Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards KAWAI MP7 THREAD

Hi James, On Friday 16/1/2015, after Kawai Japan asked the Product Manager at Kawai Australia (who I had been liaising with) what items were connected to the MP7 that presented with some randomly changing values on 6 January...the following conclusion was arrived at:
* V1.05 of the firmware was supposed to have fixed the known randomly changing values issue.
* The MP7 I tried definitely had V1.05 installed.
* The Kawai retailer had connected a generic brand sustain pedal to the Damper input of the MP7.
* The values would alter randomly regardless of whether I was playing the keyboard.
* Kawai Japan technicians say that only the supplied F-10H Kawai sustain pedal should be connected to the Damper input on the MP7. This does not appear to be mentioned in the instruction manual.
* To use a generic sustain pedal or other named brand...i.e Yamaha, Roland etc with a MP7 requires you to plug it into the "Soft((FSW)" input and editing the [C]L.Assign parameter to "Damper".
* It was also explained from a technical point of view why certain EXP controller pedals are not compatible with the MP7...i.e. Roland EV-5 , and some suggestions were given as to which pedals are known to be compatible.

I understand from a post you made in this forum in early January, that MP7 owners should be on the lookout for another firmware update. I understand this update is also designed to help improve the previously reported "jittery controls" phenomenon, which has also been mentioned in this forum.

James, your congratulations are slightly premature, because I am still awaiting the long awaited main shipment of MP7s into Perth West Australia, supposedly before the end of January. I am on standby to go and get one as soon as they arrive.

What I can confidently say in the meantime, is that the connectivity between the keys and the sounds is excellent, and the MP7 not only looks awesome and is well built, but has many very usable features. From what I heard on 6 January when I played the unit that had the minor fault, the sounds are excellent. I may do a review once I become the owner of one of these excellent machines. [Although I am still awaiting my own MP7, I did recommend the MP7 to my niece who lives on the East Coast, and helped her buy one about 2 months ago...and she loves it!]

I appreciate the apparent ongoing commitment Kawai has to product improvement and customer satisfaction. Keep up the good work. Cheers, Alan

Hey Alan,

Great to hear another Perth person is getting an MP7, it's a great instrument I gather the 2nd unit was from Zenith's? They actually called me when they had the issues with the 2nd MP7 (mine has been perfect so far, fingers crossed), sorted out the question about pitch bend, and they mentioned the jittery controls, which I had heard of before and suggested they call Kawai Australia to sort it out, which sounds like they have! Both Kawai (James!) and the store were great in getting me sorted out with mine, no regrets here! Oh, and the store should be able to do a good price on the MP7 if you ask nicely!

Sean

Thanks Sean, I am so glad that the unit you took delivery of, had no issues. Like you, I had been stoked to hear that Zenith had an early shipment...but unfortunately the unit I checked out had a LCD screen that wasn't straight, so that put me off a bit (but is now fixed), however the biggest concern was the randomly jumping values. That very day, I spent 3 hours at the shop, and Jamie tried to contact you...mainly to check about the lack of pitch bend on the acoustic pianos and the drawbar organs. With some help from Mark at Kawai Australia, we later found that the pitch bend could be switched on for those sounds on an individual basis if necessary. My niece has had an MP7 in Melbourne for 2 months and has had no problems. I have long been a diehard Roland fan, and although I am not knocking the Roland RD800, I am totally sold on the Kawai MP7. I had been tempted to buy a Yamaha CP4, but again decided to hold out and await the MP7.

It is comforting to know that I will not be the only person in Perth to own a MP7 (when it arrives). Happy to confer with you anytime.

I did discuss purchase price with Zenith on the day, and you are correct about their willingness to assist in that regard in a positive manner. As you know, there are 2 Eastern States sellers selling for the price you reportedly paid, and what my niece paid.

Kind regards, Alan

No worries Alan. Yeah, the pitch bend issue didn't surprise me as I had already read the manual and knew it could be turned off on an individual basis anyway, plus I hadn't actually checked that the pitch bend was used on piano because it never occurred to me! Made sure they were working on the synths sounds so I didn't give it a second thought! When Jamie mentioned the screen on the one he had was out of alignment I quickly checked mine and was relieved to find it was normal. I'm a bit paranoid about small issues with new gear (and have had enough issues in the past to warrant the paranoia) so I'm happy that it's smooth sailing at the moment. I'm mainly using the MP7 as a controller for Mainstage for my band (and it is awesome to have such a nice keybed to play on at last!), but it is just as nice to practice on by itself as well. The interface is nicely laid out and reasonably intuitive which is a nice change from some of my previous boards.

I was tempted by the CP4 as well, but the postive reviews of the MP7, plus the fact it was made out of steel and wood as opposed to plastic kept me on the right path (and it looks gorgeous with my Numa Organ 2 with custom jarrah end caps ). I play an RD-300NX at church so I'm familiar with the Roland range, but actually needed separate pitch bend and mod wheels so that ruled out the RD-800. Anyhow, the MP7 is a very nice upgrade from my old Korg SV1.

Always happy to talk gear!

Hello Alan, thank you for your post, and for clarifying the situation. I'm glad to hear that Mark at Kawai Australia and the chaps here at Kawai Japan were able answer your queries and explain why the store's MP7 was not functioning as expected.

Regarding the correct pedal corrections, I believe this topic is covered in the owner's manual on page 17:



Anyway, fingers crossed you're able to receive your instrument soon!

Kind regards,
James
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Sean, good to hear you're enjoying your MP7 too.

Any chance of some pics of the MP7 with your custom-capped Numa Organ 2?

Cheers,
James
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Thanks Sean, I am sure you have made just the right decision. I am not really much of a tech head, so never connect my gear to a computer...I just play live. There is a Roland RD700NX at a church I sometimes attend, but I have never really been all that keen on it. I actually prefer the previous GX model. The MP7 will be my first ever digital 88 note weighted key stage piano. I am sure it will fit the bill perfectly. I have a friend who recently bought a new Yamaha CP4. It has some nice sounds and feels ok on the keys, but is more expensive than a MP7 and doesn't have all the features I'd like...but I am not knocking it. Certainly the MP7 looks aesthetically pleasing and strong. I must confess, I haven't been playing keys for a long time, as I have been playing electronic drums in one worship band and bass guitar in another, and I occasionally dabble on my electric and acoustic guitars, but I always find I am most inspired to be creative when I am playing a good keyboard...and my short time trying out the MP7 2 weeks ago cemented my resolve to get one. I am so glad yours didn't have issues. I've been burnt badly with faulty brand new gear in the past, so I am a bit paranoid like you.

Here ya go James!

Hope it all works out for ya nice and soon Alan! A good instrument makes a huge difference with creativity

Wow, I have to say that is pretty nice.

Great setup!

Cheers,
James
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Thanks James!

Just added a Warm Audio WA76 compressor to fill out the rack, pretty happy with the whole setup! At home the setup also includes my Moog Voyager, also black and made out of steel and wood so there's a nice synergy going on between the three keyboards.

Panels on the Numa were made by my dad and I, using Jarrah (used the original end panels as templates) and finished with a few coats of danish oil. Adds a nice touch of class above the orginal black end panels.

Hi James

I hope that with the next update software we can improve the half damper pedal action.
I set the half damper parameter to max (10) but it still sustains too early.

In order for the pedal to have no effect, the foot needs to be completely above (no contact).

then works almost like a ON-OFF pedal.

rds

Sinclairgsport, the MMC Start/Stop command will still work, even if all zones are set to INT, however the MMC page of the EDIT menu will be hidden.

Please note however that the MP7 only transmits MMC and real-time commands (e.g. start/stop/continue etc.). The MIDI clock is not transmitted.

Kind regards,
James
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MP7 realtime commands,
Thk you James for your informed reply, its good to know a guy like you

Kawai James - Greetings! I'm a fan of your contributions here, which helped me decide the MP7 was the way to go for a home studio piano/controller major upgrade.

Perhaps I misunderstood but I got the impression you were suggesting that the manual specifies that only Kawai pedals should be used? If so...

It would seem the MP7's setup ability to reverse individual pedal polarity is a strong indication Kawai fully expected owners to be able to use a range of non-Kawai pedals.

In fact, I'm using a 3-pedal unit from another manufacturer (which works perfectly with both a PX-5S a Studiologic 88 Fatar keybed, including sostenuo function on both) but on the MP7 I can't get the sostenuto to work properly (i.e., it triggers backwards; functionality is reversed no matter how I try to turn things around). Having said this, sostenuto isn't a deal breaker for me, so I'm not complaining(!)

Moreover, I've tried to find where I might buy a genuine Kawai brand F30 but I can't even locate one available for sale on the internet to see the pricing. So using a Kawai brand F30 isn't even an option at this time.

Anyhow, I just wanted to clarify that using non-Kawai pedals seems to be fairly common and Kawai's firmware designers appear to be embracing this aftermarket reality.

Special thanks to you again for your considerable support here!

- OneWatt

Hello OneWatt, welcome to the forum and congratulations on the purchase of your MP7 (great price too, might I add...).

As you note, the MP7 (and MP11) allows the user to select the polarity of the pedal inputs, helping to improve compatibility with different manufacture's pedal units.

However, we obviously recommend using the pedal units provided with the instrument, i.e. the F-10H in the case of the MP7, and the F-30 in the case of the MP11.



May I ask which pedal unit you are using (does it have three 1/4" plugs?), and how you are connecting it to the MP7?



As explained in the owner's manual:

* For more information about purchasing the F-30 triple pedal accessory, please contact your local Kawai distributor.

...MP11/MP7 dealers should also stock the F-30, for example Kraft.



Well, I'm not sure how common it is (I suspect the majority of MP7 and MP11 owners use the provided F-10H and F-30 pedal units respectively), however I am glad that the instrument's firmware allows user to change polarity to facilitate using other pedals if desired.



Happy to help, thank you for your positive feedback.

Cheers,
James
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Many thanks! Great to have this outstanding MP7 under my fingers at any price :-)



The 3-pedal unit is marked "VFP3-10" made by Fatar. It actually looks (design-wise) exactly like pictures of the F30. Yes, it has three 1/4" plugs ... and your question about how I'm connecting it got me thinking ...more on this below ...



Thank you for this link! When I got on Kraft's site and did a "Kawai F30" search I got nothing, but your link took me there directly. And now here's a revelation for me...

The picture of the Kawai F30 pedal shows TWO 1/4" plugs - one TS (mono) and on TRS (stereo). My Fatar VFP3-10 has three TS mono plugs. So hey, perhaps I need to join two of the three mono plugs into a single stereo plug for the MP7's sostenuto input jack? Then again, that would leave another pedal jack empty ... hmmm, will have to think this through and experiment some more.

Meanwhile, based on comments about expression pedal concerns (dancing parameters?!?) I'll shy away from connecting my M-Audio expression pedal for the time being.




If I used the F-10H pedal provided, I'd still need another pedal for any additional available functions featured on the MP7 (e.g., I use one of my three pedals to start/stop the metronome), so having one triple pedal on hand is better than multiple pedals swimming around on the floor inviting confusion as to which is which.

All the best - OneWatt

So I just made this Facebook group for sharing setups and stuff. Let's see how that works out.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/KawaiMP7/

Please join and share your setups, settings and thoughts!

Lennert

Hello Lennert,

I'm not so familiar with Facebook, however I'm unable to join or even 'access' this group.

Also, may I ask what are the advantages of this MP7 group over the existing KawaiMP facebook page?

Kind regards,
James
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The Facebook group shows up fine for me. @James, I believe the point of the group is to be a place where users can share setup files, which is a little harder to do on the offical page (it's the differences between a 'product' type page and a group).