Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards When (if ever) will Kawai release the VPC2?

And with which keybed and which ports will it come?
Hopefully with a further development/next generation of the RM3 Grand II and with a Thunderbolt 4 and one or two RJ45 ports (for Midi over Ethernet or Dante or AVB). And a flat top of course and the red LED not placed on the top. And a nice matching stand would be really nice.

Does anyone else have hope that the long wait will be over with the next winter NAMM?

Please hear our prayers James so that we can send our money to your employer!

I really don’t understand what Kawai is waiting for; is it a CPV-II from Yamaha?

I mean, this pure-piano controller is something that many had been asking for, “I don’t want on-board sounds, speakers, sliders, nor a volume knob; just give me 88 good-keys in a box”, and Kawai responded; but now, many years later, they’ve gone deaf and perhaps even blind!

We’re living in an era where people need to upgrade every few years in order to feel worthy even if they are ‘content’ with their current model, and most manufacturers are seizing on this, but not Kawai (VPC1).

How hard is it for them to stick the GF Compact in there, update the ‘dedicated’ velocity curve(s) for Pianoteq, and call it a day?

And please, James, don’t give me this, “it’s not that simple, Pete,” because it is….that simple!

I imagine that the production run on the VPC1 didn't sell well enough to justify the sequel.

These continuous updates are a plague of our times. They are invented by greedy companies and even we who try to resist, find that we have no choice, as our devices simply stop working unless we buy an update.

@Björn from Earth: You want to know if there will be a follow-on model?
And you want to know what keyboard action it will have?

No one here can know the answers.
No one here works for Kawai, save for Kawai James. And he is compelled to keep secret his company's secrets.

The whole subject sounds like an dreamy wish, with no hope of resolution.
There's really nothing to be done about it.

I know that these NV10S and NV5S upgraded models are making you think "why not a VPC2 then?" but you have to realize VPC1 is perfect and doesn't need an upgrade, unlike NV10 and NV5

There will never be a VPC2 and before you can hit that "Order" button on Amazon the VPC1 is discontinued and all remaining stock is sold out.

Then you will be forced to hunt for overpriced second hand VPC1 units on eBay, you'll never find that great deal and you'll be VPCless forever and finally die alone old and bitter always feeling sorry that you didn't buy a VPC1 in time when it was still available.

And there's no afterlife.

(Or what do I know?)

(😉)

I mean Kawai has updated EVERY SINGLE model they have, EXCEPT: the two MPs, the ES-110 and the VPC1. I think all four of them were a success in terms of their sales numbers.

... What is it that Kawai is waiting for???

What were the sales numbers?

I don't know the sales numbers but you can see the sales ranks in their respective category at some big resellers, like Thomann for example. And if you search here on the forum you can also find a comment of James stating that the VPC sold well.

I think the vpc-1 doesn't have competition, so it's best in class. So I can see why would Kawai doesn't seem to bother updating it.

Sure, I wouldn't mind a vpc-2 with longer keysticks, just a tad less downweight and a better pedal unit, but I think the vpc-1 is still pretty great as it is.

Hello,

Funny that this thread emerges today, for this morning I was also thinking about a/the VPC2.

To me, an excellent development would be an NV10S without speakers, amps, nor sound generator.

In other words, a next-VPC with only the proper action as found in the NV10(S) *and* the actual pedal mechanisms (including "dampers") that belong to it. And an excellent MIDI implementation, of course.

Cheers and happy sweet dreams,

HZ

Most upgrades are for sound improvements or weight loss, or what have you.

All the models including the MP series have been upgraded since the VPC1 was released. What does that tell you about the VPC1?

These companies carefully vet customer opinion and make deliberate choices.

It annoys me when TV shows that I like get canned, but in the end, it is the majority that companies are trying to sell to.

…and most certainly a flat top! What were they thinking with that curved top!

Also, why can’t Kawai for once please their customers without always thinking about the bottom line? Why not give their loyal customers, who have all but erected a shrine for the VPC1, a gift wrapped in GF compact?

Is that too much to ask, Kawai? Are the marketing/accounting guys always in charge?

And finally, whatever happened to that competitive spirit, “I’ll show you, Yamaha,” once displayed by a guy named Steve Jobs? (Different industry yet relevant attitude). “I’ll show you, PC!”

Sadly, he left us too soon, and no other industry has ever come close to producing such a specimen (capable of meeting the quota, yet also pushing the envelope of innovation to places otherwise unknown).

Can you believe the iPhone still has that hideous notch?

Had Jobs been around and we would’ve never been exposed to such mediocrity. Yes, we would’ve already had a ‘screen-less’ iPhone capable of holographic imaging.

Imagine Michael Jackson performing the moonwalk right in front of you; yes, that’s where we’d be had Steve not left us so soon, but Cook took that away from us!

Is Kawai being run by a ‘Cook’?

My take on this is that the VPC1 is a repurposed MP10. The MP11 did not reuse much of the MP10 and so I assume some bright mind at Kawai cobbled together the VPC1 from all those left over MP10 parts in their warehouse, resulting in a product which required little if any tooling. So, maybe if the future MP12 is a complete redesign, we might get a VPC2. Or not.

Are you saying the VPC-1 is nothing but a Frankenstein made from leftover parts?

Harsh words!

... and also without the displays on the side. I fully agree.
Just a pure and clean glossy black piano controller without any knobs, sliders or other controllers or blinking LEDs.

And Midi via Thunderbolt 4 and Midi via Ethernet/Dante/AVB connectivity, *please*.

I think there are enough people out there who are willing to pay quite a penny for their instruments especially when using them for their daily work.

Digital piano players start crying whenever an instrument costs more than 2000€ but I have never seen this behaviour from guys who play drum kit or guitar, whose instruments usually cost quite a bit more than just a penny.

Tooling wears and suppliers stop making parts, so eventually the party ends.

Hello,


Oh yes, indeed! Utterly clean, please!

Cheers and sweet dreaming of the sweetest controller,

HZ

At least it is much better than Yamaha's last try in making MIDI controllers: The KX series.

LOL you are questioning the entire history of keyboard manufacturing then. Take a look at Yamaha:



Yamaha MO8:


Yamaha MOX, MOXF and the entire MX series are all Frankenstein of the same design.


The fact that Kawai put this keybed in VPC1 is amazing. Even by Kawai's standards it shouldn't exist.