Description
Kawai GX2 Aures 2. The AURES 2 is a professional 180cm acoustic grand piano equipped with Kawai’s AURES 2 hybrid system. In practice, you get a complete acoustic grand piano combined with an integrated digital/silent system, without turning it into a conventional digital piano.
1. Kawai GX2 AURES 2 – The Acoustic Piano
The GX-2 belongs to Kawai’s GX Series, one of the company’s professional piano ranges. Its dimensions are:
- Length: 180cm
- Width: 152cm
- Height: 102cm
- Weight: approximately 324kg
- 88 keys
- 3 pedals: sustain, sostenuto and soft
- Soundboard: selected, tapered solid spruce
- Action: Millennium III
- Hammers: mahogany cores with felt and underfelt
- Duplex scale: front and rear
- Agraffes: keys 1–54
- Laminated treble bridge
- Hybrid inner rims
- V-Pro plate
- SOLID construction to increase structural rigidity
The Millennium III action uses ABS-Carbon components reinforced with carbon fibre. Its main advantage is a rigid, lightweight and fast action, providing excellent repetition and dynamic control. Kawai also uses longer keys in the GX Series, which improves touch consistency between the front and rear portions of the key.
2. What Does AURES 2 Add?
This is where the instrument becomes particularly interesting.
AURES 2 does not replace the acoustic mechanism with electronics. The pianist continues to play the real acoustic action of the GX-2, while the instrument incorporates sensors and electronics that allow it to function as both a digital and silent piano.
The system uses IHSS (Integrated Hammer Sensing System) to detect hammer movement.
It has two main operating modes:
Acoustic Mode
- The piano functions exactly like a conventional GX-2.
- You can enjoy the full physical resonance of the soundboard, strings, cabinet and other acoustic components.
AURES 2 / Digital Mode
- The piano can be played with headphones, without producing acoustic sound.
- It uses the sound of the Shigeru Kawai SK-EX concert grand.
- It features resonance modelling.
- Numerous parameters can be adjusted through Virtual Technician.
- It offers Bluetooth MIDI and Bluetooth Audio.
- It allows recording and playback.
- It includes a variety of additional sounds besides piano.
3. A Particularly Interesting Feature: Soundboard Speaker System
AURES 2 does not rely solely on conventional speakers.
Kawai uses transducers integrated into the soundboard itself. The GX-2 AURES 2 features four transducers: two for the bass/midrange frequencies and two for the treble. This allows the soundboard itself to participate in the reproduction of the digital sound.
This is important because it gives the digital sound a much more physical, immersive and natural feel than that of a conventional digital piano.
4. Digital Sound
The AURES 2 system includes:
- SK-EX Rendering
- 88-key sampling
- 88-key resonance modelling
- Up to 256-note polyphony, depending on the sound
- Different SK-EX voicing/interpretation characteristics
- Harmonic Imaging XL
- Reverb and effects
- String resonance
- Damper resonance
- Cabinet resonance
- Key-off effect
- Hammer delay
- Lid simulation
- Individual key volume adjustment
- Different temperaments, tuning options and other parameters
In other words, this is not simply a Silent system added to a grand piano. It is a considerably more sophisticated integrated digital/acoustic system.
5. Connectivity
The GX-2 AURES 2 includes:
- Bluetooth Audio
- Bluetooth MIDI
- MIDI IN/OUT
- USB to Host
- USB for updates
- Line In
- Line Out
- Two headphone connections
- PianoRemote app for iOS/Android
The app allows you to control the instrument’s parameters and use the Virtual Technician function.
