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

Thank you.
I have a kawai CA-65 and I play various covers, and classical :

https://www.youtube.com/user/321bigbang

The MP7 with a louder kerboard would be perfect.

I played the CP4 and his keybed is very good ! But the piano sounds are too bright for me.

The ES8 is great but has not enough piano sounds... :-(

Wich active speakers do you use ?

I'm looking Mackie CR3 or Behringer MS40.

Question aside:
After editing the Single Key Volume in System/User Edit of the MP7, i noticed that numbering of the octaves is non-standard.
Is there any reason that Kawai has labeled the Middle C as C3 instead of C4?

Hello Mistaya,

My apologies for this delayed response.

Regarding your query, I shall try to look into this tomorrow.
Am I correct in thinking that you are using the Tonewheel simulator (DRAWBAR 1/2/3)?

Kind regards,
James
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This is the same for my Yamaha, they refer in the manual to middle C as C3, and similar for other octaves.

But why?
Yamaha and Kawai using the same underlying firmware, to cut costs?

Hi James,
No worries - I was able to get an answer from someone at Kawai USA. Switching setups between tonewheels and sampled sounds doesn't work - between sampled only sounds does. I can adapt.
cheers
C

Quite a few explanations around, this one is one of the best I can find (need to read the thread). I agree it would be helpful for ALL to adopt one of the conventions.

I don't recall the exact reason, but I know that this octave naming convention was changed on Kawai DPs a couple of years ago (presumably before the MP11/MP7 development began?).

Cheers,
James
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Hi James, I have some questions for you about the MP7: 1) It will be possible in any future sotware update which improves Hammond B3 emulation?, rotor speed and leslie sim, that would be up to par like others clonewheel, like: SK1, Nord, Ferrofish b4000, Kurzweil KB3 among others, 2) Can use the optional F20 double pedal instead the F30 in the damper/sostenuto input only for incremental and decremental setups and presets?, since in the SOFT jack input (FSW), I will be placing a generic switch pedal for control rotor speed for B3 sounds. 3) Which would be the keyboard case more lightweight and durable, recommended to travel safe and secure?...specific model?, and, 4) Which would be most stable and practical keyboard stand for tours than the popular "X" type; the consensus seems to indicate that the "Z" type are the most sought after, any specific model?. Thanks. Regards.

Hi, What do you mean by "...louder keyboard"?... IMHO, the MP7 key action is on par, or even better than the CP4 keybed... Regards.

Hello Fer,

To answer your queries:



I believe it may be technically possible to improve the tonewheel organ/rotary effect with a software update, however I'm afraid I'm not in a position to say whether or not this will happen. Note that the speed and acceleration of the lower/upper horns can already be adjusted with the current MP7 firmware.



Yes, I believe this is technically possible. The F-10H will be connected to the 'DAMPER' jack (to control the damper), the generic footswitch will be connected to the 'SOFT (FSW)' (to control the rotor speed), and the F-20 will be connected to the 'DAMPER/SOSTENUTO' jack (to control the SETUP-/SETUP+ functionality). Note that you may need to adjust the pedal polarity of the CENTER pedal in the system menu, while also changing the assignment of the F-20 in order for everything to work correctly.



I would suggest the new Kawai SC-1 gigbag (developed by Kawai Europe), as recently reviewed in this thread. Rodney also suggests a heavier Gator case for as an alternative for those players who require additional protection.



I would recommend the K&M 18953 table stand for the MP7.

Kind regards,
James
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@ Fer De Armis:

I'm unclear as to what you find lacking in the MP7's Hammond emulation ... what is there about the rotor speed or leslie sim that's deficient?

I've got a Hammond XK dual manual + pedals nearby in the same room for comparison; I believe the MP7 offers a stunning clonewheel sound.

Of course playing clonewheel organ sounds on the MP7's piano-style keys is quite a different playing experience. But the realism and tweakability of the MP7's tonewheel sounds are IMHO simply outstanding.

- OneWatt

Hi OneWatt, I agree with you... i really don´t find lacking the B3 emulation in MP7 at all; it's just the natural human desire to always want to have the best of everything!... Regards!.

I hear you! We all have that urge to move on to the next ever-better thing ... which is how Kawai James and the rest of the folks in the music gear industry manage to earn an honest living. Enjoy!

Hi James, what if kawai surprises us with a editor program for ipad 2/3 that works for the MP7?... Regards!.

That sounds like a nice luxury, however in my opinion the MP7's user interface is already very intuitive for editing.

Kind regards,
James
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Agreed. It's unclear why it would be better to sit there with another device in one's hand to edit the MP7, rather than just edit the MP7. Would there be an advantage?

Then again, if I'm missing something it wouldn't be the first (or last) time. - OneWatt

The advantage could be, that you have more parameters visible on the screen at the same time, instead of switching through multiple small screens on the MP7, and playing catch with the turing knobs. The other thing would be the typing experience, when saving recordings.
Even though I am not a friend of the expensive iPad, an affordable touch screen tablet could even be used to emulate nine easily accessible "touchbars" for e.g. the drawbars in the Drawbar Mode.

After having started to play around with the DrawBar Mode on the MP7 again, that is just a thing which bothers me at the moment, why Kawai would not have added a few more sliders to the left of the mixer, so it would at least match the number of a single drawbar set.
I wonder if the low price point of the MP7 would have prohibited that?

Just my 2 cents.

lophiomys, fair points regarding the iPad.

As for why there are not more faders, cost may have been a factor, however I expect the main reason is because the MP7 (like previous MPs) features four zones. The primary function of the faders has always been to adjust the volume level of those four zones, hence four faders.

Incidentally, we're currently testing a beta firmware update that allows assigning the four faders to different MIDI CC#s, instead of having them fixed to CC#07.

Cheers,
James
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