First impressions with VPC1

Gamma1734 · 2022-06-07T11:07:46+00:00

Hello everyone, finally my Kawai VPC1 arrived and I want to share my first impressions here. The idea is, to also tell you about my thoughts after using it a couple of weeks. It was quite hard to even find this instrument at all. I could find it for around 1400$ but I imported it from Germany to Austria. I even went to Vienna in the hopes of being able to try VPC1 but nope, I literally couldn't find a single place that has one. Even in the whole of Austria there were almost none, let alone used ones. So I bought it blind online … The packaging is ok, the overall quality is minimalistic and feels good. The pedals depress only a little but for the moment I don't care too much. The way it plays reminds me of the ES8 I used for quite a while, but I think VPC1 is a bit more sophisticated (and really heavier). Octave playing, or louder chord playing feels surprisingly "fluffy", but in a good way. The fluffiness from a nice concert grand, but more undefined. I played the E200ATX3 hybrid for 1.5years and want to compare now some things I noticed. First, the overall possible dynamics feel very good, in fact even better than with the hybrid, which is remarkable. (Depending on the V Curve) it's a bit hard to play consistently p or even pp, but it really feels like it's my "fault" and not the instrument. It feels like you have a great time bringing out melodies with your pinky for example. A problem I had with many instruments is that sometimes it feels like you can't play a chord perfectly simultaneously. It's like some midi values within the chord are a bit to the left, a bit to the right, but with this one I could play perfect cohesive chords, which was nice. Also staccato playing is MUCH better than with the hybrid. Ah, it feels so good to be able to play cheeky staccatos in a Mozart Sonata. The overall feel is really different to the hybrid, I don't want to say worse. I have to get used to the Grand style of keyboard. I've played on uprights my whole life, so it's a preference I guess. Yeah, so far really happy for that amount of money (really have to keep that in mind too the whole time.) Update possibly soon🙂

HZPiano

[deleted]

Congratulations and enjoy!

I'm noticing my interest in the VPC1 resurfacing as well lately.

I'm not the ideal person to answer your question, but personally I always leave the curve/touch setting completely default in my keyboard (which so far has been an FP-10 by the way), and then set up the ideal curve in the virtual piano software.

VI Labs has provided for this in an excellent way with two curves, one controlling the MIDI input mapping; the other one controlling the gain (volume) response.

Cheers and happy tinkering,

David Lai

[deleted] I created a VPC1 curve per the latest Modern D (1.1) update, and it's in the selection of various curves. This curve works with both the default VPC1 curve as well as the "Ivory" curve (power button + C sharp and D sharp to switch between the hardware curves). If you want a more Hamburg Steinway like feel, leave the hardware curve at default, otherwise, choose the Ivory curve and apply the VPC1 custom in the software. Enjoy!

HZPiano

David Lai

Wow, that's wonderful!

Cheers and thanks,

[deleted]

David Lai Thank you David.

Jose EB5AGV

David Lai which of the standard settings do you call "default" on the VPC1? (I mean the name it has)

Thanks!

[deleted]

Jose EB5AGV Default is the flat one. Its called Normal.

David Lai

[deleted] you beat me to the key, thank you for clarifying! 🙂

FREIRE

David Lai a more Hamburg Steinway like feel

Hello David. How is this feel? Stiffer?
Thanks!

David Lai

FREIRE what I meant by that was, it’s easier to trigger the mezzo Forte or Forte and louder samples using the default hardware curve. That brings to my mind, at least, the feel of a Hamburg Steinway.

[deleted]

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1PwHiz5ENe/?vd_source=a47e7888af0c4d1e36612ada638957e3#reply275755445472

David Lai

[deleted] Lovely!!!

David Lai

[deleted] I realized I forgot to answer about the half pedal trigger. I actually changed mine from the defaults to 26 and 56 for the minimum and maximum values, respectively, so it kicks in a bit earlier, but that's me.

David Lai

[deleted] Do you live in China? If so, where in Mainland China did you get the VPC1?

[deleted]

David Lai thanks for the nice words.. I don’t live in China I just drop by sometimes and have friends there. I’m based in Europe now but still on WeChat/Bili, and I’m also learning Chinese, Jap.

[deleted]

David Lai That nocturne is actually the one that feels closest to me.

[deleted]

btw I noticed that in some keys on my VPC1 the velocity feels a bit different .. not sure yet if it’s the VPC itself or Modern D. Apart from that it’s great. At first I had to spend many hours getting used to controlling the dynamics but it’s much better now.

Jose EB5AGV

[deleted] unfortunately that is a feature of the VPC1. You can edit key by key with the editor and do some adjustments to offset those differences, but that could reduce the key velocity range. On mine I decided to leave it flat and live with the differences

[deleted]

Jose EB5AGV hmm..You're right some keys are just off so I'll simply adapt to them. I read a bit about it and it's not worth taking a lottery with replacements i think. I won't be disassembling it also. I'll just leave it as is and have fun with it...iJust need to play often. Thanks

David Lai

[deleted] I have the same problem with the G4 (a 5th above middle C) key, and I just have to live with it…

[deleted]

David Lai I’ve got a lot more keys like that than you do, but that’s just how it is.

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