Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards KAWAI MP11 THREAD

I appreciate the good thoughts. However, I'm sort of in limbo about whether I got yet ANOTHER lemon, or whether I'm just being too picky. I'm going to resume this discussion in the "Kawai MP11 black key noise" thread, so things stay on topic:

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2329923/Kawai_MP11_black_key_noise?.html

i've just received my MP11 this morning and played 1,30 h with it(freely playing and testing all sounds):
My feeling is focused on the keybed/sound connection:
This is absolutly gorgious!!!

All seems so natural for a digital stage piano.
I never had a stage piano at this level for the keybed.
It is so organic,easy to play.more alive in the connection and more acoustic.
I found it so easy to play even if the keybed is heavier than some others...
I'm not tired with it.
Very very good!

Congratulations on your purchase, and thanks for sharing your thoughts on it with us. I look forward to hearing more from you as you get more familiar with the DP. I'd be particularly interested in how it compares to my latest purchase, my RD800.

lekanout
Congratulations on your new board! I hope it brings you much joy.

thanks a lot for your kind words:)



Yes i am lucky to play or have played on most of them.
i'm trying to stay honest,pragmatic..
My point of view isn't a classical player vision however,just a stage player who play pop/rock/jazz/funk/blues....

To try to answer to your question,i must say the roland and kawai are a little different for the advantage and disadvantage.

the Rd 800 is my favorite "all purpose stage piano"because it is the best compromise for:
-sounds(very good pianos and eps,and hundreds of synth and acoustic sounds..maybe the best stage piano on the market for synth sounds)
-keybed:a very good keybed for the weight!
-functions:
very powerful for editing pianos(and better than kawai for the eps editing)..and all is clear.
-ergonomy:
as powerful than easy to use if you master it.

Well...i must say i love it and i love beeing his pilot on stage.


The kawai mp11:
The difference with the roland is at first as a pure pianist vision:
-piano spunds and keybed connection is the best available(the more i play the more i feel that.
-hardware. is beautiful:
This beautiful metal case and wood panels are sooo sexy..

But:
-less sounds than RD800:
While some pads and strings are really good,there are not enought for all purpose.
It's pure keyboards sounds oriented,for all outside the keyboards sounds tje roland is better.
-kawai put a lot of more sounds in the Mp7(while less than the rd800 too)
I regret not to have for example the (quite good)organ engine from the Mp7 and all the others sounds.
I totally understand why kawai made the Mp11 more "keyboards sounds"exclusive,(to keep the price because the Mp11 is at a very good price for all it offer)but more is good to have,and i personnaly would have pay more for some parts of the Mp7 in the Mp11.

All is clear:
-You want the more subtile pianist sensation in a stage piano..buy the kawai.
-you want the best all purpose stage piano without sacrify good pianist sensation(but a little less than the Mp11)buy the Rd800.

For the other things(keyboard controler,easy to use),they are absolutly so pleasant to use whatever you choose.

But in the Mp 11 all is perfectly implemented.
Kawai engineers are near perfection for the way they think ergonomy,and i love roland too.
Conclusion:
Don't think i'm too enthousiast than objective:
These are my choices and alway is well analysed for my needs.
I spent a lot of time thinking about what's the best for me.
And i found it.

ChoPraTs, the function of the MP11's section faders is fixed to controlling volume, however expression can be assigned to one of the four control knobs, as explained on page 48 of the owner's manual.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
James
x

lekanout, thank you for sharing your thoughts.

You clearly have a considerable amount of experience with stage pianos (including the latest boards), so it's interesting to read your comparisons.

Kind regards,
James
x

Thanks james.
i've played more the Mp11 yesterday,and i think it is maybe the stage piano who feels more near "like a real acoustic instrument"than all i ever had´on a hardware instrument.

The keybed is incredible.
The way the key react on all the course is the big difference.
It doesn't feel simulated (even if there are good simulations)like the others.

No one judging the sound here?
Of course it´s the GREATEST action I´ve ever played, too.
I´m totally IN the Mellow Grand now, but I still can´t feel the other pianosounds except the first E-piano which is very good (I rarely play E-piano).
I have ONE sound I totally agree with and I play several hours a day.
My fingers luckily are getting stronger so I run the keys and feel very comfortable!

interesting question...but impossible to answer.
Exemple:

That's why it´s impossible:

I personnaly never play the mellow grand,not because i don't like it,but just because i need other types of piano sounds.
Since 2 days,i edited a upright piano for playing blues and rock'n roll like i want.
when i'm playing pop i'm using the pop type preset or the fist concert grand.

Well,just to say no matter the sound we prefer.
The most important is the Mp11 ability to fit various type of piano sounds for varous type of piano players.
And this kawai is very very good for that.:))

MP11 received.

Overall I'm impressed, however something that's bugging me is the side to side play of some of the keys. It seems between every C and D key there's a bigger gap than usual. Anyone else have the same issue?

Could all of you posting here check your font size. Three of you are using very small font which is so hard to read on a mobile phone.

Enjoying reading your enjoyment!

Ian
Update: Ooops! On re reading thisb thread I think I am sending with too small test too. Another point someone might help me with is how to make text flow in shorter line width. Some here are able to post with larger text but keep their character count low enough for text lines to be read on a phone without sideways scrolling?

Text size is a default setting in whatever browser/device you are using. Unless people are selecting a different size font - which they aren't. Try increasing the text size on your browser.

It's a "feature" of these actions. Wood can't be a machined to the same low tolerances as plastic / metal, and the archaic design of the guide pins, used to resemble those on an acoustic, doesn't help. OTOH you don't generally get this on new acoustics, so maybe they just need to pay more attention to regulating them in the factory.

You can adjust the squaring and spacing as you would in an acoustic following the instructions in this video:

Thanks for that info.

Looks like a very simple fix, though I'm sure if would void my warranty if I attempted that.

Were these instruments designed with after sales regulation work in mind? Seems such a shame to exchange it for a simple repair. I'd be interested in what the service manual says on the matter.

I've got a local piano tech who loves Kawai acoustics and is also a gear head. I would love to let him dig around in my MP11 if it ever needed out of warranty service.

I usually don't practice with headphones. But last night I needed to "silent" practice. So I plugged in, and all I heard was the left channel. The right channel was completely silent. I changed the headphone adapter, just to make sure, and there was no difference. I then used the headphones elsewhere and both sides worked (so not the headphones). Now I am almost positive, not 100% sure, that I have played with headphones since I received my MP11. Is there a funky button I may have touched? Has anyone had issues? And how the heck do I deal with it without creating a headache? Thanks.

Apologies for asking a silly question, but did you connect your headphones to the 'PHONES' socket on the front?

Also, can you post a picture of your headphone adaptor? Is this a 1/8" --> 1/4" plug? If so, are you sure it's stereo?

It's possible that the panning sound parameter for one section has become hard-panned to one side, but you'd definitely know if you had changed this setting in the past.

Cheers,
James
x

Yes, I am using the socket on the front left.

Yes, I am using that plug, with the two rings (stereo). In fact, it is the same adapter (I have three that I have tried) and headphones I used with my Yamaha P155. I do use the plug and headphones with my Focusrite 2i4 without issue.

Ironically I choose the MP11 over the VPC1 because I need the onboard sounds with headphones on occasion. Unfortunately now that I need it, I can't use it. I will continue to investigate.

This might be a cabling issue. Unfortunatelly the front headphones socket is connected rather tightly with a cable on the key slip. If the key slip was moved slightly forward during mounting or adjusting, it can easily jump out (or at least one of the pins).

To fix that you would have to open the top cover and check the cable, on both sides, the headphones side and the PCB side on the rear electronics board. I would not recommend to open the instrument on your own if you do not want to re-adjust the keyslip afterwards, as I heave learned after opening (and fixing) my own slab.

Basically, after removal and replacement of the top cover, the key slip needs to be aligned and adjusted again, otherwise you will most likely end up with thumpy keys.

This is not a difficult task, but takes some time and fiddling around to find the best position.