Vax77 Folding Piano Review 2021

Reviewing the Vax77 as a portable piano. It's expensive, it's defunct, it's awesome.
This is the only ultraportable that you could actually perform with.

[@marzzz1]

You have the second version VAX77, you can tell by the dimpled wheel controllers. The original version (2010) had the smooth wheels.The prototypes were lighter, because they had unweighted sprung keys which felt quite unnatural. There were 6 key "weights," but by the first production version they had settled on Medium and Heavy. Eddie Jobson had come aboard as a consultant, and among other improvements had them add weights to the keys to improve the feel (but made the entire keyboard weigh more), but even the "Heavy" version felt very light for piano playing. The second revision (2012) was necessary due to changes in available parts/electronics, and Infinite Response also changed the choices to Heavy and Ultra-Heavy. Improvements were also made in the key felts, so the action was much quieter. The Ultra-Heavy action felt much better for piano playing, the control felt better and you could play closer to "the fallboard." Another thing you should mention is that aside from polyphonic aftertouch and release velocity, the VAX77 supported MIDI CC#88 High Resolution Velocity, so that instead of the usual 0-127 velocities, there were close to 16,000+. Pianoteq software supports this- whether it is actually useful in playing is debatable (no one has that kind of control!), at the very least it introduces some randomness that might make playing more realistic. Flaws- yes, it is over-engineered, ended up being too costly, and the sprung keyboard mechanism is actually very fatiguing to play for long periods because the keys constantly "push back." Fantastic for synth playing, but the keys are a bit too sharp for doing organ glisses. I would love to see a modern version without the folding mechanism, with the choice of either a good weighted-synth or piano type keybed.

[@stever1514]

Nice video. I met the designer at NAMM and really tried to push this product with many pro customers when I worked retail but there just wasn't much interest. I think the decision to not do 88 keys hurt them the most since they were already pricing it in the pro market. As a continuim fingerboard owner, the idea of a more expressive keyboard action is was a welcome one, and it was nice to see something so innovative. Maybe he should've done a cheaper one with folding and synth action and a better one without folding and with high end action features. But its tough when you're a startup to develop two vastly different products. This was way before Kickstarter, this guy was self funding most of the project, iirc he had recently sold his other company and obviously had strong engineering background. It may have done better on kickstarter than in a music retail environment. I kinda wish he would make a new Midi 2.0 controller, something like the Osmose but full length. I've always found 128 velocities to be too limiting on any piano controller, even a Kawai. The Roland V Piano is the only digital piano I've felt almost comfortable on.

[@dosgos]

Thanks for these portable piano videos!

[@artrock5741]

Keyboard legend Eddie Jobson helped design the feel of the Vax77 to his specifications. That's why it's so great for both piano and Hammond playing. Weighted, but not too much.

[@christianvalencia6270]

Yeah man thanks for these reviews!

[@chrisprice9832]

Looks like a good quality piano with great sound. Has it got the right number of keys to be a proper full size piano. If not it may restrict the the amount of piano music which can be played.

[@marzzz1]

The VAX77 has 77 keys (7 octaves low A to D (the hot key)), but there is a pedal setting where you can instantly shift up an octave to play the highest octave on the piano. Requires some practice, but how often are you playing up there?

[@harveyweizman]

Are you willing to sell yours?