Kawai ES-3

Typical Digital Piano..... Few functions make it easy to use.

Okay but you can't access the midi sound set live.

Piano and strings sound is okay. Effects are a bit muddy.
Can't access midi sound set live. But the rest of the sounds are terrible especially the pads.

Rock solid.

not sure here.

I really dislike this keyboard. I play it every Sunday in church and really can't get much expression out of it. The piano is just okay and the action isn't anything to get excited about. The Roland digital pianos beat this thing hands down for the action, piano sound and the access to beautiful pad sounds. This ES3 is a real disappointment for all the above reasons plus you can't even access the general midi sound set live like you can on a $100 Casio. What were you thinking Kawaii?????
I play a Roland digital piano at work and have a Roland Fantom x8 at home. There is no way this keyboard can be compared to a Roland. It is less than half as good as any Roland.

If you're someone who just wants piano sounds, well, it turns on to Piano every time you start it up. It's very convenient when you're in a gig setting. Manuevering around the keyboard is very easy, JUST READ DIRECTIONS and you can find a WHOLE lot more features that isn't advertised.

For me, this is IT. I don't need no BS drum set or "whistles" or "horns". It's straight up sounds that you will probably use anytime. It's great for a jazz person. You have classic electric pianos to really nice organ sounds. You can actually tweak the sounds a little bit within the organ sounds or any of the sounds you want. I think the coolest one is the sound Resonance for those you play acoustic pianos all the time. When you hold the pedal down, you have options for how long you want the note to sustain. I'm still learning other features, but the Sound Resonance is to me, pretty cool.

This is it. The piano sounds is GREAT! It's unbeatable to a Yamaha P90 and EVEN the Roland Fantoms. I just recently came from listening to a trio (keyboard, bass and drums.) The guy was using a Fantom X8 and the ES3 still beats that sucker. The Kawai's sound sounds more real than the Fantom X8. Trust me, if you're looking for sounds specifically, THIS IS THE BOARD for you. I know this World Class Jazz Pianist and chooses out of everything he could get for FREE, this simple, yet complex Kawai ES3 just because of the Piano sound he gets out of it.

I called their 800 number and they were pretty fast in answering their call and assisting me in where I could buy this ES3 which is pretty hard to find because it's not sold in Sam Ash or any of those "BIG" music stores.

It this were stolen, I'd buy another one any day. THis keyboard is worth the price I paid for. It even has MIDI so I'll be connecting this to my computer soon. I compared this keyboard to every big named keyboard. The Roland Fantom X8, Yamaha Motif ES8, the Korg's flagship, the "infamous" Triton doesn't even BEATS this one. If you want to compare it to it's class level. The Yamaha P90 or the Roland RD 700sx doesn't beat this Kawai ES3. YOU don't need 500 other sounds, and YOU Most Likely WON't Be Using them ANyway. This is the most simple solution for someone looking for a very simple yet Enormous Piano sound which is unbeatable in the market today.

Daily use of basic functions is quite simple. However, you need a retentive memory to remember how to set the deeper functions.
Without manual and only with the cryptographs on the mini display you may loose sanity....

Keyboard action is great. But I have some complaints (look Reliability)

The polyphony is adequate, but I noticed that sometimes tones become silent for no apparent reason. Of course, this can only be heard if you test the polyphony: pedal down, play some keys simultaneously and then rapidly higher keys. The lower keys will hush before you played the 64th key. Oddly, the software of the ES3 seems to notice your test, and after repeating the test, this behaviour can't be observed anymore. Furthermore it seems that the "polyphony software" is indeed intelligent, because the low keys never become silent, which is very important. It also seems that the software adapts to the way your're playing (slow, fast)...
Thus, in daily use, this odd behaviour is inaudible and the polyphony is as good or as bad like any other 64-polyphony.

Effects are good, but not overwhelming.

Sound is great!!!!
It's the reason, why I bought this instrument!
I compared the ES3 with several other "competitors", but the ES3 won CLEARLY!!!

The first piano sound is really, really good.
A often play on a real grand, and when I play the ES3 I never think, "Urgh, this sounds bad!". On the contrary - I'm always amazed how good it sounds.
Of course there is always something to improve, but at this price the sound of the ES3 is gorgeous and unbeatable!!

The other piano sounds (including e-piano) are also very good. It should be mentioned that everything else - except the harpsichord and the organs - is only average.

I had some problems with clicking keys when I pressed some of them not exactly straight down but with a little right/left touch.

Perhaps someone else wouldn't even have recognized this clicking. Try for yourself first: Go to your local dealer and look if you can move the single keys in horizontal direction. There is a (very) small general tolerance which is the cause of the clicking. Hear and judge for yourself.

I managed to modify my keys, and now they are really silent. (contact me if you want to know how: guinan*thesignyouknow*gmx.de)
Additionally, I have two keys which make more noise than the others when you press them hard. But this is negligible, because if you press hard, the volume will be to high to hear this noise.

In short: The keyboard quality is the point to be improved first by KAWAI

No experience so far.

Would definitely buy it again only because of the great sound (For me, this is the most important property that an E-piano must have!)
Great piano with little flaws.

Overall, a very pleasing and good instrument that evokes joy when you're playing it!!!

I reviewed before, so it really wouldn't be fair to affect the results of the rating by submitting number ratings. I've had the ES3 for over a year now, and in the time since my last review, I have discovered some points that I would like to mention in supplement to what I have already said.

I still stand by my earlier statements: I LOVE this keyboard! I swear to God, after having tried many of the top models by other companies (Yamaha P200, Yamaha Motif, several of the top Yamaha Clavinovas, several of Korg's many Tritons and SP's, Kurzweil K2600XS, Roland FP-3 & -5, Roland RD150, Roland RD170, Roland RD700, Roland Fantom 8, and some others I cannot remember) I have still yet to find a better piano and electric piano section.

Having gained a much greater understanding and appreciation for classic electric keyboards since my last review, I can now offer a more in-depth description of the electric 'boards on this thing. The first is a Rhodes, and the second is a Wurlitzer. This might be somewhat intuitive, but many keyboards (Roland RD150, for example) neglect to include a Wurly. Instead, they chose to inflict torture upon us and waste the space with a DX7 (which, incidentally, Kawai includes as well). All three of the electric pianos on the ES3 are renderings of some of Wizoo's sample sets. Therefore, they're pretty damn good.

First up, the Rhodes. This is without a doubt the best of the three, and one of the best I've heard on any instrument. Obviously, if you want to get a perfect Rhodes sound, you can decend into the basement, lug up the old Mark(x), and play some riffs. If you want a near perfect sound, you can push for GIGA. However, if you want a nice and easy solution that still kicks some serious @$$, you can just get this thing. The sound is expressive and very realistic. The bark is just about right, and the soft tones have just enough of that "glockenspiel" sound (unlike some emulations I've heard which sound almost like a vibraphone with chorus). The excellent action makes playing smooth and inspiring, just what the doctor ordered. One drawback is that the effects on this board are kind of weak. The chorus is thin and the tremolo is too fast. This is where external effects are a nice addition. I must say that the Yamahas and Rolands are kind of disappointing when it comes to Rhodes and Wurly sounds, although of the two, I would say Roland comes the closest.

The Wurlitzer on this board is quite nice, but not perfect. There are several drawbacks to this particular patch. The first is that is is a bit too sharp in all velocity levels. Indeed, when one listens to a song with some nice Wurly work (Supertramp, that one song on Boston's Third Stage album, etc.), one hears a fluid and pleasing sound that at the same time has more balls than a Rhodes. The Kawai has the balls; just not that priceless flowing tone. Chorus helps, but on the whole, this is kind of inherent to the instrument sample, therefore unavoidable. The second little problem is an artifact of the trail off (sample decay) envelope: it sounds somehow...truncated, to use a big word. It sounds a bit like a vibrating piano string that one very gradually applies pressure to until it ceases to sound. The release is in otherwords unnatural sounding. Still, I have yet to hear anything that comes close from the Big Three in keyboards (and you can count out Kurzweil, which forces you to buy an expensive expansion card to get classic 'board sounds, and in true Kurzweil tradition, they are sub par at best). The RD700 was pretty good as far as the Wurly is concerned.

I refuse to comment on the DX7, on the grounds that the guy at Yamaha who first came up with the concept for one should have been tarred and feathered in a public square. Actually, I lied - the emulation is pretty good (though I should hope that Yamaha's is better for obvious reasons). I can tell, because I hate it just as muc

Vey straight forward and simple.

Excellent piano.I've never heard any other piano like it.
I use the piano tones for live worships and gospel music.
Its just too good.

I never had a problem yet. I've been using it for 2 years now.

If you want to buy a digital piano , ES-3 is the best.!!!

The presets sound decent. With a little tweaking with effects and on-board features, they can be set to taste. The manual is very informative, I had no questions after reading it. None of the menus are intuitive, so the manual is kind of necessary, in fact.

The polyphony is 64 notes, which is adequite. The action is supurb, the best keyboard action I've ever come across, in fact. I have played many pianos in my time, including several fine Steinways (I hate the slow action on these), so I have a basic idea as to the standard to expect in action. The Kawai is almost too good, it's far more consistent than an acoustic piano. The built in effects are alright, the reverbs are nice. Leave the EQ setting on one, the others don't sound very good. There are no expansion slots on the instrument, but there is a MIDI in/out and a USB port. These should be particularly easy to use (I don't currently have a complex MIDI setup). The keys are plastic, so they don't quite measure up to wooden keys. If you want wood, I would suggest the MP9500 (their professional stage piano), provided they sort out the HUGE problem they presently have with the sound mapping. The variable key touch feature is particularly useful, as it allows one to fine tune the action to taste or instrument (i.e. you can shut it off for instruments that don't have dynamic variation, like the organs and the claviers). The alternate temperments are fun to play with, but I have yet to actually find a real use for them. The tuning is useful for melding with the band, or for compensating for a slow tape recorder (which I actually had to do when I recorded an accompaniment for some fellows). The sympathetic resonance is quite realistic (although that of the GEM ProMega, for example, is better), and the different levels allow for heightened expressive powers. I seldom use the brilliance function, the pianos sound good as they are. The voicing function, which is essentially a combination of variable touch touch and brilliance. I seldom use this, either, as Kawai has already pretty mush captured the characteristics of a real piano in the preset values. The sequencer is large compared to some models, with four tracks and 10,000 notes. It is fairly easy to access, and unlike a Roland I played on several years ago, it records pedal impulses. It also has split and dual modes, and a volume balance control for these. In addition, there are built-in speakers. Unfortunately, they are totally useless if you want decent sound quality. Take my advice, get an amp or external sound setup (I run mine through my stereo, and it sounds like a dream).

The first two piano sounds are sensational. I have never heard a digital piano sound quite as good as the Concert Piano (setting number one). The sound is dynamic, full, clear, and consistent throughout all registers. The dynamic expression is excellent, although there is a lack of that thrilling fff "string-popping" volume range you find on acoustic pianos. Not that any other digital piano has ever even come close to this, I think the Kawai is superior to any other. For some reason, lots of people seem to like GEM's piano sounds. Personally, I think they suck. The thing sounds like a toy next to the Kawai. Compare them yourself, I tell you, there's just nothing like it. I figured that a brand I'd never heard of before could not possibly sound good, but this thing is supurb. The other sounds are good to decent; the electric pianos sound pretty good (they include the one that Rick Davies of the band Supertramp used in "The Logical Song", and it sounds just like it), the harpsichord is excellent, the first two organs are fair, and the Church Organ is the best I've ever heard (once again outstripping GEM by about a mile). The strings are good, although the first setting has this annoying harsh attack that is unrealistic. This clears up when you stand farther away from the instrument. The choir pad is alright, and I can't really rate the other pads, I don't like those types of pads. They might be useful. The bass sounds are pretty good, try splitting the keyboard between Concert Piano and Acoustic and Ride Cymbal for a realistic jazz experience. The sounds are easy to select, this much at least is intuitive. The onboard effects are good; the rotaries are kind of a must for the first two organ sounds. The strings sound a whole lot better with the chorus effect. The tremolo is good for the electric pianos. The delays are really good for the Church Organ; when combined with the reverb, it sounds just like an organ hall or cathedral. This instrument is great for all kinds of music; and just like a fine piano, it reacts very expressively to the player. The thing really feels like a piano, and it has its own sound character. There is no aftertouch, but there is an incredible dynamic range. The sympathetic resonance, as mentioned before, is good. This may be the only field in which the GEM is better than the Kawai, but what's more important, the sound or the effects? Some people complain about the harsh sound of the lower registers. I must admit that I had a little trouble adjusting myself at first, but that was because I had spent five years playing an upright. The more expressive sound of a grand piano was just a bit shocking to me at first, but I quickly got to like it. It is consistent with the upper ranges, although it might not seem so at first. Don't expect a Steinway-like sound, it's a lot clearer and distinct than that. It's also a lot brighter, although it's not that "brite piano" sound, it's authentic. The bass notes have a good long decay time.

I havn't had any problems, but it's relatively new. It's your decision if you want to take it out without backup.

Once again, I can't comment here. Considering the company is located somewhere in Japan, I wish you a lot of luck.

I would definitely buy another if it was lost or stolen. In fact, since I paid a bit too much, I might spring for the slightly bigger model, the ES5. I want to try out the Diapason organ, among other things. I have the standard foot pedal, but I might want to get the one with two levers. This would be especially useful for switching between the slow and fast rotary settings (which can be done with the soft lever). I should point out that the piano sound is the same in all Kawais, so the ES3 is like a mini version of the professional stage model, the MP9500, for hundreds less. Overall, the thing was cheap for the amount of features it offers, and for including the absolute best piano sound anywhere. I've had it for about seven months, and I've grown to love it. I compared this keyboard to several Yamahas and Rolands, with absolutely no comparison. I compared some modular attachments afterward, including the grossly overrated GEM module, and there really is no comparison. I just love the key touch, I can actually improve on this thing. I just wish it had a Diapason, I love those Bach organ works that have alternating full organ and diapason movements. Maybe a coupled harpsichord sound would be nice as well. The only things I don't like about it are the harsh attacks on the first string sound, and the keys are a bit noisy at times. All in all, this thing is a great buy. Almost all the time, when something looks too good to be true, it is. This is NOT one of those times.

"Basic operations", as the manual calls them, are straightforward. The built-in recorder is easy to handle, too, as the 4 songs with 2 tracks are printed beneath the knobs. For the "function mode", which provides a more fine-grained control of the sounds and especially the MIDI settings, you probably need to stick a copy of the legend from the manual on your piano: Each instrument knob controls two functions, e.g. the "Piano" knob is used for "Brillance" and "MIDI channel" - not very intuitive.

The manual is available for download as a .pdf from the kawai page. It is well structured and detailed and has a good table of contents.

The 64 voice polyphony sounds great especially for piano and vibraphone. The sympathetic resonance feature contributes to this impression, although a key held silently down doesn't keep the tone it should have received via resonance when releasing the pedal, as it does on a real piano.

The weighted hammer action is good, one can feel the upper keys being lighter than the lower ones. The touch sensitivity can be adjusted in 5 steps, but is not kept when the power is turned off. The secret reason behind this strange behaviour might be the fact that the standard sensitivity is adjusted to the hammer weight to behave perfectly like a real piano. In one way virtually too perfect, as it is easier to play piano-pianissimo on a synth than on a real piano which has a lower threshold where the hammer doesn't hit the strings no more.
The first months the keys seemed too light to me and I always played in the "heavy 1" mode. Then I was sitting on a real piano - about which I was told that it has "heavy" keys - and found out that I had accustomed myself to hit the keys much too hard. From a standard sensitivy point of view, the "heavy 1" mode simulates pretty well the soft pedal effect of an upright piano.

A nice little detail are the two flat pencil deposit surfaces which every real piano has. I need them often, e.g. when playing from scores to mark areas where I'm always making mistakes.

I seldom use the built in effects for the piano, as it sounds unnatural to me to hear even the moderate room-hall when sitting in a small room. For other instruments it is another story, especially the e-organ sounds better when using the distorted rotary effect.
One distinctive feature are the eight different tuning temperaments you can use.

Very important for me was the line in stereo port, as I bought the ES-3 in conjunction with a microKORG for the times when I am bored of just playing piano. I wanted to hear the sound of this externally connected module through the same speakers as the onboard sound. The line in volume is not affected by the master volume control, but the volume of the line out port is. This behaviour is annoying for recording, but needed for connecting an external speaker.

The built-in speakers sound very brilliant, but miss out the bass. The similar ES-5 is equipped with a separate subwoofer, so I recommend to consider buying the ES-3 together with an active subwoofer you just can plug in.

For connecting a computer, you can choose between MIDI in/out and USB. The manual is too ambiguous there, saying "When both MIDI jacks and USB jack are connected, USB has priority." Fact is: if you connect via USB, the MIDI ports are completely deactivated until you turn the piano off and on again - thus if you want to connect other MIDI devices, forget about the USB port (which incorporates computer noise into the sound anyway). The standard velocity curve sent to a MIDI device seems ok to me, but I would need an external piano module to evaluate that point in-depth. The metronome cannot be used as a MIDI clock source, and there are no pitch/mod wheels.
The very impressively sounding first bass demo song uses pitch bending, but this is some sort of a lie: Neither is there a pitch bend wheel on the ES-3, nor are the corresponding MIDI codes transmitted or received, as the implementation chart lists correctly.

When choosing a piano, I was not really aware how important the easy to use built-in sequencer can be for short sketches. You can easily send recorded songs to a computer sequencer by playing them, but you cannot record them back from the sequencer: The ES-3 records only keystrokes, but no MIDI-in events.

I bought the ES-3 primarily as a piano and use the other sounds rather seldom. There are three different pianos: The "concert grand" sounds brilliant. The "mellow grand" is more similar to a closed upright piano. This is the instrument I'm playing most of the time. The "modern piano" sounds far too bright to me, but it could be great to accomplish more presence when playing together with rock guitars and the like.
The first two pianos sound extremely realistic, sometimes nearly too realistic: My dealer told me that a lot of customers complained about the clangour of the bass strings when they are played loud. I like this sound. But also higher strings produce that typical metallic clangour of a real piano, especially when the ES-3 is set to sound brightly. But on a real piano I have to hit the keys harder than on the ES-3 until it begins to clang.

The most important contribution to the sound comes from the excellent "voicing" feature which plays a tone mellow when it is hit softly and bright when it is hit hard, just like on a real piano. This makes it easy to single out a melody even when simultaneously playing heavy chords and holding the sustain pedal down.
Although it is adjustable, only tne "normal" setting sounds good under normal circumstances; the "dynamic" setting changes the tone "dramatically", as the manual states realistically, and the other two settings fix the tone either on bright or mellow. As an alternative, the global "Brillance" control also affects the perception of the "voicing" setting.

I found only one problem related to expressiveness and sounds: If I play really quietly piano or not even that quietly harpsichord, the sidetone of the keys hitting the felt when they are released is too loud, especially when releasing many keys at once. For a piano, that sound is somewhat natural, thus it strikes not at all when playing loud, but with other instruments, it is disturbing, especially because the ticktack is of course out of beat.

There is also a simple equalicer with 3 presets. There is no way to shift the bass level. They are especially useful if you wish to enhance the high freqeuncies - but this, as you assume, increases also the basically realistic metallic clangour level.

The included damper pedal sounds as expected when hold down, but, for a digital switch-only pedal, it sounds unexpectedly good when released: as on a real piano, lower strings take much more time to mute down than higher strings. If you press the pedal again early enough, the strings continue oscillating.

As I don't gig, I cannot say much about that. I simply had no trouble until now, it looks stable, and the angles are rounder than on its predecessor, the ES-1. The single point of failure I fear most on electronic devices are analog controllers meeting the dust in my room, but the linear volume control is sealed with felt, thus I don't worry too much.

I had no problem until now, and the initially broken damper pedal was quickly repaired by my dealer.

Me initial requirements for my new digital piano were: 1. be portable, 2. have built-in speakers and 3. be connectable to a synthesizer. The initial choice resulting from that requirements was a Kawai ES-3, a Korg SP-300, a Roland FP-2 and a Yamaha P120.

As the Yamaha had no audio in connector it was out of the question. The Roland impressed me at first with all that nice GM2 instruments, but I didn't like the piano sounds at all, thus it was out of the race quickly, too. The Korg had a good speaker sound due to the bass reflex system. In fact it was in such a way better than the Kawai that the Kawai sounded like a cheap plastic device alongside. It had better organ sound, and I could play piano-pianissimo without a lower threshold. But it did not remember user settings, the maximum headphone volume was much too quiet for me, it had no onboard recorder, and the MIDI velocity output was bad: even if I hit the keys with brute force, a connected piano did not sound as loud as with other MIDI sources. Especially the last two issues threw it out of my choice.

Therefore, I've found no other e-piano, especially not in that price range, with such a perfectly natural piano sound and such a rich control over piano specific sound effects. On other pianos you cannot complain about too much metallic clangour because they just don't sound realistic when played loud. On other pianos, you cannot complain about too few adjustment steps for voicing because there simply is none. On other pianos, you cannot complain about incomplete sympathetic resonance because there simply is none.

As a conclusion, I can say: Until now, I see no reason why I should have bought another piano and would definitively buy it again.

The keyboard itself is pretty straight forward. Obviously it turns on and you can start pounding away. I purchased this keyboard more for the action than the sounds it had, so I am using it as a MIDI input device with Cubase SX, running some VST instruments as my sound base.

From the point of view of a keyboard with a great deal of features, this is not really the keyboard for this. Selection of tones is by push button, each with 3 variations of tone (Piano - E.Piano - Organ - Harps/Mallets - Strings - Pad - Bass). Tones can be mixed and balanced in pairs, with some presets in Registration. I've worked with MIDI keyboards for a little over 15 years, so it's simple to work around.

64 voice polyphony is pretty impressive, and under most circumstances you'll never need more, unless of course you do a couple of glisses up and down the keyboard with the pedal down. The prime reasons I purchased this keyboard was in it's action and price. While looking for a keyboard, I had a look at the Roland RD-700, Yamaha P90, some Technics and Korg synths. This one took honours by far, particularly with the price being less than half that of the next keyboard. I've played piano for over 25 years and, although I don't believe any keyboard is 'exactly the same as a REAL piano', this action is quite acceptable, giving good velocity variation for my MIDI work.

There is a sequencer on board, limited to around 8000 notes, again, fairly good for recording a piano duet part and playing along with.

Effects also are limited to Chorus and Reverb. As a keyboard, the action is excellent. If you are after all sorts of audio features, obviously this keyboard is not the one.

Although I didn't purchase this keyboard based on it's on-board sounds, the piano sounds are very bright, and particularly realistic in the upper treble. The Electric Piano sounds are also good, but as the acoustic realism isn't necessary for this type of instrument, they should be. Organ also is quite good. Percussion / Strings and Pad sounds quite workable for a home performance or backing with some MIDI / Audio work. Bass sounds are 'OK', with the 3rd variation mixing a ride cymbal with the bass note.

It's been fine so far, but that's only been a month.

No problems with the keyboard, but the Music Store I purchased it from have been very helpful with other items.

I have been very happy with this keyboard for the purpose I bought it. For a student learning piano or someone who wants a slim keyboard in the house, I would recommend it. Also, as a stage piano it has a great clarity which would lend itself well to other band instruments, but NOT through the internal speakers (little 14W wonders).

Easy as all digital pianos of its kind.
I bought it just 3 weeks ago.

Keyboard action is really great for my taste - better than roland's and good as the yamaha's p-120, maybe even better. Surely better than fully weighted synths like motif8 or trinity-proX.

64 polyphony is fine. effects are OK but not excellent: reverb is nice and so is the tremolo which can be useful for the e.p's. two rotary effects, one of which with distortion - sound ok for the hammond sound but not briliant. You can only choose the effect and turn it on\off but you cannot set its value. Reverb is seperate from the others - you can choose its type: room, stage, hall.

It has 7 user-regiterations for saving sound combinations/effects and stuff. that's a rare feature for digital piano of this kind. It's really nice to have two buttons for setting the balance of dual voice like piano+strings. unfortunately two important parameters are global and not saved for the user-registerations: the briliance (value from -10 to 10, 0 is default) and the touch curve (6 types - heavy1/2, light1/2, default standaard curve, and off).
Other global options include string-resonance, different temperments, voicing (a weird parameter which combines sensetivity and briliance) and several advanced midi options.

It has a USB port for midi communication, and offcourse midi in and out. no internal power supply.

key-action is 10. the low rating is for the rest of the features.

wonderful piano sound in all registers, one of the best I've heard with great dynamic expressiveness. a very nice and exprssive rhodes, good slow-strings, two nice but and very limitted hammond sounds. some kind of electric grand (I think) sounds nice - not great. The rest of the sounds are not useful for me and don't sound great (harpsichord, choir, bass...)

As I said, reverb is nice but limitted to only 3 types with no option to set the value. tremolo also sounds good especially for the rhodes. Other effects don't sound as good.

I play in rock band and my two main sound - piano and rhodes - sit VERY well in the live mix. I also use it to play jazz/calassical music and rock-ballad.

I've only had it for less than a month so I can't say much, but it does seem reliable.

I've been playing piano for mor than 10 years.
I've tried at stores roland fp-3, fp-2, rd-170, yamaha p-120, p-80, p-60, technics sx-p50. The kawai es-3 is as good as the yamaha p120 in piano feel and piano sound, but the yamaha costs about 30% more than the es-3 (where I live). Both of them has a great keyboard-action and a great piano sound (although the kawai has much better strings sounds). I was looking for a compact digital piano with the best action and best piano sound, and in addition I wanted a good e.p's and good strings with an easy way for balancing piano and strings (when playing ballads/rock-ballads). The kawai es-3 answered all of this expectations in a price which I could afford myself. I must say that all these kind of instruments are VERY expenssive and its frustrating to pay this amount of money for a single instrument...
I truely hope it will keep working perfectly for many many years. It does its job the best way you could expect. I also own a 6 1\4 ocatves controller-keyboard - roland a33, and now I only wish I had a fine sound module with great hammond, rhodes and wurlytzer sounds (and a fine stereo amplifying -system).

Selecting Sounds is very easy: For each Sound one Knob.
For editing the system settings you have to take the owner's manual. Without it it's just impossible to know where you can find the menus of your ES 3

Features are rare on this keyboard: Some standard effects like reverb, chorus and delay. But even a rotary effect is included.
64 Note Polyphony and a good Hammeraction keyboard. Split Mode and Dual Mode (Only 32 Note polyphony)

The Piano Sound is the best Piano Sound I ever heard on a digital Instrument. In my opinion this thing sounds even better than Steinberg's The Grand. There are some good e pianos, strings (could be better), organs (Better use some other synth) and a very good sounding Harpsichord. But the main reason for buying such an instrument should be the pianosound and the ES 3 is very, very great!

For sure I would have bought the MP 9500 if I had more money. But the Piano of the MP 9500 doesn't sound any better. For it's price the ES 3 is a very good Instrument for everyone searchiing for a good sounding piano.