Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Yamaha CP4 Review First Impressions

James, can you at least tell us when you'll be able to tell us something? It would be like a pre-teaser, no harm done, right?;-)

Not off the top of my head, I'm afraid.

The MP6 is typically sold by the musical instrument chain stores and online retailers rather than Kawai dealers. However, the ES7 should be available at both chain stores and Kawai dealers.

My recommendation would be to use the Dealer Locator on the Kawai US website, or contact my colleagues in America directly to enquire into where these models can be play-tested in your area.

Kind regards,
James
x

Not for a little while yet.

James
x

Hey guys check your mailboxes, there's a Kawai ad on the last page for an apparently unreleased product ...

I had a chance to sit down at two good upright APs and test some of this resonance stuff, and I have to admit it was an enlightening experience. That said, when I go back and sit at my CP40 and play it doesn't scream at me that I'm missing something, which is interesting.

Voxpops - I've been listening to the nice PS-5X piano tracks you posted to Soundcloud. Could you compare the action on the PS-5X to the CP4? (This question is also for anybody else who has had access to both.) Thanks.

Hey guys, anyone using a CP4/40 as a controller for software piano/s? I'm curious how the delay time might be and how the playing experience is. Thanks.

I've used mine on the iPad 4 with iGrand Piano and CMP Grand Piano using the USB camera connector. These are nowhere near the quality of a computer-based software piano, but the latency was no problem. Works great with keyboard-oriented synths like Magellan and Addictive, too. I haven't got ambitious enough to go beyond the iPad.

I mentioned this in another thread, but I get noise in the speakers when I have the USB hooked up - don't quite understand why.

Let me add that CMP Grand Piano is waaaaay better than the iGrand Piano stuff, with huge samples, and shows some promise. I've actually used it to play for long periods of time instead of the CFIII, just for a change.

Someone else pointed out somewhere that software pianos can be useful mixed with the built-in samples, and there seems to be something to this. In particular the iGrand Piano "Rock Upright" sounded kind of interesting mixed in on top of the CFIII. It's fun to play around with.

I have a Casio PX-5S which is great in including so many features and incredible portability. I played the Yamaha CP4 in a London shop recently and the action feels very comfortable and satisfying. However apart from maybe being slightly quieter I am not sure if it much (if any) better than the Casio action. I feel that Casio have really nailed the good action versus portability issue with this current series of keyboards. I was pretty impressed with the sounds on the CP4 though I thought the electric pianos were better than the acoustic. Like others have said I am pretty surprised that there is no acoustic resonance in this top of the range Yamaha instrument. You might not notice it so much in a band situation but if you were playing slow tempo solo piano with plenty of pedalling I think you would certainly notice the lack of it. The Casio PX-5S has it and you can adjust the various parameters.

In my PX-5S I probably use about a hundredth of its potential as I have made performance settings for piano, piano with strings, a nice rhodes, a nice wurlie and a wurlie with strings which are basically the sounds I need. I have also made some backing tracks (don't shout at me) and for this the installed USB wave player is great. You can also set up one the controllers to adjust the wave file playback volume which is handy. If you had an iPad or other mp3 player it is just as easy to output this through the Casio. The USB to device in the CP4 is at the back (why?)and you seem to have to delve through a few menus to adjust the output volume. They also didn't mark the inputs and outputs on the top of the CP4 only at the back - why? The Casio has them all clearly marked at the top.

I cannot see why Casio in their Pro performance piano decide not to include a music stand. Do they think no one reads music any more? The CP4 has the facilities for a music stand but guess what - you have to pay extra for it. I simply put a firm music stand up behind the Casio which functions OK.

The Yamaha is twice the price of the Casio and so I guess you would expect it to be better.

It will be very interesting to see what Kawai come up with next - I think there is an opening for someone to produce a really outstanding and lightweight product.

Hope that's helpful

Tony

Tony - thanks.

I read somewhere that the PS-5X started out as a successor to the XWP line and then was re-imagined along the way as a DP. Somehow this transition explains the odd omissions, like no music stand and no half-pedaling. Maybe Mike Martin will correct me.

David, my replacement PX is still in transit to me, and so my poor memory of the first PX I owned some months ago is all I have to go on - and I only had a few hours with the CP4.

What I will say is that for its size and weight the PX-5S has a remarkably good action, which is capable of accomplishing most pianistic tasks. It takes a little while to get used to its response characteristics, and it has a fairly weighty feel. Repetition is good but not as fast/accurate as Roland's (either Ivory-Feel G or S). The CP4 has a more refined feel, and I would suggest that it's at least on a par with PHAIII. On an evening's gig, I would prefer to play the CP4's action over the Casio's.

I'm not sure this helps much, but if weight and price are not an issue, I'd go with the CP4. For me, since I didn't think the CP4s sounds warranted paying more than twice the price, I decided to opt for the weight/cost savings and try a Pianoteq hookup to the PX-5S.

This is misleading IMHO. The CP4 does have (adjustable) damper resonance. It just does not have string resonance (where keys are held down but damper remains unpressed). Slow tempo solo with lots of pedal is hardly going to be a problem.

Lack of string resonance is not going to be a problem most of the time in a stage piano, where it is used as a (minor)keyboards addition to the track or mix in modern music. Most of the time, I said. I would guess Yamaha are happy with the degree of success they get using this sound model at presumably their target marketplace.

Maybe I will change my mind when I have play tested it.

Having said this I do agree with Rhodies post ,where I am surprised that the technology does not allow for a common design between stage and studio piano. In which case the lack of string resonance is a killer.

So true! I wonder if they've been listening......

I agree with this, but as others have pointed out, a high-end DP these days should be capable of covering all situations - not just stage use for modern music.

For me, it was the combination of lack of string resonance, audible (and quite ugly) stretching, static looping, somewhat limited dynamics, and the lack of a truly robust chassis that, when added together, made me extremely reluctant to part with $2k for the CP.

Voxpops - thanks, that clarifies things for me.

i played both back to back and i think this sums it up nicely. The Casio's action felt a bit loose and to me represented additional work, the CP4's felt really tight but light and fast and was inspiring. for me that was definitely noticeable. But the Casio was over a thousand dollars cheaper. that is real money. you can't divorce that from the comparison. The casio may very well offer a lot more value per piano dollar than the $2000 CP4 and the CP4 may do the same vs the $3000 NP 2. money and value delivered per dollar spent cannot be ignored. That said, if you pay 1000 bucks for something that leaves you unsatisfied and the 2000 buck job stimulates your playing and makes you ultimately better at this, well that incremental 1000 spent has pretty significant value.

That is so true - which is why Kawai James's ears should be burning (to a crisp!) right now.

see
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2108899/MIDI_input_direct_or_USB.html

That explains it, thanks. There's no noise if I have the headphones plugged into the iPad - only when looped back to the board and out to the speakers. Must be a ground issue.

Went to my local DP retailer yesterday to put my hands on the CP4. I had very high expectations from reading the KC thread, but also more realistic ones after reading this thread.
I really, really tried to like it, but I couldn't. I found the main piano sounds to be quite uninspiring with lacking decay and a bit of a metallic tone to them. I listened with Sennheiser headphones and also the monitors provided on the spot.
Now, I'm aware that the CP4 probably works perfect once your're onstage using a pa system, or playing solo at a reception or party with background noise and what not. I do these kinds of gigs, but I also play a lot at home in front of good studio monitors or with headphones. For my taste, the CP4 is simply not good enough for the that. Just too sterile and un-organic. This is 2013 and the bar needs to be raised.
After some years of experience with what the Roland Supernatural sound can do, I simply do not get why a major brand like Yamaha don't get their act together and take that great leap forward in creating a DP that will blow us all away -whatever use the players will throw at it.