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Thanks Tyrone. My biggest concern is that I’ve not even been playjng for 3 years yet so I don’t feel qualified to do a review. I just don’t know enough yet nor am I confident enough in my playing ability to give a demo to a wider audience than here on pw.
Now learning: Debussy Clar de Lune, Mozart Sonata in C K. 545, Joplin The Chrysanthemum Instruments: Yamaha N1X, Roland GO:PIANO, Piano de Voyage
High up is a good place for the music stand. Especially for taller people, like me. Especially for people with degenerating disks, like me.
Not if, like me, you wear varifocals, where the close-focus part of the lens is at the bottom. I'm fine on my stage piano where I'm looking down at the music, but on my piano teacher's Steinway I'm looking straight ahead at it, and it's really difficult to focus. It seems silly to have to get "piano glasses" for one lesson a week!
Since we have now devolved completely away from the piano aspect of the N1X and into various sight related topics I will throw in my two cents. I also have multifocal lenses for regular wear that are a bit of a pain when playing the piano. Fortunately I also have a pair of glasses just for working at the computer that are single focus for very near distance. These are great for playing the piano.
Luckily for me, my piano is literally behind me when I am sitting at my work desk. I have single focus glasses that I use when working using my computer and the glasses sit on my desk. I only ever use the same glasses when playing on my piano. Whenever I forget I know immediately I try to focus on the sheet music, just turn around and grab my glasses.
I think you would find piano glasses would be of benefit when playing at home as well. With your varifocals you usually only have a limited area that is in focus and you may then also find that reading your music and when you have to glance down at the keys it is easier to get the information you need before looking back up at the music.
I’ve remembered that I do actually have a pair of reading glasses (which, since getting varifocals, I no longer wear). I’ll try them out for piano use when I have my next lesson.
Since we have now devolved completely away from the piano aspect of the N1X and into various sight related topics I will throw in my two cents. I also have multifocal lenses for regular wear that are a bit of a pain when playing the piano. Fortunately I also have a pair of glasses just for working at the computer that are single focus for very near distance. These are great for playing the piano.
Is it because you find it still hard to read the notes at piano desk distance?
I use multifocal contact lenses for my presbyopia and find have found that they work great for reading music at piano desk distance. In fact, the only distance they don't seem to work is 0 to 6 inches. Mine are Air Optix Aqua.
across the stone, deathless piano performances
"Discipline is more reliable than motivation." -by a contributor on Reddit r/piano "Success is 10% inspiration, and 90% perspiration." -by some other wise person "Pianoteq manages to keep it all together yet simultaneously also go in all directions; like a quantum particle entangled with an unknown and spooky parallel universe simply waiting to be discovered." -by Pete14
I always blamed my short-sightedness on the amount of time I spent playing the piano when young as it ended up exactly matching the distance to the piano score on my upright. Now I have varifocals, another short-sighted pair for the piano and a long distance one for Badminton and as an emergency pair in the car.
Since we have now devolved completely away from the piano aspect of the N1X and into various sight related topics I will throw in my two cents. I also have multifocal lenses for regular wear that are a bit of a pain when playing the piano. Fortunately I also have a pair of glasses just for working at the computer that are single focus for very near distance. These are great for playing the piano.
Is it because you find it still hard to read the notes at piano desk distance?
I use multifocal contact lenses for my presbyopia and find have found that they work great for reading music at piano desk distance. In fact, the only distance they don't seem to work is 0 to 6 inches. Mine are Air Optix Aqua.
Well, multi focal contact lenses may be easier to use than multi focal glasses. Never tried them. Multi focal glasses will have their own focal zones/areas, depending on the prescription and type of lens. If I use my multi focal glasses to work with a wide computer monitor (or two monitors) or to read a score, then I have to keep my eyes roughly on the same position and move my head around to keep things in focus at close distance. This Is not feasible while playing the piano because once I look down at the keyboard and then up again at the score, chances are the text will be out of focus. So, I have to use single focus glasses for work and playing the piano...
Hopefully the n1x owners will bring this thread back to the topic
It would be interesting for a current Novus owner to go and buy an N1X, so we can get a hands-on comparison (thread).
From the other thread, jgbs is turning in his Novus and might be getting an N1X he says, but it doesn't sound like it will be soon. But the new Novus patch is coming in a few days. Either the Novus owners who are currently struggling will become wildly ecstatic, or perhaps others of them might trade for N1X's also - so eventually, their probably be some reviews by owners that have (had) both.
across the stone, deathless piano performances
"Discipline is more reliable than motivation." -by a contributor on Reddit r/piano "Success is 10% inspiration, and 90% perspiration." -by some other wise person "Pianoteq manages to keep it all together yet simultaneously also go in all directions; like a quantum particle entangled with an unknown and spooky parallel universe simply waiting to be discovered." -by Pete14
"Discipline is more reliable than motivation." -by a contributor on Reddit r/piano "Success is 10% inspiration, and 90% perspiration." -by some other wise person "Pianoteq manages to keep it all together yet simultaneously also go in all directions; like a quantum particle entangled with an unknown and spooky parallel universe simply waiting to be discovered." -by Pete14
I posted two long comments in that thread. HTH. BTW: Back in 2015, when I made that post, I finally figured out how to use a weighted action without hurting my pinkies with that light ES100 action.
I posted two long comments in that thread. HTH. BTW: Back in 2015, when I made that post, I finally figured out how to use a weighted action without hurting my pinkies with that light ES100 action.
My current bane is pinkies too!
across the stone, deathless piano performances
"Discipline is more reliable than motivation." -by a contributor on Reddit r/piano "Success is 10% inspiration, and 90% perspiration." -by some other wise person "Pianoteq manages to keep it all together yet simultaneously also go in all directions; like a quantum particle entangled with an unknown and spooky parallel universe simply waiting to be discovered." -by Pete14
To avoid injury, immediately stop practice before it hurts.
The actual issue is not the key weight itself, but the key bottoming out, while there is still muscle activity.
Light weight keys amplify the problem, because their inertia is really low, so they reach high speeds with less effort, before being abruptly stopped again.
Now to circle this back around to the N1X it would be interesting if someone were to post recordings of the same music played with the CFX and the Bosendorfer to compare the two.
Well here you go! Back on topic. A few things to note about what I've done in this video. First, over headphones, the binaural CFX is a clear winner. So I wanted to try to capture what I hear when I play without headphones. So what I've done is placed a microphone about where my head would be when I play. Unfortunately I don't have a super music recording mic, but I used my Blue Yeti which I think will do a better job than what's built in to my Surface Pro. Second, this is not me playing. I wish! This is having the instrument play a midi file from the diskclavier archive so it is a) consistent and b) something you actually want to listen to. I chose this Nocturne as it demonstrates pretty good coverage of the notes and dynamics. I hope this isn't too "cheaty" I wanted to give a fair consistent comparison.
I have to apologize, the heater fan came on right in the middle of the Imperial and it sounds like it got picked up If it's truly distracting let me know and I'll try recording again and turn the heat off. If you are actually watching you'll see me get up and try to turn the heat off but the fan keeps going for a while even after being turned off. Ah well, you get to hear what is sounds like at Chrispy's house.
Now learning: Debussy Clar de Lune, Mozart Sonata in C K. 545, Joplin The Chrysanthemum Instruments: Yamaha N1X, Roland GO:PIANO, Piano de Voyage
When I switched from ES7 to a NU1X I noticed how hard bottoming the NU1X was but I especially liked that. After a month of playing it I went to test the CA78 and one particular aspect I disliked about it was how soft bottoming it was. It’s so soft that I can’t feel at which point the sound should be generated, so it felt very unrealistic. I’m wondering if that’s a trait Kawai also have in their grand pianos, hence NV10.
Christy, nice comparison. I tried to do a comparison too but since I used headphones I realized CFX binaural is miles ahead of the other sounds. The other piano sounds are nasal and mono like, reminding me of Pianoteq somehow and I’ve already described that in another thread. Even if I switch the binaural (stereo optimization for other voices) off, it’s still nasty. I felt they are so uninspiring I wouldn’t play well a piece because of that fact I will record a comparison through speakers, on a USB drive though, simply because Bösendorfer and the rest are excellent through the speakers and I can deep dive into the music.
"Discipline is more reliable than motivation." -by a contributor on Reddit r/piano "Success is 10% inspiration, and 90% perspiration." -by some other wise person "Pianoteq manages to keep it all together yet simultaneously also go in all directions; like a quantum particle entangled with an unknown and spooky parallel universe simply waiting to be discovered." -by Pete14
![[Linked Image]](https://forum.pianoworld.com//gallery/42/medium/12282.png)
If it's truly distracting let me know and I'll try recording again and turn the heat off. If you are actually watching you'll see me get up and try to turn the heat off but the fan keeps going for a while even after being turned off. Ah well, you get to hear what is sounds like at Chrispy's house.
I will record a comparison through speakers, on a USB drive though, simply because Bösendorfer and the rest are excellent through the speakers and I can deep dive into the music. 