Yamaha CLP-F01 Clavinova keyboard features and reviews

Yamaha introduce their stunning CLP-F01 Clavinova electric piano, a gorgeous-looking instrument following in a long line of Clavinova quality.

The all-important specifications:

• 88 real-wood keys
• Hard, medium, soft, and fixed touch sensitivity
• Three-level AWM Stereo Sampling technology
• 30 banks of sampled sounds
• Sustain Sampling
• Key-Off Sampling
• 64 notes polyphony
• 14 voices with 2 variations on each:
  • Grand Piano 1, 2, 3
  • Electric Piano 1, 2
  • Harpsichord, Vibraphone, Church Organ, Jazz Organ, Strings, Choir, Guitar/Clav, Wood Bass, Electric Bass
• Effects: Reverb, Effect, Brilliance
• Recording: Two tracks, three songs (max. 9400 notes)
• Memory storage: Internal flash memory
• Pedals: Damper (with half-pedal effect), Soft, Sostenuto
• In/Out Jacks: AUX IN, AUX OUT (L/L+R, R), AUX OUT (L, R; LEVEL FIXED), MIDI (IN, OUT, THRU), TO HOST, PHONES (2)
• Amplification: 40 W x 2
• Speaker system: 16 cm x 2, 5 cm x 2 (6-3/8″ x 2, 2″ x 2)
• Available finishes: Polished orange, polished ebony, polished blue, polished red
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 1427 mm x 400 mm x 995 mm
• Weight: 71kg

Whilst it’s not always easy to tell how much doctoring of demonstration songs has taken place, the previews on the official website sound promising.

• Piano 1 is a bright and clear acoustic piano with a good dynamic range.
• Piano 2 has an extra brightness/sparkle (some might say metallic) quality that provides enough variance from Piano 1 to stand out on its own
• Electric Pianos 1 & 2 are fairly standard affairs (one clean, the other slightly distorted) that does the job. The demo appears to force a few notes which sound quite harsh, but this may be by design and will vary with playing style.
• The Harpsichord is good, though the demo has a little too much reverb for my liking. On this and the organs, fixed keyboard velocity with be most useful.
• Knowing that the full range of a pipe organ will never be achieved on a standard keyboard, the Yamaha does a convincing job of the ‘basics’.
• The jazz organ is lively, but don’t go looking for the Wurlitzer.
• The last five voices sound fairly good on the demo, but I suspect in reality will suffer the way most voices like these do on digital pianos. Playing a realistic guitar or bass on keys is not easy, and the choir sound will likely be of limited appeal.

Don’t expect to use the Clavinova as a sophisticated MIDI controller. It’s a digital piano of the highest quality in both sound and workmanship, and is just as important as a piece of furniture.

A worthy addition to the Clavinova range.