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Hi there,

Two weeks ago I went to a musicstore to get some guitarstrings for a friend.

They also showed a clp430white in the store. My clp320PE was purchased in 2009, so....I thought....an update???

I played the clp430 for about ten minutes and was really disappointed. I said to the salesman,....this is not the feel-touch-sound that I know of Yamaha. I could not think what was wrong with it. When I came home and played my clp320PE I thought that I could press the keys of my instrument deeper than the keys of the clp430. When I was in the store the height of the keys seemed smaller to me. Do not know if this is really true....but my impression of the clp430 was less positive.

Moreover, I do not like all the buttons behind the keys. Look at the clp320 and the buttons are modest on the left.

More opinions about the clp 400 series??

Best regards,
Johan B

Despite of keyboard and buttons, do you have any comment to the sound?

400 series has new RGE sound engine and IAC feature plus enhanced GH3
Action with stabilizers so almost everything is better then in your clp320.

Stabilisers?

Don't read too much into the marketing hype.

What exactly is RGE?
What exactly is "enhanced" GH3?
What exactly is IAC? (It's merely a loudness control feature ... boosting high- and low-ends when the volume is set low, disengaging at higher volume settings.)

I think these things improve Yamaha's marketing position more than they improve the piano.

Don't expect much improvement year-over-year.

And expect some steps backward when the marketing department becomes more important than the engineering department.

James....... ......wow.....keyboard with stabilisers = GH15???.....make me laugh.....do not know what it is....

Cheers,
Johan B

Sound?....hm.....not what I'm used to hear from Yamaha.....

Best regards,

Johan B

sometimes newer is not always better.

The 400 series specifications are written in "marketing hype". That means, you cannot compare with previous versions and other DPs. In the past, they specify number of sample layers, sound banks, sample size in megabytes, etc. Now they don't. So that they won't be compared.

The tone generator is renamed as RGE. NU1 has a generator called CFX sampling. This started with the Pure CF sampling. Actually, whatever sampling they called it, I guess it is still the same old AWM2.

CP series has a new thing called SCM. Not too sure how this differs from sampling technology, AWM2.

AGs use a different technology, and because of the price, this is probably the best technology available, but won't be put into the lower models like the Clavinova lines, yet.

Nonetheless, the CLP 400 series still has very respectable sounds.

I believe this is actually a reference to the concert grand piano that was used for the sampling session.

Cheers,
James
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Kawai James
Any idea how long Kawai will stock spares for the CA111/CS9 DP's please as am interested in buying one.
imk

imk, my apologies for this delayed response.

Kawai Japan will continue to stock spare parts for an instrument at least 5 years after the end of its production.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
James
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