Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai VPC1 or wait?

Thanks @newer_player for the info. Looking at that thread right now.

I was at a Kawai store last Saturday looking at the CA58/78. The salesman mentioned that the CA58 has the Grand Feel Compact action.
I asked "Isn't that an upgrade to the RM3 Grand II action in the VPC1?" He said something to the effect of "yeah and the VPC2 will [/ might] get the compact action."
Now, whether or not he was speculating or speaking from inside knowledge, well it remains to be seen...(I didn't ask further because my focus was on the CA58)

Q: How do you know when a salesman is lying?
A: His lips are moving.

He was not technically lying. I'm pretty sure that the VPC2 will be released at some point. If not in the next couple of months then very likely in the next couple of years.

Having said that, people have been incorrectly predicting the VPC2 announcement date for at least 5 years now. So who knows.

What makes you say "pretty likely"? What makes it likely?

It's a shame that you didn't ask him to elaborate.

So did you try the GF-C action on the CA58? If so how did it compare to the GFII action on the CA78?

Yeah yeah I know. My wife tells me I get focused on one thing to the exclusion of all else. :-)



I've always preferred Kawai actions - whether on the MP9000 (which I have) or on the VPC1. The CA58 action seemed just slightly fatiguing - never encountered that on a Kawai. However my wrists have been sore lately so I would need to try it again.
The CA78 was noticeably smoother and felt nicely playable - best Kawai action I've tried.

It's OK. I'm like that too!



Thanks for sharing this info. Have you decided which one you'll get?

Well...

I'd like to get the CA78. But the spending decision is not mine alone. We'll likely decide by next week.

Intrigued to see what happens here. I have a FP30 that I'm using to control a Dexibell SX7 but have a line on a nearly new (1 year old, still under warranty) used VPC1 with an RME Babyface Pro for €1350 from a guy that's moving next week. I thought the MP11 action was lovely, have never played the VPC1. It's an hour drive just to pick it up. Then again, NAMM is next month. Why doesn't Roland come out with a successor to the A88? Because they want us to buy a FP90 instead?

At this point NAMM 2019 is less than 4 weeks away. If you already have a DP to practice on, I'd recommend that you wait untl then. This way you get to see what all the major DP manufacturers have in store; not just Kawai, but Roland and Yamaha as well. Worst case scenario you delay purchasing the VPC-1 by another month. Best case, you catch sight of a newly released DP/ controller that might be a better fit for your needs. Either way, no regrets.

Patience is a virtue!

ITEM #1: NAMM might be just a month away. But the new pianos won't likely be in stores for six months. (Even longer in the boondocks.)

ITEM #2: As for the VPC priced at 1350 EUR ... that's about $1550 USD.
That's about the price paid by lots of folks here in the US for a NEW unit ... and MORE than buyers have paid in Europe for a NEW unit.
I refer you to the prices paid thread, or to the corresponding spreadsheet at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwdESI8nPDtaQzhZeUh6UlBRZlk/view
The listings show the following:
So maybe the included Babyface Pro is worth a lot? I don't know.
But I do know that $100 or $150 buys a proper audio interface from M-Audio or Presonus or Focusrite.

I agree with MacMacMac that that used VPC1 is not a great deal. And yes if a new controller / digital piano is released at NAMM it'll probably be at least another 2-3 months before that device is on the market. But if you plan to keep that device for years to come, a 2-3 month wait is worth it trust me. And if nothing of interest is released, then you can go ahead and buy the VPC-1 with nothing to lose and no regrets. Just my two cents.

Thank you for all the price data, suggestions and advice.

The used price for a VPC1 separately is €900, which is going market price here for the unit that is 1 year and still under warranty.

(The €1350 was for a VPC1 and the RME Babyface Pro, which alone is about €700 new.)

Curious, tomich, why the RME is of interest to you? You can get a good AI for a quarter of the price and the RME is overkill unless you have a semi pro studio going. Then there are more capable units like Audient has which are more versatile and cheaper as I understand it. I use a Steinberg UR22 mk2, under $200. But maybe I just don't understand your setup.

That's what I was thinking. That Babyface is awfully expensive! And for what??

Personally I'm very happy with my RME interface, it's got me a latency setting I absolutely couldn't get with other interfaces.

Mine cost only $235, however, though if I couldnt've found it one at that price, it'd been worth it full price. You can find used RME HDSP 9632 (what I have) for around that price, and you're set as long as you have a PCI slot, though many newer computers don't have them (only PCIe).

The RME BabyFace Pro is great for home-studio work. It also has the lowest latency (USB & Thunderblot), has rock-solid stable drivers, and claims industry-leading low-jitter performance. The headphone outputs are powerful enough and sound good enough.

The RME is also very expensive and feature-rich. There are plenty of other good interfaces for much less money.

tomich, have a look at the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4. It's great! Has balanced and unbalanced outputs, excellent headphone amplifier, high fidelity DAC (192KHz), MIDI IN/OUT in addition to two microphone inputs. Comes with its own optimized ASIO drivers for Windows/Mac and works out of the box on Linux. It also includes a bunch of software including Ableton Live Lite and one of the Piano VSTs from Addictive Keys. It costs $200USD. For this level of functionality and integration, it is an amazing bargain.

The UR22 Steinberg is also a great AI and goes for $150USD.

This is going to sound a bit stupid, especially since I use a DAC with my computer (just another form of external audio interface), but for the life of me, I can't see what an external audio interface as RME Babyface, Focusrite Scarlett, etc. can do for a digital piano. How does one hook it up to a piano and what does it do that the native digital piano can't do by itself?

...Or maybe I do know. Are those using one just connecting it to their computer as an Analog-to-Digital (A/D) interface for their piano's line-out?