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Firstly, the quality of the sound. But, mostly, number of velocity layers which results in a very good dynamic response. You can play very serious classic repertoire on the new samples and it will sound awesome.

Hi, I Usually use the EX sounds Which seem to my ears to be more natural and dynamic compared to my acoustic piano ( but far away from the real acoustic sound thought....)

On the future, will it be possible to upgrade the piano by downloadding new sounds via kawai website ?

This is definitely not something you can count on. However, in some cases it has happened.

I own an original Kawai MP8. Not that long after my purchase, they came out with the MP8II and make available to MP8 owners a free firmware upgrade that changed both the functionality and sound of the piano to match the MP8II--some voices were upgraded. Note, however, that the first piano voice was not upgraded, apparently because it is built into the hardware in a way that is not upgradeable. My guess is that the voices mentioned here that occupy the bulk of the memory are not upgradeable even in principle. And of course, firmware upgrades that change the voices are not that common anyway.

Hello Timpskie,



May I ask where you heard that?



Piano samples that feature 88-key sampling and multiple velocity layers require a considerable amount of memory.

Kind regards,
James
x

Yes, you may

one of the piano salesmen told us this at the Maene digital academy.

Interesting, thank you. Is this event for customers or for dealers, may I ask?

Kind regards,
James
x

From this: http://fr.maene.be/en/news/about-maene/new-dates-digital-academy-2012.aspx

"The “Maene Digital Academy”, a free training for all of our digital piano customers, [...]" so it's clearly a customer/consumer event. What I'm perplexed about, however, James, is what difference does dealer vs. customer make in the context?

The statement about % of storage used for certain sounds is a pretty unambiguous statement - it would be interesting if you could confirm or deny it.

I can understand that if incorrect information is being passed on to dealers it can have a significantly more damaging impact since a dealer talks to many consumers, but in the end many consumers also read these boards seeking for advice that is perceived to be less biased than that of a dealer (whether they get it and from whom is a completely different question - and many dealers/professionals here offer remarkably [brand] unbiased advice, including your good self).

oldmancoyote, thank you for the link.



I would expect the information given at dealer training workshops to be geared towards selling the instrument, while customer oriented events would place the emphasis on how to utilise the instrument's various features.

Kind regards,
James
x

Which, you will forgive me I hope, has nothing to do with the context here (or at Maene).

Numbers are one thing. If these HI-XL samples use up to 90% storage space, the quality must be far better than the other samples. But numbers don't say everything.
What my question was: how do you guys hear or experience this difference in quality? Apparently there are more velocity layers, so there must be a finer nuance between pp, p,mp,mf,f and ff. They have longer samples, so you would hear less "looping". I'm a newbie, I don't hear these differences yet. Don't ask me where the looping kicks in. Also still trying ti figure out what makes one piano have a more "richer" sound than the other (and yes I know this doesn't have anything to do whith money )

I like very much the Shigeru patches on the CA97 and also the EX Concert, but to be honest I also use pretty much other patches like the Pop Grands, Jazz, Standard and a few others and I cannot truly say they are less quality or less playable than the first three.

I'm not aware whether they take up 90% of the storage but it doesn't seem to me that they are far more playable (or layered) than the rest... Not speaking out my preference regarding pitch and timbre, just considering quality and playability.

My 50 cents.

Saying the first 3 pianos use 90% of the space does not necessarily mean the other pianos use tiny/sub-standard samples. In fact, I am confident that most of the alternative pianos are merely pitch-shifted (and EQed) versions of the first 3. I say this because you can pick out a slightly irregular/distinctive sample on one of the first 3 pianos and then find that same peculiarity on a neighboring key of the alternative pianos. If I am right about that, then those pianos would re-use the existing data and have very little of their own data.

But I'd take the "90%" claim with a grain of salt in the first place, since Kawai never makes such information public. And although other people could reverse-engineer such information, I haven't heard of anyone doing that.

In addition to pitch shifting or EQ, one way to transform an instrument is to play fortissimo with the timbre of a pianissimo (but the loudness of forte), or the reverse. This method is used by XLNAudio in their Addictive Keys piano. I don't know if common digital pianos do the same.