Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai ES100: let's collect reviews and impressions here

Exactly. If you want a simple display and more powerful speakers and so forth, look for a used ES4 :-)

A monochrome LCD is a thing, every super-low-budget China DP has for exactly this reason: it's cheap, it's easy to implement: basic microcontroller programming done by a engineering student within an afternoon.

To see, what makes a DP expensive, just look at what China DPs are lacking in: keyboard action and sample quality. But these wannabe-pianos are all well-equipped with buttons, LEDs, displays, connectors, because these are consumer electronic commodities. Just as almost every bargain microwave oven has a LCD clock now.

If car manufacturers would imitate japanese DP manufacturers, they would deliberately try to recreate 1950s dashboards in their low-end subcompact models. They don't do that. Instead they replace the fuel/temp gauges and odometer with a LCD, because that's cheaper than having analog dials with a mechanical meter. Also servo-controlled windows are cheaper nowadays than sturdy crank mechanisms.

So having a DP operated blindly by complicated key combinations is a deliberate product design decision, which makes quality entry-level DPs look bad against China keyboards. Most consumers don't understand that the more expensive DP with just a few buttons and no display is a better choice, so they choose an instrument, which looks easier to operate and has more connectors.

It's already hard to find native MIDI controllers with hammer action in the sub-$1000 category. And the reason why I prefer standard MIDI is simple: If a computer, its USB port or its operating system doesn't like my USB-DP or its USB driver, I'm basically screwed. With MIDI I can try out different MIDI interfaces until it works. Also MIDI supports way longer cables (up to 50 ft) than USB (theoretically up to 16 ft, in practice you better stay with less than 6 ft).

As you probably know, I didn't work on that manual, and there may be one or two functions that do not work exactly as described. Regarding that particular setting, I do recall a software update being made available for the ES100 that resolves one or two niggles, so it may be worth giving Alan at Kawai America a call for more information.

I haven't added the update to the Kawai Japan website, largely because it requires playing a MIDI file to the instrument in order to load the new software - the process is a little more fiddly than just copying a file to a USB stick and holding down some buttons at power on.

Best of luck!

Cheers,
James
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Thanks, James. I'll get in touch with Alan.

Interesting. Is there a possible fix for the velocity range issue?

I'm not aware of any issue with the velocity range, other than the experience that you have shared.

My recommendation would be to contact Kawai Europe for information regarding the most recent ES100 software update.

Kind regards,
James
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I also saw in the SV1 thread that you no longer have your PX5S (which had been driving Pianoteq). Obviously the ES100 had the speakers you wanted. But other than that, is it also taking over the PX5S role as your main gigging board (probably still with your Surface Pro)? Or have you made the MP7 your main gigging board? Or...?

I'm actually getting ready to head back to the UK within a year or eighteen months, tops, and so have been selling gear like crazy. At the same time, my main band has decided to call it quits after almost nine years. So I'm in a period of flux. The ES100 is to cover my solo/duo gigging needs for 2015, and I will just take the MP7 out as and when necessary. I don't really need to use Pianoteq with the MP, and so will probably go with onboard sounds to make life less complex. I also don't think I need Pianoteq with the ES100, as the default grand piano and studio piano sounds are eminently usable, IMO.

The ES100 is easily usable in the UK with just an adapter plug, but the MP7 would need major surgery. I'm not sure whether it's worth shipping the ES or just repurchasing when I get the other side of the pond, but in any event I will probably wait before making that decision and see what's been released by that time. I do really like that little board. If 2016 begins with a lightweight ES8, I might just go for that and not bother with two gigging boards.

Interesting stuff.

Best of luck with your plans to move back to the UK, Richard!

I'm a little curious as to why you will be leaving the leafy pastures of Oregon, but that's perhaps beyond the realms of this thread, and also none of my business.

Cheers,
James
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Thank you, James.


Yes, a little beyond the scope of the thread, so I'll send you a PM, James. Suffice to say here that things change and you adapt.

Hi,

just my two cents about possible changes to the ES100

- No display! This was important in my case as otherwise my wife would have vetoed an "ugly" keyboard in our household.
- Midi and USB yes but not USB alone. MIDI alone is more flexible.

Happy Thanksgiving and keep playing and practicing and most quibbles about any piano will fade away!

Gauguin

Paid 900 Can all in. Great practicing piano. Not for gigging. On board speakers: useless.

But, I emphasize, the best I could find for REAL PIANO FEEL. With good earphones or fab outboard speakers, it's perfect as a substitute for the "real thing."

JG

Would you say it's then as loud as the FP4?


If you take the built-in speakers out of the equation, how would you compare the overall experience of ES100 vs. PX5S+Pianoteq? i.e. the combination of sound, feel, and the way the feel connects to the sound? Is one more satisfying to play than the other?

From memory only, yes I think so - possibly even louder, although you can increase the gain on the FP-4 as well, IIRC. It's actually very useful, as it boosts the volume in the kind of situation where you need it most. Maybe that was the intention. To minimize distortion, I've found it helps significantly to change the EQ to the "desktop" setting, which reduces bass output.


The Casio has a 3-sensor action, and it does assist noticeably with retriggering etc. The PX-5S with Pianoteq is a stunningly good combination where you do really feel like you're playing with full control of dynamics - much better than the control offered over internal piano sounds. The rather pronounced keytop "ivory" feel takes some getting used to, but it does offer good grip in humid situations. I would say that the PX-5S plus Pianoteq is about as good an overall sound/feel/connection as you're going to get in any stage DP, as long as you don't need half-dampering etc.

What the ES100 gives you is a very good action that, if it had the third sensor, would be at least on a par with that in the Casio, performance-wise, and perhaps feels slightly more piano-like overall. I particularly like the key-return bounce, and the fairly deep key depression (both aspects quite different from RHII), and playing at the rear of black keys is not an issue - something that is not quite as easy to do on the Casio, if memory serves. (The action is way ahead of the FP-4's.) I find that it connects very well with the internal sounds (better than the Casio in that regard), but cannot quite match the PX/PT combination.

The sound is very good, with just a hint of that Kawai harshness in the upper-mids, although it's not as exaggerated as in some Kawai models. It sounds just a hair more "real" than Pianoteq in terms of the raw sound, although PT's resonance modeling leaves most hardware units in the dust.

The advantage for me is that the Kawai is self-contained unless I need to boost its output, while I was dependent upon both a Surface Pro and speakers for the Casio. It weighs more than the Casio, but the fact that I don't need to carry the tablet and deal with extra cabling makes it easier, operationally. Obviously, the PX-5S is way more advanced as a piano/synth, but for the type of use I have planned, the ES100 is close to perfect. I've just started working with a small group performing jazz standards, and the Kawai should work beautifully in that context.

The limitations discussed earlier in the thread are niggling but not deal-breakers, IMO. The ES7 overcomes most of those at the cost of an increase in weight and price. But I find that I actually enjoy playing the ES100, and that counts for a lot. It's the best sub-$1k self-contained DP I've played since owning an FP-4. The PX is the best sub-$1k controller/piano/synth.

Tastes differ... For me, internal ES100 sound is too bright (too hard hammers), even "Mellow grand" is too bright. I also don't like it reverb: it sometimes produce dirty "whooh" sound on some keys or chords. Damper and key noise (I mean the noise produced by internal sound generator) is too loud. On the contrary, Pianoteq produce very "balanced" sound, it's more real in my taste.

I always use ES100 just as Pianoteq controller.

The only trouble of ES100 is too loud keyboard noise. This is why I always use headphones with ES100.

Most of this rings true for me. But I find the action, although noisy, much more useful, even "accurate" than the action of my previous controller/keyboard, the Roland FP-4F. The Roland is a great keyboard, no question; but it's not really piano-like. It's a gigging workhorse. The es100 is a keyboard I would be careful about moving from place to place. But it's more useful for me, simply as a practice mechanism, and as a useful way do my WTC project.

Poor or unreal tone is just something you have to put up with. Piano VSTs may help, if you can find one you like.

I just received my brand new ES100 from Amazon the other day and I absolutely love the thing. However, I accidently recorded myself and I would like to know how to erase what I have recorded. I have followed the instructions in the manual and this is not working. Is the manual incorrect? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Hello bonesy,

According to the ES100 owner's manual, the procedure to erase all user-recorded songs from memory is to press and hold the PLAY/STOP and REC buttons while turning on the instrument.

Please note that I did not write the ES100 owner's manual, and other users have reported inconsistencies on some pages, so it's possible that this operation may also be incorrect.

I have asked my colleagues in R&D to double check and inform of the operation if the owner's manual explanation is indeed incorrect.

In the meantime, I believe it should be possible to 'erase' a single recording by simply selecting the song memory, pressing a note very gently (so as not to produce a sound), and then stopping the recording - in other words, overwrite the previous recording with an empty song.

I hope this helps - glad to you're enjoying the ES100.

Kind regards,
James
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Thank you very much "Kawai James." Your clarification solved the problem. I was misreading the instructions and I now realize that in order to delete a recording you must start from the "off" position rather than starting from the "on" position.

bonesy, happy to help!

Kind regards,
James
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