What's Yamaha going to do with its new Clav samples? Next YC OS update perhaps? YC73 with waterfall keys?

[Alkeys]

So I heard a few weeks ago that Yamaha sampled some clavinets (FINALLY) because people were so tired of the 2 clav samples from 1990 they've had including the duck quack wah clav sound that they've had since the days of the Yamaha S-80.

 

Is this going to go into a new YC OS update?  Hopefully!

 

Hey Yamaha if you're reading this:  If you have to remove some stupid brass/horn, trumpet, saxophone, slap bass or drum loop or other annoying unnecessary sounds for a stage keyboard to make room for the Clav samples with all it's pickup settings, you have my blessing.

 

Better yet put it in a YC73 with waterfall keys.

[The_Star_Guy]

I can play Clav on just about any action that has a quick & precise response, although a light waterfall action would probably come closest to emulating a real Clavinet.     All four pickup positions with both attack & release noises would seriously up the anty for Yamaha. especially since some of their competitors dropped the ball with their latest clav releases.    

[Mighty Motif Max]

They did sample another clav for the Motif XF but haven’t included it in anything other than the Montage/MODX unfortunately. While it didn’t have all positions, it had a better sound than the old regular clav samples they’ve used forever. I think it may have been the AD combination.

[Paul Woodward]

Just dont use the same awful waterfall keybed from the YC61 😉

[BenWaB3]

I don't know (much repeated rant here): The Hammond SK1 had a great clav sound. On the SK-PRO they gave you all 4 pickup variations and not one of them sounded nearly as good as the SK1. Similarly, I've been using a Nautilus 73 lately and end up using the GM clav because it sounds better than all the different pickup and settings varieties, so more isn't always better. From what I'm gathering here though, it doesn't sound like any of the Yamaha offerings were that good from the get-go.

[The_Star_Guy]

9 hours ago, BenWaB3 said:

I don't know (much repeated rant here): The Hammond SK1 had a great clav sound. On the SK-PRO they gave you all 4 pickup variations and not one of them sounded nearly as good as the SK1. Similarly, I've been using a Nautilus 73 lately and end up using the GM clav because it sounds better than all the different pickup and settings varieties, so more isn't always better. From what I'm gathering here though, it doesn't sound like any of the Yamaha offerings were that good from the get-go.

 

The SK Pro was what I was alluding to earlier.   The clavs on the original SK were almost stellar!    Paradoxically. the single Clav sample used on my ES 920 is really decent!   Just wish that it had 3 more pickup positions just like it!

 

[ProfD]

This begs the question of how much clav'ing the gig requires a KB player to do. 🤣

 

Instead of waiting for manufacturers to update their sounds, I would combine existing samples and waveforms to come up with my *own* clav-llke sound. 

 

Otherwise, if one requires every pickup position of a clavinet,  it might be a good idea to consider 1) picking up a used clav or 2) buying a clav sample library. 

 

Of course, there's also the option of buying an SK Pro for less money and maintenance than a real clavinet.😎

[AnotherScott]

14 hours ago, BenWaB3 said:

On the SK-PRO they gave you all 4 pickup variations and not one of them sounded nearly as good as the SK1. Similarly, I've been using a Nautilus 73 lately and end up using the GM clav because it sounds better than all the different pickup and settings varieties, so more isn't always better. 

True, 1 good sound is generally better than 4 mediocre ones... but kind of by definition, if you're looking for, say, the AD pickup position, any "good" version of one of the other three pickup positions will make for a mediocre representation of the AD sound, if that's really the sound you're after.

 

2 hours ago, ProfD said:

if one requires every pickup position of a clavinet,  it might be a good idea to consider 1) picking up a used clav or 2) buying a clav sample library. 

There are only 4 pickup positions in a clav, so it doesn't seem like an unreasonable thing to look for in the board (for those who don't want to bring a real clav or software to a gig). Besides Hammond, at least Korg, Kurzweil, and Nord have them (and a Roland expansion according to someone else's post in another thread). But yeah, that's part of what prompted my recent thread about good iPad clavs, to get a decent representation of all four of the basic clav sounds, at least. (EQ/filters and mute controls, even better.)

[Moonglow]

4 hours ago, ProfD said:

Instead of waiting for manufacturers to update their sounds, I would combine existing samples and waveforms to come up with my *own* clav-llke sound.

 

This is what I ended up doing with one of my Roland machines. I stacked a couple of different clav programs, each of which I found rather weak/thin individually, to produce a much stronger/fatter/punchier clav. I don't use a lot of clav when I play out (3-4 songs), and I'm not sure which combination of pickup positions it most closely resembles, but it feels good under my fingers and has become my sort of "go-to" clav.

[ProfD]

1 hour ago, AnotherScott said:

There are only 4 pickup positions in a clav, so it doesn't seem like an unreasonable thing to look for in the board (for those who don't want to bring a real clav...

It's not unreasonable. But, I can think of several reasons why it hasn't been a priority among manufacturers especially Yamaha. 

 

Yamaha should be very proud of themselves for giving KB players the next best thing to a clav 40 years ago in the form of a...DX7.🤣😎

[Mighty Motif Max]

31 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

True, 1 good sound is generally better than 4 mediocre ones... but kind of by definition, if you're looking for, say, the AD pickup position, any "good" version of one of the other three pickup positions will make for a mediocre representation of the AD sound, if that's really the sound you're after.

 

...

Which is exactly my issue lol - the AD pickup position is my preferred go-to clav.

[Dave Keys]

Probably the only sound I miss from my Nord Electro is the Clav sound. I've managed to make my own custom one on the YC73, but to get Superstition and Disco Inferno really authentic it could do with some fresh Clav samples. 

[Josh Paxton]

37 minutes ago, Dave Keys said:

Probably the only sound I miss from my Nord Electro is the Clav sound. 

 

Same. Ironic, since I don't think they've updated it for decades (or at least, they hadn't by the time I got my last Nord, which I think was an Electro 5 that I kept for about a month). Even without the release samples, they nailed the tone way before anyone else did.

[JohnH]

3 hours ago, Moonglow said:

 

This is what I ended up doing with one of my Roland machines. I stacked a couple of different clav programs, each of which I found rather weak/thin individually, to produce a much stronger/fatter/punchier clav. I don't use a lot of clav when I play out (3-4 songs), and I'm not sure which combination of pickup positions it most closely resembles, but it feels good under my fingers and has become my sort of "go-to" clav.

 

Same here, that is what I did on my S90ES, I layered four clav voices  and this works well on organ and other sounds too. And I usually crank up the EQ on each layer and voice too as well as the volumes, this works very well.