Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Is Yamaha CVP-609 better than the best of Kawai and Roland?

Could you pls advise?

If I understand correctly, the Yamaha CVP-609 is more expensive than every digital piano by Kawai and Roland. For example, the top digital piano by Roland, LX-15e, is much more affordable and Roland does not have anything like the CVP.

Does it mean that the Yamaha CVP-60 is really a better digital piano?

Thank you

Apart from its indescribable ugliness, it played like a dream. I didn`t look at the price . . .the keyboard was, to me, superb. But I would never buy it! I considered it was one of the very best, yet synthetic, piano I`ve ever played including the Rolands and Kawais. I didn`t play them extensively, mind.

The CVP range of Yamaha digital pianos are aimed at a different piano market than the Roland LX-15 or say the Kawai CA-95.

As an analogy, consider the difference between the following types of instrument:
1) The stage piano
2) The workstation
3) The arranger keyboard.

A stage piano is a digital piano for use on the stage: a stage version of the Yamaha CLP-585 (CP4), or the Roland LX-15 (RD-800) or the CA-95 (MP7/MP11). These instruments are designed to give the most authentic piano or electric piano experience i.e., the main motivation behind these instruments is to give real pianists or beginners a viable digital alternative to using an upright or a grand piano. They are especially useful for crowded apartment buildings etc.

Compare that to the workstation or the arranger keyboard.
Workstations are for music production in the studio, but can also be used live on stage. They are designed to help the composer translate their ideas into reality. They contain on board sequencers far in advance of the type included in arranger keyboards. A classic example of a workstation is the Korg Kronos as used by the Band Dream Theater and the keyboardist Jordan Rudess.

Arranger keyboards on the other hand are meant for live performance or home use. You can use them to compose(like workstations), but they tend to be more useful as live-performance instruments. Arranger keyboards contain hundreds or thousands of sounds and pre-installed rhythms, and a variety of key features such as massive effects arrays, vocal harmonizers etc. A classic example of an arranger keyboard is the Yamaha Tyros 5, the market leader in this field. The difference between an arranger keyboard and a workstation is that you can more easily program your own rhythm patterns into a workstation. You can more easily synthesize new sounds usually (although arranger keyboards have this capacity, it is more often hidden in menu's).

So how does this relate to the CVP-609?

The CVP-609 is an arranger piano: a piano version of the Tyros-5. The touch (aka action) on the CVP-609(i.e., Natural Wood [NW] Keyboard) won't be as refined as that in the Avant Grand (which has an authentic grand piano action) or CLP-585 models (which has a NWX [Natural Wood X] keyboard). The Kawai CA-95 also has a better action (the Grand Feel [GF]) than the CVP-609. It is arguable whether the LX-15 action (called the PHA-4 action) is much better than the CVP-609, but it may provide a better connection to the digital piano sound than the CVP-609.

At any rate, if you want to create orchestral arrangements, pop arrangements, rock arrangements, soul arrangements, country arrangements, jazz, blues, etc., (and indeed all styles of music) on one instrument....and....you want that instrument to be a piano (rather than an electone organ or an arranger keyboard like the tyros-5), then the CVP-609 arranger piano is for you. If you want a digital piano that is as authentic as it is possible to be (given current technology), then go with the a non-arranger digital pianos (as they are cheaper and more refined).

If it's just for home use, you could get the cheaper CLP (or equivalent) and just hook it up to a lap-top that would give you workstation/synthesizer capabilities as well as access to the latest virtual pianos: pianoteq 5.


Top of the range home versions:
Yamaha Avant Grand N1 or N2 or N3 (N3 is most expensive)
Roland V-piano grand.

Home versions (next price bracket):
Kawai CA-95
Yamaha CLP-585
Roland LX-15e
Casio Celviano AP-650M

Stage piano equivalents
Top range modeled: Roland V-piano,
Professional: Kawai MP11, Yamaha CP4, Roland RD-800, Kurzweil Forte,
Controller Stage piano: Kawai VPC-1

Thank you so much for your kindness, especially to the great answer by Doug M. You really answered all my confusion.

For me, I am only looking for a digital piano which can match an upright piano in terms of sound and action. Essentially, a digital piano that is similar to an acoustic piano. I don't need many sounds (brass, guitar, strings, etc), nor do I need midi or orchestral arrangement.

So I will stop looking at the CVP and look at the Yamaha CLP instead.

Regards,

It's true that the CVP and CLP lines differ mainly in the accompaniment features. The internals (action and sound) are otherwise identical. So if you don't need the CVP features, look at the MUCH cheaper CLP line.

But don't stop with Yamaha. The other brands have much to offer.

For what it's worth, the CP4 has (at least according to the published specs) a slightly better keyboard action than the CVP-609. Like others have said, it isn't necessarily true that the higher price means a better-quality instrument, depending on what you're specifically looking for.

The CLP585 - according to its specs - has a better keyboard too (Natural Wood with escapement and counterweights)

I didnt like the keyfeel of the cvp609, when i played it directly after playing a mp11 kawai, i actually hated it to such an extend that it felt cluncky and unnaturall... Thats just how good the MP11 felt to me..