Yamaha Reface YC vs Yamaha Reface CP if you could only choose one

[Noah DC]

Yeah, the real benefit of my Reface YC is that it guarantees easy access to organ drawbars no matter where I am practicing or gigging. There are a lot of situations when you're gigging regularly in a city where you don't know what a given rehearsal room or low-tech venue is going to have on hand, keyboard-wise. For example, the practice room spot here in DC has a lot of Privias - fine for AP/EP, but tough for organ. That's where I get full value out of my YC - I just toss it in my bag and head over. I bought a Lester K for one hundred bucks that I keep with it permanently in my case. Run through the pedal - especially in stereo - it sounds more than good enough for a practice or a cramped stage. The Reface is an example of one of those situations where I honestly don't think my bandmates recognize or care about the difference in tone, even if I know it's obviously not on par with my Mojo 61. If I ever did need to close that gap, I'd just MIDI in VB3 from my phone and map the drawbars.

[J_tour]

Late addition to this zombie thread.

Finally got the Reface CP after sweetwater got it in stock after a few months.

 

Only real intention was to have something to reach for at my desk at home besides one of my guitars (am not a good guitarist)....

Yes, the raw sounds (esp, Rhodes, Wurli, and Clav) are out of sight....and the effects bank is just sick.  Tend to always have a little slapback echo on, small splash of chorus, that beautiful reverb to taste, and tremolo as needed.  And the overdrive is not a joke, either.

No, I would not advise diming overdrive and volume through the built-in speakers!  They're more than fine for what they are.

The one thing that would be neat is to use the aux-in to run through the effects....but....not possible.  Not that I can see anyway.

No, you can't play anything "technical" or even fast with the minikeys....don't believe me?  Try to do a fast single-note trill....the action just won't allow for it.  It's still a very playable keyboard, though, given its limitations.

But comes with a MIDI breakout cable so Yamaha's weird little MIDI connector works with a real keyboard.

And, of course, there's a lot one *can* play on those little keys....I think the first two tunes I could think of when opening it up were "Sheep" and "Money", just to hear the Rhodes and Wurli sounds + some effects....anything like that is fine and can be played even with Shrek-like hands, no problem at all.

Clav (or Wurli) with the autowah?  Nice.

Have it in a little no-name EVA case for bringing in the car if I really want to be a menace to society while driving.  Invested in a bunch of decent rechargeable AA batteries.

It's perfect for its original purpose (just a handy instrument to reach for instead of guitar when trying to figure something out, or to take with me if I have some time to kill running errands &c.) but is a beautiful module for a full controller as well.

As for *which*?  The CP or the YC?  Well, I've got the organ covered at home, with bass pedals, very slim lower manual, and the Lester-K does a nice job with keeping the XK2 sounding fine....and for just working out lines or transcribing some stuff, the Rhodes sound works better for me....kind of a neutral sound, for me.  Yeah, I have a Rhodes 73 at home as well as the Wurlitzer 720A, but....this one's in tune and the reeds aren't sputtering out every few moments....plus I don't have to walk over there with this!  Nor fire up amplifier, mixer, &c.

Strictly a practical decision for me:  if I want to play organ, I want the whole thing (well, as close as my setup at home gets me) where as just noodling around....piano's fine.  Little piano.  A mini-piano!

[D. Gauss]

6 hours ago, J_tour said:

Finally got the Reface CP 

<snip>

Yes, the raw sounds (esp, Rhodes, Wurli, and Clav) are out of sight....and the effects bank is just sick.   
 

 

Don't forget the groovy Acoustic Piano hack/trick.

[J_tour]

9 hours ago, D. Gauss said:

Don't forget the groovy Acoustic Piano hack/trick

Oh, I haven't forgot.....it's just slightly fiddly to get working.

For those who don't know, you power on the Reface CP with the piano selector knob *between* the detentes, and you've got a fine acoustic piano sound.  (These have been around...theoretically...for a number of years and mine is the latest Sweetstalker got in stock, maybe six weeks ago or so, so there may be differences).

At least on the model I've got, though, when the selector knob "finds its way" back to one of the detente spots, then it swaps back to whichever sound is on the rotary knob....I dunno, maybe gaffer tape if one is not really careful to avoid hitting the knob.  That's what she said?  Dunno.

Or just take extra care to not accidentally move the rotary knob, and so forth.  In a rack shelf or a small separate stand from one's main controller(s), I bet it would hold steady on the super secret acoustic piano sound.  The rotaries are really of very good quality.  Smooth as silk.  The few tiny toggles for the effects bank....I would not be comfortable just throwing this in a backpack/satchel without some protection.  I'd have been OK with a neoprene laptop-style sleeve, but couldn't find one in the good size, so went with an EVA case with the right internal dimensions.  Up to the user, though, of course.

It's a nice feature....certainly more useful to me than the "toy piano" sound (I'll let the reader decide which one I mean!).  But not the main purpose for me.

As a module for pianos, it will do the trick!  Haven't actually tried the "secret" acoustic piano through real monitors and keyboard, but I'm sure it's more than adequate for at least many band performances, if not more.

[D. Gauss]

3 hours ago, J_tour said:

It's a nice feature....certainly more useful to me than the "toy piano" sound (I'll let the reader decide which one I mean!).  But not the main purpose for me.

 

 

5 mins with a soldering iron (and quite a bit longer to open it up), and you can disable the stupid toy piano and make the Acoustic Piano occupy that slot. 

[AnotherScott]

5 mins with a soldering iron is plenty enough for me to destroy any piece of gear.

 

[J_tour]

 

23 hours ago, D. Gauss said:

 

5 mins with a soldering iron (and quite a bit longer to open it up), and you can disable the stupid toy piano and make the Acoustic Piano occupy that slot. 

How'd you figure that out?  A service manual/labelled schematic, or....I'm guessing you traced out where "inbetween" spot connected to.

It's a nice thought, and probably a very simple join to make with solder.

 

22 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

5 mins with a soldering iron is plenty enough for me to destroy any piece of gear.

 

Yeah....me too....I have a decent enough soldering station, all kinds of flux paste, all that stuff....but despite all the Youtube, I'd need to see someone actually do it hands-on in person to really get it.  Basically I suck.  Simple joins function well enough, but anybody I've shown pictures to has been like "you should be ashamed!  that looks terrible!"  💯

[D. Gauss]

2 hours ago, J_tour said:

 

How'd you figure that out?  A service manual/labelled schematic, or....I'm guessing you traced out where "inbetween" spot connected to.

It's a nice thought, and probably a very simple join to make with solder.

 

Yeah....me too....I have a decent enough soldering station, all kinds of flux paste, all that stuff....but despite all the Youtube, I'd need to see someone actually do it hands-on in person to really get it.  Basically I suck.  Simple joins function well enough, but anybody I've shown pictures to has been like "you should be ashamed!  that looks terrible!"  💯

 

 

just google.  there's several ways of doing it. adding a switch, disabling the toy, etc.  there used to be at least 5 diff videos showing how.

[J_tour]

50 minutes ago, D. Gauss said:

disabling the toy, etc.

Which one?  The Toy Piano or the Yammy CP?  😇

I kid....the CP "electric grand" or whatever it was called is probably useful to people in cover bands and stuff....but I just know the Rhodes, the Wurli, and the Clav (never owned a real Clav, but I know how it sounds and somewhat can do stuff with it, à la Herbie and Billy, Stevie, and everybody else).  And, of course, the acoustic piano.

To get back to the original OP, yeah, I like the CP because, with the beautiful effects bank....all discretely controlled...haven't even looked at the manual that comes with it....it's self contained, whereas with organ, I want a big rig, pretty much, even if a cobbled-together fauxwheel, to sit behind.  For the pianos as well, but for just transcribing (no, I don't have absolute pitch!) or figuring out possible parts to play on a given tune, the piano is more useful to me.

Next stage for making this the absolute ultimate time-waster "sketchpad" instrument is trying to use it with my first-ever looper pedal, just for practice/shedding/fun purposes.  A cheap one....a Donner something-or-other should be arriving in a few days...I know the pedal's designed to take instrument level, but I think either using a passive DI box in reverse or just controlling volume, should probably work fine.  We'll see!