vagfilm mp10 was launched in 2010, vpc1 in early 2013, and mp11 in early 2014.
I see. And the MP11SE is available since November 2017 (or so says the Thomann product info). If we take the liberty of calling that 'early 2018', then we have nice four-year intervals. And thus an MP12 should be here now. But things aren't normal at the moment (well, in fact, are they ever?) and so now such extrapolations need at least two years' worth of extension, I presume.
Cheers and happy forecasts,
HZ
The dates above are of the press releases of product announcement. Shop availability is delayed by a few months. MP11se was announced on october 2017 (almost 5 years ago, and more than 8 for the MP11).
Hey @Gamma1734, after listening to your latest wonderful recordings on youtube I wonder if you are still pleased with your VPC1? Anything else you noticed in the behavior/properties of the action you like/dislike, especially in combination with all the different VSTs you have?
After letting the subject rest for half a year I also purchased a VPC1 with the K&M 18810 stand again as an upgrade to my Roland FP-30 - the VPC1 has something addictive to it. If my last unit hadn't these two quality issues I described back then maybe I would't have returned it. It will arrive next week and I just hope the QC is fine this time. The price here in Germany is still very low compared to the US, it was 1400 $ for VPC1 and the stand.
Edit: Wow, I thought the price for the VPC1 in the US was 1900$, but its 2400, more than 1000$ more! That's crazy.
porco_rosso letting the subject rest for half a year
Thumbs up for actually doing that!
Hope you'll be happy with your new(est) VPC1 instrument now.
Cheers and the happiest playing,
HZ
HZPiano Thumbs up for actually doing that!
It was very helpful. Thank you for suggesting it. I also didn't visit the online piano communities. Either the VPC1 will do it now for me, or I will have to wait for the VPC2 with GF3(/4?) and optical triple pedals. No need for a big heavy furniture piano with samples and low quality speakers I will not use for a few thousand additional Euros and so on.
porco_rosso Edit: Wow, I thought the price for the VPC1 in the US was 1900$, but its 2400, more than 1000$ more! That's crazy.
I just want to say 1) welcome back and 2) off-topic as this may be ( this is part of testing my new OT-early-warning-system) , no matter where in the world you may be, you are probably required to pay way too much for certain things you may want or need.
Two weeks ago i tried a DGX670 priced at 799 dollars. Later that day i looked at some homegrown strawberries for 5.5 dollars per quart which then reminded me gasoline here was currently selling near 5 dollars a gallon. I wanted the 670. I really wanted some HG strawberries. I really needed about 7 gallons of gasoline……. maybe you can’t always get what you want, but if you try some time, you might find, i got all of them 😲.
It's fine, it has better and worse aspects compared to the hybrid piano I had before, but it's really only a fraction of its price, portable (sort of) etc. I'm really happy all in all. I'm fiddling around recently again with velocity curves because I just feel that I have to adjust them per piece.
Glad that you like your VPC1.
I received mine yesterday and it has major quality issues again - more than the other I had:
What the hell is Kawai doing? I immediately packed it back in the box.
porco_rosso Glad that you like your VPC1.
I received mine yesterday and it has major quality issues again - more than the other I had:
right pedal squeaks and doesn't work at all
the keybed is misaligned again and touches the case on the left side
there are a handful (!) of "hot" keys: the MIDI response is uneven, it's easy noticeable
it doesn't work with USB-Power only (the other had), why?What the hell is Kawai doing? I immediately packed it back in the box.
Dang! That doesn't sound good. I'll have to admit that I had quality control issues with my MP11SE back in the day and it required replacement. Sorry for the hassle.
God Bless,
David
porco_rosso Glad that you like your VPC1.
I received mine yesterday and it has major quality issues again - more than the other I had:
right pedal squeaks and doesn't work at all
the keybed is misaligned again and touches the case on the left side
there are a handful (!) of "hot" keys: the MIDI response is uneven, it's easy noticeable
it doesn't work with USB-Power only (the other had), why?What the hell is Kawai doing? I immediately packed it back in the box.
Wow, that is incredible!. My now 6 years old VPC1 works lots better than that!. I bought it used 2 years ago and the only thing I noticed is that the spacing between keys is not perfectly similar, but it is just a cosmetic thing and could be fixed (I plan to do it if I ever open it). Even the infamous right pedal behaves nicely, with not squeaks.
It is really pitiful to have two bad experiences with same model in your case 😕
Jose
Hi, here's a small update on my experience with VPC1. I have the feeling it is particularly worth adjusting the velocity curves for this piano controller. No, it's not a 50k or even 100k grand and I think it is not immediately a sign of "weak technique" to alter the curve depending on the style of composition and VST instrument used. For example, the 280VC feels better to play with a rather exponential curve (luckily in FL Studio I can adjust that directly, but we have a new mapping control there too as you probably know). The reason for that is that every piano is mapped differently, and the 280VC for example has strong focus on the piano-mezzoforte range. If we have a piece that barely uses mf though and is quite loud, a more linear curve will do. I find that the slightest adjustments to the curve have significant impact on the playability and so I tried to gather experience over time to be able to set the curve pretty quickly, but I always play some notes while I do that to figure out if they suit my taste for the composition. In the Garritan I use for example a slightly exponential curve, but that instrument feels to me to have more expression variability in the louder register. The downside of an exponential curve is of course trills and repeated notes, so sometimes I simply edit these couple of notes to not lose a beautiful piano sound which might be present throughout a composition. I still think it's one of the best choices for a piano controller and I'd love to try something like the NX10 in comparison. As always, the difficulty of such a plan is that I always need at least a month and many different styles of pieces to be able to form an opinion. With the VPC1 I never had the feeling that I can't play a piece at all because of how it behaves, which is a good sign. I can put the latency to as low as 1ms on my PC, and that's probably due the internal programming which is just suited for VST's. Let me know if you have other questions or experiences.
Hello,
Gamma1734 , Thank you for your update, that really comes appreciated.
And great to hear that you're so happy with it.
Cheers and the happiest playing,
HZ
There's a VPC1 on Reverb.com for $1200 shipped. It's used - is that a pretty good price?
Over here in Europe, that'd be almost the new-unit price, delivered. I'm not familiar of the price for a new VPC1 in the States.
An appropriate price for a used one depends a lot on condition (cosmetic as well as technical), age, and actual shipping costs.
Personally, I'd only consider buying a used one if I have some idea of its history, who owned it, how it's been cared for, and of course only after a personal inspection and test.
One last point is the warranty. In Europe at least, it is non-transferable in a private sale. So even if a used unit is just a month old, the warranty magically disappears the moment ownership is transferred.
Cheers and happy pondering,
HZ
Wow! Vpc1's are selling for $2400 new here. MSRP is $2899. I can see thomann uk sells for $1400.$
Next time I'm in Europe I'll buy one and bring it back.
dore_m Thomann ship to the USA and I hear it’s cheaper even with import duty. However I wouldn’t risk with a Kawai which has a bad quality record and a faulty import might not be covered by the local service.