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Studiologic Numa X Piano 73 Review

CyberGene

David B thank you for the nice shootout score, indeed I think its pros are much more than its cons.

And regarding Italians, you are a proof of how nice you people are 👏🏻 I've never considered emigration but if I have to choose someday where to go, my first choice would be Italy of course. We were on a vacation in Bari last week (not my first time in Italy of course, but first time in Bari) and I felt like it's a place I would feel at home, the people, the food, the vibe, everything! I was quite surprised (or maybe it was expected) that in a genetic testing I found I am close to 20% Italian if I'm not mistaken, although I don't really know where that comes from but I think we Bulgarians have southern/Mediterranean genes similar to Italians.

If I find some time I may record some demo of the Numa X, luckily it can send audio through a USB directly hooked to the iPhone like the Yamaha, so it's really easy to make videos with it.


nhanzero

CyberGene Thanks for your review, and by the way if you do like Yamaha CP88, why don't you try P515, I guess they are the same?


CyberGene

nhanzero I need a 73-key instrument that is as light and compact as possible. I was considering CP/YC73 but they are slightly bulkier than the Numa.


CyberGene

I started recording a video review with my Fuji camera, a microphone, etc. but that audio and video drifted so much that it ended up a total failure and I gave up 🤦🏻‍♂️ For that reason alone I'm just posting a long 23 minute audio of the entire session noodling around with sounds, first acoustic pianos, then some Rhodes and some other sounds... Apologies for posting a huge bulk of audio that probably doesn't help anybody too much but still better than nothing 😕

numa-x-piano-73-noodling-demo.mp3


Koobenot

@CyberGene Nice romanting playing! 👍

As an owner of Numa Compact 2, I'd say that engine of the X Piano is an "upgraded" version of what the Numa can present.

The pianos are harmonically richer, when it comes to resonances and overall sustain, there's as well the damper pedal sound included. I prefer it a little bit more silent than what I'm hearing, but it's cool and realistic.

The Rhodes pianos have more bite and more dynamics than the one in the Numa, I feel like the Numa Rhodes is just the same sample with different volume, there's not a lot of dynamic in the tines and bells - per say you woudn't get more bells/tines if you hit the key harder, which is implemented in the X Piano and I dig that. I also love the fact when you hit it harder it's on the edge to get this "break-up" Rhodes sound which makes it really authentic.

The FM pianos are a bit weird and strange, they feel like a "demo"version of the Yamaha DX7 with not enough stereo and harmonic content, although they will be fine when played live.

As far as I heard from the synths, the Oberheim OB-X sound was cool, then the Pad as well and in the end you played a MiniMoog sample which also sounds nice.

My overall feeling for the engine is that for the price range has a decent quality, but is not as top-notch as the Yamaha CP one or an expensive sophisticated VST library, so I'd say 7/10 for the sample quality.


CyberGene

Koobenot The pianos are harmonically richer, when it comes to resonances and overall sustain, there's as well the damper pedal sound included. I prefer it a little bit more silent than what I'm hearing, but it's cool and realistic.

I agree the pedal noise is too loud and I've reported that to Studiologic and Gianni confirmed that with the included on/off pedal that's indeed too loud and they may think of a global setting that would decrease that noise which is what I would do. This noise can be turned down in the zoom settings but any time I change to another piano sound (what I'm doing in this demo) it reverts to the default, so it's very annoying, one of my main criticism about the piano engine.

Koobenot I also love the fact when you hit it harder it's on the edge to get this "break-up" Rhodes sound which makes it really authentic.

Indeed, the Rhodes piano has that bark when pressed harder and as far as I understand they even modeled some randomness there which I feel. Absolutely a top-notch Rhodes emulation. The more I play it, the more I like it. I previously said the Yamaha CP88 has an edge because they sampled real Rhodes pianos but I'm not really sure now, they are probably on par. Taking in mind I purchased the Numa X Piano to use it as a controller for software plugins and will use only the Rhodes piano from its internal patches, it's a mission accomplished for me 🙂

Koobenot The FM pianos are a bit weird and strange, they feel like a "demo"version of the Yamaha DX7 with not enough stereo and harmonic content, although they will be fine when played live.

Yes, the FM-pianos are useless. Not that I'm ever gonna use a DX-piano in any of the music I do but anyway, some people love them.

Koobenot As far as I heard from the synths, the Oberheim OB-X sound was cool, than the Pad as well and in the end you played a MiniMoog sample which also sounds nice.

I'm not even sure why I tested the pads and strings, I think software plugins are light years ahead of stage pianos in terms of synth sounds but yes, they are still usable.

Koobenot My overall feeling for the engine is that for the price range has a decent quality, but is not as top-notch as the Yamaha CP one or an expensive sophisticated VST library, so I'd say 7/10 for the sample quality.

Exactly. But for the price and excellent MIDI features it's totally worth it. Even used standalone as a fully fledged stage piano it still punches way above its weight because a CP73 for instance has only slightly better sounds but costs more than 1.5x more, has inferior GHS action, no triple sensors, no aftertouch, less advanced external MIDI zone, no 4-channel AD input that can go through the internal FX engine. I'm not even sure there's currently any stage piano on the market in the €1000 price range that can offer as much as the Numa X Piano 73.


Koobenot

This noise can be turned down in the zoom settings but any time I change to another piano sound (what I'm doing in this demo) it reverts to the default, so it's very annoying, one of my main criticism about the piano engine.

Can't you save it in a preset?

Yes, the FM-pianos are useless. Not that I'm ever gonna use a DX-piano in any of the music I do but anyway, some people love them.

The DX7 on it's own is useless as well, normally they layer it with another piano + pad, like in this Europe classic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upH1x4TsGNQ

I'm not even sure there's currently any stage piano on the market in the €1000 price range that can offer as much as the Numa X Piano 73.

I trully believe that Studiologic found the perfect balance between price and quality despite the described bugs in the review … so totally worth it for the money! 👍


CyberGene

CyberGene This noise can be turned down in the zoom settings but any time I change to another piano sound (what I'm doing in this demo) it reverts to the default, so it's very annoying, one of my main criticism about the piano engine.

Koobenot Can't you save it in a preset?

Yes, it can be saved in a "performance" (that's what it's called, basically the set of all 4 zones, so for a solo piano you enable only one zone), and once you make a piano that you like and save it with a lowered hammer noise then it will be loaded every time with that setting. However if you edit the preset and change the piano from e.g. the German Grand to the Japanese Grand, the default hammer noise will be back to the high value.


Koobenot

Ah, right. Well that's not very inuitive IMHO, Gianni and the gang should work on that! 😄


CyberGene

Update: doesn't work well.

I can confirm that the Numa X Piano supports half-pedaling with the Roland DP-10 pedal 🥳 That’s my favorite sustain pedal due to the anti-slip mat you step on. It has a switch for choosing between binary (on/off) mode and half-pedal mode, you should of course use the latter. And in the Numa system settings you have to select the “Continuous B” mode.

Unfortunately I have to correct the above advice regarding the Roland DP-10. Seems like both A and B continuous modes have different issues. The A mode tends to generate some low MIDI values even when released, like e.g. 0, 1, 2 and that messes up with the Electric piano patches that keep sounding for a few seconds after you release the pedal. Conversely, the B mode would only reach MIDI values of 112 or something and so the acoustic piano patches would not have full sustain.

I just emailed the Studiologic support to suggest they implement a third mode C which would work with Roland DP-10 and will offer the entire 0-127 MIDI range in a narrower region, say between 20-80% of the entire mechanical movement of the pedal. Hopefully they can implement it.


David B

CyberGene I can confirm that the Numa X Piano supports half-pedaling with the Roland DP-10 pedal 🥳 That’s my favorite sustain pedal due to the anti-slip mat you step on.

DP-10 is the bomb! I hand it when for a little while when I owned the FP-30X. Love the anti-slip pad. Best accessory pedal I ever used.

God Bless,
David


HZPiano

CyberGene Roland DP-10

Hello,

Yes, it's a nice one.

I purchased it one day and at the same time ordered an F10-H from Kawai, to see which one I liked best. I ended up keeping the Kawai (absolutely LOVE it) and even ordering another one. Of course I went through a learning curve with the Kawais because they are optical and need special interfacing when used with non-Kawai instruments, or when used with the Kawai VPC1. I described that little adventure elsewhere on the 'Clack some time ago.

I gave the DP-10 to my brother who is having a ball with it.

Cheers and happy pedaling,

HZ


CyberGene

I also have the Kawai F10H which I use with the Cybrid. I even reverse engineered it to be able to use it.

However for gigging the most important feature is to have non-sliding pedal on the floor. I’ve been reminded about that recently when I resumed my band rehearsals and I used the Studiologic pedal first but I had to seek it all over the floor all the time 🤬 So, I got my old and trusted Roland DP-10. However for home playing the Kawai is a great one too although both of them are too soft springed and unrealistic.


kawafanboi

CyberGene On the other hand I still find TP-110 better than most entry level actions such as GHS, so ultimately TP-110 is a good middle ground action that should be pretty universal. It's easy to play fast, as well as to play soft and expressively, with a good dynamic response. It also uses triple sensor and you can replay keys without releasing them fully. I could repeat keys as fast as I could. They have improved the touch response with their newer firmware versions and I found it pretty good, although by default it might be slightly on the overly-sensitive side but this can be tweaked.

the 1 redeeming feature of GHS is that it's fast, goes Brr rr rr rr rr rr rr. How's the Brr rr rr rr rr rr rr performance on the new 110 ?

Defacto peak Brr rr rr rr rr rr rr for me is the RHC across all the actions I tested. have you played RHC Cybergene


CyberGene

kawafanboi I haven't tested the TP-110 for fast repetitions, will do that some day. I think it's pretty fast though but until I test it can't say for sure.

As to RHC, yes I've played the ES110, it's in the same ballpark IMO. Haven't tested them side by side but I believe the Kawai is lighter feeling than TP110 though.


CyberGene

And here's another heads-up, I recently purchased an iPad Mini 6 which works great with the Numa X Piano 73, and not only fits on the rightmost side of the piano but also seems to have some magnet inside that would make it stick to the metal panel of the Numa and prevents slip, I am very happy.


And just to repeat something that someone may have missed. The Numa X Piano has an embedded audio interface, so I connect it to the iPad with a single USB-B to USB-C cable (yeah, the iPad is now with a USB-C connector and doesn't need the camera adapter anymore) and both MIDI and audio work automatically, no need to configure anything, synth apps receive MIDI and their audio is routed back to the Numa.

BTW, I remember reading some BS on PW about how Kawai cannot put audio interfaces in their pianos because unlike Yamaha they don't own Steinberg, how they have to hire someone to write drivers and blah-blah-blah... Well, here you have a small Italian company selling budget pianos with an embedded audio interface and with class-compliant USB audio. So, Kawai, come again 😉


dore_m

Do you have the knobs mapped to the Moog filters and such?


CyberGene

dore_m well, not yet, just started experimenting with this combination. So far I’ve been using my MacBook with the Numa when practicing with the “band” but I think I can downsize even further which is why I purchased the iPad Mini 6. The other reason is Apple just released Logic Pro for iPad which I downloaded 10 minutes ago and I will see how easy it would be to switch from Logic Pro on the Mac to the iPad.

As to MIDI mappings I believe that’s supported by the Moog app but I will have to test it to confirm.




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