Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Tried Yamaha NU1 for first time today.

It is very smart solution.
I was thinking, just as an idea, to connect Kawai VPC1 to a laptop or mac mini with Ivory II + stand+3 pedals+set of non expensive pretty small active loudspeakers (Genelec/Yamaha/Fame/Adam/Mackie etc.)
The price would be still less than 2.100 Euro (without PC or MAC).

http://www.musicstore.de:80/de_DE/EUR/Kawai-VPC1-Masterkeyboard/art-SYN0004258-000
(€1329)
http://www.musicstore.de:80/de_DE/EUR/Synthogy-Ivory-II-American-Concert-D-/art-PCM0011826-000
(€155)

http://www.musicstore.de:80/de_DE/EUR/Pro-Audio/Monitore-/-Verst-rker/Mackie-MR-5-mk2-Studiomonitor-aktiv-5-25-Woofer/1-HT-55/30w/art-REC0008495-000
(€162 * 2)
or Studio headphones:
http://www.musicstore.de:80/de_DE/EUR/AKG-K-240-MKII-Studio-Kopfh-rer-halboffen/art-REC0005852-000
(€139)

http://www.musicstore.de:80/de_DE/EUR/K-nig-Meyer-18953-Digitalpiano-Klapptisch-schwarz/art-KEY0002459-000
(€115)
http://www.musicstore.de:80/de_DE/EUR/Kawai-F-20-Doppelpedal-mit-Half-Damper-Funktion/art-KEY0002112-000
(€89)

________
€2151 (with Speakers and Headphones together)
+
http://www.mactrade.de/macs-1/macbo...3-retina-2-5-ghz-intel-dual-core-i5.html
(€1369 with discount)
Personally, I think it is a good portable laptop one for such needs and even more.

Total:
€3520

(+some €60-80 for delivery if you order form both stores)

instead:
http://www.musicstore.de/is-bin/INT...R/ViewParametricSearch-SimpleOfferSearch
(€4560)
(~ €140-€200 delivery inside Europe)

With this MacBook is there no need for an external audio interface?
Is the internal sound card itself of that high quality indeed (not the weaker chain link than the Mackies or the AKG240 You recommended)?

I think no extra pedal unit is necessary, the VPC1 has a 3 pedal unit in the package (with HalfPedal).

Hi Temperament,

the sound card in this Macbook pro is really very good one to build system "Computer+Soft Piano+VPC1 (as a portable MIDI device).
However, if you expand the budget you might take some external sound card/system, but this is not the idea, talking about "portable set".
IMPO, master keyboard is definitely a kind of studio staff. I have had other brand 88 key controller for 8 years and replaced it with the AG.
It is on doubt which one is better – the Master keyboard or Workstation/DP with sounds on it. When I was making my research buying DP I passed true these long hesitations.

But talking about MBP13" - with simple splitter (L/R) from audio out of MBP you can send signal either to cheep Mackie or directly to plug the headphones (AKG 240 in this sample).
Honestly, I would prefer to work with headphones. AKG Studio series are my favorite, but it is a matter of test. There are many other great headphones on the market.
My 13 years experience gives me the right to mention that in my everyday activities they (Studio 240) are good and extremely robust headphones.
In all 3 different audio/video studios I work with as a composer, the colleagues trust AKG. Please, do not understand me wrong, Beyerdynamic and Senheiser are also one of top level.
It is not so important. You have to test them and if you like it... you could "merry them".

I only spotted 'headphones' as a virtual set with VPC1. Recently some of the colleagues form the forum mentioned that Kawai has not developed an editor for MAC. Well, then connect it to PC.
Frankly, I am mac user for many ears, but not the one form the "cult" society. The reason I mentioned 13"Macbook pro Retina was because it is slim/powerful (as a design and options), has the best display in its 13" class. As musicians, surely we (might) use notation software for many proposes. Talking form my experience, It works fantastically. And not at least, the model I mentioned has flash drive, though а small one – 128 GB, runs very fast to maintain flawlessly Ivory II (American D).
As for as Mackie, well, they seemed to be a low price solution for active monitors.
When I purchased "American D", I tested its sound on Studio high-end monitors Genelec, Yamaha and Adamsm but also on Desktop Genelec (8020A).

The build in speakers of most DP are not from top level, but I guess Mackie, Fame, Yamaha or Adams will fit well.
As I mentioned, I would prefer headphones semi opened.

Ones more I will answer on you question "Is the internal sound card itself of that high quality indeed" – yes, it is.
Compared it to my RME it does not "harms" the sound as many others build in sound cards (Dell, HP, Acer or others that I had compared in last 5-6 years).
Of course, if you have USB or Firewire device (and it is not called "M-audio") is more convent (volume control, MIDI, input, output, SPDIF, monitor, AUX etc.)

It would depend on how you plan to transport it -- and how tolerant you are of keys that are out of regulation.

We know from other threads that the RM/GF keyboards do not travel well and often arrive damaged in the factory-sealed, original transportatation cartons. If you will be driving it under your own careful control you might be ok. I wouldn't consider paying extra and checking it as oversized luggage on an airplane. Too risky.

I already agreed with the seller of my NU1 for a change with a good up right in the near future, without economic disadvantages... So ok, the mistake is not so heavy.

Regarding VPC1...I am not tolerant with Keys out of regulation, so I will see... First I want to seriously test the Keyboard, then if it is comparable to CA63-CA93 it could be an useful purchase. For sure it would be under my control in my car during the trips :-)

I´m a bit puzzled here. My NU1 is way too loud at full volume. I have measured sound levels of different uprights vs. my NU1 and the most realistic setting of the volume knob is about 2 o´clock. Everything above 3 o´clock is way off, imho. I am not able to get good dynamics fromt the instrument at maximum volume, either. And my ears are ringing from the lould piercing sound the speaekers produce. But at lower setting, everyhing is absolutely fine with the NU1. Have you tried it at lower volume settings?

Hi Dragon, I agree: NU1 sound is "tolerable" at low, max medium volume... Over 2 or 3 o'clock becomes annoying and peaks or disegualities are too evident. This was another issue I discovered during quick performance simulation for a small group of people, better to keep it for intimate playing...

Hi Titowsky,
did turning down the volume to a realistic level of a comparable upright not improve the dynamic response of the NU1 for you, which you were missing in your tests above?

No no... turning it down to half or less simply makes the sound (to my hears) more acceptable... in the sense that peaks are less evident, some very very small volume differences among keys becomes not perceptible and... with my limited English I do not know how to describe, but it sounds more enjoyable... I do not suffer too much its rather poor sensitivity to my touch.
I am used to play it just at low volume (no more than 2 o'clock).
With headphones the overall quality seemed worse, but I will spend some more hours with that.

On Saturday I will go to TÅ«bingen to try the Silent - Vario system in the local huge Bechstein shop: I think now I am pretty prepared for a comparison