Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Some notes are too bassy

Hello fellow Kawai piano owners.
I have a question about CA79.
Can you please advise on remedy/particular settings.
Some notes in lower octaves create a very strong resonance in my room-boomy/bassy sound. Especialy A.
I do not notice this effect as much on lower notes (G, F).
What could be done about it.

P.S. Sound is fine of course with earphones. One option is to cut bass, but this removes some good tonal qualities/richness.
Is there perhaps a way to tune the key individually or not? Ir some other finer solution?

We have a similar experience with the Novus NV5S, but not with the bass notes - certain keys in the mid-high range really spike through the speakers. I assume that can be EQ'd out with some careful manipulation of settings.

Think our previous DP also had similar in some frequency ranges so doubt it's just a Kawai thing.

Same here. Some notes in the octave above middle C are _very_ sharp (as in penetrating, not as in too high); not only with the NV-10 I have, but also with the LX-17 I had before that. Also, the piano is against the wall; when playing a bit louder (starting at MF), the lower octaves are very bassy; coincidentally it's also the A in my case.

Wall-EQ fixes this on the NV-10, but then the bass gets too thin; so I have to bump the bass notes by 1-2 dB in the sound settings.

I wonder if there's a thread somewhere with good detailed advice on EQ settings for the NV and CA9 series - the UI for us when it comes to setting this stuff is quite daunting to play with.

Check for velocity uniformity, take a short length of 2by4, put it on the keys push down in the center at the same time, hold down, look at the pianoteq readout, or some other midi app, those notes may be outputing midi values at spiked velocities.

kawai might have a calibration tool, or you may need a regulation of some sort.

That's a good idea thanks - I'll give that a go. It sounds to my ears more like a speaker thing than an action thing but it's definitely worth trying.

If the DP sounds OK with headphones, the problem is in the room (or the loudspeakers), _not_ in the keyboard response or the samples.

Sometimes the resonance come from the room ( you can search about room modes) or some furniture, so first step is trying to change position of the piano in the room, and the furniture. You can also put some acoustic panels on the walls. If the resonance persists then i would check the speakers.

+1

The settings to tweak the relevant acoustic parameters of the room/space where a piano is placed are less formal/apparent and more guesswork, but important nonetheless.

This indeed. As Ubu mentioned, it's likely a matter of room modes or something called speaker boundary interference response. The easiest way to test if this is the problem without a measurement microphone would be to simply move the piano. It doesn't have to be across the room -- if you can try two or three positions just three to five feet away from the pianos usual location, that should do the trick. If the notes no longer sound as boomy, then it's a room/positioning thing.

If the same notes continue to sound boomy after repositioning, then it seems like the cabinet or speaker system itself might have a resonance at those notes, but that's something I'd have hoped Kawai would have worked out on its own and that would likely affect all CA79s.

I don't know about the EQ capabilities of the CA79, but if it allows for parametric eq, you could try applying a narrow notch filter around the affected frequencies. Otherwise, your best bet is likely to be moving the piano if possible until the resonance disappears (and such that hopefully no other annoying resonances show up).

These things affect all small rooms to some extent unfortunately (and by small, i mean not a concert hall or arena). Just gotta look for the best compromise. With speakers you can use multiple subwoofers to cancel out the dips and peaks, but that's not really an option here.


Unfortunately acoustic panels will likely be of no help in this situation -- you'd need some super thick panels to have any impact at those frequencies.

Thank you for your responses. Will keep experimenting. It sounds fine in headphones. By the sound of it, indeed you feel too much resonance with certain frequency, which is around lower octave A for me.

Regards,

When there are rogue resonances to resolve, there are numerous simple ways of trying to identify the cause before digging into the more nerdy, technical tools in the DP’s software features. Moving the DP may be one of the more simple things to do BUT given the size/weight of a CA79, this may require one or more helpers in order to safely reposition the cabinet.

Changing any of the easily-adjustable sound parameters - volume, reverbs, etc. might help you get closer to iD’ing the cause by way of clues. You already mentioned one potential clue - turning down bass. Identifying which frequencies are involved - one or more discordant A ( or other) notes in the lower registers - are also clues.

You could also do an inventory of room/space near where your DP sits, looking for objects that might play a part in your acoustics problem. With rogue resonant frequencies, it usually requires two (or more) actors to produce this kind of tango. If you have any kind of accoutrements …. bling …. decorations amongst the furnishings near your DP - vases, dishes, ornaments, metal objects that might jingle the wrong way when hit with audio sound waves, you might try moving them too.