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

Just a personal anecdote, but there's a Roland RD-300NX that I play semi-frequently, and it has some really loud black-key rebound noise. The white keys are fine. I notice it whenever I play without headphones and it does bother me (perhaps only because it is different than the white keys).

So you might think you're only concerned about the white keys now, but if you fix them, you might then start noticing any black key noise too

Haha, very true. And, if that's the case, I must soldier on and fix that issue as well. No warranty, so I'm in this for the long haul, baby.

As it stands so far, the white keys are extraordinarily easy to muffle. I pulled back the felt off the foam base for a single key to test, replaced it with a pair of different layered materials, and the key is completely inaudible. It also sits at a normal height - maybe under by a millimeter or two. I can attribute this to the lack of precision in this quick test. I merely eyeballed the thickness and replicated it. I have no doubt that a measured felt insert would be indistinguishable, save for the noise cancellation. I also wouldn't say there's a dead spot, but the key is slightly softer when depressing it. Again, this should be fixed with exact measurements, but might actually be preferable to some.

Interestingly, I layered the pulled back felt under the adjacent key action, and that action is even quieter than the material I used under the other action. I believe only one latch from each of the two following keys is touching the overlapping felt, so it might be the case that only every other set of adjacent keys needs felt (i.e. under the "crack" of the key). One latch on the low B and C key share a piece of overlapped felt, and they are both noiseless. As an added benefit, the key and action haven't been affected AT ALL, as opposed to the A key, which needs its material adjusted.

This is all very interesting. Trying to get a video of the sound comparison up now.

Edit: Here's the preliminary sound comparison:

This is very interesting.

The rebound noise or some as some people call it; the key "fallback" noise. It's pretty loud and noticeable across all the non-wooden actions from Kawai I've tried so far.
The only action I didn't notice this noise and bounciness were from the CA series, the MP11 and the VPC1, all of them which uses wooden keys.

I was opting for an ES110 at first but decided to get an ES8 in the end, it took me a while to get used to this noise, but sometimes if you listen closely to it it's very noticeable compared to the Roland FP series which has close to no bounciness (and more quite in general).

That is not to say that acoustic pianos don't have fallback noise, since you can configure the fallback noise in the ES8, but sometimes I find it hard to get used to that physical hard "thumping" rebound sound compared to an old acoustic piano I play at school.

So the RHII and RHIII actions feature the same latch/rod design flaw as the RHC. As you can see, the latch protruding from the bottom of those keys are hitting, yet again, another plastic rod with an inadequate piece of felt on the bottom. Theoretically, the solution should be identical to the one here.

Nigel, I received the MIDI exclusive information that you requested from one of the ES110 programmers.

It's saved in Excel format, which I will eventually turn into a more attractive PDF to match the owner's manual appearance.
However, until then the Excel should contain the information you need. I'll send you a PM with a download link shortly.

Kind regards,
James
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Wow, that's service!

Thanks James it will be really useful.

thanks

+1. This is partly the reason why I am leaning towards Novus NV10 over Avantgrand!!

Osho

Hi Nerios, do I understand you correctly:
are you saying, the ES8 has the same debouncing issue as ES110?

Yeah, that's correct.

I can't say now since I don't have an ES-110 to compare with, but back when I was deciding which Kawai to buy, I had the opportunity to try every recent ES model to the MP, CA and CN series.
Only those with the Grand Feel action (wooden keys) didn't have this "issue".

Actually you can find the same thing in most of the lower Yamaha and Casio DPs too, except the Roland FP series, which didn't have much noticeable bounciness.

To Kawai James,

I’m really interested in the es110 but really wonder why Kawai skip the LED and or lighting above the buttons for easier identification of sounds or program selected. I only ask this because how does a person with a hearing loss (not deaf), who relays on visual cues, be able to determine which sound is which?

2nd question (probably a stupid question), while it seems that this piano is geared for gigging, as I’ve read from previous posts, is it suitable to be played at home with no intention of performing?

Thanks

Definitely suitable for playing at home! Two things that make it useful for gigging are the line outs and light weight.

Hello Mac2010,



I believe that's a valid criticism.
There are multiple sounds assigned to individual buttons, as you note. Therefore the only way to check that the sound select is correct is either to count the number of button pushes, or to play a note to check the selected sound.

The Registrations function can negate this problem, as it allows preferred sounds and settings to be stored to one of 4 memories.



Yes, absolutely. The instrument is ideally suited to home use, however it's lightweight, portable form factor means it's also popular for folks looking for an inexpensive gigging board with a good quality keyboard action.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
James
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Hi guys,

First of all, I wish you and your families happy New Year and all the best!!!

I have one question regarding ES 110 pedals. I bought ES 110 back in Feb, and as an adult beginner just came to the level where I started using pedals. I have full kit, therefore all three pedals are available and connected correctly however I noticed only sustain (3rd / most right one) is working properly. First two don't produce any change in sound.
My understanding is that on acustic piano 1st pedal is producing soft sound, 2nd is sustaining only one note and 3rd is full sustaining/damper. I read somwhere that on digital piano first two could be re-programmed to trigger different funcion, i.e. to turn page on music sheet software when used with MIDI interface.

If this is correct does that means that first two pedels doesn't have any function? or I have issue with either configuration or hardware malfunction?

Please share your experience and my appologies if this question has already been discussed.

Thank you so much,
Kris

The soft pedal effect can be quite subtle.

The sostenuto pedal needs to be used in just the right way to have any effect:
- press down a bass key (or any key, but the bass keys sustain longer)
- with the key down press the sostenuto pedal down
- with the sostenuto pedal down release the key
- with the sostenuto pedal still down play some staccato notes on any other keys

The other notes should'nt be sustained and the first note caught by the pedal should still be sustained.

Very useful information. Thanks.

Thank you so much clothearednincompo!
This is very useful info. Will try it out when I'm back from vacation.

Thanks,
Kris

On the iOS App Store "Virtual Technician" page, a customer commented this app works with the ES110, but the ES110 is not listed as a "supported model".

Can anyone confirm it works? And does it work via BT?

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/virtual-technician/id948579667?mt=8

Steve.L, I believe the ES110 does indeed support the Virtual Technician app, and should be able to connect via Bluetooth.

A relatively small number of early ES110 boards may need to have their software updated in order to fully support the app. If an ES110 customer finds that their instrument does not function correctly with the Virtual Technician app, they should contact their Kawai dealer/distributor for assistance.

I will look into having the compatibility list on the App Store page updated.

Kind regards,
James
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Thanks, James. Does ES110 firmware have to be updated by Kawai service, since there’s no USB port?