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Talking of rich acoustic piano tones at your place? Just turn up the volume of this baby!


WARM BABY-MEDIUM GRAND AT HOME R1.0 - HEAVY TOUCH EDITION

Dual Voice: Mellow Grand, volume 5 + Pop Piano 2, volume 5

1 Basic Settings
1 - 3 Tone control: low +6, mid +6, high -1

2 Virtual Technician
2 - 1 Voicing: normal / mellow 1
2 - 2 Damper resonance: 10
2 - 3 String resonance: 10
2 - 4 Key off effect: 10
2 - 5 Touch: Heavy
2 - 6 Temperament: Equal (= Equal Stretch in user manual)
2 - 8 Stretch tuning: Wide

3 Key Settings
3 - 4 Layer dynamics: 7

Reverb: Room 2

Effect: Chorus, rate 3, depth 2

Always look at the bright side of life:


PRO SOLOIST - BRIGHT VOICING R1.0

Dual Voice: Concert Grand, volume 5 + Studio Grand, volume 5

1 Basic Settings
1 - 3 Tone control: OFF

2 Virtual Technician
2 - 1 Voicing: bright 1 (open lid), normal (half-open lid), mellow 1 (closed lid)
2 - 2 Damper resonance: 10
2 - 3 String resonance: 10
2 - 4 Key off effect: 10
2 - 5 Touch: Heavy
2 - 6 Temperament: Equal (= Equal Stretch in user manual)
2 - 8 Stretch tuning: Wide

3 Key Settings
3 - 4 Layer dynamics: 9

Reverb: Stage / Room 2

Effect: Chorus, rate 2, depth 1

Just a nice, simple sound.


KAWAI CONCERT GRAND - SIMPLE v1.0

Dual Voice: Concert Grand / Concert Grand 5-5

1 Basic Settings
1 - 3 Tone control: Off

2 Virtual Technician
2 - 1 Voicing: Normal
2 - 2 Damper resonance: 5
2 - 3 String resonance: 5
2 - 4 Key off effect: 5
2 - 5 Touch: Normal (or Light)

3 Key Settings
3 - 4 Layer dynamics: 10

Reverb: Room 2 (or Stage)

Effects: Off

That's a nice first attempt, McBuster

In order to reduce the sonic artifacts resulting from layering the same piano sample (i.e. listen to each note going from pianissimo to fortissimo and I'm sure you'll notice), this relative volume change should help:


KAWAI CONCERT GRAND - SIMPLE v1.1

Dual Voice: Concert Grand / Concert Grand 6-4 (7-3) or 4-6 (3-7)

1 Basic Settings
1 - 3 Tone control: Off

2 Virtual Technician
2 - 1 Voicing: Normal
2 - 2 Damper resonance: 5
2 - 3 String resonance: 5
2 - 4 Key off effect: 5
2 - 5 Touch: Normal (or Light)

3 Key Settings
3 - 4 Layer dynamics: 10

Reverb: Room 2 (or Stage)

Effects: Off

@Kawai James:

I could reproduce the following UI bug with the latest firmware version installed (also after several retries):

The PRO SOLOIST - MELLOW VOICING R2.0 (normal open lid, room 2) preset was successfully stored in registration memory 1, but apparantly could not be completely stored in user memory, i.e. after reboot the user memory has disabled the Chorus effect.

(I didn't have time to check whether it is a preset specific or a universal issue, but I have seen similar things before)

Thank you for the bug report. As always, more details are always appreciated.

Kind regards,
James
x

Here you can find my favorite preset when using HD595 headphones (but also works fine live):


PRO SOLOIST - NORMAL VOICING R2.0

Dual Voice: Concert Grand, volume 6 + Concert Grand 2, volume 4 (balance in display = 4 - 6)

1 Basic Settings
1 - 3 Tone control: low +1, mid +6, high +2

2 Virtual Technician
2 - 1 Voicing: normal
2 - 2 Damper resonance: 10
2 - 3 String resonance: 10
2 - 4 Key off effect: 10
2 - 5 Touch: Heavy
2 - 6 Temperament: Equal (= Equal Stretch in user manual)
2 - 8 Stretch tuning: Wide

3 Key Settings
3 - 4 Layer dynamics: 10

Reverb: Stage / Hall 1 for headphones (NICE! )

Effect: Chorus, rate 3, depth 1

OH HAPPY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY CA63SB JUST ARRIVED. CAN'T WAIT TO START PLAYING IT.

Congratulations on your purchase, Amateur Jerry!

Allright, here are some additional details: I've found a workaround to completely store the mentioned registration in user memory by manually editing the effect settings while in user memory and then saving to user memory (as opposed to saving a registration 1 - 8 to user memory, which does not fully work with this preset).

Hi friends,

I tried the following out at home and then went a dealer and compared the in store DP against the actual AP


KAWAI RX-2 BLAK

Dual Voice: Concert Grand, volume 5 / Mellow Grand volume 5

1 Basic Settings
1 - 3 Tone control: Treble Boost

2 Virtual Technician
2 - 1 Voicing: Dynamic
2 - 2 Damper resonance: 5
2 - 3 String resonance: 7
2 - 4 Key off effect: 4
2 - 5 Touch: Heavy
2 - 6 Temperament: Equal
2 - 8 Stretch tuning: Wide

3 Key Settings
3 - 4 Layer dynamics: 10

Reverb: Stage for both external and headphones

Effect: Delay 1, time 5, depth 7


I'd play the DP then play the same on the RX-2. Then I'd record on the DP and listen from a distance. They both sounded the same.

I have tested and like it. My little collection of CA93 configurations seems almost complete

Thank you.

Hi Amateur Jerry, thanks for your contribution. I like the concept and adapted a little to my personal taste.

Two things:
1. I prefer a Bright 2 voicing in this case, which sounds similar during forte playing, but gives a brighter timbre when playing pianissimo (some would say a more piano-like response, but that's open to debate).
2. The used delay 1 settings are way too pronounced, especially during staccato playing in the discant. This cannot be authentic when compared to a(ny) Kawai or other acoustic. I replaced this with either a slight Chorus or no effect at all.

Please note that the highest C(7) note sounds slightly off (as has been reported to Kawai before), let's call it imperfect samples (isn't that the name of a British company too?)


KAWAI RX-2 BLAK R1.0 - a TAD variation

Dual Voice: Concert Grand, volume 5 / Mellow Grand volume 5

1 Basic Settings
1 - 3 Tone control: low +1 mid +3 high -2

2 Virtual Technician
2 - 1 Voicing: Bright 2
2 - 2 Damper resonance: 6
2 - 3 String resonance: 8
2 - 4 Key off effect: 7
2 - 5 Touch: Heavy
2 - 6 Temperament: Equal (= Equal Stretch in user manual)
2 - 8 Stretch tuning: Wide

3 Key Settings
3 - 4 Layer dynamics: 10

Reverb: Stage

Effect: Chorus, rate 2, depth 1 / None

After about six months I've updated the settings list. You can find the URL in the first posting.

Cheeeeerio
ripe_md

TAD,

I tried your RX-2 BLAK. Quite impressive. I had to revert back to my previous voicing. The Bright 2 was just a little to high for my taste. I have a small room that I use in my house. Like an AP, that could have some effect on the setting.

One setting that did surprise me was for Effect; you selected CHORUS. I always avoided that in a DP until now. What I noticed with that setting is it mitigated that "direct - in your face" feeling you sometimes get with a DP, and in the small room I was struggling with that. I always felt the manufacturers should put the tweeters in the back of the DP, so that the sound comes from a more natural setting of an AP grand (behind the music rack). Thanks for the advice on that.

That explanation is quite right (you have saved me some work for the hints section of this thread) and by the way it does acoustic wonders in the midrange too, i.e. a slight obfuscation/unpredictability in a good way.

By the way, did I already mention the more pronounced natural hammer attack, especially in the discant?

Great job, thanks in the name of all visitors!

Just to add some statistics: for the past year we reached an average of about 1000 visits per post here.

By coincidence, here's my DP hint of the week (for any brand):

I was curious and sceptical at the same time whether Quantum Resonance Technology would do anything at all to an audio signal (despite of several positive reviews) and finally decided to just buy the KEMP Elektroniks QA PLUG for my hifi system (as the Nordost 'competitive' product is like ten times more expensive) and put it to the test: I was really impressed with the results as it unexpectedly does as advertised on the box:

"The KE-QA PLUG is the best upgrade for a better live performance of your complete A/V system. Just plug the QA PLUG into a free outlet nearby the A/V set and enjoy the improved stage image, warm details and higher definition. - made with pride and care by KEMP ELEKTRONIKS"

The QA plug made me relisten just about all my favourite CD tracks in awe, as it's effect is not subtle, more like just having obtained a higher-end hifi system!

Also the live acoustics of my CA93, which is plugged into a different outlet in the living room, are positively affected. Check it out for yourself if you dare! (your mileage may vary)

I played Kawai CA93 vs. CA63 side by side with headphones. It appears that CA93 sounds with more brilliance, even though the sampling is supposedly identical. I had made sure reset the basic setting back to manufacturing default on both models. So it is not because of key touch or headphone level difference. Is it possible that CA93 has a more upscale audio processing on top of the same piano samples?

SIG77, in case of headphones there should be no difference i.m.h.o. (other than production tolerances).

When playing live, I'd say that more perceived brilliance is most likely originating from the CA93's dedicated 1.9 cm tweeters, as opposed to the CA63's wider frequency range 5cm speakers.

The CA63 has a 2-way speaker system:
5 cm x 2
13 cm x 2

The CA93 has a 3-way speaker system:
1.9 cm x 2 (tweeter)
7 cm x 4 (midrange)
Soundboard Speaker System (bass)

Based on these specs, speaker placement and yes also audio-processing e.g. crossover frequencies must be different in one way or another.