Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Were the lastest Yamaha CP series a flop?

Glad to know you're enjoying your CP50, johannus. We've had few actual owners commenting on that particular model, and it would be nice to hear your thoughts as you become more used to it. Meanwhile, good luck with your studies!

Huh? Seriously? How could a "music major" find practicing on a CP50 better than most of well regulated respectable acoustics? This truly makes no sense to me.

The only answer could be that the practice pianos aren't so well regulated. Unless the reason is that this poster prefers easy actions - certainly wouldn't prepare you as well for performing on a grand.

BTW, most practice pianos I used at conservatories were anything but well regulated - they were thrashed out pianos with sloppy actions and compressed hammers.

I for one am constantly irritated by out of tune pianos. I've played pianos with an excellent action but when that same piano is out of tune, it just takes all the fun out of it.

If I have to choose on playing a job on an out of tune acoustic piano or a perfectly in tune digital, I'll go for the perfectly in tune digital. Everything's a trade off and everyone has different standards.

CP50 is not an easy action.

Except he said the school has well regulated Steinways.

If they really are, then get thee hence into a room with a $50k real thing and forget the $1500 simulator.

Mychal

Well if that's true, there no sense whatsoever in that post!

Sometimes I just know trivial stuff like that ....I might come across it in my meanderings here and there.

There are about 50 pianos in the practice rooms. I don't have access to the five grand pianos (except for when I'm taking lessons from my teacher) and two of them aren't very good at all. The other three are great to play on, and if I were able to play them at all times I wouldn't really need a digital. The uprights are mostly in good condition as far as intonation but the actions vary a lot even among pianos of the same model. There are a few uprights that are more than sufficient for practicing on, but for the rest I found that I would practice on them and struggle to make dynamic contrasts and voicing until I played my lesson on a grand. I also think the action on my digital is closer to the good grands than the action of the uprights. Combine this with the convenience of being able to practice virtually whenever and I'm extremely satisfied.

... yea, but a well regulated piano that is out of tune would drive me crazy, thus my ... everything's a trade off and everyone has different standards remark.

There are only two and while one is outstanding the other is one of the grands that are relatively poor and to me is frustrating to practice on (really poor action even in comparison to the average uprights). It's mostly Kawai and Yamaha uprights which most are okay, a couple are good, but there are a decent amount that are extremely frustrating to practice on.

So in other words, you don't have access to many well regulated or tuned pianos at all...

A quality grand will absolutely smoke your digital. A decent upright has a much higher dynamic range than a Yamaha digital. You are comparing poorly maintained pianos with your digital. The comparison is meaningless as far as I'm concerned.

Lighten up guys - your replies are not coming over particularly friendly manner. I am sure the CP5 is a fine instrument to practice on. Quite often college pianos have a pretty hard life. Also when they are tuned all the pianos are done over a relatively short period of time by a grossly underpaid and overworked piano tuner. As a result possibly not much time is spent on each piano with only the top ones being tuned carefully.

Which is why they shouldn't have been described as "mostly well regulated Yamahas, Kawais, and Steinways". If he had described them as "mostly worn and poorly maintained and tuned practice pianos", then it would make perfect sense to prefer a quality digital for practising. I know what practice room pianos are like - they aren't "well" anything!

Well … actually I'm still pretty happy with my CP5. A few points match my personal experiences as follows:

- Acoustic pianos – for my jazz work they work very well. I liked them better than the competitors, and their ability to blend with the ensemble makes my work a lot easier. With the CP5 I have little to worry in terms of my sound. What seems absolutely far out to me, though, is that they didn't include the last bit of detail, like true sympathetic resonance, pedal noises and so on. I'm sure Yamaha does have the knowledge. I also don't understand why they left out upright sounds or a Bosendorfer - heck, they even own the company!

- User interface - actually I think it's not so bad. I seriously think it's logical and well thought through, however, it needs a little effort to understand it. Insofar I can absolutely understand people losing their interest.

- Size and weight - the CP5 is too heavy and pretty bulky without a good reason. Still, I think it is easier to grab than the RD700. The CP50 seems alright to me.

I would love to have a Cp1, I love the action, but at $5k it makes no sense. The depreciation on electronic gear is too steep.
So, I drag my 20 imac to the gig and use Ivory and Lounge lizard plugins. At least the plugins are upgradable and the sounds are as good (Wurlitzer on Lounge lizard is better for sure) than the CP1. The down side is that there are a lot of variables that could go wrong getting the sound from the computer to out the speaker. (Like forgetting the dongle at home )
I think manufacturers are going to have to step up their game, bring down the cost and make the gear upgradeable or software is going to knock them out of the game completely.

The one time I A/B ed the CP5 & 1 at Yamaha HQ, the CP1 was clearly fuller and thicker on the CF Grand & Rhodes. Now whether that fullness would be apparent in a live situation with bass and drums, I'd question that. More noticeable for solo playing and probably on a recording.

Actually, a post starting like this doesn't seem particularly friendly!

I've been there. It was pretty much like that at the college I went to in Texas, and at another college in Oregon where I used to sneak into the practice rooms : )

That's cool that your digital keyboard is helping you learn to play. I've played a lot of different keyboards besides pianos, including some great pipe organs. Open one of those up, pull the stops out, and that is an experience you won't get from a piano or a digital keyboard!

Mychal

I guess I should have specified that I meant most of them are pretty well regulated, not that there are many extremely well regulated pianos. I could see where someone would misinterpret that.