Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai announces ES110 ultra-portable digital piano

Hello James, thanks for welcoming!

The instrument travel from Germany to Greece.

Not so long distance and the outside box was not damaged, except 2 little marks.

I will inform with news about the replacement and finally the new one!

Kind regards
Takkiz

Too late to edit my post, scratch that to read "component inside", I would suspect a coil of some sort but could be many things I'm not a tech!

Thx for all replies
The adaptor is a small modern switching power adaptor, honestly I hear about the same buzz when I plug my headphone in a Onkyo receiver.
However when I plug it in to my smartphone I don't hear any noise or buzz. So it's probably indeed powersupply related, it's very quiet but not unhearable.

I ordered a HD558 and will check if it's the same with that headpone.

I didn't play much yet but I can say I'm really happy with my purchase, all keys work as intended and feel good.
Pity there's no android app yet for the Bluetooth LE midi but I guess that's not Kawai's fault.

Switching power means inside there is a class D amplifier - susceptible to all sorts of interference and dirt on the line so to speak. Ours does a fair impression if a nest of bumblebees when I switch on a couple of CFL built in ceiling lights near the Roland..

I have to say the inconsistent spacing between keys on ES110 puts me off so much.. and it affects all the octaves on the keyboard, not just one or two. I saw the issue when I tried it out in a shop and I thought it was just an odd one out. I purchased it based on the good review of es100 - and mine has got the same weird spacing. It's making the keyboard look soooo cheap, definitely not something I'd put a Kawai logo on. Now reading this topic clearly this is a common issue that affects more than a few es110.. Certainly it's just a cosmetic thing and doesnt affect the keyboard's functionality..but when was a piano ever purchased purely for the functionality anyway. It's an elegant piece of furniture..until you come a tiny bit closer and the hideous spacing is so apparent it's the first thing that you notice.. It's my first proper keyboard so I still like it very much, it's a sentimental thing, but it could've made me a little more proud..

I uploaded a video of the keyspacing of my Es110
https://vid.me/wRLB
On my keyboard it looks "normal" to me, at least not excessive like on the other video.
If it's worse than on my video, maybe you could check for a replacment?

Hi guys,

I am total beginner (adult) with passion for pianos since I was a kid and this is my first post here.
I picked up my ES110 a week ago and I'd like to kindly ask you if you could answer on few questions.
Apologies if some questions are off-topic.

1. As concluded on forum here about poor BT support for Android platform it looks we won't be able to leverage BT feature at least not for now so I decided to look for MIDI-to-USB adapter/cable for PC (Windows 10).
Price ranges from only few $ to much more as this one here in BestBuy:
http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product...face-um-one-mk2-um-one-mk2/10265566.aspx

My question is, does anyone has experience with this and could give some recommendations?
Is there any difference in quality? I am wondering about latency since I noticed this adapter had some kind of sound processor.

2. I would appreciate if someone can recommend MIDI software for Windows PC to use primary for learning?

3. Since I took bundle I have 3 pedals (F-350). However I can not hear any difference when I press left two. Third one (sustain) works OK. Is is possible that soft pedals are so subtle that I don't hear any difference (maybe my beginner ear is unable to pick this up?:) ) or my Kawai "thinks" I have only one (default) damper pedal and I need to set it up?
How is your experience with F-350?

Thanks a lot,
Kris

3. Left pedal, una corda, the effect is when playing a grand piano it should play back samples of just the centre string being hit - it is a softer sound with less vibrance. The middle pedal can be assigned to page turning via Bluetooth, but the default is sostenuto.
http://www.dawsons.co.uk/blog/what-do-the-pedals-on-a-piano-do

Very good info about 3-pedals, thanks Goss, and, about space between keys, I think it's normal because it's an entry level DP, but when it's exessive, well, it's a little disappointing, especially that it's about Kawai, which specializes in the manufacture of pianos, my ES110 will be arriving very soon, I'd like to share with all of you some photos and thoughts about this model.

The $15 and below cheap ones are garbage: missing the required optical isolation putting both your computer and instrument at risk, adding latency, losing notes, 3 byte messages only etc. They are violating the MIDI standard in various ways and not worth the trouble.

The well made interfaces starting at $30 like the Roland you linked are all equally fine.

Hello Kris, welcome to the forum and congrats on the purchase of your ES110.

To answer your questions:

1. While the cheaper USB-to-MIDI adaptors may work fine, we occasionally hear reports of dropped/stuck notes from user of unbranded accessories. The more expensive adaptors (such as the Roland linked) should not suffer such issues.

3. The left and centre pedals are automatically configured to soft and sostenuto functions. The soft pedal can be a rather subtle effect, depending on the playing style, while the sostenuto pedal will sustain only the notes held when the pedal is pressed, leaving subsequent notes unaffected.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_pedals

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
James
x

Thank you all on quick response!
Great info, this helps me a lot!

Thanks James, I am very happy with my piano :-)


Regards,
Kris

Why should it be normal? You are still paying $700 for a keyboard, and this is not the cheapest in it's class. Kawai should have improved build quality with ES110, but it proves out that they didn't. For Roland Fp30 that is cheaper they didn't cut on built quality, and you don't get those spaces or clicking keys. I have recently tested some Casio, Privia PX160 in the same price range, and the keybed is very good one, no bad spacing, and it's a lot cheaper, probably the cheapest in it's class. But they didn't cut on quality ... Why would Kawai cut it just because is cheaper? Maybe James could tell us about it...

Got to admit - reading about keys all misaligned does make me cringe.. A few months ago a local supermarket had a 99€ Casio for sale - you could take a micrometer to its keys and come up with less than negligible differences across the board..

The folded mechanisms have several parts that make up the action, and a 99% accurate key going into a 99% accurate hammer so to speak does not give a 99% properly aligned mechanism but 98%..

The exec who said this was good enough is wrong

Not necessarily, I've put some high-end class-d amplifiers together (Hypex) with a switching power supply and they sound absolutely great.
When designing a power supply (linear or switching) a company needs to keep in mind that they're using audio-equipment and not a toaster

My HD558 just arrived today and I can't hear any buzz anymore, not surprising as they're complete opposite headphones. (very open VS very closed)

Full ACK!

That is a know problem in the industry and, as you say, the interference is due to cheap build quality.

I have a Class-D HiFi amplifyer by Onkyo and itself and its matching radio FM tuner component have special shielding inside. No problem whatsoever.

My MP7 / Syrincs M3 combination on the other side is easily disturbed by cross talk caused by the mobile phone...

It's still the same power supply as with the ES-100 and VPC-1

Having seen my Roland opened up for service, I saw metal shielding only on the bottom of the cabinet - the rest was bare.. It was also bare of any damping material, which is pretty essential for proper functioning of loudspeaker enclosures..
The PSU may be fine - the actual amplification components are pretty much naked to the world ^^

DP makers might be prioritizing cabinet vibrations and full scale volume over clean sound in these cases.

that and cutting costs and labour