Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai ES100: let's collect reviews and impressions here

HI all

I am very new to DP, in fact, I am not a pianist. This is my first post to this (impressive) forum. I was a pro flutist, morphed to recorder and now wish I had a (real) harpsichord. Impractical, for many reasons. I have only seen one dedicated digital harpsichord- the Roland c-30 at around $6000!! So...being a keyboard beginner but with a fussy more-or-less professional ear, I want a reasonably-priced starter DP that will sound nice as a piano and also be useable as a harpsichord. The sample of the ES100 I heard (I forget where), was pretty dismal in the harpsichord department, but otherwise lovely sounding as a piano. I DO want something that will inspire my to learn and play whatever keyboard I purchase.

So, my question is...has anyone actually used this instrument with it's harpsichord function or perhaps with a Pianoteq harpsichord sound? If so, what is your impression of the harpsichord sound/function? There are no dealers that I know of near by to try this instrument, but I am tempted to buy it based on what I have read here and the samples I've heard. I was leaning towards the Yamaha P105, but have heard quite a few convincing arguments that the Kawai might be a better choice. Iam glad to hear it is easy to convert to USB-I have a Mac computer.
An aside question...I am not sure how the sound from something like pianoteq is generated- do you hear it through the piano speakers, or from your computer speakers?

Thank you so much for any thoughts you might have.

Hi, harpsichorder.

I can't say I have heard a really good harpsichord sound on too many digital pianos. They all sound quite similar to me, enough to get the job done but none of the real details of the instrument.

Pianoteq is a decent place to start, I actually like the harpsichord models they've done, and they are free add ons. You can give yourself a good listen, if you haven't already here: Pianoteq Harpsichord Demos

There are two models, the Grimalsi and the Blanchet, they do sound unique. They are also free to Pianoteq owners. So more importantly, what do YOU think of how the demos sound and is it worth it to purchase Pianoteq to be able to use these models?

In a different direction, you could also consider a sample based harpsichord. These would be harpsichord instruments created by recording the many unique sounds that come from the instrument and building those recordings into a playable format.

Cembalo from Premier Sound Factory will load into EXS24mkII (Logic Pro's built in sample player on Mac OSX, Kontakt by Native Instruments which runs on both OSX and Windows PCs, as well as Structure which runs in ProTools on OSX and Windows PCs.

W-Harpsichord by Waves Factory loads into EXS24 and Kontakt.

RealSamples.net has done libraries for Halion (Steinberg's sample player for Mac and OSX usually used with Cubase/Nuendo), EXS24, and Kontakt.

You can do a Google search for "harpsichord sample library" or "harpsichord vst" or "harpsichord au". If you're interested in other orchestral instruments the harpsichord is usually included along with collections like East West Symphonic Orchestra, or Garritan Personal Orchestra.

No clavichord or harpsichord touch on the ES100, obviously; but that's a given. The harpsichord plugin or "vst" will be heard through via your computer (with headphones or speakers); but we are getting into a different discussion on that point: audio interfaces, latency, software (like Kontakt) for playing the vst, and so on.

Needless to say, there are lots of piano vsts out there, but whether any of them sounds "real" or "authentic" is .... hmmm... "much disputed," shall we say. Probably the same holds for harpsichords, organs, etc... Also, a quick Google search tells me that harpsichord vsts may not be as easy to find as, say, piano or organ ones. Here's something interesting:

http://duphly.free.fr/en/italien.html

Looks like there are a few free clavier and harpsichord vsts; but still you'll need either Kontakt or some other software platform to use them (depending on the vst), plus a decent computer and audio interface.

my two cents...

The only acceptable harpsichord sound on a generic board is the Yamaha one put on many of their digital pianos. There is only one type but it is OK and I have enjoyed it a lot. Roland and Kawai don't do it right their generic harpsichord sound is a total joke. Roland produce a dedicated baroque style keyboard though with top notch harpsichord sounds and keyboard that is closer to the feel of period keyboards but it is an expensive instrument. Some of Nords provide uploadable harpsichord sounds that are very good but Nords are also somehow expensive. So if you appreciate harpsichord and would like to go budget, Yamaha is the only choice.

Thank you....errr, which (budget) Yamahas would recommend for the purpose? I have looked at P105, P35 DGX-650 as possibilities, as well as the Piaggero nvp80, but I am liking the piano sound of the Kawai. Maybe it is not so much better that it matters in this class of piano. It appears likely that I will be using a sound sample for whatever instrument I get in any case.

I can't answer your question, but I can point out that the P105 has one harpsichord sound, while the lower priced P35 has two. Also, in terms of piano sound, the NPV80 is not as good as any of the others.

Has anybody heard from Kawai as to when there will be a software update for the ES100.
There is nothing here (yet)
http://www.kawai-global.com/support/updates/
nor here
http://www.kawaius.com/Downloads/download_archive.html
or here
http://www.kawai.co.uk/downloads.htm

Kawai only publishes firmware updates for models with USB-to-device interfaces. They don't trust customers to be able to update a piano via MIDI.

Wow, that is a shame. I thought that learning a Bach Partita is harder than using a MIDI interface but that's just me.

To Kawai out there: Upload the update when available and give us correct instructions on how to do it or warn those who are not confident enough to just not do it. It can't possibly be that hard.

Maybe a little tricky if you need do it via Sysex and load in a sequencer. Set the ES100 to receive and play up into storage. Not horribly user friendly and old tech. My guess is the es100 maybe has a ROM for its OS?. Can only be updated with a chip swap out? Or maybe the ROM is soldered to the mobo? Either way, no USB suggests no flash ram for OS on board.

There are enough $5 el cheapo MIDI interfaces, which truncate Sysex messages. And sequencers, which miss stuff when importing SMF.

The most sensible option would be something like a Windows program:

• with a MIDI interfaces whitelist
• check for a working connection (by requiring both MIDI ports to be connected to the PC)
• sends the firmware on its own to the device, without the help of an external sequencer program

I`m surprised Kawai do this . . .I mean, they do update the models every two years or so . . . I don`t expect an upgrade for my DGX, why should anybody else? And if you don`t like the upgrade, . . . What then?

You go back to the old version using the same way.

like!

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum, new to the DP world, and new to the piano world generally. But I've researched things thoroughly before I bought my ES100 and I'm generally very happy with it. It came with a nice damper. The first time around, everything worked well with it (except that it doesn't do the sympathetic resonance, although it states in the manual that it should do this!). It made the damper noise when I pushed it idly, and the suspension (or however you call this) of the notes was nice too. However, today, the damper just doesn't do anything anymore. It simply has no effect on the sound when I push it. I know I could have changed something in the settings by accident, so I went back and looked up in the manual how to switch on the damper again. Nothing changed. I also did the combination to reset to the factory standard. Nothing changed. The damper still has no effect. I tried it with and without headphones. I switched the ES100 on and off several times, with and without having the damper plugged in already before switching on. I'm running out of ideas. Is it possible that the damper worked for the first few times I had plugged it in, and now already died? What else could have changed? Anyone had the same happening to them? (I know about the former delay problems, it's not about that).

Grateful for any advice.

Hello akrates,

It's impossible to tell exactly what is causing this issue, however I expect the matter is hardware, rather than software related.

Please contact the store from where the instrument was purchased to request assistance.

Kind regards,
James
x

Hi everyone. I purchased es100 about half year now. Recently when i play with headphone i hear some sound like dash......dash.... when i push the pedal down. I dont know if this normal or not. Sorry for my bad english

That's intentional, if it's what I think it is. When you press the pedal on an acoustic piano, the dampers leaving the strings make a quiet rushing sound. In the middle of an actual performance, that sound increases the realism, since it's what you'd hear on a real piano. There may be a small thunk when you release the pedal as well (I don't know, I don't actually own an ES100).

thanks for the answer. yes, i dont play acoustic piano so dont know so much about the pedal sound, just a little annoying when hearing the push and release pedal sound. but thats weird because i can hear it when only i put the headphone on.

You can disable the noise effects, review the manual.