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Hello Willem, welcome to the forum and thank you for purchasing the ES8.

As ColoRodney and 9190 correctly note, the ES8 does not support capturing external Line In audio via the instrument's MP3/WAV recorder - only the internally generated sounds will be recorded.

However, this feature is available on the MP11/MP7 stage pianos, along with the CA97/CA67, CS11/CS8, and CP1/CP2/CP3 instruments.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
James
x

Thanks for the quick replies. This forum is very helpful.
I tried to find it in the manual but must have missed the remark on page 55. It's not a big deal that the recording of external audio is not possible. I was just trying to capture the audio from some online lessons so I could play along with it by using the recorded file.
My Tyros 5 has the option to also record line in audio so I used that one.
Anyway very happy with the sound of kawai ES 8. No need for VST's anymore

Great follow up review on ES8 from Piano Man Chuck.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXBLtr5Besc

Thanks for the heads-up Marko.

Good, solid recommendation from Chuck there!

Cheers,
James
x

I have the Kawai ES8 and the Boston (built by Kawai - designed by Steinway) - 7'2" (?) foot grand that I bought in 1997. It is amazing how similar the action and keys feel on both!

I had the pleasure to hear Paul McCartney in Munich this June & it seems to me in larger venues such as arenas one often hears overtones/partials (of the entire sound mix)very dominantly, giving an altogether different tonal experience that is more "buzzy robotic", but enjoyable none-the-less.

My first movie with SK5 :-)

"Mission: Impossible" theme : https://youtu.be/gze1S_4LBu0

amazing sound !

No effect, just "small hall" reverb.

Do you know how to have a perfect synch with the sound recorded with the piano and the video, recorded with the camera ?
I thinks it's ok in windows movie maker but when I upload it on Youtube, there's a little shift... Arg !

That's a common problem with Youtube (and others).
If you have video editing software, try nudging the audio about 3 or 4 frames ahead of the video - it won't look right on your computer but it'll look much better on Youtube.

Thanks Chuck.
My new video is now synchronized :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78Eb96iycME

SK concert grand for an amazing french song in C minor.

Hi.

Eurythmics ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JLAP5tREIQ&feature=youtu.be

On SK concert grand :-)

Regards from Paris and good luck for your elections.

Thanks for sharing bigbang!

Cheers,
James
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On the C minor song, it almost seems like the audio is outpacing the video by one frame (I'm hearing the note just a split-second before seeing the keys bottom out). Or perhaps I've just gotten too used to seeing the youtube delay?

Wonder if another ES8 owner could help me out.
I want to change the volume balance between the main voice and a rhythm.
I can see how to do this for layered sounds and split sounds.
I really want the volume of main voice on the ES8 to be zero or as close as possible, so I can just have the rhythm sounding. The main voice will then come from a sample on my attached iPad, e.g. Sax.
Does anyone know if this is possible?
Many thanks
Steve

Have you tried switching from "Local On" to "Local Off" using the menu? That's how you get the keyboard to not play internal sounds when using it as a controller. But I don't know how that interacts with the rhythm section (obviously if it turns that off too, that's not very useful for your purposes).

Hello Steve,



While it's not possible to adjust the volume of the main voice independently of the Rhythm Section, it should still be possible to do what you're trying to achieve with a few settings adjustments (primarily setting the 'Local Control' setting to 'Off' to 'disconnect' the ES8's internal sounds from the keyboard. However, the procedure is different depending on whether you wish to use the 'Full Keyboard' or '1-finger' chord detection.

For 'Full Keyboard' chord detection:
- Set the ACC Mode setting (4-4) to 'Normal' (this should be the default)
- Set the MIDI Channel setting (5-1) to '1' (this should be the default)
- Set the Local Control setting (5-3) to 'Off'
Now it should be possible to play chords on the ES8 and have the Rhythm Section play along in the correct key, while also playing the melody from the keyboard with the iPad producing the sax sound (without triggering the built-in sound).

For '1-Finger' chord detection:
- Set the ACC Mode setting (4-4) to '1 Finger'
- Set the MIDI Channel setting (5-1) to '1' (this should be the default)
- Set the Local Control setting (5-3) to 'Off'
- Set the Multi Timbre setting (5-5) to 'On1' or 'On2'
- Ensure that SPLIT is enabled
Now it should be possible to play 1-finger chords in the lower section of the ES8's keyboard (depending on the Split Point) and have the Rhythm Section play along in the correct key, while also being able to play the melody using the upper section of the keyboard and the notes trigger the iPad's sax sound (without triggering the built-in sound).

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
James
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Wow thanks very much for the quick and helpful answers. I'll give this a go next chance I have. With rhythms I would only want to use full keyboard detection, or split the keybboard and use fingered chords in the base.
Cheers
Steve

Hi everyone, my first post here after reading so much useful information on this forum, which helped me decide on the ES8, thanks! Got it three months ago and just can't stop playing it, love it!

Just wondering if it was just me or if any of you have noticed this too - With the SK5 voice, I keep hearing the sound not quite right with the G2 key. It's not mechanical, it is to do with the actual sound of the note. Not sure if it is software related or due to the sampling, but this particular note always sounds a bit muddled, as if the string wasn't hit properly - that's the best I can describe it.

Has anyone noticed this as well?

Many thanks.

I just tested all of my "G" keys and heard nothing odd.

Do you hear it with headphones as well as speakers? One of the really funny things I've noticed that it's very possible for our own hearing sensitivity to vary across frequencies, so you may be noticing more (or less) of that note than others; also room dynamics can accentuate certain sounds which is why testing with headphones is also important.

That said, Kawai does use 88-key sampling and there is some difference in the sound quality of some of the notes, just as on a real piano.