[Yamaha CP88 and 73 - Deserve their own thread]

And I suspect it's going to be a long thread. As practical as a CP, leaning toward the vibe of the SV-1 and paying attention to why some choose Nord. But with Yamaha made actions and sounds.

 

[video:youtube]

 

CP88 - $2499.99

CP73 - $1999.99

 

A stage piano that sounds great and feels great is important to every pianist and keyboardist. The modern keyboard player also needs to bring studio production elements to the stage. This makes access to key sound shaping controls an equally important part of the instrument. Over the past several months I've been playing the new CP88 and just finished a long session with the CP73. It has been a great experience because all the aforementioned attributes of great sound, great feel and great UI have been met! There is something about playing an instrument that looks really good too, and the CP88 and CP73 just look cool. If you've ever owned something that you sometimes look at it and think "wow - that is so cool". That is what it's like for me and the new CP!

 

 

Here is a quick summary of what's new:

Direct Sound Control

Authentic Grand, Upright and Electric Pianos

Two Actions for Two Types of Players

CP88: New 88-key Graded Hammer, Natural Wood Action with Synthetic Ivory and Ebony Keytops and GH3 Triple Sensor

CP73: New 73-key Balanced Hammer Action

Sound Expandability

Cool Design

Comprehensive Connectivity

Soundmondo Compatibility

Comprehensive 4-Zone MIDI Controller

Cool Cases

 

Everything you want to know about the UI and action:

https://www.yamahasynth.com/yamaha-synth-rss/introducing-the-yamaha-cp88-and-cp73-stage-pianos

 

[Roland VR 700 EDITOR (Win, Mac, Linux) RELEASE]

You've been busy! Thank you for your efforts!

[Crumar Seven]

Email their support and ask for advice on how to proceed.

I bet theyd mail you a part if necessary. Then you just need to find someone savvy enough to install it.

[Roland Go:Piano 88 (release and price)]

Sweetwater says $399.99 - they dont have an arrival date.

[Arturia Pigments Soft Synth]

Arturia has released v1.1 of Pigments, its new hybrid wavetable + virtual analog software synthesizer.

 

Heres whats new in Pigments 1.1:

 

Poly Aftertouch now supported

Added a 6dB LPF and HPF slope mode to the Multimode Filter

New master tune control

Turing and Binary random sources now have reset trigger sources

Velocity and Keyboard curve editor in Keyboard tab

Computer keyboard can now be used as a MIDI input in standalone mode

15 new presets from Andrew Huang

Various bugfixes and workflow improvements

[Going all software (?)]

Would you say Gig Performers greatest benefit is also being lighter on resources?

[Going all software (?)]

Do you believe camelots bare bones GUI and whatever else under the hood is lighter on resources than MainStage?

[Going all software (?)]

Its tricky marketing, selling and making money on an instrument made up of all off the shelf parts like the Open Labs models. Its also very narrow in use - really marketed for music production. And those guys dont need it all to be self contained to begin with. Ive not seen an attempt at this focused on live play - with choice of actions, lots of midi controllers and inputs for pedals, Cantabile or MainStage host instead of DAW. It might be time to revisit this built around a Mac Mini or Intel NUC or something like that - SSDs have gotten cheap, touch screens common, etc.

[Going all software (?)]

If you don't require more than two channels of audio ouput from a Mac, IMO the headphone output is the way to go. Sounds fine and latency is low. An external interface usually brings 3rd-party driver software into the picture meaning you might have to deal with compatibility issues.

 

I was using a MOTU Microbook IIc and it disconnected from the laptop in the middle of a show. When that happens it means restarting my host software not cool. Unfortunately for me I was taking advantage of the multiple output busses of this interface, along with OSC control of its mixer, to give me control of my in-ears mix from my midi controller. Can't do that now.

 

Im using internal audio right now on MBPro. 3.5mm to RCA on a Radial direct box. Thru TS to my monitor XLR to FOH. I run mono so I have that reduce to mono setup in software as a plugin on the MainStage main outs. For solo gigs I go stereo out to Spacestation v3.

[Going all software (?)]

The internal sound card on MacBook Pros can get down pretty low. Are you on Mac or PC? On the PC you need to do some tweaking in Windows, lots of articles on this.

[Going all software (?)]

Im running MainStage fine on a mid-2012 MacBook Pro with i5 and 8gb of RAM.

If I swap the internal spinning drive for an SSD, sample load time when launching A MainStage setlist will be faster.

 

[Going all software (?)]

You can swap out the SSD on older macs for $150-530 depending on how large a drive you need and if you need to copy the existing drive over or not (a kit is then useful).

 

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-pro

 

 

[C. Bechstein digital division releasing Kontakt Instrument]

Very helpful, Mark. Sorry you had to go through this, it seems to have kept you up late (at least one night)! But will surely save some other KCer some hassle.

[C. Bechstein digital division releasing Kontakt Instrument]

 

The SoundCloud examples sound really really good.

https://www.bechstein-digital.com

 

Its a monster of a piano to begin with.

[Studiologic Numa Compact 2x]

Comments from owners of the Compact 2x on how it functions as a controller for MainStage? Enough buttons, knobs, sliders that send MIDI for MIDI-Learn? The organ controls work with software organ emulations, etc?

[Sequential Prophet XL]

User Sample Import

 

[video:youtube]

 

Features:

 

Price: $FREE

Public BETA

Official Prophet X Series Mapping Utility

Use your own samples with the Prophet X series

Program custom sample sets

Mac/PC Compatible

8MB Download

Direct download / Cloud Server System

Product only available as Direct Download

Prophet X or XL Hardware Synth Required

** Not compatible with Kontakt

[Yamaha MODX]

What does Yamaha say about this output level/distortion issue?

 

Quite frankly if I purchased a new board and had to fiddling with the volume/output levels of each performance in Yamaha language, I would send the board back.

 

I never had to do anything like this on my Grandstage, MP7se or CP4.

 

Am I off base here?

 

Mike

 

Arent we talking about user transferred patches from previous generation Motifs that need to be tweaked? Are the patches that Yamaha includes or have prepped for inclusion exhibiting the issue?

[Camelot Pro - Releases 12 December: (The Mainstage for iOS?)]

Does it have a way to automatically launch AU's for iOS and save and recall settings on those instruments and effects including routing in the "host" mixer?

 

 

[Good Active Studio Reference Monitors?]

If your room is on the smaller size (ie. the typical 15x20 bedroom) you dont need long throw large (8 or more woofer size). 6.5 or smaller is best. And I cant stress how important it is to use a product like Auralexs MoPad if you are going to sit them straight on a desk.

[DAW Remote Control]

Yamaha Motifs and derivatives do a pretty excellent job of this with Cubase, Logic and Digital Performer.

[Dorico - Steinberg's bomb on Avid/Sibelius]

Development continues...

 

[video:youtube]

 

Dorico 2.2 adds further powerful MIDI-centric features for media musicians, including real-time MIDI recording, improved MIDI transcription, and import and export of tempo tracks from and to MIDI files.

[Your Latest Purchase (music related)]

http://natevenet.com/misc/2018anniepit.jpg

 

Phase one of my re-imagined pit rig complete (inspired by work done by Dave Weiser). New here is the Kenton LD2 Pro for volume metering (CC7), Audiofront MIDI Expression interface for adjusting CC7 via pedal, and a pair of Mackie MR524 monitors on On-Stage monitor stands.

 

This show was pretty much piano only, and so I didn't really need the volume control/metering, but it was a good test-case for my next big pit gig in the spring (Mamma Mia!), where I'll be introducing a laptop, audio interface, and Mainstage into the mix.

 

What's your plan for the 4 keyboard books on Mamma Mia? You going to provide patches for all with MainStage and run all 4 keyboard players to the MacBook over USB?

 

Is this just for monitoring yourself? Pit in the same room as the stage? Or does the audience just get pit from PA?

[Crumar Seven]

Here's a new video of the Seven with the Mojo 61 on top, using the Wurli Stackers from Vintage Vibe. Works for me!

 

[video:youtube]

 

Very groovy, Frank. Thanks for sharing. The Mojo and Seven do splendidly in the roles they were designed for.

[SonicBar Stereo Keyboard Speaker/Amp]

That would make sense since it seems to be made to attach to their style stand for the recent models.

[SonicBar Stereo Keyboard Speaker/Amp]

The Physis piano has this as an option if I am not mistaken. Depending how it sounds and what it puts out of course, could be a nice upgrade for slabs without and even slabs with built in speakers.