Product: Kawai 230 Digital Piano
Price Paid: US around $1k
Submitted
12/20/2004
at
02:53pm
by
Jared
Email: siamesedream49<at>hotmail dot com
Ease of Use
:
9
88-key Kawai 230 Digital Piano, purchased in 1994 for about $1,000.
This digital piano has seven different selectable modes. You can choose between Piano 1 (a mellow upright sound), Piano 2 (a sharper upright sound), Electric Piano, Jazz Organ, Pipe Organ, Harpischord, and Vibraphone.
It also has an onboard metronome, a Rec/Playback function, a speed control, a light/hard key touch mode, and of course a volume control. It has a headphone out as well.
This piano is quite simple to use; anyone with a familiarity with digital pianos could work this without effort.
Features
:
8
This keyboard has 88 full-size weighted keys, and as said above, has seven selectable modes.
This has built in Reverb; You can choose between a Room setting, Stage setting, or Hall setting. It has quite a few features for a piano that's almost 10 years old.
Expressiveness/Sounds
:
7
My personal favorite mode on this piano is "Piano 2", because it sounds more like a grand than an upright. It has a sharp, quick attack, and sounds much better than the "Piano 1" mode. The Electric Piano mode is convincing, but not quite as good as Kurzweil, Roland, or Yamaha. Jazz Organ is real funky, but doesn't really capture the jazzy gospel Hammond sound. Pipe Organ is very very good on here, and the Harpischord sounds like well...a Harpischord. The way it should be. The Vibraphone is also very good.
The feel of the piano is very genuine and solid. It reacts to your playing perfectly. I have heard much better pianos in this price range however.
The piano records excellent. I have done numerous demos using the Headphone output going straight into a mic preamp to my computer.
Reliability
:
9
Seems reliable and sturdy. Yes I would use it at a gig without a backup.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
8
Seems like a great digital piano without too many bells and whistles. The best sounds on here are the piano emulations; the other emulations are not as good; but it's a digital piano remember, not a synth.
The weighted key action is great, and all the functions work excellent! I would recommend this if you can get it for under $300 used.
