Hi Eggman, you seem such a pain and I would like to help you. I've just called Merula, where both imyself and I bought our VPC1. Salesman says that other one or two keyboards might arrive around the end of July. He will call me when they become available. I let you know.

... furthermore price is about 10% less than Thomann!

I think you meant this:



Lol.

Qbert, what can I say, other than thank you very very much!!
...It is good people like you that make this one of the best forums on the Internet.
PM incoming

Eggman you are right; Qbert is a good man as there are few...

(if I am the proud owner of the (maybe) last VPC1 in Europe: I owe it to Qbert...)

Qbert is The Best

Qbert President! Qbert President!

I love the feeling of solidarity among forum mates who share the same passion... and, come on, that's not such a big effort from my side!

(forgive me to contact someone here but i have little trouble for contacting this person...thanks)

Qbert: i send you 2 PM but it seem you do not receive any...
please check your PM (gift for you)

Guys, I've just received the call: it's available!

Qbert, congrats!

The call from whom, though?

James
x

Sorry James, I was referring to my previous post. VPC1 is available at merula.com. I received the call from the shop this morning.

Ah, I see.

Good price too!

€ 1090 (including tax?) ; what happened ? The last time I looked it was around € 1333 at least...

Congrats on your purchase by the way. At this price it's even more a no brainer than it was. You'll certainly like it .

Discount price too??

Congrats! I'm sure you will enjoy it!

just went on sweetwater this morning seem like they got vpc1 in stock in case if anyone in U.S wants one.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/VPC1

Thanks to the production increases, I believe most if not all of the back-orders have been filled, so stores should have stock available for immediate purchase.

James
x

I emailed Kawai Australia about VPC-1 availability. They said:



The cheapest street price for an MP10 I have found is AUS$3150 (US$2950). The VPC-1 street price would probably mid $2K.

Can anyone offer advice on those of us in Australia lusting after the VPC-1? (or a cheaper MP10?)

@Rapmaninov

If they are not going to release the VPC , the high end MP is indeed the most similar board. However , the MP10 has the somewhat older RM keybed without a third sensor. Also the extended touch curves and touch curve editor are not available for the MP10. If you're not in a hurry, I'd sit this one out and wait for the next generation of MP boards somewhere in the future. Otherwise a CA-15 cabinet piano has the same keybed as the VPC1. So if that is available in Australia, it could be an alternative. Again without dedicated touchcurves for software piano's , which is a VPC specific feature, but with added bonus of build-in speakers and internal sounds.

Rapmaninov, as you have found, Kawai Australia opted not to introduce the VPC1. It's a regrettable decision, however I have to accept my colleague's stance.

Unfortunately, there are no official (i.e. supported) methods for consumers in Australasia to purchase the VPC1.

Kind regards,
James
x

Thomann will ship to Australia for a flat rate of €50. They are selling the vpc1 for €1325 so the total to Australia would be €1375, 1857.35 US dollars, which according to my calculator is 1983.50 Australian dollars.

It is 29.5kg which is just within the 30kg limit for this cheap fifty euro flat shipping rate....sounds like a very good deal to me.

This is indeed possible. However, purchasing from Europe is undoubtedly an 'unofficial' purchasing method.

If the instrument is damaged on arrival, Kawai Australia is not obliged to offer repair, servicing, or any other form of technical support.

Kind regards,
James
x

Kawai Australia kind of stinks. Sorry, man. They are also presumably the ones who set the price points. If it makes you feel better I've got some complaints about Kawai US as well (no CA-15 or CA-13, for example).

Unfortunately the autonomy/flexibility given these distributors/subsidiaries hurts the end user, but there's nothing we can do about it.