different headphone sockets if you use headphones. One will exit the computer, the other will exit the piano. Get thee a "y" adapter to link `em. Audacity will do the rest, when the combined connection is fed into another computer . . . which you may or may not have.
Thanks for the responses. To clarify the local control point: the velocity curve in the s/w piano (True Keys, Italian Grand) isn't especially precise, in that it's a single curve that can be raised/lowered from the centre, so it primarily affects tone. The ES7, with its range from very light, light, normal, heavy, heavy+, offers a good range of alternative weights of touch. Using the ES7 alone, I prefer the normal setting, but with the Italian Grand - with or without blending the ES7 voice - a heavier touch feels better. It may be that changing the curve, sensitivity and dynamics in the Italian settings would produce the touch and sound I want, but it's a bit hit and miss. Maybe I need to experiment more. However, having adjusted the volume settings of the ES7 by knocking down the bass and upping the treble it improves the sound through the ES7 speakers - and it's still good through the domestic, relatively high end, system - and it also adds to the solidity of the Italian Grand sound, which is a bit thin to my ears. So blending the two does add quite a bit to the sound/my enjoyment. However, I would still like the option to have a heavier touch with local control off, as I should be able to record that via the usb in the ES7. (Currently a problem with usb recording which Kawai are looking into) Audacity could tidy up any shortcomings (to my ears) afterwards, but playing live, I prefer the mix. Re recording: I have a 2nd pc in fact, but it's more than a bit dodgy. I am hoping that something clever can be done with a DAW. I have no experience of DAWS.
If I might be so bold - My software D4 (Pianoteq) sounds great, but feels different to playing my digital piano voice.
But so does an acoustic piano. . .a lot different, if the truth`s known. It feels like what I used to play before digitals were around; It may well be a good training ground for playing an actual piano . . .so you get the best o` both worlds.
the velocity curve in the s/w piano (True Keys, Italian Grand) isn't especially precise, in that it's a single curve that can be raised/lowered from the centre, so it primarily affects tone.
Seems like I heard someone else complain about the TrueKeys velocity curve. It's hard for me to imagine what you are describing. Are you saying the line remains straight and you can only move it up and down, or that it bows in and out? Either way, it shouldn't affect tone except inasmuch as it also affects velocity. That is, the velocity curve takes the input MIDI and maps it to a different level, which is what is used to compute the velocity of the note. That in turn determines both the loudness and color. That's the same thing the hardware velocity curve should do as well. What I don't know is whether the hardware curve affects the MIDI levels that go out of the piano or whether those bypass the "touch curve."
Re velocity curve: the curve bows up and down - up, more volume, brighter tone, downwards the reverse, but, and it may be psychological, the ES7 touch control seems to work differently. It feels like the difference between the weight of touch of different APs: yes, you have to hit the notes harder to get the same volume on a heavy touch AP vs a light touch AP, but, in theory at least, if each AP was constructed identically apart from the action weight, tone should be essentially the same. As I say, it may be a psychological effect - there are many discussions on other forums on this site re the interaction between the sound heard and the touch needed on APs. All I know is that normal ES7 touch feels good to me for ES7 sounds, heavy touch feels better for the Italian sound. The Italian velocity curve is quite small and really small shifts affect volume/tone, so I leave it at neutral and have set sensitivity and dynamics, plus the general tone control, to get the sound that suits me.
Don, interested in the mixer method. How does the mixer feed into the computer? I have no audio input so that's not an option, but a digital feed via usb could work.
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