Kawai MP9500

version 1.02

I walked into Sam Ash and there it was. I had an order in for a Yamaha P250 but they weren't in yet. When I first started looking for a digital piano I wanted a Kawai. I heard their action was the best. But no one really carries them. I sat down and immediately noticed the difference with the keys. After looking for the keyboard of my dreams for about 6 months and trying everthing out five times, this was the only keyboard that stands out distinctly from the others as far as feel is concerned. It was either really really good, or really really bad. I couldn't figure it out because it was soooo different. I had a Roland MP60 in my house for about a week and I couldn't stand it anymore. The sounds were HORRIBLE!!!! My fault for buying the bottom line piano. The Roland FP series and RD series pianos sound awesome, go with those if you like the Roland action. I liked the action on the Roland but after playing for a few hours and going over to my Mom's house to play her real piano, I found myself struggling. After playing the Kawai for about an hour and then sitting down at the real piano I felt great. Both actions are great but the Kawai will ready you for the real thing, the Roland won't. When I first tried the piano in the store the sound was AWEFUL! There's no way they could relesase a piano that sounds this bad I thought. So I went home and downloaded the manual and found out how to reset everything. I went back in the music store the next day, reset the piano to factory defaults and BAM! 10 times better. Seems that with this piano you can define your own velocity curve. Someone really had it messed up. The preset sounds are much better than normal. I tried the Yamaha P250 and except for the piano and clav, I really didn't like the built in sounds on that board. However it's only fair to mention that there is no board on earth that has sounds I like, there's just not enough ram on these boards. I'm spoiled from great computer based sounds. Now I'm not a big organ fan but the drawbar organs are a blast. I can make them sound like just about anything. Once again I'm not an expert on organs except to say that they stink on every other digital piano I've tried. Kawai should have a site that posts cool settings that people come up with. I think I almost have the Lucy in the sky with diamonds sound but it needs a little more tweaking. Now about the strings. The only string sound that sounds good on a keyboard is the string quartet on the Roland RD700SX. These keyboards for one reason or another never really accomplish the "string thing" to my liking. Having said that, I mixed the piano with the strings and it sounded great, very professional. I've tried mixing piano with strings on so many other keyboards and never like the result but this board pulls it off. The manual is a must read. It seems to do the job OK.

The polyphony is 64. I like to go heavy on the sustain pedal, on this board I leaned to lighten up. 128 would be better. The keyboard action is VERY heavy. Probably mimics a grand piano. It's actually heavier than my Mom's Charles Walter upright piano. I actually like the keys BETTER than the real piano. The heavier the better. I was able to play fast passages better with heavier keys, I don't know why, you'd think it would be the other way around. Someone said this before but when you sit down to this you feel as if you are at a real instument, not just a keyboard. Maybe it's the brushed aluminum top and the heavy keys. The effects are great. There are 16 including, phaser, tremelo, distorsion, etc... All of the effects are editable which is what makes them so fun. You can just about always get the sound you want.

There are no expansion capabilities on this board. It really is just a playable instrument. No recorder, no seqencer, nothing. I would love it if they would have a memory bank where I could load up some of my favorite sounds into. This board is touted as a midi controller but I haven't used that yet.

I would say this is a rock, classical board. No techno here. Most piano sounds are great, some aren't that good. Some sounds are not that great...BUT....if you put effects on them, mix them with other sounds, you get incredible results. This is a serious board. I don't think it has the home market as a target. The more I mess with this thing the more I just can't believe there's not a cult devoted to it. There is no after touch, the only drawback if you plan to use it as a controller. But there are options for two more pedals that you can use for various functions. Otherwise this thing is like a piece of clay, it can be shaped, molded to just about anything. There is nothing staic about this board. The heavy keys really allow you to be expressive. Probably moreso than on the Yamahas or Rolands.

It feels very well made, but I can't say.

Don't know.

Kawai says they're coming out with another one soon. I hope that it has memory to store some of my own sounds. I have been playing for about 20 years. Damn I'm getting old!! What I like about this piano is that it comes with a music rest and dual footpedals!!!! No kidding!!!!! It's a freaking piano???!!!!??!???!?!?!? How on earth do these other companies sell their boards with not even an OPTION of a dual or tri pedal and not even an OPTION of a music rest???

I HATE that I can't put my own sounds on it without setting it up next to my computer. But when this was made three years ago, RAM was probably too expensive for that to be an option.

When I brought the Roland home, I had buyers remorse right out of the box. When I brought this home I felt like I paid way too little. I probably did.

A tiny update to my previous two posts:

The MP9500 cannot respond to MIDI controller #66 (sostenuto).
It can send it fine, and it can send and receive #67 (soft) and #64(sustain) perfectly.
European Kawai support told me there are no plans to implement receiving sostenuto. Careful reading of the MIDI specification shows it's not designed to respond to it.

A terrible oversight in my opinion.

This is a follow up note to my previous review.
Finally after sending 3 emails (1 received an initial reply asking me to try a different pedal) and waiting the best part of 2 months I received a quality response from Kawai support.

They acknowledged the bug!
and sent a fix! (although the should have at least zipped it or better included a PAR or SFV)
in the form of V1.13 software.

The problem was:

> Hold a key down and press both sostenuto and sustain.
> Whilst still holding the key release the sostenuto.
> The note continues to play.
> Now release the sustain.
> The note stops even though the key is still being held.
>
> If instead the sustain is released before the sostenuto
> the note continues
> to play whilst the key is held.

I had a tough job finding a suitable midi file player to handle update.
Incredibly I ended up using windows media player (version that ships with xp), it even did it at full tempo. i had converted the midi file tempo to 60 bpm which is the recommended playback tempo but played the wrong file! Why they don't actually release the midi files with this tempo set is a complete mystery. there is a command line util to do this on this page: http://www.gnmidi.com/gnfreeen.htm

Hope this helps out.

Software Version 1.1 (hold only STORE when booting)
Concert Grand is by far my favourite piano. EPs are nice too, esp. the 60s and classic.
Recently played with the Multi Layers. Some great patches in there, nice to have the sliders to blend the layers. Some very interesting tones esp. at the bottom of the keyboard.

I bought this instrument for its keyboard and i've not been disappointed.
Polyphony is good. Should be enough for most avant-guard composers/players. The note stealing algorithm is not as great as I've heard people mention though.
The effects are pretty good, but i'm not sure if they're studio grade. The modulation effects are very nice and for the most part the reverbs are good - but push them to the delay and depth limits and they sound very unrealistic and uncomplex.
This machine really ought to have a sostenuto pedal built in. It's a major oversight. I've hacked one in the space left over from the Fatar manufactured double pedal that comes with it. I bought a polarity switchable one as I wasn't sure which I would need. It transpires that the VFP-1/15 closed at rest is the one you need. It fitted in quite nicely and works well most of the time (set the footswitch controller to #66) but........
(see reliabilty)

Rich pianos - very expressive and realistic, but let's be sure that we need to wait another generation (and I mean a generation - not a rehash of old tech) to be free of the stretched sample blues - on quite a few notes it's very noticably that the timbre is distorted due to speeding up samples.
All electronic pianos bar magnificently sampled gigabyte sized ones suffer from this.

I have a major problem with using sostenuto and sustain at the sametime: occasionally all notes will drop leaving me hold down the keys but getting not sound - not even the natural release you would get if you had staccato'd the notes. It's bizarre and infuriating. It occurs when I release both pedals at the same time and then press either shortly after.
I'd be interested if anyone else has had similar problems. Please email me: neilx<at>btitnernet<dot>com and mark subject as MP9500

Not great.
Still waiting for a reply about the sostenuto/sustain note drop issue.
Did get a slow but useful response from a previous naive inquiry (specifically: i asked why the notes sustained constantly from the 3rd G above middle C to the top of the range. answer: because that's they way acoustic pianos work :) )

Despite a few idiosyncrasies this is a very sweet instrument.
I do need resolution of the sostentuto though.

Software version v.1.1. which I downloaded fro the kawai.de website.
I have owned the piano over 2,5 years, right from when it was available.

The sound of the presets vary from quite displeasant synthetic sounds to nice vibraphone and very nice EP sounds. Of the pianos, personally I like "Jazz grand" the most (it sounds very good for a hardware piano), but avoid the "New age piano" next to it!

Editing is quite simple, although I'm a typical preset user and I only have made few arrangements on this piano. I still have explored the possibilities there are a lot of controls (managed into the button set is the same as in MP9000). Editing is not hard.

The manual is quite basic. If you are planning to upgrade the software, it's good to read what has been fixed (well, if you can read german... :-)

The action, the action. I'll have to say that it is a little heavy for some fast passages (like I could play some...) but it is the most realistic I have played on a digital instrument. The best thing about the action is the dynamics, which make it very expressive, and it's quite okay for doing MIDI drum tracks too! I have tried Yamaha P-series + weighted synths, Roland RD-700 and RD-150, Kawai ES-series and the new 88-note controller from M-Audio (Keystation 88?), and the last one I liked the less I think. But bottom line is you should try all the instruments you can get your hands to and decide yourself.

Having wooden keys is not a must for a digital instrument but sure they have been succesfull in combining impoortant elements of an acoustic piano with a digital unit made for studio and live use.

Some of the effects are good (reverb is OK I think), some a little weak. I have no history as a synth user (except one Yamaha PSR-32 home keyboard from my childhood) and I haven't missed expansion possibilities. Software upgradeability is nice, and they took advantage of it. Although its only what can be done with MIDI files.

MIDI capabilities are wider than I have needed, so no complaining there. For a digital piano, tehre are a lot of features, but it's not a synth really nor a workstation.

Expressiveness is as stated above, really really nice dynamics.

I could reproduce the faulty samples mentioned on the right channel (from notes F-Ab above middle C in the Concert Grand sound). There is something wrong with it, but as I don't use that preset really, I can't say it has bothered me personally. But I understad how it could be annoying if you would have to rely on that sound in a sensitive situation.

I'ts in home use and despite some digital technology involved, it has not failed once and never needed a "reboot"... for use on stage it seems reliable but no experience on that, just a couple of moves with no damages. I have even opened the case since I got a replacement key from the reseller (the original was a bit noisy) and it looks well-built (and interesting!) inside. In general the keys are very quiet compared to many digital pianos, and I was maybe a bit too critical, but it was one of the middle keys I was playing a lot so it got a bit annoying.

Well in my country they don't sell this but the EU/German Kawai department seems helpful on their website.

Good value, price has even dropped from what it was when I bought it. Good investment because of the keyboard I think. Very stylish! Having mod and pitch bend wheels is one example of the professional approach thay have had building this piano.

I posted a review of this instrument previously. This is what has happened since.
The piano I had was the latest software avaiable at the time, the logic board had to be replaced after Kawai tech support directed me to download the software for the MP9000.
I had several people contact me after my initial review of the instrument, some in the US some from England and Europe. They all said the same thing except for one person who was going to relisten to the output without the effcts and through a better amp system.
An error in sample mapping and bad keyswitching. One person from England thanked me for making the problems known about the outputs before he seriously considered buying the piano, and he came up with additional sample switching errors in other voices that I didn't find. He did not purchase the piano.
The reviews posted since I entered mine sound like product specialists affiliated with the manufacturer creating a supportive revue for the piano.
As for the reviewer that stated he liked the Yamaha action better, I agree.
As for the reviewer that compared the Yamaha action to Roland's and Fatar's, and alluding that Yamaha uses Fatar components, he is delusional.
Yamaha has complete control from design to marketing, and manufactures all their own actions.
I'm looking for a Yamaha P-200 and a KX88 now.
How many keyboard players that earn their living performing live and in the studio do you see using a Kawai MP9500 or any other Kawai product?
As far as being a substitute for an acoustic piano, I play Steinway and Yamaha "Concert and Artist" and recording studio grand pianos regularly and the sluggish MP9500 action is not comparable in any way.
I'll stand by my first review.

64 notes. The action is sluggish. The effects will mask the output problems to the average user. MIDI is OK. No sequencer.

There is a sample mapping error in the voice ROM that calls the wrong sample between F and Ab in the first Grand Piano, 2 1/2 octaves down from the top of the keyboard.Most noticeable on the right XLR output without the effects on to mask it.

I will never buy another Kawai product. I've been playing 35 years. During that time I've worked and recorded for some great artists and have made albums with my own bands. I've been awarded a Platinum album from Capital records. I'm working on my first solo project now. I've worked as a sound designer for the largest manufacturer of pro level instruments.I own a Mac studio with Dig Performer, Kontakt, Several virtual instruments, NS10's, JBL4311's (vintage audio), Final Cut Pro HD. The California Attorney Generals Office sent Kawai a letter at my request to try to mediate the conflict but Kawai would not participate.As for my opinion, "What a Hunk of Junk" is too pedestrian. And all of this is my opinion.

V1.02

One of the best designed instruments I've ever had the pleasure of playing. It looks fabulous and every function is so easy to find because of the impeccably designed fascia. Any problems, look in the manual which explains every function very clearly.

Its not at all difficult to edit thanks to the control knobs and sliders and the LCD is small but very well lit and easy to understand.

I can't say polyphony has been a problem because the note-stealing device has been so well thought out that its difficult to notice anything going on. I've noticed the algorithm seems to make the most of turning stereo into mono in the process which really works well as the ear doesn't tend to dwell on these things when playing big chords or runs.

There are a variety of effects with a decent reverb that has ample control over the basic functions such as room size etc.

There is no aftertouch but I've not missed it. There's plenty of potential for midi control here and I've used this as a master for several softsynths via their midi learn function (FM7 works great with the MP9500).

OK, the keyboard. Superb. I studied as a pianist at the Royal College of Music and this has far and away the best keyboard action of any electronic keyboard I've ever played. Bear in mind I'm talking from a purely classical perspective here and it left all the others I tried in the dust. I wanted an instrument that didn't require me to switch on my shuttle PC to load up the Bosendorfer 290 vsti. Something that I could lose myself in for hours and not think about the technology involved.

Well, I tried the Roland RD gear, the Yamaha P250, clavinovas and and KX88, the korgs and on and on...... A friend suggested I try out his new MP9500 and I thought "Kawai!, my god not another bouncy bright japanese instrument". I never have been a big fan of the sound of their EX grands so wasn't expecting to be dazzled, but dazzled I was and still am. The action is quite beautiful and, although it doesn't kick back quite as quickly as I'd like for some Ravel and Mendlessohn pieces, it is the closest I've yet played to the real thing.

The presets. Some I really like. The Mellow Grand is my favourite of the pianos because it suits my style of performance. It is one of those preses I just can't stop playing. The clavinet, the elecric pianos, the Vibraphone and church organ I think work well and the harpsichord is ok with a nice key release sample. The Hammond is pretty good with a nice bit of pedal programming that allows you to switch the Leslie effect on and off. The brass (blurghhhh!), the synths (blaaaand!), the choirs (ok?!) - BUT, you can layer and split four of these simultaneously and make them much better than they are alone. In fact, thanks to the neat way you can use the sliders as a mixer for the respective levels, it brings a whole new dimension to the MP as a quai-synth rather than just a piano.

Also, its worth baring in mind that this instrument is 16 part multitimbral and some pretty good arrangement can be built using just the MP and the sequencer of your choice. I actually use an old Yamaha QX1 (448ppqn in the ealy 80s!) for this so I don't have to turn my computer on and 8 part arrangements work great.

Superb. Built like a tank. Made for gigging.

Now, here's the problem. When I bought it the action was slightly uneven and I requested Kawai uk that they send someone to balance it. The south-east manager was very friendly and gave me the name of the guy who delt with the technicians. He was ineffective and took months literally months to sort it out after several phone calls. He was rude and pretty obnoxious and I prey I never have to deal with him again.

Sorry Kawai uk, but you can do better.

I own 3 shuttle PCs loaded with softsynths like the Korg Legacy collection, ImpOSCar, Bosendorfer 290, the EastWest Symphony orchestra and Gigastudio with the VSL orchestra, a rack of akai samplers, a Yamaha SY99, an MPC60II, QX1, Orbit v2, Proteus 2500, 2 & 3, Memorymoog, Emulator II and an SP-12.

The MP9500 is probably my all time favourite piece of gear and certainly the most inspiring.

I use the MP9500 since 1 year. There is nothing more easy! Every function is where you expect it to be and it does what you want it to do.

The AWA Grand PRO action is the best in the market! Still Yamaha or Roland have nothing to compare with. 64 Multi settings is enough for live gig and the realtime controllers are easy to use and well selected.

The Concert Grand sounds very natural and authentic. Due to the Harmonic Imaging techology there are no sample switches hearable. Great! I personally also like the E.Pianos - good Rhodes and nice Wurly. The String pad is also great for layering or as single pad.

If you have a stage hand - OK. Because of the wooden keys it is a bit heavy (32kg) - but every gramm is great to have it on stage.

Very quick and friendly support, thank you!

There is nothing better until now. I looking foreward to see what's next ;-))

The software version is 1.02. I find it to be an easy keyboard to use, with a clear layout.

The keyboard only have 32 note polyphony (64 mono with mono-switching), but you could never tell (even when doing classical pieces with heavy use of the sustain pedal). The note-stealing algorithm is smoother than John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever..ehh, something like that anyway. The effects are very useable. Nothing stellar, but more than adequate for the task. The key action is probably the best there is (for a digital piano). MP9500 has every midi-capability you could expect it to have, except for aftertouch. That makes perfectly sense for me. Aftertouch on a keyboard with piano-action demands unecessary force while playing IMO, but I've never used aftertouch that much anyway. In multi-mode, the keyboard can layer up to 4 sounds simultaniously. This is very useful for creating complex sounds, and velocity swithing between these four layers can be used to great effect.

I've tried several other digital stage pianos, like the Yamaha P250, clavinovas, rolands and several gigapianos with Fatar SL-880. I find it "interesting" how some people here think the yamaha P250 more realistic and better than this model (although key-action perferences are very subjective of course). In fact, to review a digital piano publicly only after having demoed it in a store is a bit unserious in my book. I've had the MP9500 for about a year now, and I have to say that it's piano sound is clearly superior to the Yamaha and Roland models I've tried. These digital stage pianos just doesn't quite sound like a real grand, MP9500 does. They also use Fatar-keys or something similiar, and I feel almost like cheating when playing these. The action is too light for realistic and dynamic (expressive) piano-playing, which is especially important if you're into classical music.

Most people here seem to agree on that MP9500 has the best key action. The reason for this is that it uses real hammers, weights and wooden keys (not fatar plastic). However, if you're playing mostly blues or rock'n'roll etc., a lighter Fatar action may be preferable (easier on your hands). Fatar keys has a tendency to become uneven after a period of use (I previously had SL-880), which means some keys become more sensitive than the others. This can be very annoying. The keys on MP9500 are all extremely accurate, and MUCH more expressive than any other keyboard I've played. This means it's easier to play with emotion and dynamics, like one would on a greal grand piano. However, be aware of than Kawai messed up the stock velocity curves real good. In fact the stock curves only utilizes about 70% of the sample range. Fortunately, you can make your own velocity curves (for your own playing style). This is highly recommended. The keyboard doesn't sound bad by any standard with the original velocity settings, it can just sound much better when tweaked. I haven't tried the Pro Mega3, but I wouldn't be surprised if a tweaked MP9500 would be just as good. The piano sound is so incredibly powerful and dynamic, but I do miss that extra string-popping FFF-layer. But still, you can go from PP to FF very smoothly. No discernable velocity-switching. Playing Liszt, Prokofiev, Chopin etc. on this keyboard is FUN.
The only negative thing I can say is about the key action. The key bounce-back is slightly slower than on a real piano (where the hammers strike a string, not a soft plastic sensor :-). I would say that in this area, Yamaha P250 wins. However, still overall better than any other digital piano I've tried.

The other sounds ranges from excellent to poor. Brass, church organ and vocal patches are not good, but fortunately all the important sounds like Rhodes, Wurlitzer and Clavinet are great. Even the hammond can sound pretty good when tweaked. I fairly sure the only other digital stage piano that can compete in this area, is the Pro Mega2/3.

It seems to me that the Kawai MP9500 is slightly overlooked compared to products from bigger companies like Roland and Yamaha, that's why I felt I had to write this review. It has definately the most heavy keys I've played on a digital keyboard, but if you want to build some serious piano chops don't kid yourself with easy Fatar-plastic. Go for the (almost) real thing.

Haven't failed me yet. The casing on my keyboard can rattle slighty from time to time when practicing, this can be a bit annoying if your practicing with low volumes for hours and hours every day. Fortunately, I managed to fix it fairly easily. However, the keys are dead silent. This is very much appreciated on my behalf. Compared to the "thump-thump-thump" Roland digital pianos, the difference is huge.

Very helpful. Tech support answers emails quickly, politely and informative.

Easy to tour patches. Did not edit anything.

Very unattractive body shape and silver color.

I am a very advanced level pianist and very sensitive to the respone, tone and behavior of individual pianos.
I played both the Kawai MP9500 and the P250 yesterday. I was surprised at how good the grand piano sounded when I played the first note on the Kawai MP9500. So I put on Sony stereo headphones and started to play. I noticed the keybed was lighter feeling and more wobbly than the P250. I noticed the notes sounded very good in the attack portion of their samples with good clarity and detail, but as with most digital piano samples the tone of the notes after the attack portion gets blurry (on Yamaha too). I then moved over and played the "Mellow Piano" on the P250 which I consider its most realist piano patch. Right away I noticed the action was less wobbly, it felt more "regulated" like a brand new top concert grand, whereas the Kawai MP9500 felt more like a worn in piano action that had some free play in its bushings. The other big difference was I could overlap, blend and connect tones much more smoothly, easily and REALISTICALLY on the P250. Its notes overlap in a very cooperative way, the notes integrate and blend with each other better than any digital piano I have ever played. Playing the Kawai I could not get the notes to connect and blend harmonically as well, it didn't play as seamlessly, the Kawai notes sounded more disjointed as if the samples did not merge quite perfectly with each other or as seamlessly as on the P250. For my playing the "Mellow Piano" on the P250 behaves more musically.