My takeaways of my new Kawai ES520

[16251]

I posted this at piano world, my thoughts of my ES 520, but I got the impression no one cared cause most ppl there are buying 920 (IMO.)

 

Kawai doesn't get much love on this site but IMHO, a 32 lb, DP with great action, sounds, and OS that is easy to use, and 40w speakers for $1200 makes it a pretty great gigging piano. I traded up from ES110, which I liked for its action and weight, but it was limited when changing patches, its on/off effects (non tweakable,) and samples, that might be the same as their top of the line, but obviously were down-sized. BTW, I have no interest or enough cash to consider a top of the line digital piano that might sit in closet more than the number of gigs I will be playing. This is the first time I owned a DP I might keep set up next to N2, cause it's so fun to play and the speakers sound good.

 

A car analogy for discussions here at Keyboard Forum, IMO center around, Toyota (Yamaha,) Honda (Roland,) Nissan (Korg,) Nord (Lexus.) I'd say Kawai analogy would be Mazda, which just happens to be my current car of choice (Mazda3.)

 

Anyway, here's a few of my takeaways.

 

Action is always subjective so IMHO, I like the action on 520 (like the 110, not sluggish.) Actually, the more days I spend on it, switching between it and my N2, the more I am loving it. The improved samples adds to my delight of action.

 

The weakest samples are the electric bass ones. The two main acoustic piano samples have excellent dynamic range. There is also a very good Upright piano sample that I was surprised to find. The Rhodes electric piano samples are amazing and also have excellent dynamic range (for this price point.) Best Rhodes sounds I ever experienced on a DP. One of the downline EP samples included is what sounds like a RMI piano (a piano I never liked but I can't remember finding this sample on others DPs I've owned.) The effects are also great. It is cool that Kawai has created "classic ep effects," which I'm assuming are warmer (like analog,) as well as offering the digital counterpart. Also, the ease of use to get into the menus is so easy and fun. I'm already messing around with the effects more that I ever did when I owned my CP4. ES520 also includes Amp sims which at this price point is a is a nice addition. The only effect I wish was included would be autowah.

 

The more popular ES920, if we are talking Kawai is only $400 more but the weight of 32 lbs., with the inclusion of same 40w speaker system and action like the ES110 convinced me 520 would be perfect for gigging.

[Aidan]

Thanks for this, Pete. I'm very interested in the 520 â a choir I work with has an ageing Korg DP which sounds pretty bad and is also heavy, and they have tasked me with recommending a replacement. It needs to be a self-contained unit, as they don't usually want to fuss around with external amplification, and it needs to be light enough for ladies of a certain age to move around if necessary, so I'm thinking the Kawai might well fit the bill here. Just need to find chance to play one now!

[Mark_OA]

I have a Kawai MP11SE which, due to its weight, doesn't leave the house. It does have an auto wah effect, but it isn't as usefully as you might think. Goes a bit off on its own. I do like the Tines (Rhodes) samples, especially with the suitcase Amp effect.

 

Greetings from your fellow Mazda driver (a 20 year old 323 Fastback)

[Stokely]

Oh man, I had a 323 from the late 80s iirc and it was one of the best cars I've ever owned. Kind of weird to get into a car like that and see a speedometer that goes up higher than you'd think, that little sucker could fly! I did many gigs with it and even got my kayak wedged into it one time!

 

I might be interested in this one, though frankly mostly as a controller so I might be better served to get the es110 if the actions are same (I happen to like the es110 action quite a bit, nice and light.) I don't know about gigging, my gigs aren't piano-centric and I'd rather have something more flexible and possibly one octave shorter (options are limited!)

[drawback]

From the specs the actions on the 110, 520 and 920 appear to differ.

110 = Responsive Hammer Compact

520 = Responsive Hammer Compact II

920 = Responsive Hammer III

[Stokely]

I'll have to try them out (along with a few others), provided my local stores actually have any of them. I liked the es8, mp11 and es110 even though those are very different from each other, I seem to get along well with Kawai actions (that I've tried).

[ElmerJFudd]

https://kawaius.com/technology/wooden-key-actions/

 

They are all compact folded actions.

However the RHIII gives you a little longer key length to the pivot point and a let off mechanism.

As far as compact actions - Kawai"s feel pretty good side by side with other designs from Yamaha, Roland, Korg, etc.

[16251]

I thought my thread was another dodo bird headed for irrelevancy and page 2. Thanks for talking about it. It ticks so many boxes for me.

 

Here's an example of editing a sound. There are three buttons, amp sim, effects, and reverb. If I press and release it will turn on or off the corresponding effect. If I press and hold it will show current effect. Using the Menu and Value button near screen I can can change the desired effect, then the value gives me the level of effect, then exit. There's also the app, which I haven't tried yet. For context, when I owned CP4, I tried same type of tweaking but would give up cause I couldn't connect with the logic. Stu from Merriam YT, explained how to tweak a sound in like 10 seconds.

 

For car buffs. My 2015 Mazda3 is the first Mazda I've owned. When I needed to buy a car, most Japanese cars were using CVT and I am not a fan, so I started to consider Mazda who use a 6 speed auto. I'm not as enamored with the latest update for the Mazda3. They went with torsion bar read suspension instead of independent and the styling is a little too dust-busterish.

[Konnector]

I couldn't get my hands on an ES-520 locally, so I bought the ES-920 instead last spring as they had them in stock. Don't know how the action compares, but that's very subjective anyway. Definitely liked the ES-920 action more than most or all of the other DP's I tried over the last couple of years.

Don't need the "arranger" functions on the 920 but the four EQ sliders are handy. The 920 uses longer piano samples than the 520 and a few more tweaks under the hood that you can adjust, but without ever having an opportunity to compare the two side by side I don't know how much of a difference all that makes. (Can't hurt though.) I'm not planning on gigging with it, so the weight is of no concern to me.