Dexibell Vivo Stage S-7 Pro

Das Dexibell VIVO Stage S-7 pro ist das erste Digitalpiano unter meinen Fingern, mit dem ich auf der Bühne (kleine Jazz- und Acoustic-Rock-Besetzungen) nicht den Steinway A-188 aus meinem Wohnzimmer vermisse.

Ich versuche mal zu beschreiben, warum: Bei den anderen - und es waren schon viele - ist es mit viel Phantasie so, „als ob“ man vor einem echten Flügel sitzen würde. Tut man aber nicht.
Beim Dexibell hingegen sitzt man vor einem ausdrucksstarken, lebendigen Instrument mit eigenem Charakter, es atmet, es gibt dem Spieler viel zurück. Es ist eben nicht „als ob“, es kommt mir nicht virtuell vor, es ist kein Spielzeug und auch kein „Ersatz“ für irgendetwas, es ist irgendwie „echt“.
Das kenne ich von guten akustischen Instrumenten und von ganz wenigen elektrischen. Aus eigener Erfahrung fallen mir nur zwei ein: Das Fender Rhodes Mark I Eighty-Eight von 1976, fantastisches Instrument, das aber nun wirklich nicht nach Klavier klingt, und die Top-Version des Yamaha Silent-Systems, SH2, das sich phänomenal gut spielt, aber gekoppelt ist an 250kg schwere Instrumente.

Das Besondere an den genannten Geräten wie auch am Dexibell ist nicht, was der Spieler mit dem Instrument machen kann, sondern was das Instrument mit dem Spieler macht. Ich spiele auf dem Dexibell einfach inspirierter und besser. Es dürfte schwer sein, das auf einzelne technische Features zurückzuführen, für mich als Pianisten stimmt hier einfach die Mischung.

Dieses Gefühl stellt sich aber nur mit wirklich guten, linearen Lautsprechern oder Kopfhörern ein. Man sollte das Dexibell also am besten mit hochwertigen Kopfhörern testen, die man selbst gut kennt, in meinem Fall ein Sennheiser HD-650. Falls die verwendete PA nicht ganz so klangneutral ist, kann man gezielt mit dem eingebauten, sehr brauchbaren EQ nachhelfen.

Die bewährte Fatar-Tastatur fühlt sich gut an und ist dafür, dass das Gerät relativ leicht ist, sehr gut spielbar.

Kurz: Ein Nord Piano 4 oder ein Yamaha CP88 mag mehr Rock’n’Roll haben. Das Dexibell VIVO Stage S-7 pro trifft aber genau ins (Pianisten-)Herz. Bravo!

I own the original Nord Piano and I play for fun but also regularly do gigs for extra money. I decided to buy the S7 to get more functions and sounds as the Nord Piano only has piano samples and is quite limited - no way to do splits or layers for example.

Overall: 4/5

I recommend you should check out the Dexibell if you're looking for capable great sounding stage piano. Features and editability are what makes it stand out from the crowd. Every major brand has a special feel and quality to their main piano samples and Dexibell is no different. I liked it alot, might not be for everyone but definetly worth trying out.

Sounds: 5/5 (piano) and 4/5 (other sounds).

S7Pro is focused on the piano sounds. The downloadable platinium samples are great - I've enjoyed playing them alot. I find the sound generally to be bit darker/fuller than what the other major brands (especially Yamaha&Nord) have. The samples are very detailed IMO and you can tweak the modelled parametres such as hammer noise, key off noise, symphatetic resonance etc...

Other sounds - you get brasses, woodwinds, stings, synths etc...They vary from uninteresting to good. I like most of the strings (both solo & ensamble) and some solo woodwind & brass sounds. The analog synth sounds are usable when really needed but nothing special. Most strings and pads are propably specifically designed to work well when layered to the piano sounds. And they work very well. The 3 saxophone samples are the highlights of the solo sounds. They have 3-4 velocity layers and they connect well with the keys.

The number of other sounds than the piano is a bit limited, but Dexibell says they will be expanding the library.

Features: 4,5/5

Dexibell has a combination of features no other brand has as far as I know. Every sound in the memory is replaceable with other sounds from the website and sf2 files - a feature only Nord has afaik. The S7 is in the price range of Nord Piano series but offers much deeper editing options and loads of other features the Nord Piano series doesn't have. You get the basic stuff like split&layer abilities with adjustable keyboard ranges, all essential effects, simple recorder etc...

For me some of the interesting things were the adjustability of the effects (for example: 4 band EQ with 2 middles with adjustable Q-values and several reverb types with pre delay) and ability to assign solo sounds to the lowest, highest or last note you are playing. This has been very useful feature for me. I haven't had this ability in any of the stage pianos I've played.

Dexibell also has an mobile app that has rhythm patterns you can control with midi. I don't have any experience with this - it only works with iGadgets. But it's a major bonus if you're into accompany keyboards.

I give features 4,5/5 because theres room for improvement. For example I would like that you could 1) have crossfading keyboard zones 2) set local control off for a sound and only control it with midi.

Handling 3,5/5

You get a hang of the menus quite fast and often dont have to resort to the manual. But then there are things that I haven't figured out even with the manual (does "Grand Piano mode" mean something?). You get 6 knobs for real time control. They work as effect knobs and with a push of a button you can change them to volume level control. A light indicates which parametres they are controlling. Works well when playing by yourself but too hard for me to control in real time. Four sliders for volume levels would have been very neat! What the knobs work well for in real time live use is for example controlling cutoff freq. for synth sounds.

Alot of the adjustable parametres need some menu scrolling. It's not too bad, but for some reason I always have trouble remembering location of some functions I need.

Build quality 4/5.

Metal case with wooden ends - very nice. Knobs and buttons are ok although the buttons are loud and feel a bit cheapish. Few little complaints:

1) Main volume knob doesn't do anything when you rotate it about 5% from the zero position. After the first 5% of the way it increases volume evenly.

2) I like to connect my monitors to headphone socket with a stereo plug when playing at home. This gives quite a big background buzzing (you dont get it with headphones). I know this isn't what the socket is intended for but my Nords had zero noise when i connected them the same way...

But overall the quality feels very good - i'm not worried about the durability of this instrument.