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Kawai VPC1 88-key Virtual Piano Controller

88-key USB MIDI Keyboard Controller with Wooden-key, Graded-hammer Action; Music Rack, and Triple-pedal Unit
$2,499.00

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Kawai VPC1 88-key Virtual Piano Controller
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The Virtual Piano Controller

Kawai's VPC1 Virtual Piano Controller gives you the feel of the real deal. If you're a pianist who uses virtual piano software, you've likely been disappointed with your choices in 88-key weighted controllers. The VPC1 is for you. The VPC1 sports Kawai's superb RM3 Grand II keyboard action with wooden long keys and moisture-absorbent Ivory Touch key surfaces, grade-weighted hammers, bass key counterweights, realistic seesaw movement with staggered balance pins, triple-sensor key detection, and let-off simulation. A triple-pedal unit completes the illusion. Achieve an astonishingly authentic virtual piano playing experience with the Kawai VPC1.

Kawai VPC1 Virtual Piano Controller at a Glance:
  • Finally, a controller that actually feels like a piano
  • VPC1 plus virtual piano software equals the real deal
  • Just the essentials, in an elegant piano-like package
Finally, a controller that actually feels like a piano

Over the past several years, in lockstep with the constant advances in computing power, virtual piano software has become stunningly good - and an alluring option, even for serious pianists. So what's holding you back? The feel and response of available 88-key weighted MIDI controllers. Kawai - a company synonymous with fine acoustic and digital pianos - is out to change that. Their VPC1 Virtual Piano Controller is designed to do one thing: give you a virtual piano playing experience that's indistinguishable from playing a real grand piano.

VPC1 plus virtual piano software equals the real deal

The Kawai VPC1 is all about playing feel, and Kawai is a world-class expert in this area. To give you that real-deal feel, they've equipped the VPC1 with 88 real-wood long keys with moisture-absorbent Ivory Touch key surfaces, grade-weighted hammers, bass key counterweights, realistic seesaw movement with staggered balance pins, triple-sensor key detection, and let-off simulation. There's a lot of technology under the hood, much of it borrowed straight from Kawai's acclaimed acoustic piano actions. The proof is in the playing.

Just the essentials, in an elegant piano-like package

To reinforce the "real piano" illusion, Kawai has created the VPC1 in the image and likeness of, well, a real piano. There are no wheels, knobs, sliders - or anything else to distract you. The flat, deep top deck is perfect for your laptop, mouse, or coffee mug (careful, now!), and the included music rack is ideal for fleshing out scores. The elegant VPC1 gives you USB and traditional MIDI I/O, customized touch curves for popular virtual piano software, and comes with Kawai's F-30 triple-pedal unit, which supports half-damping, and is pre-configured to send the correct CC messages for damper, soft, and sostenuto events.

Kawai VPC1 88-key USB MIDI Virtual Piano Controller Features:
  • RM3II wooden-key, graded-hammer action with counterbalancing
  • Let-off, Ivory Touch, and Triple-Sensor Detection
  • Simple plug-and-play operation
  • Clutter-free top with space for a laptop or MIDI device
  • Simultaneous USB and MIDI connectivity
  • Customized touch curves for top virtual piano software
  • USB bus powered; included 12V power adaptor
  • Editor software included (Windows only)
  • F-30 triple-pedal unit included
  • Music Rack included
Get real-deal feel from your virtual pianos with the Kawai VPC1!

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Tech Specs

  • Number of Keys: 88
  • Type of Keys: RM3II Wooden-key, Graded-hammer Action with Counterbalancing
  • Pedal Inputs: 1 x Damper, 1 x Sustain, 1 x Soft (Includes Triple-pedal Unit)
  • MIDI I/O: In/Out
  • USB: 1 x Type B
  • Power Supply: Bus Powered, Power Supply (included)
  • Height: 7.33"
  • Width: 54.33"
  • Depth: 16.75"
  • Weight: 65 lbs.
  • Manufacturer Part Number: VPC1

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Customer Reviews

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Rated 5/5

A great midi controller

This is a wonderful midi keyboard with a great feel and playability.
It is very solid in construction and oozes quality.
Just the keys, please. There are no extraneous buttons or controllers to distract and it has a blank top to place other instruments and equipment. My previous instrument was a Yamaha S90-ES, so I am used to that feel. This is pretty close. They white keys aren't quite as polished (from use?), but I expect them to be soon. As I read in another review, the black keys have a coarse feel on the top instead of a polished feel I am used to. That is a distraction that I will overcome. It feels and plays with genuine appeal that makes me want to play more classical styled pieces in my live streams. Now I get to find more authentic piano samples for it.
Music background: Pianist, organist, keyboardist that plays locally and streams live weekly.
Rated 5/5

Best MIDI piano controller you can buy!

I've had this controller for 5 years now and it's a beast! It feels and plays like a real grand piano. Just as good as the day I bought it. You only need USB hookup to power it up too. I don't think you'll find anything better than this. It maybe a downside for some, not me, but it's only a controller. No internal sounds. I use it in my studio for recording so that's not a problem for me. Like is said.... if you close your eyes you would think you're playing a grand piano. It's not cheap but you get what you pay for.
Music background: Gigging musician with a home studio.
Rated 5/5

Still amazed after 2+ years

I got my VPC1 about a year and a half ago. Before that I had a Kawai ES8, but wasn't happy with the plastic-like feel of the keys and the general play overall. I wanted something that felt more like a real piano. I got the VPC1 and sold my ES8. The VPC felt amazing immediately. Since I primarily intended to use it as a home keyboard I really wasn't interested in all the features of the MP7 or MP11. I love how simple this keyboard is once it is set up.

The set up process took a little while but was mostly just in the form of deciding how I wanted to power the thing. I ended up connecting it to an old mini pc that has Pianoteq on it and it just sits there strapped to the leg of the stand and I never do anything with it. There is a speaker plugged in. So any time I am going to play I just sit down, and play and it is going just like a real piano.

The wooden keys really do feel very good, and the sensitivity of the action is really impressive compared to the other keyboards I tried when shopping around such as a roland and yamaha / their higher end digital keyboards with 'wooden' keys.

I'm writing this review just to let people know. My VPC1 still plays just like when I got it (and I play it a lot), but if someday something happens to it, I hope that Kawai will still be making this so I can buy another.
Music background: 4 years piano, 8 years classical guitar
Rated 5/5

Amazing product!

I read/watched a ton of reviews before buying a Kawai VPC-1. All the good things folks said about it are true. And any negative points (such as the power cable falling out, pedals sliding around, etc.) seem to have been fixed now. So, really unusually, I actually found no downsides at all about the instrument. Not even the curved top.

I find it an amazing simulation of the experience of playing a grand piano. Oddly, it even seemed to make my virtual pianos (which I've been playing for a while) sound quite different. Or perhaps that's just because it inspired me to turn them up a bit louder. In any case, having one of these things seems to make a difference to one's mood and whole experience of playing, even if some of it is psychological.

But I will mention the delivery experience in case anyone can learn from and/or avoid the experience I had. I've ordered TONS of stuff from Sweetwater, and it usually arrives without ceremony. But this item needed to come via a specialist freight firm.

When it arrived, the manufacturer's box was strapped on to a large wooden pallet, whose wood was split in places, and the nail heads were popping out, and had chewed up the bottom of the box pretty good. Thankfully they didn't quite make it through the box. The box itself is good: very thick card, and just nicely packed inside. It was that pallet (which also smelled of manure, and has now smelled up my garage, where I kept it temporarily) that bothered me. The delivery guy was very, very nice. And he had no choice but to leave the pallet (with the box strapped to it) right there in my driveway, and let me take care of it.

Once I'd cut the box off of the pallet and then later taken the keyboard out of the box, the keyboard didn't seem particularly heavy. No heavier than my Korg M3. So I'm not sure why this needed special handling.

If that'd have been a pallet of house bricks, then fine. But it seemed like a bizarre experience for a consumer product. So today I spent an hour pulling over 90 nails out of the pallet to dismantle it, and burning it in the garden. Good luck to most folks unaccustomed to doing something like that (which I imagine some pianists are) in avoiding stepping on a nail, or bashing a finger/thumb.

Really could have done without the pallet, the smell, and the extra time-consuming and dangerous work to dispose of it.
Rated 5/5

Ideal piano controller.

This is an awesome keyboard. It is lovely to play, and unlike my Native Instrument S88, which has tapered black keys, this has straight sided black keys. This enables my large fingers to play the white keys in between the blacks without playing all three keys at once. It looks and feels like its acoustic brothers. I'm so glad I sprang for this keyboard and highly recommend it.

As the second-largest piano producer in the world, Kawai has been a household name for more than 100 years. Many of the pianists and keyboardists here at Sweetwater have been playing Kawai instruments our entire lives, and we're always thrilled to turn the players we know on to the quality Kawai pianos and keyboards we carry. People step into the Sweetwater Piano Showroom every day looking for that perfect instrument, and it's always fun to see them discover the great feel and exquisite sound Kawai offers. Whether you're looking for a digital upright for your home or a stage-ready model for your next tour, talk to your Sales Engineer about Kawai.

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