Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards How otd is Kawai MR210?

I did try to Google, but all I could find were the user manual.
In Wikipedia, this model was not listed as Kawai's product.
Does that mean it was before the Internet age?

Many thanks.

I believe the MR series ran from the late 80s to the mid 90s - ish.

I had a look at the manual you mentioned. There is a code printed at the very end: OW914E-M. This MAY indicate that the manual was produced in 1991. A lot of user manuals contain a date encoded in this manner.

True, but I'm not sure of the older Kawai manuals followed this format.

I'll try to find out later.

Cheers,
James
x

Thanks, voxpops the super decoder.

I thought it would be old, but hoping wasn't that old.

The reason I asked was watching Craigslist to hunt a DP to practice, as an adult beginner. I have a Casio CDP 120, I liked(loved) it that the beginning, but after a few months, I found my self dislike the sound, especially the reverb of the upper middle range of the keys, to the point it affects my playing.

Is that the sound of the CDP 120 is actually that bad or it was me that needs something new every few month? If I can't stand the sound of CDP 120, do you think I can find an older DP that I would love or I need to get something new?

Cheers

I would suggest you try a Roland with SN sound, such as the FP-7F to see if you think you can live with it a little longer. It has a more "natural" sound than the Casio, IMO, which should make it easier to stomach over time. The newer Kawais are also very good. It will probably be more difficult to test drive a Kawai, but expect to pay from $1,500 upwards for their latest sound engine. Yamaha owners often recommend a P155 for $1k as a good learner's instrument, and I think you'd find it a lot better than the CDP.

I would not recommend getting anything older than 5 years - and preferably a model from within the last 2 or 3. DP technology has moved on (albeit slowly).

Of course, you might want to consider an acoustic.

Thanks again, this is a good place .....

I probably should stop watching the craigslist, and start watching my bank account.

The problem is that I LOVED the Casio CDP, it was a beauty to me, not that long ago (last Christmas), and now I am at the point I almost can't stand it. I am sure the beauty hasn't changed (since it is digital), I must have changed.

It that just me who has such a short lasting passion to a piano sound? Or it is a human nature that we all more or less experience?

I know that the cheap CDP wasn't the best thing to start with, but does any of you still love the sound of your DP after a few years?
Would the passion of an acrostic last longer/forever?


Cheers

The passion engendered by a quality acoustic that is regularly tuned and maintained should never die.

All digitals suffer from having a sound that never varies. An acoustic lives and breathes. Its sound is always subtly changing and it has an infinity of potential timbres. It's very common to tire of a digital - I've been through a large number of DPs. Those that include an element of modeling (such as Roland's SuperNATURAL DPs) pall less quickly as they generally have a much wider variation of timbre and tone. However, you need to treat them more as conveniences and a means to an end, rather than something inherently beautiful that cannot fail to satisfy. That's not to say that acoustics don't suffer their fair share of problems and quirks, and as has been pointed out ad nauseam on this forum, cheap old acoustics can be truly dreadful and much worse than a decent digital.

Not sure when, my bank account can accumulate to the point for me to afford a Steinway (and the living room for it), below that, where is the boundary between quality acoustic and a cheap old one?

I know I am pushing the boundary here, and I didn't want to trigger yet another full blown digital vs acoustic debate.

I am just wondering if a $2,500 10 year old Yamaha falls to the cheap old one category, or it has to be a $10,000 one to enter the quality territory. Or it is just not that simple and takes a long journey for a person to finally find his love (that lasts).

In today's economy and with such a preponderance of digitals available, the price of a secondhand acoustic is not necessarily a guide to its condition, quality or desirability. If you're lucky, you could pick up a superb instrument for less than $5k. Unfortunately, some people are desperate to offload acoustics at whatever price they can obtain. The trick is knowing when it's a good one. I would suggest making friends with a technician, and developing a Bodhisattva's patience!

Maybe it is just easier to move to Oregon.

I guess I will just need to try the next step up in the DP for the moment, then the next step up, hopefully by then, they will make a DP this is always subtly changing and has an infinity of timbres, with a sensor to detect the humidity and temperature, so the piano will sound different each day.

And maybe a special feature for people in BC or Oregon, the piano can play sunny mode in a rainy day...

Many thanks.

You're welcome! Good luck!! If you find that special DP with the sunny mode, put me down for two!!!

Wow nice Buddhism reference! Who ever said that forums are not educational?

Referencing the owner's manuals/service manuals here, the MR210 dates back to 1991/1992.

I'm sure it was a great digital piano back in the day, but there's absolutely no way I would consider buying one today - at any price.

Cheers,
James
x

Many thanks James, it was on craigslist asking for 700, i am sure the owner had great time with it, so he/she still doesn't want to let it go

It staggers me sometimes what people think ancient technology is worth!

While developing the Bodhisattva's patience, at the time being, I will just stay withe keyboard and go with PianoTeq.

The sound is definitely better than the on board sound, at least I am loving it for now. If I get tired of a sound every 2 months, with the available sounds (presets) shipped, the calculation is that I can survive for a number of years or at least until they get the next version out.

One thing, however, is that I feel a hair of latency, I don't know how to measure it, but I feel it is there. I am using a brand new Dell with Core i3 (duo core), 4 GB of RAM, with Behringer UCA222 external USB sound card . The CPU of the computer are below 20% at all time. It is playable, but the feel (or the thought) of the latency bothers me a little bit.

So I am still not at a destination yet, but maybe a temporary stop.....

Are you using ASIO sound?

Well, Behringer says it is ASIO ultra latency sound card.
When I get in to the PianoTeq, from the sound device (I think, sorry, I am not at the same computer running PianoTeq), it gives me a list of available output devices, I picked only USB one. I also Installed ASIO4ALL, it works when I put the head phone to the computers build in headphone jack, but not the when I plug the headphone to the Behringer. The reason I use Behringer is that that I felt the sound from the build in phone jack is low on volume, and (maybe because of this) the dynamic is not there. With Behringer, the volume and the dynamic is better, but somehow I felt some latency. I could be just my feeling, I would love to know a way to objective measure it.