Kawai MS720 - Full Review

[@8BitKeys]

You're going to put me out of business with these superb videos you are doing!

[@KeenOnKeys]

Thanks a lot! Well, I hope I don't succeed! To be honest, I'm a big fan of your channel!

[@AMPATL]

​@@KeenOnKeys Have you ever done any professional voice over work?

[@doordedeur]

@@AMPATL I can imagine Keen saying: 'In a world...', like in the movies.

[@thompi8]

8-bit keys you have to do some videos soon i wating for them all the time and i se them everytime i se you have new videos. And yea i know you had your other chanel to but i folowing them both

[@dm12e]

Ha ha

[@dexterpedroche]

Those strings sounds are actually quite good, even by today's standards.

[@geraldwagner8739]

The strings are impressive.

[@maxfactor4209]

This toy sounds pretty good even by today standards... I am impressed

[@альфредпетрович-д7р]

this simply is because it's when those "todays standarts" were coined. you didnt get the message right, it's not about the toy keyboard which is probably older than you are (not much younger anyways) - it's about those "today standarts". the keyboard sounds modern because what's "modern" is that old. the real today standart is endlessly reselling refurnished 90s.

[@ilovemoms5385]

This guy should be making his own Sega MD/PC-88/SNES albums with this potential

[@SonictrainkidDoesFurryStuff]

lol

[@Cubik303]

Another great review and the demo tune is excellent! The old Kawai (and Technics) keyboards were, in my opinion, considerably more sophisticated and better sounding than their Casio and Yamaha contemporaries.

[@peterdonoso2975]

Your reviews are in a class of their own-in-depth features portrayed with very adept performance applications and impressive musicality. As a late coming subscriber to your collection of excellent reviews I just caught this one on the KAWAI MS720, which I had considered getting back then but ended up with a Casio CZ101 instead. You mentioned the MS720 was also bundled together for a brief time when purchasing an ATARI 520ST computer. I went to work for ATARI soon after getting my first computer, their subsequently released 1040ST-ATARI being the only brand of computer to ever include built-in MIDI ports with every model they made. Their final released model, the ATARI Falcon added the capability for recording an astonishing (at that time) 16 full tracks of 16-bit digital audio right out of the box-with no other hardware required.

[@SAerror1]

You made this keyboard sound legendary, good job!

[@afreezaphorogiancossack2194]

Excellent and unbelievably thorough demo of this little keyboard. Thank you so much!

[@TheBeatfox]

Thanks for putting this together - some interesting quirks for a consumer keyboard from that era! I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the Kawai keyboards. My first keyboard (after the Casio PT-1 I had as a young kid) was a Kawai FS620 I got as a gift in the late '80s or early '90s, which had some similarities to this one (particularly the rhythms and one finger ad-lib patterns). After that, I got a K1II as my first MIDI-capable keyboard in the mid-'90s. Recently I interited a PH50 from my late grandfather (which I never even knew he had). And I just purchased a K4, which is supposed to arrive tomorrow! It's too bad Kawai moved away from making synths/keyboards. They really seemed to have their own unique and experimental design approaches!

[@Sonictrainkid]

strings with chorus sounds amazing

[@isaacwaheeb4050]

Wow awesome multi track that showcases the best out of this little keyboard nice video, keep going on, you do a great job discovering these retro synthesizers

[@NLind]

Those sounds are very good for a mini keyboard like that. The Electric Bass is BASS1 from the DX7 and the strings are used in several of Nintendo's SNES games.

[@AdamAvacado]

Do you know where the strings came from? I need to know the name of the sample

[@juusokuivila685]

Your multitrack recording starts out with some glorious Jan Hammer Fairlite vibes there. Wonderful video as always.

[@thebkstank2095]

Legit surprised how good some sounds are

[@JoseGouveiaPereira]

Great video! Returned back in time 30 years when those keyboards were on shelves at the music store of my village...

[@buerzolino24]

Best episode/track recording so far!! (though I have to say, I didn't appreciate, that this keyboard didn't receive the cleaning treatment like the others : )

[@Lhenndyn]

Yeah ! The bath ! The bath !

[@willfomes406]

the perfect Sega piano. your vids rock

[@joaoalexandre9894]

actually i think this produced one of the best dreamy sounds i have heard in my life the quality of the user is also another thing that is remarkable

[@themadmallard]

Kawai has always been good at using midi in multiple product lanes, even before general midi. many of their products have lots of midi features you would struggle to find in similar competition products.

[@Gainn]

Sounds better than quite a few of the 2010+ "workstations".. Awesome work as always.

[@orangeflipflop485]

that demo tune is really good! Edit: and those presets are really usable too, I've never really looked into Kawai keyboards, maybe I should, haha Edit Again: Holy crap that ending song! Some people can't even make something like that on multi-thousand dollar equipment!

[@annother3350]

Well, he only had to use one finger - how hard can it be?! 😉

[@couchcamperTM]

I just got a Kawai Spectra Kc-10, and not only has it some great sounds for its age, it has very good velocity sensitive keys. total fun to play it. I don't know much about these cheaper ones, but everything from the spectra and upwards is still worth buying just for the keybed. Yamaha, Roland, Casio: listen and learn xD

[@twenty3electronics]

on the ms710, any of the internal samples can be selected as either of the two "waves" in the synthesizer section, including the drums, which play as loops. using the cymbal sample as the wave makes an interesting sound. 710 lacks the sustain parameter found in the ms720's synth section.

[@MattGreerMusic]

This little Kawai has some pretty cool little tricks up its sleeves. The duel layers and that chorus make for some quite usable sounds.

[@OfficialRainsynth]

Even despite being a toy keyboard, it sounds decent and looks fun to play to quite an extent. I didn't even know, that Kawai made such unique keyboard in the early 90's.

[@subwaygaragemusic]

I just noticed that the title theme is partial to the featured keyboard!

[@amandelli7778]

I love all Your Videos! I owned almost every one of these Keyboards... Had lots of fun with them... Wish I would have kept some of them... I now own several Pro Synths and Keyboards... Still having fun! 😃

[@daeone1514]

Hey this thing has some really nice sound!!! Nice video btw

[@Grow_Everything]

This thing has great presets! I'm impressed!

[@RijuChatterjee]

Man I love the sounds on these old keyboards

[@TriangleWaveRecords]

For a toy, it has some pretty deep functionalities. I bet it would sound amazing through pedals too!

[@Pedrofiliac]

these videos are perfect

[@pi6706]

Kawai certainly make a big thing of the one finger ad-lib feature. I can see it mentioned at least 4 times!

[@autobotsNdecepticons]

Love the little ending performances.

[@cablevamp3163]

I have this and I keep it around cuz it has basic ADSR type synthesis Not exactly a synthesizer but it can stack voices and has midi in and out

[@hcb3636]

Hi Keen On Keys, thanks for the fun & super informative demo! Can you plz comment on Kawai's mini key action, esp in comparison with earlier models of Casiotone & Portasound?

[@summerlaverdure]

i had the ms-20 as a kid, the demo tune is like forever burned in my brain

[@TheBeatfox]

Same here, but with the FS620 instead.

[@summerlaverdure]

@@TheBeatfox omg i remember you when i first came into the fandom and your flexy foxy tail video, you rule :3

[@kombobeats]

6:26 that is fire 🔥 it would be a sick beat

[@darwiniandude]

Great video, and great track made with the keyboard! I just picked up the MS-710 yesterday - although the one I got was found in a second hand shop and is called a Lowrey LS-30... definitely the same keyboard though. Was cheap, synth parameters, midi etc.

[@marcelofp75]

great review as always

[@sam_64]

i actually never knew that sample based keyboards could synthesise, even if in this case it was very basic.

[@RenatoPernett]

Excellent demo as always! I wonder which 80's 90' or any era 76 key keyboard would be perfect as a gig keyboard in your opinion? Could you review 73/76 keyboards? Thank you for your excellent work!

[@michaelchampion7714]

Wow what a fun little instrument

[@narmada140]

Is the song at 3:30 an existing one? It sounds femilliar and gives me nostalgia. Makes me wana look up te origiginal if there is any. Some on knows?

[@7evive]

It is

[@DJWhisler]

these sounds are superb

[@Kyrieru]

Are there any modern keyboard that are basically snes/chiptunes in a box? I like all these old keyboards, but I just wish they could be used easily in a DAW too.

[@djkalenomuzic2615]

can it connect to laptop by midi?

[@kimthompson5871]

Another great review .

[@aldeanblair9727]

So cool so 90s and so epic!!!!!!

[@gameon2000]

I had one similar named PH-50 - very pro 80s cinematic sound! John Carpenter style. It had the 8-bit KAWAI K1 PH-m engine inside.

[@djkalenomuzic2615]

could it be connected to laptop?

[@gameon2000]

​@@djkalenomuzic2615 only via MIDI Interface, there was no USB back in 1991 yet.

[@Graustufe2108]

I really love your Videos, especially the one about the yamaha PSS-A50. I've been watching it for one week now and I will buy myself one soon for sure. I only have one question: how did you learn to freestyle and make awsome loops or mini songs?? I mean, how do you know which keys sound good together? If anybody knows a good video about such things, please tell me. ... and also thank you for reviewing Keyboards I like it :)

[@nixpiano]

Your review and demo are genius. I am not interested in this keyboard at all. But I am very interested to see and hear what you do with it. Thank you Mr. Keen.

[@marcbrasse747]

I think it actually sounds a lot better then most of what Casio and Yamaha offered at the time, especially if the chorus is on. The strings are massive anyway but I've never heard a modified accordeon do so well as a string synth. Strings where for instance a thing Yamaha's FM was always bad at. Factory user 2 even sounds like a typical Prophet 5 basis for an Alan Parsons track. When you start layering stuff in dual mode things are really starting to sound impressive. The synth fuctions might indeed not aweinspiring but such a set of good basic sounds is actually more important, especially when you can give them a basic tweak to make them fit better into what you are doing. It worked well for early piano / sting / brass keyboards and it still did here. Nice video's by the way. :-)

[@gisibah]

The strings sound remind me of the strings samples used in a lot of SNES games.

[@wphanoo]

They sound like Kurzweil strings (found in many of their keyboards). I guess a lot of games sampled them and also other keyboard manufacturers

[@Fuzy2K]

3:31 reminds me of Drakkhen

[@HauntedHarmonics]

Always saw these on eBay going for ~$200 & wondered how they could worth that much… Well, now I get it lol. Sure, half of the presets are straight 80s cheese, but there are some surprisingly high quality presets voices here too. Add the 2 voice synthesizer, the 4 way FX select, MIDI in and out, AND a drum pad, and you have an amazing budget 80s synth. If I ever wanted to make a vapor/synthwave album, this would be the perfect tool for the job.

[@jacksonshelton8055]

Some sounds seem like they came from a SNES or N64 soundfont. Others seem like they were sampled from another synthesizer, like a Casio keyboard or a Yamaha DX for the electric bass.

[@j_c_93]

The strings remind me so much of the strings sampled in Ocarina of Time!

[@stankydanky]

Yes, the jazz organ on this keyboard sounds identical to the jazz organ preset on my Casio CT-360

[@MiloslavBrada]

This was my first keyboard. Nice memories :-) thx!

[@Anibalmc89]

I have the MS710 and the sounds and rhythms are different. The sound of the MS720 sounds clean (forgive the repetition). And I remember having the MS20 (now I have the MS30, it’s the same as MS20 but the design changes). The Rhythms I see are different. The Pops rhythm in MS710 sounds as R&R rhythm in MS20, but in MS720 sounds as the Pops Rhythm in MS20. Same as Country, Mambo and March rhythms. The rhythm in 13:31 what it is? Sounds like the Dance rhythm in MS20. I always liked the Kawai keyboards. They are good.

[@KeenOnKeys]

I recently bought a 710, so I will have a closer look at the differences. I am not quite sure about that rhythm, but I guess it was "shuffle".

[@swisswildpicsswp3095]

You're like... a keyboard wizard

[@i_never_asked_for_an_alias]

I can tell by the skill of your pinky, you are playing Piano all your life. :-) Nice job.

[@CoolDudeClem]

I'm guessing that not all of the sounds are samples, sounds like there's a little FM synthesis going on in there on some of them, particulary the e bass.

[@jackcimino8822]

No, those are single cycle waveforms.

[@Nabhandle]

Where is this part from 3:32 sounds so good

[@KeenOnKeys]

That's just a little improvisation

[@Nabhandle]

@@KeenOnKeys do you have an alternative channel where you upload your plays?

[@KeenOnKeys]

@@Nabhandle I have a Bandcamp and SoundCloud site. Links in the description.

[@valley_robot]

Those modified strings sound lush mate

[@AiOinc1]

The two Kawai chips are probably the sample ROMs

[@stefano.a]

Awesome as ever! Can you review Yamaha EZ-220 in future? It seems very particular and there are no complete video about using it with midi connection and a computer. Thank you!

[@KeenOnKeys]

Probably not. I don't have the EZ-220. And it's not on top of my wishlist right now.

[@peterdonoso2975]

I'd love to see you do a review on the KAWAI PH50 Personal Keyboard-and challenge you to avoid also falling in love with a good number of it's 200 distinctly impressive sounds ( like its awesome atmospheric pad patch #51 )... its 50 evocative cinematic combo patches ( user editable )... on-board set of 30 built-in drum rhythms... mini pitch bend/modulation joy stick ( nice B3 simulation on organ patch #41 )... and its numerous user-configurable system parameter settings. If you do, I'd gladly clue you in beforehand on some of my discoveries to also share from using it for close to 30 years now.

[@KeenOnKeys]

I would like to try it, but it seems to be very rare, at least in Germany. I haven't seen any in recent years.

[@peterdonoso2975]

@@KeenOnKeys Yes, a few years ago there seemed to be quite a few on eBay for around $175...today there was a non-working one for $150 and one other for close to $300. Believe it or not, I found this keyboard to be so unparralled for it's portability and wonderful array of sounds that i bought SIX of them over a 3-year period, all for under $200! The one issue that resulted in 4 of them eventually becoming near-to or totally nonfunctioning was a moisture problem that eroded the solenoid(?) contact pads beneath the buttons on the right side control panel for changing the LED display to select patch and parameter settings. Spare or replacement parts were non-existant, though I was able to restore one by "canabalizing" components from the other 3 I had held onto even though they had stopped working.

[@abanana2561]

Hello friend. I had just found your channel and it is fucking excellent. I have been wanting a synth for a while. I have basic piano skills. Is there a synth that you would generally reccomend for somebody as sort of an introduction to synthesizers? Thank you mate

[@KeenOnKeys]

There are a lot of monophonic synths on the market right now. I would probably start with a Korg Monologue or Volca or maybe one of these new retro synths made by Roland and Behringer.

[@PocketOperatorGuy]

Some of those sounds are familiar. It reminds me of an old Yamaha Adlib device on an older computer. It sounds pretty good. The music box sounds like a babydoll on one if my Casio keyboards.

[@CKT1138]

That multi track song was an absolute banger

[@BvsMAcosh]

This thing has some sweet sounds.

[@PodmornicaFTW]

When are we gonna get that Yamaha PSS from the intro on 00:11 ? :D

[@KeenOnKeys]

It's the PSS-290. This will have to wait. Probably next year.

[@PodmornicaFTW]

@@KeenOnKeys aww man :P I know its the PSS-290, I have one home, that's why I asked :D

[@filipjonathan]

Is there a vst version of this synth?

[@doordedeur]

The MS720 might seem identical to the MS710, but the biggest advantage is the real dual mode, instead of a monophonic dual mode.

[@kenzieprice6745]

Is that the only actual difference?

[@doordedeur]

Yes, aside from the colors.

[@lemelstudio]

ok, you have GOT to take a look at the Kawai PH50, another Kawai consumer mini keyboard. 200 sounds, all derived from the professional K1 synth, and a full midi implementation (4 channel multi-timbral!) along with programmable splits and combinations, all fairly unheard of for a cheap mini-key at the time. Plus...it was also released as small half-rack desktop module, the Kawai PHm!

[@mousikavinteo]

Genius!

[@VassilDimitrov6144]

Do you know if there is a place where one can find the build-in songs from this keyboard in the internet? Any help would be greatly appreciated

[@deepbreath3555]

Some sounds are quite good on that keyboard, I thought was sounding a bit more lo-fi I was a bit surprised must say nice one 👍

[@DkViking1]

23:19 This music is SOOO catchy! I couldn't find it in you music store. What is this piece called? :-)

[@KeenOnKeys]

You can find it on my Bandcamp page. It's the second track of the MS720 album.

[@Lachlant1984]

How were you able to send MIDI data from the PSS-A50 to the MS720? Since the PSS-A50 uses a USB connector, did you need to go through a computer?

[@KeenOnKeys]

Yes, USB Midi only works with a computer.

[@bobbyserious9781]

Hi there, nice Video! I just bought one of these and i wonder if there's a way to recieve midi tempo from e.g. Drum Machines?

[@danielatilano3294]

This is a nice keyboard!

[@0jormakkk0]

Thanks for the excellent presentation, you are a skilled musician. Too bad the speakers in that are bad, but when you put it in decent stereos the sounds are great.

[@MrLoisix]

hey man can i have the stems for this one, i really wanto to make a remix

[@rordrom3234]

Well played :)

[@Jennnym25]

hello keen onkeys, one thing i want to tell you that the bass sound in this keyboard is the yamaha dx7. and so you know i’m from Sweden if you wonder why i hav the Swedish letter å in my Channel name on youtube.

[@enricooler1433]

10:37 this sounds like a accordion more than the actual accordion preset

[@francesconadig5969]

Very good

[@organfairy]

What I find really annoying about many of Kawai's keyboards is that they didn't have a separate volume control for the accompaniment, like practically all other small keyboards had. On some of the presets the rhythm is way too dominating and there is no way to correct it. But otherwise I like them.

[@i_never_asked_for_an_alias]

No MS420 ?

[@pong808]

17 min Instant Banjo kazooie 8-)

[@smoothred9453]

Your Final Performance was magnificent. Did you make the song or is it preexisting becausw i need a full or extended version of that cut.

[@KeenOnKeys]

Yes, I made that song. There's no extended version existing, but you can listen to a couple more songs, made with the MS-720, on Bandcamp.

[@raymondleggs5508]

That pinky technique doe!

[@minecraftavatarofhunterbiden]

7:49 security bell in nice house sound

[@fortheloveofnoise]

I have never seen any of those in the U.S. (now after checking Ebay...ok they exist here, weird I have never seen any before though)

[@drox667]

They can be found on ebay or shopgoodwill occasionally. I have gotten a couple different kawai models for around 35usd shipped

[@альфредпетрович-д7р]

is there a chance of me getting rom dumps from this thing, anybody?

[@DarthPanthro]

Rad video and a rad keyboard! I recently bought a kawai mk20 for $20 and fell in love with retro kawai keyboards. And now i want one of these.

[@daeone1514]

Darth Panthro same!! I’ll run it thru protools and let this thing be great. It’s sure sounds great af!!

[@mootbooxle]

Roofie The Dog definitely needs one of these!

[@RadioactiveMoth]

What is the "Heavy Wave" rhythm? What even is "Heavy Wave"?

[@KeenOnKeys]

It's the rhythm I've used for the multitrack recording.

[@DIPProjectIOFFICIALCHANNEL]

sounds better than all vst

[@АленаАндрейчикова-г6ы]

It is so HiFi and complicated compared to Yamaha and Casio kid's keyboards!

[@alexhauptmann298]

It's really funny to me how one of their keyboards is called the "ms-20" lmfao

[@benh.635]

ikr, I immediately thought of the Korg MS-20 when I heard that

[@andikkristian6023]

Speaker with symbol M mean MATSHUSHITA or PANASONIC nice...