Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai ES110, my review

I don't know enough about audio to discuss about it, really. Never thought that those splitters could cause impedance problems or even damage your gear. Think I'll give up looking for a simple solution to my problem because there simply isn't one.
I have a Behringen Q502USB mixer but as I've said before, don't want to use a mixer, involving even more wires. A Bluetooth solution is out of the question either, since audio lags via Bluetooth.
Still, don't understand why Kawai couldn't even put a simple audio input on the ES110, wouldn't have made the piano that much more expensive. It's got fancy Bluetooth midi, but no way of hearing that fancy connected iPad when using headphones.

Yes, the Yamaha P125 has the best connections, audio and midi over one USB cable, but then they did a Kawai and skimped on something else, the keybed : if they had put something like the GH3 in there, the P125 might have crushed all the competition in one fell swoop (if Korg can put the RH3 in the D1, then surely Yamaha could have done the same with the P125).

Anyway, it's my problem, ultimately. I'll just dig further. Guess I'll do some more research on the PX-S1000. Chances are I'll get tired of 'compromising', which is what you have to do at this price level (I'm quite spoiled with my MP11SE).

That's not true. Your iPad can send all the MIDI data it wants to the ES110, which will happily play it back through its tone generator. Very useful for working with MIDI software like sheet music editors.

Obviously you want something different: audio for backing tracks, but that's not an entry level feature. Entry level digital pianos are "solo piano only" instruments. Or in other words: You get what you pay for.

Did you notice, that all entry level digital pianos are also missing the microphone input the Roland FP-90 offers, so you can't sing along? Guess why.

I did not watch the entire video but I doubt this is any better than a cheap Y cable as suggested above. And I agree with those that do not think it is a good idea (unless there is a battery hidden anywhere that makes these active).

There is a headphone in a candy box project that maybe could be modified to accept to inputs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMoy

I think you quoted the wrong post ...

OOPS.

Now quoting the right message...

Chris, I did not watch the entire video but I doubt this is any better than a cheap Y cable aforementioned. And I agree with those that do not think it is a good idea (unless there is a battery hidden anywhere that makes these things active). If you are the DYI kind and have some familiarity with electronics, modifying the Cmoy linked above would be fairly simple and solve your problem.

Well, obviously not when you only look at the cheaper models. When you spend less you get less; be that features, sound or touch. There are more expensive instruments that have all you want. There are cheaper ones that will lack things. The choice is yours.

I myself dont care much for cars, and when I buy one I have a tiny budget. As such I don't get a brand-new blistering-fast, uktra-safe and eco-friendly feature laden vehicle. My last car didn't even have electric windows or a tachometer.

That is fine, we all get what we pay for.

Think I'll take a closer look at the Roland RD-88. It's more expensive, but it's still reasonable.

It may be overkill for me as far as available sounds are concerned, but if it has enough convincing piano sounds, then I'm happy.
Plus, the PHA4 keybed is bound to be at least as good as the one in the PX-S1000 or ES110. Triple sensor, escapement, support for Roland's RPU3 pedal unit, and built-in speakers (they should be enough for my use case).
No music rest but I can get a K&M Omega stand and use a second tier with a laptop holder or something similar. Plenty of options. And last but not least, all the necessary connections.
But no headphone out in the front. Annoying...

My favorite piano setting in the Kawai ES110 has the greatest clarity and touch response after it is edited:

"Studio Grand 2" after these edits
Touch Light
Voicing Dark
Brightness +1
Room Reverb
save to a Registration

These edits make it Studio Grand 2 more legato, fatter, and easier to play. It becomes just right for jazz single note soloing, almost flowing like legato a saxophone. In comparison, the other onboard piano samples are a bit too punchy in their hammer strikes.

Here's how to get a great classic vintage clean tone Rhodes after these edits:
Touch Hard
Auto Pan OFF
Room Reverb
save to a Registration

The Studio Grand 2 samples have more tone sustain after the initial hammer strike than the other onboard piano samples. It's a bit thin and bright with its normal touch, but set it to its Dark Voicing and to Light Touch and it becomes transformed into a full bodied highly melodic piano. The sustain after the hammer attack is superior. It's excellent for bebop lines.

Coming back once more to the headphone conundrum :
These headphones from Marshall might be the answer.
https://www.marshallheadphones.com/gb/en/major-iii.html

They sport two 3.5 mm jack ports, one to connect your audio source to, and the other one for sharing your music with a friend (who plugs his headphones into yours). The neat thing, however, is that both ports are bi-directional which theoretically means you could listen to two audio sources at the same time...

There's also a Bluetooth version, with just one 3.5 mm port (obviously, in this case, one audio source is bluetooth, the other wired)...
Granted, they're not the best headphones for perfect studio listening (they're officially Hifi headphones), but they're pretty solid, nonetheless. And I'm not looking for professional headphones, anyway. The wired version is cheap as an added bonus.

Haven't found any confirmation on the net yet, but I assume this could work (unless you're going suggest that connecting two audio sources to these headphones will make my head explode...)

Interesting, considering that the "Studio Grand 2" is based on a very old sample set from Kawai, the same used for the "Concert Grand 2" piano patch.
But I don't think it does exist a "Dark" voicing option in the ES110. There are Normal, Mellow, Dynamic, Bright. So, did you mean "Mellow"?

Concerning the ES110 ... is it possible to turn the bell off on beat 1 of the metronome ?

Thanks Rin Tin. That works very good for me. Think you mean ‘mellow’ not ‘dark’.

Got the outputs going into two small (45w) active monitors tucked behind the es110 speakers. There’s space on the stand.

I leave the es speakers on too.

For anyone else who would like to turn off the bell and like me has never heard of the 1/4 time signature:

1) I would like to turn off the bell on the metronome but cannot find out how to do this in the manual.

By default the ES110's Metronome will sound with a 4/4 time signature, with a bell to indicate the first bar.
If you would prefer not to hear this bell sound, I would recommend changing the time signature to a 1/4 time signature, which will produce just a click.

Please refer to page 17 of the ES110 owner's manual:
https://www.kawai-global.com/data/manuals/ES110_EN_R103.pdf#page=17

Here are the required steps:
1. Press and hold the LESSON and PIANO buttons simultaneously.
2. While holding the buttons, press the A#0 key - this is the bottom-most A# key - the second key of the keyboard when counting from the left side.
3. The Metronome setting should change from 4/4 to 1/4, and you should no longer hear the bell sound.

Bebe, did the above advice work for you?

Kind regards,
James
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Thanks James it did.

That's good, happy to help!

Cheers,
James
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