Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards SUMMER NAMM 2014 - any expectations or predictions?

Summer NAMM is a few weeks away. Any expectations or predictions for new keyboards, VSTs, or accessories?

Maybe just some possibilities:
- Nord Stage 3 or Piano 3
- Roland RD400
- Kawai ES8 (highly doubt it)
- Yamaha CP400 (doubt it)
- Korg SV-2
- Casio PX155 or PX355 with better speakers
- Casio PX6S now in black with half-damper
- Groove Piano final product

I actually don't expect any of these or much of anything on the keyboard/piano side to be anounced. But you never know until showtime. What you guys think?

maybe new casio ??

I don't think there will be a new kawai Es8 -maybe next year?

RD800 ver2

Unlike most digital products, keyboard upgrade cycles seem pretty slow to me. I won't be surprised if there are no major announcements, but we might see something to get excited about. A few comments on your list.

Maybe just some possibilities:
- Nord Stage 3 or Piano 3

Doubtful, the current line up is selling quite well it seems (there were even recent price increases). If a new model were coming out soon I'd expect price drops to help clear out old stock. Maybe we'll see some new sampled pianos or some new Rhodes samples (pleasepleaseplease) coming from Nord

- Roland RD400

Of course we're only speculating (or pulling wild guesses from the seat of our pants) but I think this might be likely. There's one caveat, however. The recent RD-800 power adapter problem may have caused Roland to scrap those plans if their RD-400 shared the same defect. They might decide to redesign it rather than implementing the current kludgey solution being applied to the RD-800.

- Kawai ES8 (highly doubt it)

I doubt it too.

- Yamaha CP400 (doubt it)

I hope not, my bank account balance might get a lot smaller.

- Korg SV-2

The SV-1 is getting long in the tooth. I wouldn't be surprised to see that. Actually, I think this is probably the most likely on your list, but that's just a guess.

- Casio PX155 or PX355 with better speakers

The PX5S extends their AIR modeling to the electric pianos. I wouldn't be surprised to see the successor of the PX-350 inherit those improvements. If casio comes out with newer models, I'll be most curious to see what other improvements they have in store for us. Maybe we'll get nine drawbars and some nice organ models on it.

- Casio PX6S now in black with half-damper

Least likely on your list. I don't expect the PX6S or whatever to ever get half damper connectivity. I'm not positive, but I believe the PX-350/150 use a proprietary connector to enable that functionality. Maybe they might rework the whole line to make it easier, but probably they won't. A lot of folk on piano world made a stink about it, but I think most of the people who would buy that board don't really care about it that much (and if they do, there are workarounds to enable it).

LMAO!! made my day.

Most of the major keyboard releases are saved for winter NAMM. Summer seems to be more guitar oriented...it is in Nashville.

I'd expect to see updates on the Stage & Piano from Nord at NAMM '15. The Stage will probably be close to 5K though.

I think Yamaha is done with anything new in stage DPs for awhile. I'd think they'd be developing something in the Motif line to compete with the Kronos.

New Kurz Forte samples are up @ soundcloud. Word is shipping starts in another month or so.
https://soundcloud.com/kurzweil-music-systems

Personally I'm pretty set, keyboard wise, for both home & gigs. Might consider turning the Nord Piano 2 for the Kurz , but not sure how much use I'd get out of the Forte.

Although I'd like to see an SV2, I think that whole concept is pretty much dead in the water with Korg.

Always looking at a way of upgrading my speakers to L' Acoustics 108Ps or Fulcrum Acoustic FA28ac. That's super big bucks though.

Do you think Nord Piano 3 would upgrade their action to something a little more palatable or somewhat competitive to Yamaha, Roland, and Kawai?

Also, speaking of action. Did Forte use a better action than Artis. I know absolutely nothing about Fatar action.

Regardless, Kurz or Nord, I can't imagine spending 4-5K on a stage piano with subpar action.

I wonder if Kawai is going to put their RM3II action in something other than VPC1. Would love to see ES7 with wooden keys.

Maybe the ES8 will be in a VPC1 shell with RM3II and speakers. That would be interesting ...and very heavy!

I would expect soon a reaction of Yamaha in low-end segment driven now by PXx50, ES100. Yama does not have a competitive stage model currently.

The P105 has been well liked by many.

Edit: The GHS could use a little updating perhaps.

Yes the Forte shares the same Fatar as the flagship PC3K8...can't think of the # offhand. Much better then the Artis. Still...a Fatar though.

Regarding the steep price- I think most of the market that buys a Forte or Stage aren't pure piano based players that go for a stage DP, like the CP4 or RD800.

More for guys that are pretty heavily into synth and organ and don't need the best piano action, like on Yamaha, Kawai or Roland. Like I've said before- for band playing, the sound is paramount to the action with these type of players.

I think Nord is pretty much tied to Fatar. I don't know if there's a more advanced Fatar action then what's in the Nord Piano 2 or PC3K8 though.

Yamaha CP400, and the AvantGrand Concert.

I'm not sure exactly when it will be announced, but I expect we will see an RD-400 sooner or later this year. Moreover, these lower-end RD models do not typically feature XLR jacks, so the 'figure-8' power cable should not be a problem.

Cheers,
James
x

IIRC, the RD-300 was announced at the Summer NAMM following the Winter NAMM at which the RD-700 was launched, so a summer announcement for the hypothetical RD-400 would be true to form for Roland.

I will be there! Would be nice for some surprises, but I am not holding my breath.

Here's something cool though:
Details are still being pulled together, but there will be a Casio Users Meet-Up on Sunday, July 20th. Meet the famous Mike Martin and the Casio team and other Casio users. I will make another post as the details gel.

Not saying nuffink.

MP69 Travel DP E to C

James I remember that in a post you said something about a new Kawai line...
Is Kawai hiring yetis again?

A new AvantGrand series with bosendorfer samples would be nice (NX1, NX2, NX3). Though I expect it in 2015.