Kawai ES100 Digital Piano Review

Posted by Digital Piano Warehouse in Kawai Reviews on March 04, 2014 . 0 Comments.

Kawai ES100

The Kawai range of both acoustic and electronic pianos are considered to be amongst some of the very best, and in the US Kawai have won several awards for their pianos. The Kawai digital piano range covers many models form the mighty CP209 Concert Performer Grand to the entry-level ES100 portable piano. Let’s start at the very beginning and see what Kawai’s entry-level model has to offer.

First Impression

In common with most other portable pianos, the Kawai ES100 is housed in a neat and lightweight casing with a small but adequate 2 x 7 watt internal speaker system.

The piano weighs in approximately 33 lbs., making it easy to move around should the need arise, and a music book rack is also supplied.

The ES100 utilizes Kawai’s AHAIV-F Graded Hammer keyboard action, and I quote…….“Advanced Hammer Action IV-F keyboard action has been developed to represent the distinctive touch of an acoustic grand piano, with its remarkable spring-less design providing consistent upward and downward motion for a smooth, natural, piano playing experience”

The action in common with most other manufacturers, also features a graded action, which means that the keys are appropriately weighted with heavier bass hammers and lighter hammers in the treble. I have to say that the keyboard feels really nice to play and Kawai have not cut corners, even on their lowest priced instrument. Kawai have also incorporated their Harmonic Imaging TM (HI) sound technology, which means that all 88 notes from a Kawai concert grand piano have been recorded at different volume levels and reproduced digitally to create the sound for the ES100.

The ES100 is supplied with the F-10H piano style foot pedal, and if you wish a matching wooden stand the HML-1 is available, which screws to the base of the piano. This is definitely the best choice for home use and makes the instrument look very smart. The supplied single pedal can also be replaced with a 3 pedal (soft/sostenuto/sustain) unit should you wish, which fixes to the lower part of the stand preventing the pedals from sliding all over the place when in use! The supplied F-10H and the optional F-350 3 pedal unit both support half pedaling (please see the Technical Terms section of our blog for a full description)

Review

The control panel of the ES100 is very simple and consists of only 8 buttons, and a volume control. Many of the additional features are activated by pressing the Function button and the appropriate keyboard key. The keys have many functions assigned to them, all of which are clearly listed in the owner’s manual.

The Kawai has a total of 18 sounds selectable from one of 3 buttons on the control panel, Piano, E.Piano/Organ and Others. There are no less than 8 acoustic piano sounds Concert Grand 1&2, Studio Grand 1&2, Mellow Grand 1&2, Modern Piano and Rock Piano. These can be selected by either pressing the Piano button repeatedly until the desired sound is selected or by holding the button down and using the lowest octave of white keys, with Grand Piano1 selected from the bottom key and so on. This also applies to the sounds in the 2 other categories.

Having a choice of 8 different piano tones is something of a luxury on any digital piano and especially on an instrument at this price level, and I have to say, the sounds are really very good. There are sounds to suit all styles of piano playing from a bright rock piano to a soft mellow late night jazz sound.

What’s more, Kawai have included a brilliance function, which means you can adjust the overall tone of the instrument. Ok, so you may not use all 8 piano tones, but it is great to have such a choice. The E.Piano/Organ button contains 3 Electric Piano sounds, Jazz organ and Church Organ. The 3 E Piano sounds range from the typical 80’s Modern sound back to the classic E piano sound from the 60’s. All 5 sounds are very usable.

The Others button has 2 string sounds, 2 bass sounds, Harpsichord and Vibraphone. Once again the sounds are useful additions to the ES100 and add to the versatility of the instrument. It is possible to use any 2 sounds together (Dual Mode) and adjust the volume between them, and there is also a keyboard split facility (Split Mode), whereby you can assign different sounds to the left and right parts of the keyboard. The key split can be assigned to any note on the keyboard, and the volume of each sound can be adjusted.

Sound is always a very personal thing, but I have to say, The Kawai ES100 is certainly up to their usual high standard and what’s more the instrument is 192 polyphonic (max) which is something of a luxury at this level.

(For a full description of Polyphony on digital pianos please read the Technical Terms section of this blog)

A nice feature Kawai has included is the ability to store 4 complete sound set-ups (Registration Memories). This means that you can set the sound just how you like it, including dual and split functions should you wish,

and then store all the information for later recall with the press of just one button. This is a really useful addition, and although not unique to Kawai, it is something that is not often included on other manufacturers’ digital pianos.

Other Functions

Kawai has included several additional functions to the ES100 to enhance the sound including reverb which simulates playing the piano in different environments, room, which is the default setting, small hall and concert hall. The concert hall setting works well with the church organ sound. The reverb can also be switched off should you wish. The next effect is Damper Resonance (working on piano sounds only) which simulates the effect that pressing the damper (sustain pedal) has on a traditional acoustic piano depressing the sustain pedal of an acoustic piano raises all dampers, allowing the strings to vibrate freely. When a note or chord is played on the piano with the sustain pedal depressed, not only will the strings of the

notes played vibrate, but also the strings of other notes, vibrating in sympathetic resonance. The ES100 digital piano recreates this with the Damper Resonance setting allowing the volume of this resonance to be changed (small/medium/large/off)

Damper noise is also included. When the damper pedal of an acoustic piano is pressed and released, it is often possible to hear the sound of

the damper head touching and releasing the strings. The ES100 digital piano reproduces this sound, with the Damper Noise setting allowing the volume of this sound to be adjusted.

Kawai have also added a “Voicing” function which allows the overall characteristic of the instrument to be changed to either, normal/mellow/dynamic or bright settings. This changes all sounds on the instrument and effects how the tone of the instrument changes depending on how hard the keys are struck. This is a separate feature to the Brilliance control mentioned earlier in this review.

Keyboard touch sensitivity is also adjustable through 3 different levels, to suit the player, and it is also possible to switch it off completely should you wish.

Transpose and fine-tuning are also included which enable the pitch of the ES100 to be changed to match a singer or other instruments that may be slightly out of tune.

Recording and Song Library

A basic internal 3 song recording facility is also included, which enables simple recording into an internal memory. As well as recording your own performance Kawai has included a library of Practice Pieces from the popular Alfred Basic Piano Library Series Level 1A and 1B as well as Burg Müller 25 Etudes. The songs are split into right and left hand and it is possible to playback either part whilst practicing the other. The tempo can also be adjusted using the metronome feature. On the subject of metronomes…….Most digital pianos offer an inbuilt metronome for keeping time while practicing but Kawai have gone a stage further and also included 100 drum rhythms to jam along to, ranging from pop and rock through Latin, jazz and ballads. Naturally, the speed and the volume of both the metronome and the drum rhythms are adjustable.

There are also 12 demo songs which highlight the various sounds available.

Inputs/Outputs

There are 2 headphone sockets located on the front of the piano and these can also be used to amplify the piano should it be required. Usually when reviewing an instrument that uses the headphone socket to connect to external amplification I start complaining because it cuts out the internal amplification. However, there is an option on the ES100 to still have the internal speakers working even if the headphone socket in use, should you wish. In the default setting, plugging in headphones will cut out the internal speakers. I would still sooner see a dedicated line-out on the back of the piano, but this is the next best option.

Midi connections are also included on the rear of the instrument for connection to either other Midi keyboards. Connection to a PC will require a Midi to USB cable as there is no USB socket on the ES100.

Conclusion

The ES100 is up against some stiff competition in this sector of the digital piano market. It is also slightly higher priced than some other manufacturers similar instruments, but I have to say it does offer some very worthwhile additional features. Having 8 acoustic piano sounds to select from is something of a luxury, and I can’t think of any product at this level that offers such a choice. Kawai have also included several features to enhance the sound such as brilliance and voicing controls, which many other brands do not include at this price level. A great addition to the Kawai range and an instrument that can certainly more than stand up against other manufacturers’ products.

Pros