Yamaha CP88 and Yamaha CP73 are professional stage pianos produced by Yamaha.[1] These instruments are identical except for keyboard action and size.[2] The instruments are designed to be played at live concerts on the stage, and are also suitable for recording studios due to their versatility of sound.[1] As they are intended for professional use in locations with a preinstalled sound system, such as concert venues and recording studios, they do not have internal speakers, like the home instruments.[3]
The CP series name comes from combo piano.[4] The history of Yamaha CP series goes back to the year 1976 with the release of the CP-70.[5] The CP electro-acoustic pianos were highly appreciated in the 70's and were considered some of the most useful gigging instruments. After a decades long period, the CP series was revived again with the advent of the CP-4 model.[6] The current CP models precessors CP-40 and CP-4 were published in year 2013.[7] The CP88 and CP73 models were first published in NAMM 2019. The new model was anticipated by many musicians as the previous instrument in the Yamaha CP series was published five years ago.[8]
Instrument features
The instrument has easy-to-use interface for live playing and it features high sound quality.[2] The design resembles in many parts the popular stage pianos made by SwedishClavia, and the interface resembles closely their Nord Stage Piano.[6]
Construction
The instrument's high quality chassis is built from aluminium, which makes it both robust and light weight. The knobs and buttons appear to be high build quality.[6][8]
Both models come with Yamaha FC3A pedal. The instrument has XLR, jack and headphone audio out connections. It also comes with MIDI in, out and thru connections as well as MIDI connection through USB.[9] Like the other stage pianos, the instrument doesn't have built in speakers.[3]
The larger CP88 weighs 18,6 kg, which is reasonable weight for this kind of instrument. Moving the instrument can be done by just single person.[10] The more compact CP73 weighs 13,1 kg.[9]
Keyboard action
Model CP88 comes with Yamaha's Natural Wood Graded Hammer (NW-GH3) keyboard action. It has 88 keys, which is the standard in most upright and grand pianos. Each key has three sensors. The keyboard action is made from natural wood and synthetic ebony.[11] The instrument attempts to mimic the feel of the acoustic pianos by having a wooden core in the white keys.[8]
Model CP73 keyboard action is Yamaha's Balanced Hammer Standard (BHS) and it is made from plastic.[9] Each key has three sensors. The CP73 keyboard action is balanced, not graded.[11] The keyboard runs from E1 to E7 and it comes with 73 keys.[9] The E to E keyboard configuration is similar to one used in the Rhodes and Yamaha CP-70 electronic pianos.[2] The 73 keys model does not have continuous pressure monitoring like 88 keys model, which could be used to add extra modulation to the sound.[8]
User interface
Each instrument type has its own subsection. Sections from the left: Live set allows players to choose presets on the fly. Yellow piano section allows player to select piano voice and adjust it. Red Electronic piano section allows selection of electronic pianos, such as Rhodes. Sub section includes all other instruments. The last section includes EQ, and delay and reverb effects.
The instrument user interface resembles that of Clavia Nord pianos, with its dedicated segments for various instruments.[8] The piano has one-to-one user interface, which means every action is behind physical dedicated button or knob.[6][10] Likewise, each physical button or switch has only one functionality, which is clearly labelled.[12] Piano, electronic piano and other instruments have their own sections on the panels with both dedicated effects and selection menus.[7]
Due to intended stage use, the user interface is lit with lights, so they are visible on dark stage.[7] Each of the actions are clearly labelled and playing instrument does not require menu use.[10]
Software and upgradability
Sound software of the instrument is Advanced Wave Memory 2 (AWM2) and it has 128 voices polyphony.[9] This same sound software is also used on Yamaha MOXF8 and Yamaha Montage instruments.[2]
The instrument may be updated with software updates Yamaha publishes every 6 months. The updates add new voices and improve the user interface.[13]
The new Yamaha CP models have access to Yamaha's Soundmondo online library.[14]
Sound quality
Voices or instrument sounds
In total the instrument comes with 57 preset voices or instrument sounds.[9] With the freely downloadable operating system update (version 1.40), the instrument has 106 unique voices.[15] The instrument's voices are sample based, and have been recorded from actual instruments.[7] They are not are not computer generated, meaning it does not have synthetiser in it.[16] The instrument includes seamless sound switching, a feature in which the voices (the sounds of instruments) may be switched on the fly without cutting out the sound of the previous voice.[6] This happens in some other instruments: when the player changes the instrument voice, the instrument immediately stops playing previous sound causing harsh sound.
The acoustic piano voices in the instrument are expressive and of good quality.[17]The Bösendorfer and CFX grand pianos' samples have more classical sound to them, while the S700 grand piano is more suitable for jazz and pop music setting.[10] The acoustic piano voices have been recorded from Yamaha's grand pianos (CFX, C7 and S700) and from the Bösendorfer Imperial 290 grand piano. There is also upright piano voices that have been recorded from U1 and SU3 upright pianos.[4]
In addition, CP88/73 has large selection of different Rhodes and Wurlitzer voices in its electric piano section, as well as Yamaha DX sounds. The sound can be clean or funky, if various effects, such as drive and modulation effects, are adjusted accordingly.[10] The electric pianos and clavinet sounds are well designed.[17] They respond well to dynamic playing – harder you hit the keys, the louder the sound, and softer your touch, the softer the voice is.[14]
It also comes with various pads, organs and other instruments in a category named as Sub section.[2] While the organs in the instrument are usable, they are basic and not customizable with drawbars.[17]
Effects
Each of the three sections (piano, electronic piano and sub) have their own effects. In addition, all instrument sections share EQ, delay and reverb. The delay effect can be either crisp digital delay or warm analog delay. EQ comes with three adjustable segments: low frequencies (80 Hz), adjustable mid frequencies (from 100 Hz to 10 kHz) and high frequencies (5 kHz). EQ may be used to adjust up to 12 dB.[7][10]
Design awards
The instrument was awarded special mention in Red Dot awards. Previously the instrument has been awarded Good Design Award, Asia Design Prize Silver Award and iF Design Award.[18]
A digital piano is a type of electronic keyboard instrument designed to serve primarily as an alternative to the traditional acoustic piano, both in how it feels to play and in the sound it produces. Digital pianos use either synthesized emulation or recorded samples of an acoustic piano, which are played through one or more internal loudspeakers. They also incorporate weighted keys, which recreate the feel of an acoustic piano. Some digital pianos are designed to also look like an upright or grand piano. Others may be very simple, without a stand.
An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into electrical signals by pickups. The pickups are connected to an instrument amplifier and loudspeaker to reinforce the sound sufficiently for the performer and audience to hear. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument. Instead, it is an electro-mechanical instrument. Some early electric pianos used lengths of wire to produce the tone, like a traditional piano. Smaller electric pianos used short slivers of steel to produce the tone. The earliest electric pianos were invented in the late 1920s; the 1929 Neo-Bechstein electric grand piano was among the first. Probably the earliest stringless model was Lloyd Loar's Vivi-Tone Clavier. A few other noteworthy producers of electric pianos include Baldwin Piano and Organ Company, and the Wurlitzer Company.
An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument based on keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs and digital audio workstations. In technical terms, an electronic keyboard is a rompler-based synthesizer with a low-wattage power amplifier and small loudspeakers.
Kurzweil Music Systems is an American company that produces electronic musical instruments. It was founded in 1982 by Stevie Wonder (musician), Ray Kurzweil (innovator) and Bruce Cichowlas.
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A stage piano is an electronic musical instrument designed for use in live performances on stage or in a studio, as well as for music recording in Jazz and popular music. While stage pianos share some of the same features as digital pianos designed for home use and synthesizers, they have a number of features which set them apart. Stage pianos usually provide a smaller number of sounds, with these being of higher quality than the ones found on regular digital pianos and home synthesizers.
A MIDI keyboard or controller keyboard is typically a piano-style electronic musical keyboard, often with other buttons, wheels and sliders, used as a MIDI controller for sending Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) commands over a USB or MIDI 5-pin cable to other musical devices or computers. MIDI keyboards lacking an onboard sound module cannot produce sounds themselves, however some models of MIDI keyboards contain both a MIDI controller and sound module.
The Korg 01/W series are workstation synthesizers, the first of which debuted in 1991, and were intended to replace the M1 and T series. The workstation/ROMpler was based on AI², an improved version of the AI Synthesis technology found in the M1. The success of the AI² architecture ensured it was used in the majority of subsequent Korg synths of the 1990s.
Rocky Mount Instruments (RMI) was a subsidiary of the Allen Organ Company, based in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, active from 1966 to 1982. The company was formed to produce portable musical instruments, and manufactured several electronic pianos, harpsichords, and organs that used oscillators to create sound, instead of mechanical components like an electric piano.
The electric grand piano is a stringed musical instrument played using a keyboard, in which the vibration of strings struck by hammers is converted by pickups into electrical signals, analogous to the electric guitar's electrification of the traditional guitar.
Clavia Digital Musical Instruments is a Swedish manufacturer of virtual analog synthesizers, virtual electromechanical pianos and stage pianos, founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1983 by Hans Nordelius and Mikael Carlsson. Since 1995, Clavia's keyboards have been branded Nord.
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The Yamaha CP300 is a full-size digital stage piano with stereo speakers.
The Nord Piano is a digital piano developed in Sweden, by Clavia. Although the Nord Pianos are sample players that can play any of the sounds in the Nord Sample Library, it is primarily intended as a replacement for the electronic or acoustic piano.
The Korg Z1 is a digital synthesizer released by Korg in 1997. The Z1 built upon the foundation set by the monophonic Prophecy released two years prior by offering 12-note polyphony and featuring expanded oscillator options, a polyphonic arpeggiator and an XY touchpad for enhanced performance interaction. It was the world's first multitimbral physical modelling synthesizer.
The Roland MKS-20 is a digital piano-type sound module released by Roland Corporation in 1986. It is a rackmount version of the popular 1980s-era Roland RD-1000 digital piano. The RD-1000 has the exact same sound engine mounted in a musical keyboard-type MIDI controller. Both use Roland's "structured adaptive synthesis approach" to provide eight keyboard sounds, including grand piano, electric piano, harpsichord, vibraphone, and clavinet. Both have three effects units built in: stereo chorus, stereo tremolo, and a three-band equalizer with a sweepable mid-range.
The Yamaha CP-70 is an electric piano manufactured by Yamaha Corporation between 1976 and 1985. The instrument was based on earlier electric piano technology, but took advantage of improved pickups along with the company's longstanding experience in manufacturing acoustic pianos.
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