After a 3 months wait.... Got my Kawai ES920 today!

[jeffincltnc]

The title is the topic. I had to wait just under 3 months from my order placement to get one of these to show up and I will be digging into a lot for a full review, but happy to know what questions you want answered.

 

I think waiting for something for 3 months creates expectations and I think one of the things I'm trying to remember is that this is my first DP and it's not the full on stage piano experience like the CP88, Nord Piano, RD2000 features.

 

I realized with all my stuff I've picked up in the last year that the only real 88 weighted action that I owned where I could play a piano gig on all night to my satisfaction was a Fantom 8. A lovely piece of gear and my go-to for the home studio, but not exactly portable into the "over 60 lbs" category.

 

I also found that a bunch of gigs I am starting to take on are in the form of solo piano for 2 hours on the patio of a steakhouse, or playing with an acoustic guitarist/singer + percussionist in an acoustic trio.

 

So I just needed a piano.

 

Why I picked the Kawai ES920:

 

* I really like the action! It's the Kawai RHIII action, from the MP7SE and Nord Grand. Nice counterweight, escapement.

* I like Kawai piano sounds. They can be a little darker and woodier than the Yamaha, Roland stuff, so YMMV if they are the right sound for you, but I like the new Shigeru Kawai EX sounds and some of the more distant jazz sounds.

* Built in speakers -- Going to be playing a few nights by the community pool, or I get invited to play Christmas parties in homes. Built in speakers make that a little easier.

* Bluetooth audio -- backing tracks on the iPad play through the sound system or I can take an input for iPad/Laptop sounds.

* 38 pounds. Below my 40 pound limit. It's a good bottom board under a Nord Stage 3 or Nord Wave 2.

* For what it is, it's a pretty reasonable price. (Yamaha P515 competitor with a lot less weight)

 

Things that pleasantly suprised me out of the box:

* It came with a really, really nice pedal

* Haven't gone through the EPs in detail but it has a really nice Wurli. Who knew? And the Rhodes was OK and usable. Not what I bought it for, but hey I'll take it.

* OLED display is pretty nice and clear. Cheaper instruments in this category don't have a nice display.

* External power supply was pretty sturdy, thick and not a wall wart at the end. (I'm talking to you, MODX)

 

I haven't really gotten to organs and strings yet.

 

Things that underwhelmed me:

* It doesn't look very exciting. It's a pretty generic looking black slab. About as exciting to look at as a Yamaha P-125. Nothing really interesting here. It's a piano slab for piano players, remember.

* Layering/split stuff is really, really minimal and bare bones. It's a piano slab for piano players, remember.

* Some nice effects for amps, phaser, chorus type stuff and parameters to edit but it's a menu dive and not immediately obvious for someone who hasn't looked at the manual in the package yet.

* The plastic build isn't as classy as the MP and ES alternatives, but it's 11 pounds lighter with a great action, so there you have it.

 

There is a piano technican app for deep editing of lots of parameters, lid, distance, pedal noise, resonance type stuff. Haven't gotten to that yet but I will and report back, but it's a little like the V-Piano types of parameters and they are savable.

 

What else do my Keyboard Corner friends want to know? It's my first DP so I'm not criticizing it for not being the same as best class stage piano at double the price. I'm looking forward to getting acquainted with this as my go to gig board when I am a "piano player".

[brenner13]

I waited nearly six months for both my preorders: VR-09 and Deepmind 12. Congrats on your new purchase. It"s a mighty fine instrument.

[ewall08530]

In December 2019 I ordered an ES 920 from Sweetwater. When February came and no expected delivery date I canceled the order.

I"m still interested in it or the lighter 520 at sometime in the future. My question is after editing a sound how easy is it to save and then to recall and can you name them or are you remembering locations?

[ProfD]

Brotha Jeff, congrats in getting your DP. I know it's been a long wait. I believe the ES920 will serve you well on those "piano" gigs. Of course, you've got the option of putting the Nord Wave 2 on the top tier. Enjoy.

[jeffincltnc]

In December 2019 I ordered an ES 920 from Sweetwater. When February came and no expected delivery date I canceled the order.

I"m still interested in it or the lighter 520 at sometime in the future. My question is after editing a sound how easy is it to save and then to recall and can you name them or are you remembering locations?

 

Each of the seven registration buttons contain four banks (A, B, C, and D), allowing up to 28 different registration memories to be stored. It saves sounds, split/layer, effects and transpose. I don't know if you can give it a name, and I don't see that feature but haven't tried yet. Assume there is a bank/memory combination to remember.

 

I was able to create a silent registration so far with the MIDI out working with Neo Soul Keys on my iPad via Korg Plug Key and taking the 1/8" output back into the ES920 to play through the speakers. It feels easy to have a ton of iPad pads and EPs working and playing some jam tracks/backing tracks too off the iPad.

 

I'm hanging out with my kids for memorial day weekend here after a 2 hour practice this morning where I really enjoyed the tone and finger to ear connection of the RHIII action. Hopefully later I will start spending some time on the Virtual Technician parameters. I really like the mellow tone through the speakers. At first attempt to play with headphones, everything was quite loud and need some dynamics adjustments.

 

It's seems a bit taller than a Nord Piano style, so I lowered the stand and it was a real breeze to pick it off the stand and put on the floor.

[Moonglow]

It's seems a bit taller than a Nord Piano style, so I lowered the stand and it was a real breeze to pick it off the stand and put on the floor.

Isn"t it hard to play on the floor?

[The_Star_Guy]

Congratulations! I will be following your thread eagerly as I love the quality of the piano timbres of my Kawai MP 6, but I would also really like to upgrade to triple sensors and under 40 lbs as well. I agree with you that Kawai's RH-III action is one of the most playable triple sensor actions currently available. The good news regarding the effects sections of the Kawai pianos is that they are quite flexible even though a bit of menu-diving is required. I really like the MP's controller capabilities especially in the studio, so I might just opt for an ES-520/920 for solo piano gigs & band "bottom board" duties on the road as well. Looking forward to your updated reports!

[drawback]

Congratulations! I hadn"t followed this piano at all until this thread, so just spent the time to read this review and the owner"s manual. Looks like a keeper!