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Yamaha CP88 and 73 - Deserve their own thread


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1 hour ago, OrpheusNY said:


Long prep time, if it is indeed coming! What do we think, CP88/73 owners, are there going to be any more OS updates, or was 1.5 the last one? Coming up on two years now since an update.

 

Funny you brought this up, I was just looking for CP88 used or B-stock, and I happened on B&HPhoto. I typed in the CP88, and this was what I got...

 

image.png.77fc5e527f60f78cfe81655031b652c7.png

 

Now this is just one retailer, but honestly, I feel like the writing has been on the wall for some time. As I've said before in other threads, Yamaha really crippled themselves out the gate with the CP: because of how rigid the architecture they set up was, there is a finite amount of things you can do to upgrade the CP outside of more sounds, unless you want to just throw away the immediacy concept and go into menus. It has two pianos not in the YC, the Bosendorfer (eh), and what, an upright? Way to be piano-focused. I also really like having the YC filters to shape the piano sound (you can get a great mellow piano, for example). The effects routing gets a little annoying too because of the segregated effects that are hard-coded to a specific module. Want a piano with a chorus that you can adjust the depth and rate of? Sorry, gotta go into Advanced Mode, then open up all of the CP88 sounds in a scroll menu, find a piano, then there you go. Oh I'm sorry, you wanted to layer that with a phasered Rhodes? Get outta here, dork.

 

The Yamaha Ideascale really doesn't say much at all. They could put anything in their "review" phase or whatever, and then just reject it. A great example of this is the Montage, actually: soooo many requests in there that have been placed in the review stage, and the result? They're coming out with a sequel 'cause they said they just couldn't update the Montage anymore. And the CP, for reasons that I outlined above, has (had?) a really low ceiling for updates.

 

It feels like it was really just a matter of time before their marketing speak subsided and the reality that they created a much more full-featured product would set in.

That said,

 

-the YC FM sounds don't really excite me, certainly not a selling point in practice. (unless they opened up editing capabilities, at which point it'd be 👀 

-with the amp sim, the effects chain gets a little annoying sometime, depending on the kind of sound you want to dial in.

-The organ is great (the rotary update is worth the hype), but you're gonna want another board to actually play those sounds, 'cause the YC88 keybed is not it. Same goes for synth sounds. Mono/poly is a nice feature but limited. Give me polyphonic portamento on acoustic piano sounds, dammit! I'd probably want to add a smaller keyboard for true synth functions for these reasons...and well, you know, have true synth functions to begin with.

-It is true that for basic functions, CP88 is more immediate. For its limitations, you can still spin a lot of different sounds out of it.

 

That also said,

 

-The YC depreciates way more than the CP. I've been looking at used prices and you can find (at least) good-condition YCs for not much higher than you can find used CP88s--in the USA, at least. So if you're okay with second-hand or open-box, you can get a much more featured board for not much more money.

 

 

If I had to try to put a bottom line, I'd say:

 

-If you're gonna buy the CP, make sure you're cool with its limitations and sounds. I think at this point, we're talking about a closed road. Maybe, maybethey'll put out one more update, add the Stage CP sound from the latest YC update, maybe another piano or something.  

 

-The YC, theoretically (and shown by updates so far), is a much more open platform that they could expand on for some time.

 

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That's weird Anderton's Music just today did a video comparing stage pianos and the did the CP88 with Mike Patrick playing.  You'd think they know if it was going to be EOL'd.     Just checked Sweetwater they are still listed as in stock.      The thing I notice with Yamaha they usually discount the price of gear they are going to EOL a month or two before they annouce it.    

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32 minutes ago, Dave Ferris said:

I'm content with my CP88, both sound and action. Plus the weight reduction from the P-515 is nice, even though it may not seem like a lot, it is at age 70. It sounded excellent on the two jazz gigs (well one was with a singer, so it was what it was....lol) this past weekend. One was outside, the other in a fairly large room with kind of echoey acoustics.

 

My use though is limited to one sound, the CFX. I don't even really play Rhodes anymore. The only thing I did was futz with the eq a bit. I was rolling off around 5 db on the highs on one gig, and adding around 3 db on the other.

 

The new RCF TT-08A mk2s really shined in both instances.

For sure.  For the piano dominant player who mainly needs a few good piano sample sets with a piano-like weighted action.  Done.  
 

Splits, layers and FX with simple button/knob operation.  I wish they’d thrown a few more sounds in there - like a good harp sample.  But the built in USB audio midi interface takes care of supplementing sounds. 

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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1 hour ago, Dave Ferris said:

Plus the weight reduction from the P-515 is nice, even though it may not seem like a lot, it is at age 70

 

I'm 30 and I think the 7-8 lbs is a big difference! 😂 Us keyboard players have so much to lug around anyways. Heck, that weight savings is immediately snuffed out if you use the official CP88 soft case, so I'll take what we can get!

 

Yeah if you don't need to get that wild with different sounds, the CP is perfect. If I can find a good deal on a used one that would be lower than what used YC offerings are going for, I'd pick it up instantly.

 

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Since I don't own a CP88, nor have I programmed one, I don't fully understand the Voice Select Switch number. Might as well throw Tables M, N and O into my confusion, too.

 

However -- great leap, here -- it seems like the Voice Select Switch values MAX'ed out at 127 after the v1.5 update. Does this imply that the CP88 is built out (complete)?

 

The CP88 is getting old enough to warrant a refresh or revision (Gen 2). Yamaha would want to apply their experience with Stage YC to CP Gen 2.

 

This is all guesswork and roughly zero real evidence. 🙂

 

I would definitely be interested in a CP Gen 2 for the home studio -- pj

 

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18 minutes ago, pjd said:

This is all guesswork and roughly zero real evidence. 🙂

 

It's an interesting theory, and has a ring of plausibility to it, though. 

 

I'm very interested to see if Yamaha treats the YC as the CP v2 (which is what it feels like in a lot of ways, though in some ways it also feels like CP is YC 0.5 if you get the distinction), or if they'd actually make a CP sequel that carries on more of CP88's explicit DNA and adds highly requested features such as a more sophisticated piano engine.

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5 hours ago, Dave Ferris said:

My use though is limited to one sound, the CFX. I don't even really play Rhodes anymore. 

That's OK. Rhodes and other sounds are there in the CP88 if/when you need them.😉😎

PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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17 hours ago, CHarrell said:

 

It's an interesting theory, and has a ring of plausibility to it, though. 

 

I'm very interested to see if Yamaha treats the YC as the CP v2 (which is what it feels like in a lot of ways, though in some ways it also feels like CP is YC 0.5 if you get the distinction), or if they'd actually make a CP sequel that carries on more of CP88's explicit DNA and adds highly requested features such as a more sophisticated piano engine.

 

Yeah, some times I don't trust/believe my own B.S. 😀

 

Good thoughts about the future. Yamaha needs to differentiate Montage M, MODX+, Stage CP and Stage YC. It'll be interesting to see how they do it. Some of that Clavinova stuff (VRM, Grand Expression and so forth) could trickle into the Stage CP, but I think it'll take a gen 2 hardware platform. VRM needs heavy-weight DSP and I doubt if the CP88 designers foresaw that in 2017/2018.

 

All the best -- pj

 

NAMM 2024 January 25 to 28!

 

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13 minutes ago, Docbop said:

I noted for the new NAMM announcement they are pretty much letting anyone who can spell Rhythm buy a pass for the show.    

 

 

That may actually lower the attendance at NAMM....

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'55 and '59 B3's; Leslies 147, 122, 21H; MODX 7+; NUMA Piano X 88; Motif XS7; Mellotrons M300 and M400’s; Wurlitzer 206; Gibson G101; Vox Continental; Mojo 61; Launchkey 88 Mk III; Korg Module; B3X; Model D6; Moog Model D

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1 hour ago, Docbop said:

I noted for the new NAMM announcement they are pretty much letting anyone who can spell Rhythm buy a pass for the show.    

 

Well, I wasn't expecting Elektron to show up before, but now the decision's made for them.

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Hi,

 

I wonder if anyone has faced any problems with those shiny metallic toggle switches in the CP/YC front panel? Some time ago I ordered a YC73 and have to say that for many ways it would have been a good fit for my needs. But those switches, they were very wobbly already in that brand new instrument. And having them in the front panel seemed to be a request for troubles.. So, after some reasoning back and forth, I returned the instrument. Just could not trust that it would have been robust like for example my Nord Stages (1...3) have been.

 

J

Nord Stage 3 88, Prophet 6, Moog Voyager OS, Moog Little Phatty TE, Crumar Mojo Classic Suitacase, Kawai US-50 upright, Beltuna Studio 3 and Fantini cassotto accordions
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  • 4 weeks later...

I posted about this over on the Repairs subforum, but I thought posting here as well might be helpful. Has anyone else had issues with the reverb and delay sections on their CPs cutting in and out? Something happened between my last two gigs with my CP88 where the toggle switches still work, but jostling the keyboard (which includes, you know, playing it) causes the reverb and delay effects to rapidly toggle themselves on and off (you can see the LEDs flickering), which, as you can imagine, is incredibly annoying to the ear.

 

If anyone else has had to deal with this issue, let me know. I have a feeling a trip to my tech is inevitable.

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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