Review Kawai Digital Piano CN-29. Where to buy it?
Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co. Ltd. is a Japanese company, founded by Koichi Kawai. Now. we will look at the new Kawai CN 29 which is the new version of the respected Kawai CN27. It is a digital piano with furniture that imitates upright pianos and whose price is around €1.259/£1,177.
When you go up from 1000 euros it is because you are already looking for digital pianos to serve someone who is studying a medium or higher level of classical music. If you are in this situation, you need a piano where you can spend several hours a day studying and not be spoiled by so much practice.
I always try to think of my readers’ budget. It’s obvious that if you can have a 3000 euro piano it’s always going to be better than a 1000 euro one but what’s the point if you’re not going to take advantage of its full potential? The truth is that most of the music that amateurs and even professionals want to play can be played on digital pianos of 1000 euros or less with a decent sound. But if you are studying to go to a Vienna Philharmonic that is another matter. Well, this piano is in an intermediate world.
Kawai’s hammer III system would be a bit like Yamaha’s GH3 system in terms of playing response quality. This is a weighted system on the keys to make it more enjoyable to play and more like a real piano. The weighted keys is different from the sensitivity of the keys that serves to regulate the volume at which a note is played when it is pressed.
Now let’s look at the characteristics of this piano and comment on them. Then I will make comparisons with other pianos that are sure to be useful.
- 88 sensitive hammer action keys (hammer III)
- 3 sensors (the sensitivity on the keys spoke to you before)
- Keys with ivory touch and ‘Let-Off’ simulation (escape effects, are nuances when the hammer hits the string in the piano system, various effects can be set)
- 19 different high quality piano sounds
- 192 notes of polyphony. The notes that can sound at once on a piano including those that can sound when you play over an accompaniment.
- Bluetooth midi technology. The MIDI is super important to connect to the computer and work with music production programs.
- Lesson function. To me personally these functions usually seem useless in any piano.
- High quality effects
- Dual function or layering to play a piano sound + an accompaniment style such as a violin accompaniment (which sounds in the background while you play).
- 4-hand mode to divide the piano in two and play with someone.
- Metronome
- Transposition function
- 19 demo songs
- 1 track sequencer (3 songs, 10,000 notes). For recording.
- Keyboard cover
- 3 pedals with ‘Grand Feel Action’. Including the most important one which is the sustain pedal that allows you to keep the note in time if you stop pressing the key.
- 2 headphone outputs
- USB to Host (USB MIDI)
- MIDI Input/Output
- Bluetooth 4.1
- Two Onkyo 20W speaker systems that are powerful enough to play with other instruments without the need for an extra amplifier.
- Dimensions: 1360 x 405 x 860 mm
- Weight: 43 kg
Once related to a smartphone, tablet or computer, the possibilities on this instrument expand, with a range of educational, live performance or score writing applications.
The Kawai Virtual Technician control application is available for free download and provides an intuitive way to learn and adjust various features of this piano from a touch interface, without the need for additional cables or adapters.
Now that we have seen the features of this Kawai CN-29 piano, watch this video to hear the quality of its sounds and see what features it has. Then you have the comparisons
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- Kawai keyboards and pianos.
Kawai CN29 vs Kawai CN39
Here are the main differences:
- The CN39 has 352 sounds, including drum kits, while the CN27 has only 19 piano sounds.
- On the CN39 there are 7 speed curves in the sensitivity of the keys, while on the CN29 there are only 4.
- The polyphony on the CN29 is 256 voices versus 192 voices on the CN27. Although 192 is good enough for you.
- The CN39 has more effects and more tuning options than the CN29.
- The CN39 has 100 rhythms, functionality not available on the CN29.
- The CN39 includes more demo and studio songs.
- In the CN39 , the Virtual Technician software, you can control many more parameters than in the CN29.
- While the CN29 has 2 speakers covering all frequency ranges, the CN39 has 2 speakers for low frequencies and 2 speakers for high frequencies.
Is this price difference worth it? Yes, it is, but if you are on a modest budget and especially focused on studying piano with the Kawai CN 29, it’s worth it. In my opinion, the fact that a digital piano that is not portable has many sound banks is not so useful. When I say portable I mean a piano that weighs between 10 and 12 kg.
Let’s put the features of these pianos on a table so you can compare
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Kawai CN-29 B |
Kawai CN 39 |
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And then a video of the Kawai CN39:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cmZseytcpw
Kawai CN29 vs Kawai KDP 110
While Kawai’s CN line refers to high quality digital pianos, the KDP line belongs to Kawai’s more economical line of digital pianos, and therefore has less performance. The KDP 110 is a bestseller that competes with the Yamaha YDP 144 and the Casio AP 470 and costs around 800 Euros. Obviously there are significant differences for this price.
Both teams share features such as the pedal system, the amount of reverberation, the brightness emulation, the speakers and the helmet output.
Their main differences are:
- The keys of the CN29, are of higher quality, as they have weight on all keys, more hardness on the lower keys and ivory feel on the keys, specifications not available on the Kawai KPD110 keys.
- While the CN29 has 2 high quality stereo sampled pianos, the SX-EX and EX, the brand’s top of the line acoustic pianos, the KPD110 has only the SX-EX.
- The CN29 emulates the 2-factor resonance, the off-pedal resonance and the string resonance, while the KPD110 has only off-pedal resonance emulation.
- With the Virtual Technician software, 17 parameters can be controlled on the CN29 and only 13 parameters on the KPD110.
- The CN29 has 19 sounds while the KPD110 has 15 sounds.
The difference is quite noticeable in the weighted keys of the keyboard so it depends on what kind of songs you want to play and whether you are interested in studying classical at a certain level. Otherwise the KDP 110 is perfect.
Let’s put the characteristics of these pianos on a table so you can compare:
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Kawai CN-29 B |
Kawai KDP-110 |
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Here is a video of the Kawai KDP110 digital piano:
Kawai CN29 vs Kawai ES8
Both units have the same type of keys, the brand’s “Responsive Hammer III” technology, but the ES has some extra features, designed for the needs of concerts.
Here are the main differences between these two teams:
- The ES8 has 34 sounds, including 3 acoustic pianos sampled in stereo, the SK-EX, the EX and the SK-5 while the CN29, comes only 19 sounds with 2 acoustic pianos sampled in stereo, the SK-EX and the EX.
- The polyphony of the ES8 is 256 notes while the polyphony in the CN29 is 192 notes.
- On the ES8 it is possible to adjust depth and time in the reverberation while on the CN27 it is not possible to adjust these parameters.
- The ES8 has more assignable effects and more tuning settings than the CN29.
- The ES8 has 100 rhythms with chord recognition, functionality not available on the CN29.
- The ES8 can play MP3 or WAV audio from a USB stick while the CN29 does not have this functionality.
- Several lessons are included in the CN29 while no lessons are found in the ES8.
- The ES8’s drivers are slightly less powerful than the CN29’s, but it features Bass Reflex technology, which reinforces the low frequencies.
- The ES8’s weight is almost half that of the CN29. Although it is not easy to say that the ES 8 is portable but good, it is easier to move. But of course you need a car and I still don’t see it as very practical.
Let’s put the features of these pianos in a table so you can compare
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Kawai CN-29 B |
Kawai ES8 |
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And here is a video of the Kawai ES-8 B digital piano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoAB9UJGHZU
If you want to know more about this option, click on the following link to see the Kawai ES-8 digital piano
Kawai CN-29 vs Yamaha CLP 625
The Kawai CN-29 keyboard usually costs about the same as the Yamaha CLP 625. They are direct rivals and it’s really not easy to decide between one or the other.
Among the notable differences we can say:
- The Kawai has more polyphony than the Yamaha CLP 623
- I like the recording function on the Yamaha better
- I like the effects that Yamaha has like IAC and binaural sampling to improve the feeling of playing a real acoustic piano.
- What is very much the Kawai is the bluetooth MIDI functionality. This makes many people at the same price choose the CN29.
I have to say that I also like the keyboard of the Kawai better. But really, I like both of them, but at the same price I will keep the Kawai CN 29.
Let’s put the features of these pianos on a table so you can compare
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Kawai CN-29 B |
Yamaha CLP 625 |
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And then a video of this piano
Kawai CN-29 vs Yamaha CLP-635
The Kawai CN-29 B Keyboard is usually 336 euros cheaper than the Yamaha CLP-635. The Yamaha CLP 635 should really be compared to the Kawai CN 39 although the approaches are a bit different.
The quality of the weighted keys on the CLP 635 is the same as on the Yamaha CLP 625. It has more sounds but not as much as the Kawai CN 39.
Here are the features and a video. The truth is that if you have a little more budget for me it makes more sense to buy the CLP 635 than the Kawai CN 39 but if your budget is small and around 1200 euros the Kawai CN 29 for me wins over the Yamaha CLP 625.
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Kawai CN-29 |
Yamaha CLP-635 B |
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And then a video of the Yamaha CLP-635 digital piano:
Where to buy the Kawai CN-29 digital piano
Thomann
- Full warranty. If you have any problem they take care of everything.
- The best online shop at Europe by far by the ship worldwide and keeping its guarantee
- Leading the way in logistics and seamless transportation
- Best reputation: They are the leading online store in Spain and Europe and have the best catalogue and information.
