Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Roland LX 17 / KAWAI CS 11, some questions

Hallo Pianoworld,

Being in the market for a Digital Piano I narrowed my choices down to Rolaand Lx-17 or the Kawai CS 11. Before I make my decision I still have a few questions that maybe some of you Roland owners can answer for me.

1. Do the new Roland HP and LX Pianos send full range MIDi Velocity 1-127, like the KAWAI pianos do? I’ve had a Nord Piano before and wasn’t able to reach the lowest or top most Velocity values when recording to MIDI so this would be an absolute deal breaker for me. Also is this affected by the Velocity setting?

2. A very odd question but very relevant to me. Upon receiving the Piano (LX 17 or CS 11) how big are the boxes that the unit is actually shipped in? I ask this because I am moving next year and would like to repack the piano for this purpose in order to prevent damage. So those measurements would be very interesting for me.

Thanks in advance!

Hi, I have a Kawai CS10 and I love It.
Sound and touch feeling is more natural and Real than Roland I think. Roland sounds a bit too perfect and the keyboard was better on the Kawai!
The Kawai comes in one box as big as the piano. No assembly required.

Hope it helps.

Just ordered the cs11..excited.. for cs11, one box, no assembly required.

rolland comes in two boxes for the piano alone, third box for bench.

I wouldn't worry much about whether a DP "peaks out" at MIDI velocity = 115 or 120, instead of 127.

Many "software pianos" (Pianoteq, Ivory, etc) let you set up a "velocity map", that translates the keyboard's MIDI velocity to the software piano's MIDI velocity.

So even though the keyboard doesn't let you get from MIDI velocity 1 to 127, the software piano _plays_ as though you were delivering the full range of MIDI values.

And some of the software pianos (e.g. Pianoteq) let you adjust the total (pp - FF) dynamic range of their output.

I don't think there's any "industry standard" for the actual difference (in decibels) between the sound generated by MIDI velocity 1, and MIDI velocity 127.

. . . Play the pianos, get whichever you like best.

Hello AlexEbel, welcome to the forum.



As others have noted, the CS11 arrives in one large box, as the instrument is manufactured as a single piece piano.

According to the information I have here, the CS11's shipping box dimensions are as follows:

Length: 1650 mm
Width: 690 mm
Heigh: 1130 mm

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
James
x

Hi Alex,

I played both these models at Forsyth's in Manchester, UK about 2 weeks ago and compared these instruments. Both are fantastic pianos, with only the Avant-Grand and V-piano series being competitive.

What I thought:
1) With the sound off: the feel of action of the Kawai was slightly ahead.
2) They both look great.
3) The LX-17 is much more expensive and the dynamic expression is superior: it has the hairs standing up on your neck 'feeling' when you first play it. Definitely a large leap forward from the V-piano's default presets. Also, I can report that unlike my test of the LX-7, the sound amplification system on the Roland is the dog's bollocks (a UK superlative meaning superb).

If I were to go again, I'd take a laptop pre-loaded with Pianoteq, and see if the CS-11 could compete with the LX-17. The CS-11 is £810 cheaper, and if one could get an equally good modelled sound engine playing through the CS-11, then it would be a good saving. The Kawai samples are great, and if you like them, not sure the extra money for the Roland would be worth it to you.