Asheville Music Lessons

The good news, is that the Zoom H4 recorder came yesterday, the bad news is my Kawai CA640 digital piano abruptly gave up the ghost Monday. I called yesterday to Waldrop House of Music where we bought it and it just so happened their technician was in (He’s based out of Bristol, TN) and had a chance to stop by late yesterday. It sounds as though the main computer board is gone, everything else seemed to test well. For reference, the behaviour is this…. power switch on, power indicator lights up. Normally, after 1/2 second there are two red lights that would come on solid, one for the PIANO sound, the other for Room reverb. Unfortunately since Monday morning, I’ve gotten all sorts of variations of lights blinking, sometimes not coming on, sometimes all coming on, sometimes at partial illumination, etc….

The replacement card ( MEP-080 ) (sending this one back for exchange) will run about $640, plus labor…. so now I’m in a dillema of sorts, repair or replace. $700 or so in one lump is a lot to pay on something that may have another failure near term… (From what the technician said, most manufacturers will stock parts for about 10 years.) Unfortunately, from what (little) I’ve found online, the ca640 was made by Kawai in 1996. So…. I suspect we’re nearing the end of parts availability. So, if the power amplifier goes next? I don’t know, the computer card is likely the most expensive single replacement part, but it’s the same dillema you face with a big car repair, only the hardware is more specialized.

In retrospect, I’ve REALLY enjoyed the digital piano. The ability to plug in headphones to practice is great, I’ve used the MIDI in and out from it and I’ve also used the line out for recording direct to pc (and I was hoping to do the direct line out to the H4 for some of my testing…..) The sound has been fantastic, as has been the consistency of touch. The feel of the keys, in retrospect, could have been better, but at least it’s been consistent. To hear such bass clarity out of an instrument as small has been so nice. For some reason having good aural feedback makes up a bit for any other shortcomings. I’m disappointed that I had a few songs in the memory bank that will now be lost forever I suppose. My five year old had learned how to playback one that he likes singing with.

I suspect I’ll be looking at digital pianos over the next few weeks (maybe months) as we try to decide what to do. Fortunately, since I teach at the Asheville Music School this doesn’t keep me from doing lessons. It does keep me from playing at home though, which I’d got to do quite a bit lately. (And which I need to do practicing for Church.)

Anyway, I like digital pianos, but acoustic pianos have so many advantages… For what I’m doing these days (and for our house and routine) a digital just makes more sense.

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