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The complexity of the software on these DPs lies entirely on the "sound engine", not on the UI. The UI software does nothing else than managing and displaying a set of parameters while interfacing with the sound engine. On these models, the touch display and UI are also running over some version of Android (some of you may have noticed the Android logo while updating the software/firmware). This means that the developers have a number of UI assets already available to support development. I have seen GUI software more complex than this one (i.e. with more use cases and dependencies between the use cases) being fully designed, developed, tested and incrementally refined over a period of 3-4 weeks by a small team of _experienced_ developers.

So, this is not about complexity, cost or development, or time in my opinion but just the repeat of a very classical story in software development. These major DP manufacturers have extensive expertise in DP engineering and in the development of dedicated software around the sound engine. However, the engineering teams working closely with the DPs likely have zero experience developing user interfaces - the development of apps and software lies in different units of such companies or may be even be contracted externally. So, the DP engineering "expert" team believes that programming an entirely new piece of software (the UI in this case) requires absolutely no additional knowledge - after all it is just programming some lines of code. So, the DP experts try to deal with the new software product by themselves with the knowledge they have (for some reason, the new touch screen interface does nothing else than emulating the old button-based interface). After the "expert" team has struggled with the UI development for some months, management starts demanding the product to be released to avoid further costs and delays. At this point it is already too late to bring in external competencies and to design a proper UI. And then we have this GUI released to the market. The worse part of this story is that it will be very hard to ever have a full redesign of the product . Why? Not because of development cost or time. Just because that would mean that the team of DP "experts" would have to admit failure and hand over the work to some other software development team that are not even "DP engineers". I would be surprised if that ever happens...

Hi arc7urus,

I used Pianoteq for the note-on velocities, and it doesn't seem to be a sensor related issue. Also using headphones confirmed there are no differences in the volume when compared to neighbouring keys. It must be something further along the chain, i.e. speakers emphasising a certain note or two. There are also no differences in volume of D5 and D#5 when using Pianoteq, outputting through JBL 305's (with local sound switched off).

Good to know! It may be some reverberation or resonance coming from the DP's cabinet or environment. I had a similar issue that I sorted out by moving the DP a couple of cms away from the wall. Do you happen to have the "Wall EQ" on? With that setting on I get a lot of cabinet resonance that blurs the sound, but this is likely dependent on the DP placing and surrounding environment.

I don't think CA78 has Wall EQ, but I'll try move it around to see if it makes a difference. Will probably do it next week when the tech comes over. Cheers mate.

One friend of mine has problems with recording via USB on a CA98. It is already updated to last version.
The UI freezes during the last step, when renaming should be possible. It is not related to the stick model, that has been ruled out.
This happened yet before updating to the last version.
Any ideas?

The screen shows the file name, but tapping on " done" has no effect.

mabraman, it's probably best if your friend contacts his/her Kawai dealer/distributor for assistance.

However can you perhaps clarify what you mean by:



Kind regards,
James
x

I had the same problem.
I unplugged the power cord (power function also froze)
Turned it on and reformatted the USB stick with the piano.
It's still working until now.
The Kawai Support response was not to use large capacity USB stick 4gb or 8gb recommended.
I also tried USB stick with slower transfer rate, it recorded only the first few second.
In my case I was using 16gb with too many files in it.
Capacity, Number of files, and transfer rate is affecting the performance.
I don't know if this works with different USB stick, mine is SanDisk CruzerBlade 16gb.

Cheers!

For what it's worth, I use a SanDisk Cruiser Fit 16gb, and have never experienced any USB problems with current generation Kawai DPs.

Kind regards,
James
x

Sorry for my bad english.
I meant that it doesn´t seem to be a matter of brand, nor capacity of the usb stick, because several models have been already tested: all with the same result. The last step of the recording process (renaming the file and "done") can´t be completed. There's is no response and it enters a closed loop.
I have suggested that he called the vendor to execute his warranty. Also to record internally and try to export that recording to usb, in order to be sure that it's not a hardware problem.

Screenshot. He says that, after this point, there's no way to get done or navigate in any direction.
[img]http://www.entre88teclas.es/foro/download/file.php?id=6914[/img]

Thank you for the additional info.

I'm unable to see the screenshot, unfortunately. However I'm familiar with the CAUI, so can imagine how it appears.

Assuming your friend is also posting on the Spanish forum, can you perhaps provide a direct link to his/her post, please?

It's perhaps also worth confirming that this CA98 owner is using the latest v1.0.2 system software and touchscreen software (three are three stages to update everything fully), and not just the update system software, but an older touchscreen software. It's perhaps unlikely, but worth checking, just in case.

Kind regards,
James
x

You can try formatting the USB stick with the CA98.

Anyway, I once experienced a similar GUI "lock" on my CA98 when navigating to a directory with 555 MIDI files on it - maybe someone can guess what are the contents of that directory ;-) The only way to unlock the GUI was to reboot the DP. However, I had managed to navigate to that directory before. I am running the latest firmware version. It can be easily shown that the GUI will take a long time to list the contents of a directory with many files (say +100) and that it is not caching the contents previously read.

Thanks James. This is the link:

http://www.entre88teclas.es/foro/vi...cb8e817dc06c0f100e&start=156#p185382

In theory, he updated succesfully to the last firmware version after some trouble understanding how to do it, but who knows

A video showing how It happens
CA98 recording issue

You have to use at least one Upper Case letter, one number and one special character so it would allow you to save it!
SCNR

In the video, it looks like touch screen failure.
So, It is different from my case, hmmm
Mine just freeze, nothing can do at all, except plugging out the power cord.

Thank you for the link (and also to the forum thread).

It seems that the 'Done' button press is not registering correctly.
I'm afraid I don't know what could be causing this.

I believe the same keyboard UI is used for other functions such as storing (and naming) a Favorite memory (Store to Favorite), or saving an internal song recorded in Sound mode to USB. Indeed, the latter would be a good test, to double-check that USB writing is working correctly.

I would also like to double-check that the customer's CA98 is running the v1.0.2 touchscreen software. This version number is shown at the bottom of the Settings menu.

Regarding your suggestion of recording to internal memory first, and then converting to audio, this is only possible when recording in Sound mode. The option is not available in Pianist mode. This limitation should be explained in the owner's manual.

My recommendation to the customer ('Heart' in the Spanish forum) would be to contact their Kawai dealer/distributor for assistance.

Kind regards,
James
x

Last night I was reading the manual and was hardly able to find any mention to the possibility of exporting files from internal memory to USB drive. I knew it wasn't possible for Pianist mode and, as it is a feature of x7 models, it should work in Sound mode...and yes, it is on page 71! (Recorder playback).
By the way, does it convert internal songs to mp3 automatically, or keeps them in KSO?

The recorded song is saved in either .KSO or .MID format, depending on the option selected (Save to USB [INT] or Save to USB [SMF]).

The 'Convert to Audio' function is no longer available on the CA98/CA78/NV10, however the same functionality can be reproduced using the Overdubbing function and selecting either an SMF/KSO file or an Internal Song recorded in Sound mode. This is explained on page 78 of the owner's manual.

May I kindly request that you ask your friend to check if the 'Store to Favorites' and/or 'Save to USB (SMF/USB)' functions (that also show the keyboard interface) are working correctly, and to confirm the version of the touchscreen software, as in my previous post. Feel free to also inform them of my post, or invite them to the forum. Thank you in advance.

Kind regards,
James
x

I just did it. Thank you very much, James, you are always very kind and helpful.
He is already in contact with the technicians. 'Save to USB (SMF/USB)' won't work.