The Virtual Technician is an edit function of the Kawai digital pianos in the mid to upper price range. The name Virtual Technician is inspired by the voicing of an acoustic grand piano: a piano technician (or piano artisan) works on the hammerheads with a felt-tipped stylus in order to, for example, change the dynamic sound behavior of the piano. But this is just one of Virtual Technician’s many possibilities…
A legitimate question that many people ask themselves. After all, in most cases, you just want to play the piano without any worries. Of course, sound developers perfectly tune the piano sounds of Kawai’s digital pianos so you can select them directly and enjoy their sound. However, discovering the world of grand piano voicing with Kawai’s Virtual Technician, unveils the potential of these piano sounds.
With the current CA models CA-901 and CA-701, the Virtual Piano Artisan expands this concept. However, both functions are conceptually the same as the focus is on voicing piano sounds. The previous versions of the SK-EX rendering sound generation (PIANO mode) made this possible to a limited extent using Virtual Technician. However, Piano Artisan now allows you to influence sound behavior in much greater detail.
The Virtual Technician app for the iPad is available free of charge for older Kawai digital pianos. For the current Kawai digital pianos, the Virtual Technician and Piano Artisan functions are part of the Kawai Piano Remote app.
Every piano has a unique sound that either supports certain musical expressions – or opposing that, does not. For a powerful pop/rock song, for example, you want a brilliant piano sound that can be played dynamically and responds directly to your touch. Fine nuances in the pianissimo are less important. On the other hand, such subtleties are needed to accompany a gentle pop ballad. Similarly, Robert Schumann’s “Träumerei” would sound much too harsh on a rock piano. It all depends on the correct intonation of the piano.
On closer inspection, the piano sound is made up of a variety of sound details that you can adjust with the Kawai Virtual Technician: Examples include sympathetic resonances, key-off effect, damper noise, fall-back noise, etc. For example, by increasing the intensity of damper resonances and background noise, you can simulate close miking. This level of detail adds a certain intimacy and closeness to the sound – as if the ears were listening directly to the strings and soundboard.
With the lid closed or open, the sound of a grand piano changes dramatically. If you want the overall sound to be softer and less rich in overtones, close the top. For a fuller, brighter grand piano sound, open the lid. Keep in mind the connection with voicing. The combination of these two parameters offers many variations.
Many digital pianos allow you to edit sound details. Unique to Kawai digital pianos is the voicing parameter. Voicing has a complex effect on the sound’s dynamics. Soft or hard attack, percussive accents, or a sustaining sound with more decay time – Kawai digital pianos can reproduce the most diverse playing characteristics down to the smallest detail. Even the sound of the Una Corda pedal (soft pedal) is taken into account.
This also demonstrates the great potential of Kawai’s harmonic imaging sound generation. It’s amazing how different the same piano sound can be when you change the voicing from Mellow to Bright. In addition to the five predefined basic settings, a user setting is also possible, which lets you determine the sound behavior of each individual note.
You can set all Virtual Technician functions directly on the digital piano via the display. Of course, the app makes using these functions even more convenient. And also educational! The documentation of the functions makes the procedures and effects of each individual parameter transparent and understandable for everyone. Connect the iPad to the instrument using either a USB cable or wirelessly via Bluetooth if you have a current Kawai digital piano model.
For older Kawai digital pianos, Virtual Technician is available as an iPad-exclusive app. For all current Kawai digital pianos (as of 2023), Virtual Technician and Virtual Piano Artisan are part of the Kawai Piano Remote app. This app is also provided free of charge by the manufacturer.
Virtual Technician: Apple App Store
PianoRemote (Android/iOS)
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