Kawai KDP120 – REVIEW | Digital Piano 2023 | LOW PRICE HERE

Unfortunately that is something you cannot see…inside the key action where it all happens. Also, if you do not play piano at all or do not play fairly well, you are likely not going to know what is good and what is bad when it comes to the all important key action and the way it is supposed to work. If you get a digital piano with a poor quality key action it will absolutely stunt the growth of any piano student no matter what their age and that is something you want to avoid at all costs.

In its price range the Kawai KDP120 key action called RHC2 is very good for a digital piano in this price range and I was impressed overall. It has a good balance of graded weighted keys with key movement from low to high octaves being not too firm and not too light, and overall a quieter moving key action as compared to some of the competition. Korg and Casio also have very nice key actions and we recommend them as well. The weight and movement of both the black and white keys on the Kawai KDP120 are good which is not necessarily the case with other manufacturers, especially when it comes to the black keys and how they move. Beyond the physical nature of the piano key action are the electronic key sensors under each key. In the past Kawai had a 2-sensor key action which has 2 electronic sensors under each key to sense key repetition.

Three key sensors under each key can help with key repetition response when playing faster and more quickly on the keys, especially when the keys are being pressed down before they come all the way back up again. Kawai KDP120 has 3 key sensors although in a 2-key sensor digital piano, if the key sensors are “high definition” sensors, then 2 sensors are all that’s needed as compared to 3 sensors that are not high definition type sensors. There are only two things this key action does not have that a couple other brands do such as Casio & Roland and that is synthetic ivory & ebony keytops and/or the escapement feature.

Synthetic ivory and ebony is being used to try to replicate the key feel (the tops of the keys) that old acoustic pianos used to have decades ago. The escapement feature is a hesitation or “notch” that you would feel as you press the key down very slowly on a grand piano. However, the escapement feature on a digital piano is, at best, a very limited imitation of the real thing.

The KDP120 does not have the synthetic ivory & ebony and even though that feature does add to the playing enjoyment for some people, it is not absolutely necessary. Since Kawai builds real acoustic upright and grand pianos then they know what they’re doing in producing high quality piano keys. So as far as I am concerned Kawai has done a very nice job offering a satisfying piano key action in their new KDP120, especially in this price range.

 

So just because the instrument looks like a piano does not mean the piano sound and expression will be good, particularly in the off-name brands like Artesia, Kurzweil, Suzuki, Williams, etc. In fact in some of these cheaper priced brands the tonal dynamics and volume when playing the key action can be choppy and compressed and it may hurt your piano practice when a student is trying to improve in their piano playing skills and abilities. So you need to be very careful in what you finally decide to buy.

 

So basically the notes are “tuned up” to the next note in some brands rather than the next note be individually sampled and recorded from the real grand piano. Since Kawai does individual note sampling then the piano sound characteristics on each key are more realistic when transitioning from one note to the next. When you do the same thing in playing one note to the next on a cheaper quality (off-brand) digital pianos like the ones I mentioned above, it’s like you are hearing different pianos on each note/key. One key is more mellow then the next key is very bright and then one note may be louder and then next note be softer in volume. This kind of thing really inhibits musical growth, creates bad playing habits, and overall the music just sounds “fake” and not pleasing at all. Unfortunately, many shoppers don’t understand what to look for when it comes to piano along with key action the key actions to express those sounds.

Some people buy digital pianos they have never heard of before on Amazon because they think they are getting a “good deal” on a low price. Instead what they wind up with what I call a “PSO” (aka: a piano shaped object). Please…do not get a piano shaped object but spend your hard earned money on something good, something that will be as much like a piano as you can afford to pay, otherwise you will regret it especially if this piano is for a student (you, an adult relative, or child) or you already play piano and you want a new digital piano that will allow you to have good musical growth which in my opinion this KDP120 will do very well within its price range.

PEDALS

 

The damper/sustain pedal (right pedal) is the one which is used almost all the time. The left soft pedal is used much less often by beginners to intermediate players, and the middle sostenuto pedal is rarely used by anyone these days as it has almost become a decoration rather than a useful pedal function…although in some classical pieces for some players, it is useful. But it’s really all about the right damper/sustain pedal and Kawai does a very good job reproducing that pedal experience with a “grand feel” pedal system which tries to simulate the actual feel and weight of the pedal when pressing down on it and which also offers half-damper pedaling.

Half-damper is a term that means when you press the pedal down there is a variety of sustain times or amounts of sustain that you get depending on how far down you press the pedal. This function is absolutely necessary for realistic piano sound and without the half-damper feature the piano sound would be more like a keyboard because most keyboards don’t have half-damper piano pedaling…the pedal just is on or off with no variation of sustain which makes it more choppy sounding. So when it comes to pedaling Kawai has what anyone would need in this price range to have a very good pedaling experience.

GENERAL FEATURES AND “PIANO REMOTE” APP

When it comes to the non-acoustic piano sounds and functions in the KDP120 there are many and they are all pretty good. There are realistic instrument tones including electric pianos, organs, choirs, harpsichord, strings, etc and you can layer (combine) any two sounds together such as strings and grand piano or harpsichord and choir just to name a few. You can also digitally transpose the key you are in and play the song in any key which can be useful when singing along and getting into your vocal range.

The KDP120 also has some useful reverb (echo) effects which accentuate the piano tones by adding to the realism like you would hear in a bigger room or hall where there is natural echo/reverb to give the piano tone a larger effect. This kind of thing is very nice to have and even though other digital pianos may have these reverb effects doesn’t mean they are actually any good because there are different qualities.

The KDP120 has some noticeably high quality reverb effects that sound more natural than other digital pianos I have played in this price range. Beyond the reverb effects, when playing a good acoustic piano there are all kinds of natural occurring organic sounds coming from within the acoustic grand piano cabinet when the the keys are being played and the notes are being heard. Some of these organic elements of piano sound are called damper resonance, key-off tone, hammer sound, lid position, damper/sustain decay time, half-pedal sustain positions, and the way a piano is tuned which normally is called stretch tuning and this kind of tuning can drastically affect the outcome of the piano sound the player/person will be hearing when playing the piano.

 

All of these nuanced organic elements of an acoustic grand piano are in the Kawai KDP120 and those individual features are adjustable in the KDP120 as well. In fact, Kawai also has an iOS/iPad/Android app they call “Piano Remote” which will allow you to easily see and adjust most of the functions in the piano along with these natural organic piano elements. You can customize the piano sounds to your liking by adding more strength to the effect or taking away some of the strength of that effect. Using the iPad for the touch interface to control these things (along with the key touch sensitivity and other features) makes using the “Virtual Technician” a breeze and then anyone can do it…even a 3 year old:).

 Kawai is really focusing on the piano playing experience in this new KDP120 so that a person who mainly wants a satisfying piano playing experience will get one in my opinion. If you don’t want to make any adjustments to the piano sounds using “Piano Remote/Virtual Technician” then you don’t have to at all. You can simply play the piano as it has been set up by Kawai at their factory with what most people will enjoy hearing, so the factory default settings are generally more than enough for most people.

DIGITAL RECORDER & SONG PLAYBACK

 

4-HAND PRACTICE MODE

CONCERT MAGIC TRAINING FEATURE

I need to mention that Kawai has an exclusive learning feature in the KDP120 that no other digital piano company offers that specifically targets rhythm and timing training in beginner kids and adults and is actually quite fun for any person to use. Kawai calls this feature “Concert Magic.” What Kawai has done is taken 40 popular well-known tunes over the years such as “Twinkle twinkle little star, Mary had a little lamb, O when the Saints, Row row row your boat, Yankee Doodle, Silent Night, Jingle Bells, The Entertainer, Fur Elise, Blue Danube, and many others and put those full piano songs into the memory of the KDP120. Many people of all ages (in the US) know these songs fairly well which also helps this system work well.

When you activate the Concert Magic feature then you can play these songs yourself and have them come out (hopefully) perfect without knowing how to play piano:). Here’s how it works: you select the song you want and then when you play ANY key on the piano it plays each part of the song perfectly, note by note including accompaniment chords, word by word all with one finger. In other words, you cannot make a mistake so you always sound good. Now some people might say, “how can this be helpful or why would I want it for me or my child?”

Well…even though you can press any black or white key anywhere on the piano and it will play the next note (word) in the song perfectly regardless of the key you play, you will need to play that key with the correct timing or rhythm to achieve the proper movement of the song. That’s the whole point…you are not trying to learn the correct notes/keys of the song on the keyboard with this system, but the student is trying to learn the correct timing of the song without also having to worry about playing the correct key. Kawai even has an “Easy beat” mode where all you need to do is tap out a constant steady beat with your finger on any key and the song will play perfectly without you having to already know the timing of the song. The motivation behind all this training is so you can sound good each and every time whether you already know that song or not. If you do know the song then as long as you play in the correct tempo on each key you play, the song will song great.

Play it too slow or choppy than the song will not flow and sound good, so eventually when you play in the correct rhythm then the song will actually sound like the song. With 3 different training modes for the Concert Play system it will definitely produce big smiles for all members of the families, especially when a 2 or 3 year old starts playing using the Concert Magic system:). So when it comes to having fun and learning important music fundamentals at the same time, Kawai has really produced a great feature if you take advantage of it.

CONNECTIVITY 

 

This new spatial headphone feature makes the headphone listening experience more enjoyable and more realistic and it’s a nice feature to have although now absolutely necessary to use as it can be disabled for normal headphone use. Kawai even has some headphone modes which optimizes the sound for different kinds of headphones like open ear, semi-open ear, closed ear, inner ear (buds), etc. So that new technology can be useful if you will be using headphones a lot.

THE BOTTOM LINE

At the end of the day there are choices in this price range from all the good digital piano manufacturers including Kawai, Roland, Yamaha, Casio, and Korg who produce the better digital pianos. But with this newer offering from Kawai I think they have certainly risen further up the ladder of quality pianos in a lower price range. It is important to note that the KDP120 is still considered somewhat of an “entry-level” digital piano because there are definitely more realistic key actions and more authentic piano sounds out there in other brands & models, but you will likely pay a lot more money for them as well.

The Kawai piano company has been producing high quality acoustic grand and upright pianos for many years along with an ever improving line of digital pianos and have developed a good reputation for making quality instruments which can last for many years. The KDP120 carries a 3-year parts & labor factory warranty with in-home service for factory defects should that happen (which is unlikely). With all the KDP120 has going for it, it could be a great piano for you, although I always recommend to do your homework to make sure you are getting a piano that meets your musical needs and budget.

ALTERNATIVE DIGITAL PIANOS

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.