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.

The software is version 1.02. I'm a relative novice to electronic keyboards and I mostly bought this to use as a piano for the lessons I am taking. I've had this one for a couple of months and I play every day. It is a definite step up from my RD-150 (which I used for over a year) in flexibility, sound and action. On the RD-150 the looping was quite noticable in a sustained piano chord or note. Not so with the MP9500. Piano sounds are very much a matter of personal taste. I find the piano presets to be quite good with little need for tweaking. There is also a lot of flexibility is changing the character of the preset sounds in terms of envelope, EQ and effects types not to mention layering voices. The manual is good enough for my use.

The polyphony is 64 notes, good enough for my uses. It might limit some users who want to use an external controller/sequencer to play the sounds within the keyboard. It is however first and foremost, an electric piano, not a synthesizer/workstation and 64 notes should be more than adequate as a piano.

The action is outstanding. I bought this thing to be my main piano instead of an acoustic one for playing and practicing. It allows me to practice in silence and it takes up very little room. I found that practicing on my RD-150 never really produced any improvment in my playing when I went to my piano lessons to play on an acoustic piano. Now however there is obvious improvement in tone an articulation. In fact, the MP9500's action is better than that of many acoustics that I've played around on (including some acoustic pianos that had been recently regulated and tuned). Velocity sensing is adjustable across a wide range including a custom user setting that measures your maximum and minimum velocities and sets them as the limits. I just use the normal setting.

There are a significant number of effects to choose from (about 22) and there are four parameters of each that can be varied. There is also a 4-band EQ and ADSR control, all adjustable from four rotary, analog like, controllers. On the side of the board are a modulation wheel and a pitch bender.

There is no obvious expansion facility a la Roland's SRX port but who knows what can be accomlished over MIDI ports in terms of downloading and programming? I have seen no mention of it however. There is no sequencer either (it is after all a piano). It is a great MIDI controller however, four channels and many assignable parameters.

The manual includes full details of the MIDI implementation. Most of it appears fairly straightforward if you already speak MIDI.

I find the expressiveness very good on all of the voices I've played with. The piano ("Concert Grand" and "Jazz Grand") are especially nice. The church organ is excellent and the default reverb setting
for that voice really gives the impression of the presence of a reverberant wall at the oposite end of the cathderal. The EPs are nice as well as are the mallets. The only voices I don't like are the harpsichords. They are kind of pinched and constricted compared to what I'm used to hearing. The harpsichord on my RD-150 was much nicer. It's a minor thing however and might be curable given the flexibility of the effects and EQ.

This would be a great keyboard for all types of music except maybe dance because you have to actually play it yourself.

I don't know because I don't gig (maybe someday...). It stays in my home. I've never had any issues with it but it has only been a couple of months.

I've only spoken to Kawai once (before I bought the piano) when I made inquiries over the phone to the head office in the US.
I got to talk to a "Product Manger" and discussed rumours of defects in the instrument. He was very open to discussion and we talked for about 10 minutes. We both agreed that I should listen carefully and trust my ears. I did. I have never dealt with their tech support.

I love it and I'd buy another one (or a different Kawai with the same keyboard) if it were stolen or lost. It's well worth what I paid. The action is the best of all of the electic pianos that I've tried - Rolands (RD-700 was close), Yamahas, Clevianos (Casio actually
and really God awful), Technics, Korgs and several others and the piano voices are at least as good as the best digitals out there. Piano voice preferences are a pretty personal thing. I dislike the sound of some acoustics (some highly regarded) and many electrics. I like this one very much. My other board is an Edirol PCR-50 controller for use with CUBASIS and N-TRAX Studio.

One small gripe I have with the layout of the keyboard is that the music rack is too far away from me. Densly annotated sheet music is a bit of an eye test. I'm new to reading music however and am in my 40's so that is probably more me that the instrument.

The software version can be obtained by holding down the TRANSPOSE and STORE buttons (the ones furthest to the right) while powering on the piano. It appears on the display.

There is a defect only in the right XLR and 1/4" audio out put in the Concert Grand voice. The ROM is mapped incorrectly. The samples called by the notes F thru Ab above middle C do not match the rest of the samples in the voice.The stereo voicing is unusable in a recording or live professional setting. Kawai US has confirmed this. All MP9500's have this problem and Kawai is not going to fix it. I've filed a complaint against Kawai with the California State Attorney Generals office. If Kawai does not purchase the MP9500 back from me I will sue. The rest of your questions are moot.

The action is good. The effects are good. No expansion. Good MIDI. No Seq'.

It appears that you cannot depend on Kawai US. Their response to me was to substitute plug-in software sounds to make-up fir the MP9500's flaw. I bought the piano for the Concert Grand voice. Very arrogant of Kawai.

Not usable.

The best action I've experienced on a digital piano, aside from (possibly) Kawai's CP series home pianos. I came very close to buying this keyboard for the action alone. You really feel like you're throwing hammers around.

It's not very expandable, but I wasn't interested in that; only in the most realistic piano. I was going to dock it a point for weighing over 70 lbs and not including speakers, but I assume the extra weight is because of the wooden keys and more extensive "real" hammer action, which to me is a great trade-off.

I tried so hard to like the piano sound! I went back to the store a half dozen times. I tweaked all the manual waveform tweaks. I tried headphones and external amplification. I even tried more than one unit, including the older MP9000 model. How could they have gone so wrong here? This thing is orders of magnitude worse than any other digital piano I've experienced (except for other Kawais). It doesn't sound even remotely like an acoustic piano! You couldn't mistake this for a real piano if you were playing it on the runway at LaGuardia. If Beethoven played this thing blindfolded, he would be able to feel the artificiality through his butt! OK, so I'm hyperbolizing, but I want to convey my frustration. Paired with even a mediocre piano sound, Kawai's action would make this the best keyboard on the market; but as it is, it leaves you with such a feeling of detachment from the instrument that the realism of the action is a moot point.

Regarding the action, I also want to point out that there's a difference between realism (which is only a function of the mechanical action) and expressiveness (which also involves the interface between the mechanical action and the samples, DSPs, etc., and emulates the nuances of dynamics, timbre, etc.). Here again, I feel the Kawai falls short of Roland and far short of Yamaha. A Yamaha CVP, for example, feels less like a real piano but is a far superior instrument, if that makes sense.

Ultimately self-defeating. The hands-down best action in any digital piano is completely negated by the horrible sound quality. If this is fixed in successive generations of this model, I'll buy one in a heartbeat. Meanwhile, I went with a Yamaha P250.

My MP9500 uses v1.02 software.

Extremely easy to use, at least in the SINGLE mode, which I use exclusively (I never cared much for layered sounds in keyboards). Layout us intuitive, and I've only very rarely had to consult the manual, and usually only for small details (Such as what "Kirnberg" temperment is). The manual says what is has to, and nothing more. For the not technically avid, it might be a bit incomprehensive.

Customizing patches in SINGLE mode is easy and intuitive (granted, there isn't that much to customize, but nonetheless one is never confused)'. One thing that surprises negatively is that the band equalizer settings are global, and so not included in patches. This is annoying, especially is you switch much between sounds.

Polyphony is 64 voices, 32 in stereo, with mono switching when voice stealing becomes necessary. In the time I've had it (only a few weeks, but I've played many, many different pieces during that time), I've never heard noticable voice dropouts, not even in Beethoven sonatas.

Reverb is a standalone effect, all the other (and there are many) effects, such as Phaser, Overdrive, Rotator etc. are single use. I would have liked Sympathetic Resonance (simulation of other strings in the piano vibrating when the damper is lifted and some strings are struck) to be a stand-alone effect too, so I could subtly enhance the piano sounds a bit more with an extra effect, but this is really only a very minor detail.

Compared to the competition, which is mainly the Roland RD700 and the Yamaha P250, it is far better-featured than the Yamaha, and slighty less compared to the Roland. However, the Kawai leaves these pianos in the dust, because...

The keyboard action really is incredible! It is, by far, the best weighted keybed in, and a far reach above, it's price bracket. The bounce-back (the little bounce the key makes when it reaches it's initial position after release) is very believable, and the weight of the hammer feels almost completely real. The only thing keeping you from believing you're setting at a real action keybed, is that there's no hammer escapement at the bottom of the key depression. But this is very minor, and there really is no competition among other stage pianos, until you reach very high-end Yahama's, or digital hybrids.

I bought this keyboard untried (after very thorough research on the net and trying keyboards in all the music stores in Copenhagen), with action and a believable piano sound as priorities, in that order (I have acces to a very good grand, but not often enough to practise, so I was willing to sacrifice sound for feel (technique).). During the first hour playing, I was disappointed. The piano sounds were a bit to shrill, and I had trouble getting the reverb right. Then it struck me that I hadn't even noticed the action yet! After months of rejecting keyboards, from the Studiologic SL880 to Korg SP200 to numerous Rolands (including the RD700 and the FP series) and Yahamas (PXXX's and Clavinovas), almost always on feel (sound rejects were all low-price stage pianos, also with terrible feel), the Kawai action felt so natural, that I wasn't put off by anything in it.

Then, with a tweaking of the Concert Grand, I now believe that my MP9500 sounds far superior to anything I tried during the last 5 months (with the possible exeption of the GEM ProMega3, but the action (Fatar, I believe) of this keyboard, kept me from buying that instead of the Kawai.)

There's no sequencer, but since you'll probably have a computer nearby (who hasn't these days), this really doesn't matter. Onboard sequencing has never been a favorite of mine, as even the most rudimentary sequencer programs for computers could do a better job in 1990.

Overall the features does not get a 10, but it deserves it from the perspective of a classical pianist, who uses it for practising.

Oh, it comes with a dual footpedal, and music stand. Not major points, but you'ld miss them if they were gone (well you'ld probably get another footpedal, but the music is VERY handy).

The high notes of the Cencert Grand bite a bit too much when using headphones, but since you can alter the amplification envelope (try doing that on a Yamaha P250) setting the cutoff a little lower than preset, and cutting a bit in the treble and boosting the bass, gets rid of that problem.

The volume interval is perhaps a bit to narrow, i.e. there's to little difference in soft vs. hard notes in volume, but that is made up for in expression. Hard bass notes are far superior to both Roland and Yamaha, whose midlevel notes are of almost the same strength as the bass (probably to give the "store player" an illusion of what a "grand" (no pun intended) piano they're playing. After playing these for many hours, I can tell you that it's annoying in the extreme not to have midlevel expressivesness)

For those into the the dark Roland piano sound, the Mellow Piano does a rather good job. Again, altering the envelope can work wonders.

With five preset sensitivity levels, two user defined, and four expression levels, it should be possible for you to customize a piano to your liking.

But...

The GEM ProMega3 sounds better, so for studio recording, this would be recommended. Then again, so would a real piano ;-)

Built like a ton of bricks, and weighs like it.

Emailed me an english PDF-manual within two days of asking.

I would probably end up buying another. Then again I might spring for a digital hybrid if I had the room (and money).

I would look long and hard at the ProMega3 again, if I had to buy another stage piano.

The next GEM incarnation of a digital piano could be on par with the Kawai...

Combine the two and yould have an instant classic, and unbeatable stage piano.


But for now, the Kawai can't be beat in the grand piano feel.

I own the MP9500. A friend of mine owns an MP9000. I haven't brought the two together to A-B them, but I've been back and forth between the two and just thought I'd share that I think the action on the 9500 is much improved over the already-excellent 9000. The action of the 9500 is heavier, more solid, less prone to bouncing. Its really a nice improvement on a product that was already at the head of its class. Well done Kawai.

I have a nice Petrof acoustic at my place, and I love playing it. There's no substitute for the experience of playing a real acoustic piano. But my MP9500 has such great action and such a realistic dynamic response, playing the MP9500 actually does more for my technique than practicing on the Petrof. Remarkable, that.

Previous review was incorrect - - polyphony of the MP9500 is 64 voices according to Kawai

I am a classical pianist (and organist), too poor to buy that Steinway B of my dreams. I never thought I'd be interested in a digital piano. Then I played the Kawai MP9000 -- just at the time Kawai came out with the MP9500. I'm in love. Believe me, it's not a Steinway; it has its own personality and expressiveness; but turn this baby on, and indulge. I've had this for a year, and I'm still happy. I've read the manual, but I don't do MIDI (yet) and don't do gigs. There are more presets than I need to use: I love the Concert Grand, Jazz Piano (a brighter sound), and the two Harpsichords. I play it through my old Bose Lifestyle 5 Music Center and single cube speakers and get a rich sound. I've not bought a keyboard amp yet. I just play this piano for hours and simply enjoy it.

The action is what sold me on the Kawai. I've since gone back and played on the Yamaha P80, Roland 700, and GEM PRO keyboards I originally looked at. No comparison. The Yamaha tired me out, and all that plastic felt ucky. The wooden keys on the Kawai are wonderful. Great feel, great action, great expressiveness.

The polyphony is 32 note, which is limited in pieces with big sound and cascades of notes, esp. with the use of the sustain pedal. I can live with this.

I prefer to keep Sympathetic Resonance on (a kind of reverb) and choose Plate. There are more reverb choices than one could want. I like a more intimate "grand piano" sound.

There are significant MIDI capabilities and controls which others can more ably comment on. There are no expansion or sequencing capabilities. And no aftertouch.

The piano sounds are great. Don't get me wrong: this is a digital piano. I've been impressed with other piano patches out there, but all things considered, the MP9500 is one versatile piano.

The Kawai action is the reason to buy this instrument.

I mentioned the great Piano and Harpsichord patches above. I'm also impressed with the bass and wah presets (though I haven't experimented with these much). The electronic organ presets are funky. I wish there had been a few basic "pipe organ" presets of higher quality (the diapason, flute, and full organ are not great). But I bought a piano, not an organ.

The foot pedal works as a sustain and damper. It "travels" easily on the floor (a nuisance which improves a bit on carpeting).

The expressiveness of the action is superb and again, is another reason for purchasing this instrument. I could not get a P80 to play Adagio movements by Beethoven with the kind of sensitivity you can get out of the MP9500.

Velocity reaction is smooth.

I think this instrument would play great jazz. I can't comment how someone would find it for rock, raves, etc. It is not a synthesizer. Yet the MP9500 is loaded with more presets and options than the MP9000.

I use headphones on occasion (Sony MDR-7506 closed studio monitor, $100), but the piano sounds better (="less digital") played through my little Bose speakers with sound bouncing in the room. The headphones are very handy at night, but note that the wooden keys "make noise" as does the expression pedal. If walls are thin, you can still disturb someone's sleep.

My piano has developed only one problem in the year I've used it (almost daily use for 1-2 hours). The "a" above "middle c" sticks. I found out I need to get it repaired before my warranty expires. It seems this has been a problem with the MP9000 after extended use. I'm not sure what such repair entails nor how much it costs when one is no longer under warranty.

The piano is heavy (80+ pounds) and takes two people and a big car to move it around. I believe the case available for the MP9000 (cost approx. $300) fits the MP9500, but it is not airworthy. I've taken a previous suggestion and bought two sleeping bags to take my baby outside (with lots of static!) -- and I'm glad I've not had to take it out of town yet.

The manual originally wasn't packed with the brand new model I purchased, but Kawai USA was very gracious in getting one to me quickly. I have only dealt with my local dealer re getting my sticky key repaired, and will see how that goes, since my warranty expires soon.

I love this piano. I've never played so much in my life. I still want a Steinway, but I agree that my technique has improved tremendously on this digital instrument. It has its own personality. For a pianist on a budget, owning a Kawai MP9500 is a totally worthwhile investment.

I used to own a Kawai MP9000. I loved it. Bought it used for $1150, played it for a year, and sold it when I had to uproot and change cities. Now, about a year later, I have an acoustic piano but can't play it too much because of my living situation, so, in order to get my practicing in, I figured its time to get the MP9500. Good decision.

Yes, its easy to use. It is not, however, easy to move. 70 lbs and bulky.

Well, the main reason to like the 9500 is the same as the main reason to like th 9000 -- the action. Piano-like and expressive on a whole different order of magnitude than any other digital piano that I've tried (which doesn't count some of the super upper-end digitals that cost much more). The 9500 feels about the same as the 9000. I'm not able to A-B them, which I would have to do to really make a comparitive judgement. But from my memory of playing the 9000, its about the same. The 9500 is supposed to have "graded" hammer action, meaning the lower keys are a bit heavier. I'll take their word for it.

The action of the MP9000 was a bit bouncy, in an way that seemed unrealistic. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the 9500 seems improved in that regard, i.e., less bouncy. Although, again, I'd have to A-B them to be sure.

One of the nice benefits of the MP9500 action is that the keys bottom out softly, so you don't get that playing-a-table-top fatigue that you do from most digital pianos.

I think the midi capabilities are improved in the 9500. I'm not sure how exactly, because I don't remember now what the 9000 could do because I never used it as a midi controller. It seems like a powerful controller although nothing like, say, a Kurzweil PC2X.

Kawai says it has improved the sounds from the 9000 to the 9500. I thought the 9000 had excellent acoustic piano sounds. I'm going to have a hard time saying the 9500 sounds are better. Obviously, they are at least as good. The most obvious improvement, however, is in all the others sounds, such as electric piano, organ, and so on. Most of these are clearly better in the 9500. Of course the great thing about the MP is not just the sounds but the expressiveness that is possible because of the action.

Sure, it seems reliable. I don't anticipate I'll be hauling this around, but who knows. Were it not for the weight, I wouldn't hesitate to use it for a solo piano gig.

The best way to describe how I feel about the MP9500 is this: I've owned several digital pianos (Roland, Korg, Yamaha) and played countless others in stores. The MP is the only digital piano I've every played that truly feels like an instrument in its own right, rather than an imitation of an instrument. I know this because when I sit down to play, I just want to keep playing. The hours float by and my wrists are aching pleasurably. And I know this because practicing on the MP9500 results in improvement in my acoustic piano playing unlike any other digital piano I've owned. The technique you use on the 9500 really does transfer over to a quality acoustic piano.

If you own a MP9000, it might be hard to justify upgrading to the 9500. They are so close in quality. The 9500 is an incremental improvement. If I had kept my 9000, I would probably keep playing it and not have gotten the 9500.

Its hard to find these in stores. Based on my experience with the 9000, I purchased the 9500 without ever having audititioned it. I got it through Musician's Friend and was very pleased with their service.

The thing that might stop most people from buying the MP9500 is that its a "portable" keyboard that truly is not very portable. But I don't care, I get so much out of it just sitting in my living room. It earns its keep anew every day.

The presets sound very good. 64 sounds in total. The piano sounds are extremely convincing and wonderful to play, especially the Grand Piano and the Jazz piano. To me, the pads, the strings and the organs just adds the little extra sugar on top...
The edition options are quite OK due to the frontpanel knobs, and although I haven't even used the machine as a midi device yet, I assume it is fairly easy to set up. The manual is in english and german.

The feeling and action of this stage piano is overwhelming. I have tried out the most significant Roland models (RD-700, RD-600, RD-150, XV-88, FP-9, FP-3 etc.) and Yamaha models (Motif 8, P-80, P-120, S-08, S-80, S-90 etc.), the most recent Korg models (plus the Triton ProX) and the Oberheim models (Cosmos, MC-2000 and MC-3000). The model of utmost interest I didn't get the chance to test before I bought the Kawai s the GEM ProMega. However, it doesn't matter, because to me the Kawai MP9500 finally brings back the inspiration. At home, my parents had an unbelieveably wellsounding Andreas Christensen upright piano. Tuff competition? No! The Kawai's wooden keys (it is a darn heavy machine) offers the exact balanced feel I know so well. It's nothing but lovely.

The effects are good and easy to use. If I need more effects I'll use my outboard gear in my studio. The Kawai does not offer any kind of expansion, nor any on-board sequencer. It doesn't matter to me at all. It's got what it needs.

As I mentioned before the Grand Piano is very realistic. Thru my AKG 240 headphones it's amazing. I can't wait to listen thru my Alesis Monitor One speakers.

I believe it works for any kind of music. It inspires the player or the composer and that's the most important thing, I guess. As to compositions, I prefer an electronic-pop-with-a-twist focus, and the Kawai MP9500 can easily find its place in every setup. No doubt about it.

Check out: http://www.mp3.com/pongcuter

It reacts like it's supposed to. Nice velocity reaction, but no aftertouch I believe. Who really needs that anyway?

I have only had for 2 days now, so I have no idea. It feels very solid and its heavy as a ton of bricks. I intend to use it in my studio only, i.e. no gigging.

I have been looking for a stage piano like this for about 6 months. Intensively. If it were lost or stolen, I would buy a new one right away. The Kawai MP9500 is simply too fantastic. And it's a quite handsome dude - my girlfriend seems to have fallen in love with him too.... :o)

Basically it is very easy to use, access to presets and multis is straighforward, tweaking of sounds is easy with four knobs. Setup of your own multis can be a little more tricky, but is not more complicated as for similiar instruments.

The keyboard action is GREAT, it is the best imitation of a real piano I've ever played. Polyphony is somewhat limited (32 stereo voices), but it tries to keep long sustained notes by switching them to mono if required, so you can achieve as much as 48 voices, which should be enough in most situation.

The masterkeyboard functionality is limited as well (better than in the MP-9000, but still). I owned a Kurzweil PC-88 before, and it was much more flexible. E. g. the Kawai allows only one expression pedal, and to make things worse, you have to assign a fixed controller number to it. In my setup, some devices need #7 for volume control, while other need #11, and there's no way to define different controller numbers for e. g. different zones or multis.

The acoustic piano sounds, combined with the great keyboard, is the reason for buying this instruments. They sound very realistic, have a good response, and there's enough variation between the presets for different situations. The best I've played so far.

EPs are generally fine, but I miss a really hard one. The Clavinet is very realistic, but I didn't like the Hammonds (I own a Voce V5, so they couldn't have a chance, anyway). Strings are fine, as are basses.

The reverb is OK for an on-board type, the other effects sound good, but when changing presets, there sometimes are clicks or other artefacts, which you wouldn't expect in an instrument of this quality

It doesn't have aftertouch, but responds very well to velocity, there are 5 predefined and 2 user defined response curves, so everybody should be satisfied

I only own it for a week now, and haven't used it live, but it looks very solid (and is heavy). it's too early to have a real opinion about that, but so far, I think it's very dependable

If lost or stolen, I would buy it again. The only alternative I considered was a Kurzweil PC-2, but you can't get one these days in Europe. The keyboard of the Kawai is definitely the best, but I wouldn't mind more flexible masterkeyboard functionality (and I don't have a very big MIDI setup: an Ensoniq SQ-R+, a Voce V-5 and a Lexicon reverb)

It's real fun playing it, it feels good and it sounds good.