KAWAI CA501 Digital Piano

The CA501 digital piano utilizes Kawai’s latest Grand Feel Compact keyboard action, which draws upon 90 years of acoustic piano craftsmanship to provide an exceptionally realistic playing experience. Unlike so many digital pianos that glue a thin wood veneer to the outside of a short plastic key, all 88 black and white keys are crafted entirely from long pieces of wood, with finely textured Ivory Touch key surfaces applied to provide unparalleled control and realistic feel to every key.

As with an acoustic grand piano action, the keys pivot on a metal balance pin and move with a smooth seesaw-like motion, while the extended pivot length ensures a consistent, evenly-balanced touch weight – even when playing towards the back of the key. The Grand Feel Compact action also incorporates grade-weighted hammers, bass region counterweights, and let-off simulation for added authenticity, while its accurate triple-sensor key detection system allows rapidly repeated notes such as trills to be performed smoothly, without unnatural breaks in sound.

The CA501 digital piano features the distinctive sound of Kawai’s highly acclaimed EX concert grand piano, the incomparable SK-5 grand piano, and the exciting new Shigeru Kawai SK-EX ‘competition grand’ piano sample which was recorded from the pianist’s perspective. Widely regarded as the “premier pianos of Japan”, Shigeru Kawai instruments grace the stages of concert halls and musical institutions throughout the world and are prized for their exceptional tonal clarity

These remarkable instruments have been carefully recorded, meticulously analyzed, and faithfully reproduced with full 88-key sampling using Kawai’s proprietary Harmonic Imaging XL™ sound technology. This remarkable proprietary process accurately recreates the broad dynamic range of the original grand pianos, affording pianists an extraordinary level of expressiveness ranging from the softest pianissimo to the strongest, boldest fortissimo, previously unheard-of in a digital piano in this range.

The CA501 offers a built-in metronome as an aid for the serious piano student. With ten time signatures, the metronome is a handy tool to learn to keep a steady rhythm. In addition, there are 100 drum beats inside the metronome for even more versatility.

The CA501 has a selection of reverb settings to simulate the reverberation in a small room or a cathedral-and several settings in between. A large variety of effects are also available at the touch of a finger. Effects such as a rotary speaker, phaser, delays, tremolos and much more can be added to any voice.

Another valuable feature of the CA501 is the Registration Memory. The player can store up to 16 of their favorite settings on the piano, so whenever a particularly interesting combination of sounds and effects is discovered, one can save that setting for future use.

The CA501 can transpose into any key. The Tone Control offers additional settings to please any ear and any style. And the Auto Off feature saves energy by automatically shutting off power after a given time of inactivity.

The CA501 digital piano is equipped with USB connectors that not only allow this instrument to be connected to a computer for MIDI use, but also to load and save data to USB memory devices directly. This “USB to Device” feature allows instrument settings or recorded songs stored in internal memory to be saved to USB for posterity, or standard MIDI files (SMF) to be conveniently played back without additional hardware.

USB memory devices can also be used to play back MP3 or WAV audio files, allowing musicians to learn the chords or melody for a new piece, or to simply play along with their favorite songs. It is even possible to record performances as MP3 or WAV files for emailing to friends and family, or for further editing using an audio workstation.

The CA501 digital piano also features an excellent selection of additional instrument sounds, ranging from dynamic electric pianos, realistic drawbar organs, lofty church organs, vibrant strings, astounding human choirs, and even atmospheric synth-style pads, inviting musicians to add greater variety to their performances.

Furthermore, the Dual playing mode also allows two different sounds, such as grand piano and strings, to be layered together, while the Split and Four Hands modes divide the keyboard into two independent sections. The volume balances for each playing mode can also be adjusted quickly and easily using the real-time panel controls.