|
Welcome to the Piano World Piano Forums Over 3 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments. Over 100,000 members from around the world.
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
|
|
39 members (clothearednincompo, emenelton, achoo42, danno858, Cinnamonbear, Deltajockey, David B, ChickenBrother, 11 invisible),
1,457
guests, and
353
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099 |
Interesting... so the upright sound is based on samples of an actual upright and not a processed version of one of the grand samples. Yes, a Kawai K-60 I believe. The perils of auditioning instruments in a music shop, I guess... As OneWatt suggests, it's definitely a good idea to bring your own headphones, and plug straight into the board (rather then allowing the sound to be coloured by any connected mixers or speakers. Cheers, James x
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099 |
Hello Ulrich, Kawai James, I have a special question: I'm interested in the MP7 as a masterkeyboard. There are four faders for zone volume on the MP7. I would like to use them as free controllers for my daw (ableton live). Is this possible? The MP7's four zone faders can be used to adjust the volume (CC#07) of four separate MIDI channels. However, I'm afraid the function of these zones is currently fixed - i.e. it's not possible to assign a different CC#. Does this answer your question? Kind regards, James x
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 55
Full Member
|
Full Member
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 55 |
Yeah, I'll definitely be bringing my own headphones, and insisting the keyboards are horizontal!
I'm almost tempted to bring my little powered foldback monitor so I can easily reference everything, in mono, through a speaker with which I am thoroughly familar, which is my gigging reference point...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099 |
Ah, gigging in mono? "Banjo sound" on the MP5's 'newer' stereo samples? I wonder if you were experiencing phasing?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 55
Full Member
|
Full Member
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 55 |
Possibly, but while it is certainly more pronounced in mono, it is still there in stereo. It's just a characteristic of the sound's attack that does not appeal to my ear. Maybe "banjo" is not an accurate description, but it does sound kinda phasey and lo-fi, as opposed to the lower and upper ends of the keyboard, which sound excellent.
This does not happen with the second bank of pianos so I tend to use those...
FWIW I leave a ⅛″ to ¼″ TRS headphone adapter plug connected the right output channel on the mp5 and I plug the left channel into a single speaker. It eliminates the phasing created by the summing to mono because the keyboard "thinks" it's going out in stereo.
It also changes the tonality of the sound but I just eq it back to where I want it. I find this to be a good workaround that gives me a fairly solid mono sound.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 9
Junior Member
|
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 9 |
I've had my MP7 for several days now and really love it. While I've played guitar for years and have a decent understanding of how music works keyboards are new to me. I started by playing a Casio CTK-171 that my wife gave me several years ago and had been collecting dust. It was fun to start, but with no dynamics and clunky keys I was on to the MP7. I can express music in an infinitely more nuanced way that with the old keyboard.
I have a line out from the MP7 into a mixing amp coming out through a 15-inch speaker. It sounds good enough for now, but I wondered if there is a way to kill output to the amp when I'm using headphones? I was banging away with the headphones on and was surprised when my wife told me that she had been listening to my playing.
Also, I've used a MIDI-to-USB cable to connect the MP7 with a Mac running garage band. The sound comes out through the Mac's speaker but I wondered if there was a way to send to back to the MP7 so that I can hear it through the amp?
Thanks!
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099 |
Hello cfit, glad to hear you are enjoying your new MP7. To answer your questions: I have a line out from the MP7 into a mixing amp coming out through a 15-inch speaker. It sounds good enough for now, but I wondered if there is a way to kill output to the amp when I'm using headphones? No, I'm afraid not. While instruments with built-in speakers will mute when a pair of headphones is connected, stage pianos such as the MP7 will not. The solution is to turn off your speaker when playing with headphones. By the way, I would recommend playing with two speakers in order to enjoy the MP7's stereo sounds fully. I've used a MIDI-to-USB cable to connect the MP7 with a Mac running garage band. The sound comes out through the Mac's speaker but I wondered if there was a way to send to back to the MP7 so that I can hear it through the amp? Yes, just connect the audio output from your Mac to the MP7's Line In jacks using a stereo 1/8" stereo to 2x 1/4" mono cable (see below). For more information, please refer to the owner's manual. http://www.amazon.com/Hosa-CMP153-Cable-Inch-Dual/dp/B000068O3CI hope this helps. Kind regards, James x
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 9
Junior Member
|
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 9 |
Thanks for your quick reply, James! A big part of my decision to purchase the MP7 sight-unseen, was the immense amount of assistance and information you provide in this forum. It is much appreciated.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099 |
Happy to help, thank you for your kind words.
Cheers, James x
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 7
Junior Member
|
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 7 |
ok I got one..... the lure of getting an mp7, a new macbook w/Logic, a nektar panorama control surface, and a new set of tires ( as opposed to just getting the Nord Stage2) was too much. Oh, the Nord is so wicked as a live keyboard, I played it for like 10 hours over the course of a week.... but, I just couldn't connect with that keybed.
Anyways, so my questions are:
1) When saving a SOUND, are you limited to that one slot? Meaning, can you select a destination for the edited sound? If not, then I better save the edited sound as part of a SETUP, unless I'm absolutely positively sure that I want to alter it for good 'cause I can't get what I started with back (short of a factory reset of that sound..... do I have this right?
2) When assigning knobs to the parameters of the 4 zones' sounds, can the turn of one knob change one parameter on all 4 sounds at once? If not, is this possible to do from a control surface?
3) If I map the Panorama to control drawbars, organ percussion, etc, does the mp7 have to be on the drawbar edit page for this to work live?
my initial impressions are that it has a lot of bang for the buck
i was cringing about the shallow travel of the key that some of you guys spoke of, but it isn't so bad. WAY better action for a pianist than the Nord. Much better than the slow bounciness of the Motif I had.
performer and music educator, member WNYOSA
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099 |
Hello pianoplayinfool, 1) When saving a SOUND, are you limited to that one slot? Meaning, can you select a destination for the edited sound? If not, then I better save the edited sound as part of a SETUP, unless I'm absolutely positively sure that I want to alter it for good 'cause I can't get what I started with back (short of a factory reset of that sound..... do I have this right? Yes, that's correct. When not in SETUP mode, any edits you save will be stored directly to that SOUND. When in SETUP mode you effectively have 256 memories in which to store different versions of the same SOUND. 2) When assigning knobs to the parameters of the 4 zones' sounds, can the turn of one knob change one parameter on all 4 sounds at once? No, I believe the knobs will only adjust the assigned parameter for that selected zone. Can you provide an example of when you might need to control the same parameter for multiple zones? I may be misunderstanding what you wish to do. If not, is this possible to do from a control surface? I believe this may be possible, if you can set your zone to send the changes to multiple MIDI channels (i.e. for each zone) simultaneously. 3) If I map the Panorama to control drawbars, organ percussion, etc, does the mp7 have to be on the drawbar edit page for this to work live? No, I don't think so. As long as everything is mapped correctly, it should be possible to control the tonewheel organ without the TW Edit screen being shown. You may find the threads [url=http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2658680]here and [url=http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2661082]here useful, depending on how you configure your control surface. my initial impressions are that it has a lot of bang for the buck i was cringing about the shallow travel of the key that some of you guys spoke of, but it isn't so bad. WAY better action for a pianist than the Nord. Much better than the slow bounciness of the Motif I had. Cheers, James x
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 525
500 Post Club Member
|
500 Post Club Member
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 525 |
3) If I map the Panorama to control drawbars, organ percussion, etc, does the mp7 have to be on the drawbar edit page for this to work live? No, I don't think so. As long as everything is mapped correctly, it should be possible to control the tonewheel organ without the TW Edit screen being shown. ... Cheers, James x I can confirm this. I use an Ocean Beach DB-1 drawbar MIDI controller to control the MP7's tonewheel organ registers and there is no need to have the MP7 LCD screen showing the drawbar register TW screen animation while adjusting the registers with the external MIDI device. Put differently: changes in the MIDI controller drawbars change the individual drawbar settings within the MP7's organ emulation program regardless of what's shown on the LCD screen. - OneWatt
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 7
Junior Member
|
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 7 |
Can you provide an example of when you might need to control the same parameter for multiple zones? I may be misunderstanding what you wish to do.
Oh, thanks for answering James like if I want to map the panorama to control delay wet/dry on one mp7 zone and distortion drive on another zone with the same knob.
performer and music educator, member WNYOSA
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099 |
Hello pianoplayinfool, like if I want to map the panorama to control delay wet/dry on one mp7 zone and distortion drive on another zone with the same knob. Provided the Panorama's knobs can be configured to send more than one SysEx command on more than one MIDI channel at the same time, I believe this should be possible. I'm afraid I do not have any direct experience of doing this kind of thing myself, however. Kind regards, James x
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 3
Junior Member
|
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 3 |
Hello, I am new to this forum and i like to join the community to contribute to discussions. Thank you users of Pianoworld for lots of info and valuable input so far. Let me start with my newest purchase and a little review about it. I got my MP7 for a couple of days right now and i am overwhelmed. It's my first decent DP! Before that i practiced on various low budget keyboards and DPs (Roland PC Midi controller, Yamaha keyboard, Korg low-budget DP) and of course whenever there was a opportunity I sat on APs at schools, stores, bars or friends, be it Yamaha, Bechstein, Kawai or Steinway. I am practicing at an intermediate level (for now Schubert, easy Chopin etudes, Bach, and jazz standards) and I am so happy right now with the MP7 and I want to express my thanks and appreciation to the Kawai company for producing such a nice and affordable instrument, which suits my needs so well. IMHO the MP7 is the perfect combination of decent weighted 88key action with convincing sound plus midi controller abilities in order to hook it up to the PC. Before my final decision was set i was several times at stores and tried various DPs in the stage piano range. Most of the time i played on the ES7, since i liked the action and the sound in particular. Also the Roland action on the FP50 for instance was nice too but i did not like the roland sound, it was a bit dull or boomy, i don't know. Yamaha sounds quite good to me, but i got tired of the sound over time and i feared that this characteristic Yamaha sound might become even more boring to me after a couple of years. Furthermore i got to know that the Yamaha CP4 lacks some features in comparison to the MP7; although i did not tested it, it fell out of my list for budget reasons. That is why i considered purchasing the MP7, because I had the impression that it got a lot of features for the price tag. I certainly wanted a stage piano since i am planning to jam and gig in bars, clubs or so, we'll see ... The build of metal and wood is very convincing to me and i love the build quality of the MP7. The action of the MP7 is perfect to me, who just begins to re-discover the piano playing after a years-long break. The Ivory Feel is really really nice and the action might be a bit shallow compared to actions of acoustic instruments but i like it very very much. I mean this cannot be a nearly exact reproduction of a piano action, in order to get such you will have to spend more money for a DP with better action or a real acoustic. Nevertheless I have a good feeling about this action for learning good precision and control over dynamics, I am quite sure it does not spoil my touch. In matters of condition and quality build i can say i got a specimen in an excellent and perfect condition, stamped at the production plant on 30th oct. 2014 with firmware 1.05. I do notice a humming from the transformator though but i will have to test it with other outlets, because at the moment the piano is plugged into a multi-outlet hooked together with an 160 watt Yamaha HiFi amp, PC, monitor and other devices, maybe this fact might be the cause for hummimg. It does not bother me much, when i'm playing. I certainly would pay 50-100eur more for kawai products, if they apply a better transformator. Overall I am very happy and satisfied and I hope the fresh smell of the production plant will not vanish from my new mp7 too soon! But some things remained unclear to me and now i hope some forum members might help me to understand things better, i.e.: - Does anybody know which material are the wooden panels on left and right side made of? They seem to be made out of massive wood, but is there any official source about it? On the official MP series website i could not find any info about it. - What i find a bit suboptimal is that you cannot enter the EDiT screen when recording a perfomance. I tried to vary the cutoff and resonance and other parameters of a zone right in the progress of recording but cannot access it while recording. Knob assign would not work, since knobs are controlling recorder function as far as a i observe - or not? What am i doing wrong? If this behavior is intended, i would suggest to allow to enter the EDiT screen while recording but leave the recorder panel at the very bottom level, so when you press EXiT couple of times you get back to the recorder panel. Many thanks!
Last edited by Winthorpe; 04/08/15 02:54 PM. Reason: typos, readability
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099 |
Hello Winthorpe, welcome to the forum, and thank you for your positive feedback about the MP7. To answer your queries: - Does anybody know which material are the wooden panels on left and right side made of? They seem to be made out of massive wood, but is there any official source about it? On the official MP series website i could not find any info about it. I believe the material used for the side panels is mahogany, however we do not state this officially. - What i find a bit suboptimal is that you cannot enter the EDiT screen when recording a perfomance. I tried to vary the cutoff and resonance and other parameters of a zone right in the progress of recording but cannot access it while recording. Knob assign would not work, since knobs are controlling recorder function as far as a i observe - or not? You are correct. It is unfortunately not possible to adjust parameters assigned to the four control knobs while using the recorder, as these knobs are assigned to the shown recorder parameters. While certainly a very useful feature, the MP7/MP11 recorder is largely intended for sketching ideas, or creating quick recordings. It does provide the deeper level recording control that one may find on a workstation or DAW. However, if you wish to adjust sound/effect parameters while using the recorder, you can work around the knob limitation by assigning the desired parameter (cutoff, resonance, etc.) to the modulation wheel or expression pedal. I checked this earlier, and was able to control the assigned parameters while recording. If this behavior is intended, i would suggest to allow to enter the EDiT screen while recording but leave the recorder panel at the very bottom level, so when you press EXiT couple of times you get back to the recorder panel. That's a good suggestion, thank you. I also believe it would be useful to alternate between the main play screen and recorder screen during recording (in order to facilitate more on-the-fly adjustments), however this may be difficult to implement. Certainly something to consider for the future. Thank you once again! Kind regards, James x
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 3
Junior Member
|
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 3 |
Hello James, thank you for your quick and kind response. This matter with the recording panel is absolutely no big problem to me and I'm happy that there is this workaround you told me about with assigning effect controls and sound editing parameters to mod wheel and expression pedal. I have quickly added an expression pedal to the very top of my list of things to buy next. The mahogany side panels look so gorgeous. The fact that the panels are made of mahogany is something you might not miss to mention at least on the MP website. Anyways, I can't help but have to say it again: this stage piano looks and feels so excellent! Right now I am enyoing the feature to adjust the temperment in general. I'm trying to create an setup of a de-tuned piano and I find the "Old Upright" setup 1-3-A is a good starting point since one can de-tune and change the temperment of one or several layers, e.g. fine tune one layer a bit lower than the other layer. I also tried the "Pure min" temperment tuned to E to play a tune in C maj, and the piano plays quite well out of tune. Also I narrowed the tuning. Does anyone have some other suggestions how to de-tune the piano sound? Cheers!
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099 |
Happy to help Winthorpe. Yes, an expression pedal is very useful for adjusting zone volumes or effect parameters without your hands leaving the keys. I believe the Yamaha FC7 is one of the most popular expression pedals, and works very well with the MP7. I would also advise updating the OS to the latest v1.11 firmware (available via the KawaiMP.com website) if you have not done so already. The mahogany side panels look so gorgeous. The fact that the panels are made of mahogany is something you might not miss to mention at least on the MP website. Yes, I agree! Does anyone have some other suggestions how to de-tune the piano sound? The methods that you are currently employing should be quite effective. I find subtlety to be important here though. It's relatively easy to create a 'honky tonk' piano sound, but in my opinion this is not authentic. A classic 'aged' upright piano sound is only slightly out of tune, with some notes holding their tuning more than others. The 'User Tuning' function may work well here, allowing you to adjust the tuning of each note individually. Kind regards, James x
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 137
Full Member
|
Full Member
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 137 |
I do notice a humming from the transformator though but i will have to test it with other outlets, because at the moment the piano is plugged into a multi-outlet hooked together with an 160 watt Yamaha HiFi amp, PC, monitor and other devices, maybe this fact might be the cause for hummimg. It does not bother me much, when i'm playing. I certainly would pay 50-100eur more for kawai products, if they apply a better transformator. Overall I am very happy and satisfied and I hope the fresh smell of the production plant will not vanish from my new mp7 too soon! Hi Winthorpe, The transformer hum is considered to be normal. It is due to the type of transformer used. It bugged me at first, but once you are playing the MP7, the sound of your playing drowns it out. Still, I and many other MP7 owners probably would have preferred no hum at all. In regard to the strong aroma emitted by the MP7, it does appear to be coming from the varnish that coats the wooden ends, and I can tell you that it does slowly diminish. I've had mine for 7 weeks now, and the odour is greatly reduced....which I actually am happy about. Enjoy your MP7. As you will see, there is quite a bit of discussion in these forums about MP7s and their big brother, the MP11.
1993 Roland JV1000 76 note workstation synth with Pop and VE-GS1 expansion boards ] 1994 Roland JV1080 Multi-timbral sound module ] 1994 Roland KR4500 Intelligent Piano ] 2008 Korg MicroX sound module ] 2015 Kawai MP7 Digital Stage Piano
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099 |
Hello Alan, thank you for your post. Just to clarify one point: The transformer hum is considered to be normal. I believe most transformers hum to a greater or lesser extent. Sometimes the hum on one transformer will be more audible than that of another, identical transformer. Of the MP7/MP11 instruments that I have seen and played, the transformer is only audible when placing my ear directly above the power inlet, however I accept that some individuals are more sensitive to these things than others. Kind regards, James x
|
|
|
Forums43
Topics223,394
Posts3,349,347
Members111,634
|
Most Online15,252 Mar 21st, 2010
|
|
|
|
|
|