❤❤ I just got this video recommended!! Nice to hear you play around with the piano!! Love your voice!!! I have to look into you more!!! Keyboard playing is so fun!!!! What a quality sound on that Kawai piano!!
Congrats too Ron, enjoy 🤗🎹🎶. You’re piano style and vocal singing style too is always so good to enjoy. The new 🎹 founds great 👍 hey Ron. What a treat this will be for your musical 🎶 enjoyment and creative variety of recordings too. Does it have some nice choir pads like the Roland FANTOM & Korg PA5X has? Cheers, Ron 🤗🎶
The Yamaha CP88 ceases to amaze me. It’s practically endless what you can do with it when it comes to creating new sounds with different combinations of voices.
Nice work. I recently purchased its little brother the MP7SE, which actually has the same action as the Nord Grand 2. The MP-11 definitely has a considerably better action though, but it came down to weight for me. I'm retired, and gig every once in a while, and weight was a big part of the tradeoff. Maybe I'll get a MP-11 someday for the house...who knows. Have you discovered how to limit the keyboard "scope" of layered sounds yet? For example, piano and strings. Of course, have the piano play on all keys. But limit the strings to sounding on just part of the keyboard...perhaps eliminating them on the bottom octave, and the top 2-3 octaves. Allows the piano to shine in the upper octaves, without being evident that the strings fell out. It's a simple setting that can be changed on the fly, and works very nicely. Looks like you have a Yamaha MX-6 mixer in your studio setup as well. Me too. Best regards, and thanks for posting...
Yes, you can change the key range of each part. I'll get around to doing that soon. I'm glad this board is 75 lbs. I'm not going to gig with it. It will be my studio piano. I'm retired as well, but still gig. Take care.
Very much enjoy your videos Ron but was surprised to see you with a new board. I have the Yamaha CP88 and absolutely love it. I’m sure you have your reasons. Keep up the good work.
I love the CP88 as well, but... it doesn't have this action that's on the Kawai. This MP11SE will be my studio piano. It is HEAVY (75 lbs) and I love it. I'll continue to gig with my CP88.
Each keyboard has its advantages. The pianos on the CP88 are brighter. It has more sounds which include brass, guitars, and organs. It's a great keyboard for gigging which I will still use for that. The Kawai action is much better. The Shigeru Concert Grand has a really nice sound to me and makes me want to play it and sing with it. It's more limited in what it can do, but for me it's perfect. I will not gig with it since it's so heavy (75lbs).
You are a good singer and player, it’s a pity the music scene has become so corrupted that decent players can’t get the opportunities they used to get to make a decent living.
Started watching the video because I wanted to hear what sounds came with the piano but after you started playing and singing I can honestly say that I could care less about the piano. I could listen to you sing and play those oldies ALL DAY!
wow. You should be signed by Kawai to promote their boards - incredible talent on both the keys and the vocals. You would fit in perfectly with The Wrecking Crew!
That’s a beautiful keyboard. I had an MP7 and it was beautiful too, but kind of heavy to gig with especially as I got older. Wondering if you’re going to gig with that -those babies are really heavy! But the heavier they are the better they play.
Yes, it is a beautiful keyboard, and a beast. I love the fact that it's 75 lbs. This will be my studio piano. I will not gig with it. I have a Yamaha CP88 I gig with.
Really enjoyed your review. All the way from Kuching, Sarawak here. With your playing style & voice, I think any keyboard sounds good too. I look forward to listen on. Thank you.
Hi Ron great video. I love the sounds the Kawai has even if it’s limited in its capability compared to some of the competition. You’re correct that it’s incredibly heavy but I suppose that’s the pay off for having a great playing action. Even though the MP11SE has been around a good few years now I think for the price you get an excellent product. I don’t play myself however I’m an ex pro sound engineer so sound quality is particularly important to me especially within a live setting. For piano sounds I’d say I most like the Kawai, Dexibell and Kurzweil products although Nord do nice piano sounds too. I just think Nord are extremely expensive for what you get. Yes they are good and generally user friendly but a bit too overpriced in my opinion. I was going to ask what key/keys do you generally sing/play in? Is there one you particularly prefer for your voice? I’m assuming you’ve transposed some of the tracks you do into a more suitable key and octave compared to the original. I ask because I sing and play drums and my voice is in a very similar range to yours. Anyway keep up the great videos and I can’t wait to see more of the Kawai being used in action. Out of curiosity are you going to use external sound modules with the MP11? James
Hey James. Thank you for your comments. First of all, I love the fact that it's 75 lbs. This will be my studio piano, so I won't gig with it. It's a beautiful beast. Yes, what a value for the price, and I agree with you that Nords are overpriced. I've had both Kurzweil and Dexibell S7. Traded the Kurzweil for a KORG organ. Didn't keep the Dexibell. It sounded good but just wasn't the right fit for me. Those keys felt awesome though. As for keys I usually play in, it's really a matter of the note range of the lead line. Some songs I can play and sing in the original key. Most I have to transpose. If I had to choose one key, it seems Ab might be it. And, no, I will not be using the external sound modules. Take care and God bless!
@@RonWarrenmusic57 yes I think some of the sounds in the Dexibell especially S9 are really good but my friend who’s a pro player was saying the thing he didn’t like was it was too menu driven rather than it being an easy touch to alter sounds etc. I have to say for the money, I think Kawai make some brilliant products. If they could update the MP7SE to have better organ and and EP sounds plus giving it enough sliders to simulate drawbars then it would be right up there. I was going to ask are you still using the SM58 as your main vocal mic?
@@James-el2kj Yes I remember the "menu-driven" part of the Dexibell was one of the reasons I returned it. I can say the same for my Yamaha CP4 which I still use at church. I never really connected with that board. Yes, I still use the SM58 for my vocals on my RU-vid stuff. I use a Beta87 when I gig. Looking to possibly get a sEV7. Have a great day!
@@RonWarrenmusic57 if I could throw you a curve ball in for live vocals, take a look at the Audio Technica artist elite AE6100. It’s actually the microphone that Elton John used but it’s also the microphone I use in my hire kit for vocals unless someone wants a Shure or Sennheiser. It’s so much brighter than than an SM58 and in my opinion is a nicer and clearer microphone than the Beta 58. The problem with SM58’s is they are muddy and everything is all in the mid range but the AE6100 is bright, clear and gives a great sound. It’s definitely worth a shot.
@@RonWarrenmusic57 I also have a MP-11SE. Your recording sounds way better than my unit without any tweaks to the sound that I have tried. Especially Shigeru piano. What kind of sound processing or setup are you using? Could you please share the Shigeru settings that you are using?
@@kimmoh9267 Are you running your Kawai stereo? You must do that. Are you running through a mixer? If you want it to sound like mine, get you a good small mixer. I have a Yamaha MG06X. Send a stereo pair of cables from your Kawai into the mixer on the 1/4" stereo channel (3/4 or 5/6). Get you a Roland GO:MIXER Pro-X. This is an interface I use and it's the best purchase I've made in many years. Not too expensive either. Run a stereo pair (XLR) from your outputs on your mixer to the inputs (1/4") on the GO:MIXER Pro-X. Adjust your knobs and levels to suit you. At the back end of the GO:MIXER you run out of it (with the cable they provide) to the input of your phone (either iPhone or android). When you record video with your phone the clean line-in audio will come from your system and sound professional and beautiful. This may be why your Shigeru doesn't sound the way you want. If you bought your Kawai new, then your settings for the Shigeru will be like mine. If not, someone may have tweaked it away from default. If you still need settings on my Shigeru, I can get them to you.
… Ron, last enquiry Bro on this MP11SE 🎹: Is the keybed action heavier, more resistant, or lighter than the CP88 weighted piano action? Thank you Ron, appreciate your feedback comments whenever able. Cheers 😁
I have the mp7se that has the same sounds, and for the life of me cannot work out how many people on youtube playing the SK grand have this clean bright tone. Mine sounds wooly and not bright at all. I spoke to another user and they noted the same problem. How is your SK grand sounding so bright? Did you add any post processing?
No, I haven't added anything like that. The first SK grand you hear is the default that you get when you turn the keyboard on, so yours should sound like that. If it doesn't, then check your settings. Click on EDIT and look at all your parameters. Something may be changed without your knowledege. Maybe do a complete reset.
Each keyboard has its advantages. The pianos on the CP88 are brighter. It has more sounds which include brass, guitars, and organs. It's a great keyboard for gigging which I will still use for that. The Kawai action is much better. The Shigeru Concert Grand has a really nice sound to me and makes me want to play it and sing with it. It's more limited in what it can do, but for me it's perfect. I will not gig with it since it's so heavy (75lbs).
Yes, I would. The key action is the same as an actual acoustic grand piano. It weighs 75 pounds, so it's good for a studio piano. It does have dynamics you can change in your settings.
MP11's been around for awhile and for good reason. Built like a tank and realistic solid buttery smooth key action. I've played the MP11SE and Nord stage, piano, and grand. My opinion, the SE wins hands down. You made a great choice. Great playing & singing and great demo!
@@sharingmatters I had a Nord Electro6 a few years ago. I returned it because I missed the 88 keys. I liked the software interface. I can't give a comparison on key action since it wasn't graded hammer. I like the fact you can download your own voices and delete as well.
@@sharingmatters I believe the latest Nord Stage and Nord Grand use Kawai hammer actions customized to enable faster runs especially for organs on the Stage. To me, Both actions feel too light for dedicated piano playing.
That Shigeru concert grand patch sounds great, Ron. You've got a very nice voice, too! I'm kind of regretting my recent purchase of a Roland Juno DS-88. Don't get me wrong: It's an awesome synth -- at a laughably reasonable price -- but I bought it because I needed a piano for an upcoming gig. It's got about 2000 sounds onboard (most of which I probably won't use), and for the most part, they're incredible, but what I needed most was a piano sound, which was disappointing. The pianos are either too dark or too tinny and digital-sounding. The electronic keyboards (Rhodes, Wurly, etc.) sound great, but the acoustic piano patches don't sound anywhere near as good as your Kawaii. Where did you get yours?