Topic by lovelovemale

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  • lovelovemale
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  • Registered: 07-11-2017
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Topic: Kawai CA-58 - Velocity / Midi / Sound

Hi there,

happy new year to all :-)
I was wondering if anybody here has a Kawai 58 or 48?
I am asking because I really have a difficult time to reach 120 Velocity, even if I really hit the Keys hard with softest velocity touch I end up about 108-112. But I really hit hard then... I'm not a professional player so I don't really know how hard a real Grand has to be struck to hit that velocity, but I expect I shouldn't need to put my body into it or should I?

I asked for some velocity help in the velocity section but nobody seems to respond there.

Also the regular Kawai sound (Shigeru) of the keyboard sounds quite good through its internal speakers. When playing Pianoteq through the speakers it's quite "flat", mainly missing bass I feel.... I guess just not very good speakers in a 2200€ piano? :S :S

Thanks for your help!

Reply by groovy

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  • Registered: 12-06-2009
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Re: Kawai CA-58 - Velocity / Midi / Sound

Maybe the limited velocity-range is part of Kawai's "corporate-design". Even my old Kawai ES3 just has a range of velocity 25 to 105 and it ist not the first time I read of similar ranges in forums.

I'm waiting for a Kawai VPC2, which I expect to have the new Grand Feel Compact (GFC) that is already available in Kawai CA 48 and CA 58. Will be interesting, if a VPC2 is able to transmit the full range as a MIDI controller board (should a VPC2 ever appear in the next years ...)

Reply by Soel

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  • Registered: 27-10-2018
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Re: Kawai CA-58 - Velocity / Midi / Sound

Hi,

I don't have a Kawai CA-58, but in the CA-58 user manual pages 82-83 you can see that touch curves are not affecting the maximum velocity point (128,128) so selecting those won't help much if you really want to reach the maximum velocity with less physical strength. Page 83 tells you how to create a "user touch curve" that should in theory reduce the amount of strength needed to reach the highest velocity. But it's unsure whether it will affect the midi output going through Pianoteq or not.

The other solution is to keep the default curve in your Kawai, and use Pianoteq's velocity curve instead.
Beneath the Velocity frame you will find a "calibration" button that will give you instructions to follow and create a custom curve for you that you will be able to modify later. You can set the highest point to (112,128) for example, so that when you hit 112 with your Kawai, Pianoteq will play at 128 (maximum velocity).

You also have to use wisely the "dynamics" value of Pianoteq to increase the difference between lowest and highest volume.

As to playing Pianoteq through the speakers of your piano, personally I use the general equalizer of Pianoteq found above the "effects" to adapt the sound to the speakers.