Piano and Synth Blog

Yamaha’s YPG (Yamaha Portable Grand) digital pianos have been upgraded, to now include the YPG-635, YPG-535 and YPG-235.

The YPG-635 includes weighted Graded Hammer action; the YPG-535 and YPG-235 feature a new Graded Soft Touch action and piano-style keys, providing top-quality playing experiences.

The 88-key YPG-635 is a weighted graded hammer action portable keyboard. Upgrades from the previous model include 64-note polyphony, a beautiful matching bench and an optional three-pedal unit, along with additional DSP (Digital Signal Processing) effects that enable realistic sounding Distortion Guitar and Rotary Organ. It also includes USB MIDI and USB to Device for removable storage, along with a high resolution Live! Grand stereo sample, song recorder, score and lyric display.

The 88-key YPG-535 offers Graded Soft Touch action, USB connectivity and a stand, adapter and sustain pedal. Performance Assistance Technology ensures error-free performances and a Music Database provides complete keyboard setups by song title. The song recorder is easy to use, and five types of Master EQ allow players to adjust the sound. The model’s design accents also add an attractive touch.

The 76-key YPG-235 features USB MIDI computer connectivity for quick and easy transfer of songs, Graded Soft Touch action, piano-style keys and a six-track song recorder.

The YPG-625 will ship in June 2008. Models YPG-525 and YPG-235 are scheduled to ship in April 2008.

Part of Yamaha’s P Series of digital pianos, the new P85 and P85S (differentiated by their body colour: black or silver) are slim digital pianos featuring high-quality piano sound and feel.

With 88 Graded Hammer Standard keys, the digital pianos feature 64 notes of polyphony, with AWM Stereo Sampling taken from a full concert grand, and emulation of half-pedalling.

The keyboards also comes with a variety of other sounds including electric pianos, organs, strings and harpsichord, and dual voice for playing two sounds at once.

Though it’s not said, the model numbering suggests that this piano sits somewhere between the P70 and P140 digital pianos.

Product page

Yamaha has introduced its KX Series of USB MIDI Studio keyboards, not only featuring a high-quality keyboard but also designed to integrate with Steinberg DAW products.

Available in four flavours: the KX8 with eight octaves, the KX25 with two, the KX49 with four, and the KX61 with five.

They all feature high-quality Yamaha keyboard action, and come with a whole range of functions for both performance and controlling soft synths and sequencers, including:

• Four assignable control knobs
• dedicated performance controls
• built-in arpeggio function which can be played back by the included HALion One softsynth
• Includes Cubase AI music production software

Yamaha

I love grand pianos but I’m also very fond of upright pianos, having started playing one from the age of 4.

Yamaha continues to introduce quality upright pianos with the introduction of three new models: the M460, M560, and P660.

The new Upright Line includes changes to the Company’s Gallery Collection, Professional Gallery Collection and Professional Collection.

These models are produced in Yamaha’s Taiwan factory, which has a significant history in the company’s expansion in the piano industry. Taiwan Yamaha was the first Yamaha piano factory outside of Japan and has been producing upright pianos since 1969. Its highly skilled and experienced labor force uses advanced Yamaha-designed machinery and adheres to the Company’s superior quality control standards. It boasts extensive experience in building wood grain, designer cabinets for markets around the globe.

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Yamaha has reintroduced its high-end Clavinova CGP1000 digital piano featuring the technologically advanced function of the Clavinova CVP400 Series housed within an elegantly crafted 4ft 11in grand piano cabinet. This hybrid piano combines the accurate reproduction of sampling technology with the richly textured harmonic nuances of a real grand piano.

Designed to address the continued strong demand for a high-end CVP-type digital piano in a grand-style cabinet, the CGP1000 was originally inspired by the Clavinova CVP309GP. It features the dynamic, one-of-a-kind upgrades of the CVP400 Series that add the capability to record and share fully orchestrated performances with vocals. The CGP1000 offers such features as Internet Direct Connection (IDC), enhanced song and lyric LCD displays and a Natural Wood Keyboard with Synthetic Ivory Keytops.

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I believe that the buyers’ guide I wrote a couple of years ago still stands as a good introduction to buying a keyboard instrument

However, in this feature I want to look specifically at buying a child their first “serious” electronic keyboard.

My Story

Every child is different, but let me tell you a little of my musical upbringing as it will give you a better idea of where I’m coming from, and hopefully give you some ideas on the way forward for your child / potential musical genius.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a home with an acoustic upright piano, which I started playing and picking out tunes on from a very young age (say 3 or 4). I think from this my parents realised that I had musical aptitude/talent, and I began taking classical-based piano lessons from around age 5.

I enjoyed this, and was incredibly blessed to have access to the piano (it’s probably why I love the acoustic piano, or as near as I can get to it, to this day). However, from the age of about 12, after seeing someone on stage playing some amazing synth lines and creating sound textures, I wanted to get into electronic music.

My parents agreed, and bought a fairly entry-level keyboard. However, it was enough to get me started in trying out new sounds, rhythms, and even doing some basic sequencing work on my computer.

The point to this is that, whether or not your child shows some interest and aptitude for music, and in particular a keyboard, it’s worth starting with a basic set up and building on that, rather than splashing out on an all-singing, all-dancing keyboard, digital piano, or even an acoustic piano, only for it to be a costly mistake.

Don’t force them - see the interest

I fell in love with keyboard instruments because that’s what was around, but I wasn’t forced to play.

Fashions come and go. Guitars are cool, and many kids want to play them. Don’t force them to play one type of instrument they’re really not interested in. Having said that, if they show interest in a piano (I’ve seen a great many children who love to try to play things on the keyboard, and it’s (arguably) an easier instrument to begin learning/experimenting on than the guitar, especially for small fingers) then go for it.

Make it fun

Though you may pay a bit extra, or sacrifice a bit of sound quality, by getting a keyboard with plenty of functions on, it will make it fun for your child to play, experiment, and learn about music.

If they really get a taste for playing seriously, and when they’re a bit older, they’ll probably find out what kind of things they want their keyboard to do. In fact, if they’re anything like me, they’ll be down at the local music shop every Saturday eyeing up the next model, getting the specifications and the price, and working out how to introduce the concept of a new keyboard to you.

In reality, even today’s relatively inexpensive keyboards do absolutely amazing things, and sound fantastic.

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We’ve looked at Yamaha’s Disklavier in the past, and now they’ve upgraded the beast with the introduction of their Disklavier 2.0 service, available to Disklavier Mark IV owners who install a software update.

Yamaha has introduced the DisklavierRadio and the DisklavierMusicStore services, combining the best aspects of live performance with next-generation Internet streaming technology to offer an in-home entertainment experience that no radio can touch - apparently.

“For 20 years, the Yamaha Disklavier line of performance reproducing pianos has defined the leading-edge of music technology,” noted Bill Brandom, Disklavier marketing manager. “With the introduction of DisklavierRadio and the DisklavierMusic Store, we’re once again making history. Now, Yamaha Disklavier owners can take advantage of Internet streams and downloads to instantly access a vast selection of Disklavier music incorporating MIDI for the ultimate in realism. The radio may have surpassed the player piano in the early 20th century, but with these advancements, the piano is reclaiming the spotlight.”

DisklavierRadio is a groundbreaking service that elevates streaming radio to the level of a live performance. Each station includes a MIDI feed, enabling the Yamaha acoustic piano to play live, accompanied by specially recorded ensemble parts, for remarkable realism and accuracy. Yamaha Disklavier owners who subscribe to Disklavier Radio can choose from a range of music stations including Broadway, Classical and Semi-Classical, Country, Great Piano Solos, Jazz, Pop, Rock and Classic Rock, Soundtracks and Standards. Non-subscribers can access 30-second clips of channels, and can stream a complimentary channel featuring full-length, public domain songs. DisklavierRadio streams selections to Internet-connected Disklavier Mark IVs, offering nonstop entertainment, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The subscriptions cost $19.95 per month or $199.50 per year. The service features the music of such renowned artists as David Benoit, Jim Brickman, Chick Corea, Elton John and The Beatles, to name a few.

For those who wish to download their favorite tracks, the DisklavierMusicStore can be accessed directly from the Disklavier Mark IV’s Pocket Remote Controller. After establishing an account, Disklavier owners can immediately preview, purchase and download songs directly to the instrument.

Current Disklavier Mark IV owners can access DisklavierRadio and DisklavierMusicStore functionality by installing the Disklavier 2.0 software upgrade, which is available free of charge, from Yamaha. Both services require a high-speed Internet connection.

Yamaha has introduced what it says is the most innovative and technologically advanced range of digital pianos, in the CVP400 series.

“No question about it: the Yamaha CVP400 Series Clavinova Digital Pianos are the most exciting CVP Series ever,” says Jim Levesque, Clavinova Marketing Manager, Yamaha Corporation of America, Piano Division. “For the first time in the history of the digital piano, users can record fully orchestrated performances, with vocals, onto their USB thumb drives. These acoustically stellar performances can then be turned into CDs, using iTunes or Windows Media Player, and then easily shared with friends, in person, on disc or over the Internet. And, for added convenience with fewer external interfaces, the Clavinova CVP400 Series is the first with a built-in LAN port.”

The range includes the CVP401, CVP403, CVP405, CVP407, and CVP409 (pictured).
With Yamaha’s groundbreaking Instrumental Active Field Control (iAFC) technology, the CVP-409/407 models use built-in microphones and speakers to reproduce the complex sonic textures of a grand piano, creating a richly resonant sound that’s truly unparalleled. The Natural Wood keyboard on the CVP409/407 reproduces as closely as possible the experience of playing an actual grand piano, including the authentic touch, feel and weight of the keys. Yamaha’s famed Graded Hammer 3 (CVP405/403) and Graded Hammer (CVP401) technologies give a remarkably natural piano touch and expressive response.

With the USB Audio Recorder feature on the CVP409/407/405/403 models, users can record their own performances, including singing, karaoke or anything else that comes through their Clavinova’s sound system, such as, for example, an electric guitar when plugged into the mic input jack. “Then, they can burn a CD or send their music over the Internet to share their creations with others,” says Levesque. “And, the Super Articulation Voices (CVP409/407/405) and Mega Voices (CVP409/407/405/403) make a wide range of acoustic and electric instruments playable directly from the keyboard with expressive realism and performance characteristics never before heard in a Clavinova Digital Piano. If you activate the guitar voice, for instance, you’ll hear harmonics, fret noise and body tap, just like you would when listening to a live guitarist. Same with brass instrument voices – you’ll hear shakes and falls – or saxophone, where you’ll hear breath noise. Yamaha designers purposefully created Super Articulation Voices to sound the way real instruments sound — and it all happens naturally and appropriately, just the way you hear these sounds when you’re listening to a musician performing live or on a high quality recording.”

In addition, the CVP400 Series’ Organ Flutes Voices and a realistic textured rotary speaker effect flawlessly reproduce the vintage organ sound heard in Gospel, Blues, Jazz and Rock music.

The range also include a variety of authentic accompaniment styles, plus an enhanced Music Finder and Internet Direct Connection, for discovering and purchasing music online.

Yamaha has introduced its MM6 Music Synthesizer, a younger cousin of the MOTIF series of instruments. It features high quality sounds, real-time control of sound, dynamic music creation tools including Authentic Pattern and Arpeggiator generators, performance memory, and versatile song recording.It’s a 61-note (5 octave), 32 note polyphony synth featuring Yamaha’s AWM2 sounds, 418 voices and 22 drum kits, 8 performance banks, a wide variety of effects, and 5 master equalizers.

The current specifications page doesn’t give much away about how versatile the MM6 is when controlling sounds, which, after all, is what you generally want a synth for. However, the “sales pitch” talks about tweaking sounds, by changing filter cutoff, resonance, EG attack and release, in real time, as well as a large number of built-in “jamming” rhythms, and 213 arpeggiators.

It sounds as if is an entry-level keyboard, and those serious about sound synthesis could be left disappointed. I may be wrong, but the rhythm sections sound more like glorified accompaniment sections found on many home keyboards. That’s not to knock the MM6 for what it is, but an observation.

Also, for those who like their additional touches on keyboards, the MM6 seems to have just initial touch sensitivity, but no aftertouch.

One of Yamaha’s new arranger keyboards, the PSR-S900 is a step up from the PSR-S700, featuring:

• 61 touch responsive keys
• 128 notes of polyphony
• 320×240 resolution LCD capable of lyrics and score display
• AWM sample sounds
• 392 voices, 19 drum kits, 480 XG voices
• 15 MegaVoices
• 22 Sweet! Voices
• 26 Cool! Voices
• 20 Live! Voices
• 10 Organ Flutes
• Sound creator/voice set
• Vocal harmonisation
• 2 layer voices
• Large number of preset and user-definable effects including reverb, chorus, 4x DSP
• 205 preset 8-part auto-accompaniment + user category with mixer controls
• 305 accompaniment presets + user styles + style creator
• 16 track recording
• Performance assistance technology

First introduced in Tyros, MegaVoice brings a new level of realism to the PSR-S700 keyboard. The MegaVoices feature various playing techniques and performance sounds — such as finger slides and fret noise on guitar Voices — designed specifically to enhance playback of the built-in Styles. Simply hold down a chord while you play, and enjoy some of the most astonishingly realist, expressive accompaniment you’ve ever heard.

Super Articulation introduces a completely fine level of sonic realism and musical expressiveness, with remarkably authentic voices featuring the unique performance characteristics of each instrument.

More images of the PSR-S900 (click thumbnail for main image)