New digital piano setup

[Klaus]

Kawai VPC-1 midi controller with wooden keys and real grand piano mechanic.

UVI Workstation with the Modern D virtual Steinway D. It sounds better than any digital piano I ever tested.

All together for less than 1600 Euros. Hard to beat the "bang for the buck" ratio. Quite happy with it so for.

[Horace]

Nice. I didn't know a keyboard with a real grand action was available that cheap. Did you ever try Pianoteq?

[Klaus]

I know that it's a competitor of Modern D and UVI Workstation.

I have by no means an overview over the different piano samplers/synthesizers out there, but I heard various people "in the know" say that the Modern D one is currently one of the best, so I went with it. They go into insane detail to reproduce the sound. For instance, they emulate the sound that the strings make if you press down the damper pedal. They record multiple "release" sounds for every key. And so forth.

[LuFins Dad]

@Horace said in New digital piano setup:

Nice. I didn't know a keyboard with a real grand action was available that cheap. Did you ever try Pianoteq?

It doesn’t have a hybrid piano action like the Yamaha Avant Grand or the Kawai Novus, but the action is refererred to as the RM3 Grand II action, similar to the Yamaha Gran Touch on their Clavinovas or Roland’s PHA100 Hybrid Action.

[jon-nyc]

Looks fugly though.

Do they have a model with a base that looks more like a proper piano?

[Renauda]

@jon-nyc

I wonder if that’s its own factory stand or could a proper four post stage piano stand be used instead? That looks flimsy to me.

[LuFins Dad]

I’m not a big fan of the stage piano type of setup. I’ve seen too many cases where the key beds are thinner to try to cut weight for portability, then they wind up warping downward over time due to the downward force you exert when playing dynamically.

I also dislike those pedal styles. They walk on you…

[Copper]

@LuFins-Dad said in New digital piano setup:

They walk on you…

I use a brick. On a carpet, I wouldn't recommend it for a wood floor.

It does the job in my office, but it is not for everywhere.

[Renauda]

@LuFins-Dad

I’ve never had an issue like you described with my Quik Lock four poster. Its been rock solid since I bought it 20 years ago for my now old Roland RD-700.

I do agree with you about pedals. I solved that by jigging the two pedals on either side of the music stand with the help of carefully applied gaff tape. It’s now going on three years and next to zero creep. I do have the whole setup on a fairly heavy spiked acrylic office mat over carpet.

[Klaus]

@jon-nyc said in New digital piano setup:

Looks fugly though.

Do they have a model with a base that looks more like a proper piano?

I agree, but it sits in my office, not a central place of the apartment.

[Klaus]

@LuFins-Dad said in New digital piano setup:

@Horace said in New digital piano setup:

Nice. I didn't know a keyboard with a real grand action was available that cheap. Did you ever try Pianoteq?

It doesn’t have a hybrid piano action like the Yamaha Avant Grand or the Kawai Novus, but the action is refererred to as the RM3 Grand II action, similar to the Yamaha Gran Touch on their Clavinovas or Roland’s PHA100 Hybrid Action.

Kawai VPC1

Kawai Novus

Clavinova

[Klaus]

How would you describe their differences, @LuFins-Dad ?
The first thing I noticed was that the "wood" on the Clavinova keyboard seems to be just a veneer that is glued to the sides??

The Novus action looks more elaborate and more similar to a real grand piano action than the VPC1 action, but I couldn't pinpoint the difference. It also looks quite different from the Clavinova action.

[Klaus]

For reference, this is a real Kawai grand piano action.