New Yamaha NU1XA

HZPiano · 2023-09-13T18:31:49+00:00

Hello, A scoop by @ClothEaredNincompoop on PW: Press release: https://www.yamaha.com/en/news_release/2023/23091301/ Some short promo videos on YouTube (more might come): https://www.youtube.com/@yamahaglobal/videos "There's something new regarding the key/hammer sensors: Originally Posted by https://www.yamaha.com/en/news_release/2023/23091301/ Dual sensors detect key and hammer movement separately Yamaha's Articulation Sensor System is used to detect key and hammer movements, offering more accurate interpretation of subtle musical expression during performance. New hammer sensors have been added to more accurately detect timing and strength of hammers hitting the strings. Sensors under the keys accurately determine the stopping point of sounds and other nuances of performance, ensuring that even the most subtle musical expression is preserved."

CyberGene

David Lai according to the manual, it’s a sequence of menu navigation buttons, so you may want to remember that sequence (asking the store staff) to be able to perform it yourself.

David Lai

CyberGene which chapter should I read? I’m going to memorize this! Thank you!

CyberGene

David Lai it’s in the chapter about the System menu, MIDI section, third subsection Local Control on page 87.

However, looking at pictures of NU1XA, it seems that all menu navigation is through a touch screen and I don’t see any physical buttons 😕 I might be wrong though. And it’s possible that those touch screen controls are fixed in position, they seem large and probably always visible, so you may be able to learn the relative position on the surface and be able to perform it yourself. It’s sad that digital piano manufacturers don’t provide better accessibility for blind people. For instance, they may introduce certain physical control shortcuts like e.g. pump up-down the sostenuto + soft pedal three times and you’re activating a keyboard control menu where various keyboard shortcuts are executed through the 88 keys.

David Lai

CyberGene I just read it. Yes, it's touch screen UI. And, I'm surprised. Android and Apple devices all have accessibility on a touch screen, but Yamaha and Kawai's touch screen interface do not have text-to-speech / alternative gestures for blind people. Luckily, I can try avoiding such products and look for other options when I'm in the market for my next digital piano / keyboard input device.

David Lai

Sidetracked note:

https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2773097/blind-musicians-and-latest-digital-pianos.html

johanibraaten

David Lai Maybe a workaround could be to connect the NU1X to the smart pianist app on an iPad and use the iOS accessibility features from the iPad. Could that work?

David Lai

johanibraaten You know, I thought of exactly the same thing!!! I downloaded the app just now, and so far I had no problems getting started. I'll see if tomorrow we could do this. 🙂

Pete14

David Lai My local piano store has an NU1XA that I've been playing for a while now, and I have to say, action wise, is better (more solid) than my NU1 at my China home. Either tomorrow or the day after, I'll be taking my laptop with me to test out the audio interface feature.

I’m hoping you could tell us how the NU1XA “sounds” in comparison to your NU1, and if possible, to an NU1X at the dealer.

Some are complaining about the lower volume/power for the NU1XA, and I suspect this might have to do with the new speaker configuration, which Yamaha has said is “room” oriented instead of “player” oriented, and I wonder if Yamaha over did it, and too much sound escapes to the room, therefore, giving this perception of a “weaker” sound imaging for the player…..

Don’t get me wrong, I like having the sound bounce off and spread throughout the room, but I also want an immediate/close perspective at the same time…..If I’m not mistaken, that is how an acoustic’s sound image works: all over the place, yet also in your face!

David Lai

Pete14 Hi Pete,

Unfortunately, no NU1X, nor any of the grand hybrids (which I really want to play someday.).

As for the speakers, I do feel like there are, best to put it, 2 parts to the sound. The tweeters sound closer to me, so the high frequency plus the imaging I can feel a bit. But the bass seems to be spreading throughout the room. Although compared to my NU1, the bass on the NU1XA sounds deeper, to my ears, it's mostly because of the sound spreading in the room. The dealer has an echoey / with some light reverb hall-like show room feel, so it feels like I'm playing something like an upright piano, though the woofers are capable of much deaper sound resolution. I think compared to the woofers on the NU1, I can't hear the ones on the NU1XA that clearly compared with my NU1, but you also need to realize that the NU1 is in my room.

Hope this helps a bit. I do think the action is much better than the NU1. Midi wise, I know that my NU1 is limited in how much it can hit velocity wise, which I feel is a bit wanting. I hope the NU1XA would be better at that department. I certainly can get a bit more out of the built-in sounds, so I'm not sure if the keyboard is just as good. We'll see.

David Lai

Hi everyone!

Today I went to test out the NU1XA in its audio interface feature. Here are some things I found:

1. Prologue -- as of now, Smart Pianist is not completely accessible. I have to browse by touch to certain things that VoiceOver call "Image" to activate a certain section of the app. However, I wasn't successful in establishing a connection with the piano. I was able to connect to Bluetooth audio, but I can't control the piano using the Smart Pianist app. Maybe I need to explore the manual a bit more?

2. The audio interface feature is very powerful. I was able to achieve a buffer size of 64 on the Yamaha Steinburg ASIO driver, without clicks and pops. I loaded up 2 mics on Modern U and Garritan CFX, all with beautiful and powerful results. After the store staff helped me close down local control and enable the touch curve "light 1," I was in piano heaven! The player perspectives from both libraries really made me feel I was playing.......... an upright piano! 🙂 Yes, and very much so, as that was how the speaker system was designed.

3. Comments about the sound. My dad, who listened in as an audience, said that the sound was a bit muffled. For me, when pushing the piano to a higher volume, I do feel as if there are some vibrations on the keys as I played. But because the woofers are pushed up on the instrument, combined with the tweeters the sound does seem a bit less brilliant. When plugging in headphones, the sound is full-bodied and comfortable. The DAC inside the piano is very low noise and nice to play with, and low latency + 64 samples of buffer size didn't cause the PC laptop to go into panic mode.

Over all, the playing experience felt miles better than my NU1. The only dealbreaker is the touch screen interface. I'm not sure if local control will be turned on again after next powering on. If that is the case, then every single darn time when I switch the piano on, someone will need to help me switch off local control. Oh well....

So much for my thoughts. If you have any questions, you're welcome to comment.

Take care!

David

David Lai

After researching the online manuals, I realized that all I had to do was to start the connection wizard on the Smart Pianist app after connecting with Bluetooth. I'll go to the store again tomorrow to try it out, and report back on what I can or cannot do using the app on my phone.

Pete14

David Lai I do feel as if there are some vibrations on the keys as I played. But because the woofers are pushed up on the instrument, combined with the tweeters the sound does seem a bit less brilliant.

Perhaps the NU1XA allows to make the sound more “brilliant,” if it has some sort of equalizer (or some other parameter dealing with low/mid/high frequencies).

Still, it’s a breath of fresh air to hear some positive news about the NU1XA; especially coming from a good pianist that has a wide point of reference from which to draw comparisons.

I’ve been on the fence about the new sensors, because, whist Yamaha claims that ‘less parts means less maintenance,’ the cynic in me thinks that ‘less parts could mean cost savings,’ but I hope to be proven wrong, and your review, considering you own the NU1, provides some reassurance that the new sensors + speaker configuration might not be so bad after all (still we need more data, but this is a good thing).

You also made me wonder about the “room” perspective, and how your NU1 is actually placed in a room; compared to the NU1XA you tested, which is played in a much-larger “showroom,” and I wonder if some of the lacking reviews have been told from a showroom (dealer) perspective, rather than a ‘normal-sized’ room; because this could indeed color one’s perspective.

Imagine playing an N1X right at the center of Carnegie Hall vs. a living room. I don’t think the upright N1X would fare very well in the much-larger hall, but could be just fine in a living room.

David Lai

Pete14 Hi Pete,

I've been actually entertaining the thought of changing my NU1 to an NU1XA just because of the nice velocity coverage throughout the keyboard. But if by tomorrow, I find out that the Smart Pianist app can't help in turning off local control, then I'll not think about it, as having this instrument means that someone will always have to be by my side, and it's not a long-term solution.

One more thing, the key noise on the NU1XA is lower than that on the NU1, but compared to more slab actions or digital piano specific actions, the noise is still a bit louder.

Though this is an upright piano action, I feel it's very comfortable to play on the NU1XA. Not exactly as responsive as a grand action, but pretty good still.

More later!

CyberGene

David Lai Though this is an upright piano action, I feel it's very comfortable to play on the NU1XA. Not exactly as responsive as a grand action, but pretty good still.

That's my experience too. I'd personally choose an acoustic piano action over any digital piano action, even though it's an upright piano action and has some limitations such as having to release keys almost fully to repeat.

Pete14

I was under the impression that once you turn local control “off” it would stay that way until you changed it back to “on,” but I’m not 100% certain if this is the case with the NU1XA; perhaps you could check at the dealer by shutting the piano down (with local control off), and then turning it back ON to check if it stays that way (local control off), or if it defaults back to local control “on”. (I apologize if you’ve already done this)….

CyberGene

Pete14 no, it reverts to ON after a restart because otherwise it would lead to many service complaints about “faulty” pianos 😉

Pete14

CyberGene

Oh, I see.

Now, I do remember when I first got my P-515, and everything would revert back to default settings upon power “OFF,” but then it turned out that I simply had to go deeper into the menu, and manually select for any changes I made to remain upon power ON/OFF; however, I never checked for local on/off (because I didn’t make any changes there), so I wonder, if buyers are “forced” into manually selecting local off to remain off upon power ON/OFF, then they can’t complain about “no sound coming out the speakers,” because they made this change themselves….😊

David Lai

Pete14 Hi Pete,

It looks like what you said may be doable! Here is the section about backing up settings I found in the manual. One of the settings that it can retain is midi. Now, for someone who might not understand English, which is the common case for my little town, I’ll need to see if I can make these settings independently connecting my phone with Bluetooth without asking help from someone who’s not good at English. We’ll see how this goes.

The following is a direct pasting of text from the manual. Please skip if you’re tired of it.

——————————

Backup Setting (Selecting parameters maintained even when the power is turned off)

This lets you set whether some settings of the Backup Setting (below) are maintained or not when the power is turned off. The Backup Setting consists of two groups, “Voice” (including Voice related settings such as Voice selection) and “Other” (including various settings such as Song Repeat and Tuning), which can be set individually.

Data and settings maintained even when the power is turned off

• User MIDI Song (saved in this instrument’s “User” memory)

• System menu (page 85)

Bluetooth On/Off *

Keyboard (Duo Type only)

Utility

• Backup Setting (explained here)

* For information on whether Bluetooth functionality is included with the instrument or not, refer to page 67.

1Press the [Menu] button several times to select the “System” menu (page 76).

2Use the [Cursor up]/[Cursor down] buttons to select “Backup,” use the [Cursor right] button to call up the next display, then use the [Cursor up]/[Cursor down] buttons to select “Backup Setting.”

3Use the [Cursor right] then the [Cursor up]/[Cursor down] buttons to select “Voice,” then use the [Cursor right] button to select “On” or “Off.”

The “Voice” selection here contains the following settings:

• Voice selection

• All the parameters other than Transpose in the “Voice” menu

4Use the [Cursor up]/[Cursor down] buttons to select “Other,” then use the [Cursor right] button to select “On” or “Off.”

The “Other” selection here contains the following settings:

• Split point

• In the “Song” menu: Song Repeat, Volume (Song-Keyboard), Audio Volume, Quick Play, Play Track

• In the “Metronome” menu: Volume, BPM, Bell On/Off

• In the “System” menu: Tuning, Keyboard (except “Duo” and “Duo Type”), Pedal, Sound, MIDI

5Press the [Exit] button to exit from the “System” menu.

David Lai

Hi everyone!

Well, after a couple of concerto movements, admiring the Flaxen-haired Girl, crossing the Moon River, and Casting my Fate to the Wind (some of the music I played at the show room today), I'm here to report some more.

1. Prologue: SmartPianist really helps, but not without problems. The connection to the piano starts with Bluetooth Audio, then opening SmartPianist, it asks to connect to a nearby instrument. Finishing the Connection Wizzard, both Bluetooth audio and Bluetooth MIDI were connected. That's the most accessible portion of the SmartPianist app. The main app interface needs the screen recognition feature of VoiceOver to be on, but even then there are unlabeled buttons and tabs for me to navigate. With trial and error, I was able to activate the menu using the first button on the top left of the screen. After that, I could choose the voice I want for the built-in tone generator to sound, as well as keyboard touch hardness, pedal, and various other settings. I can even browse the metronome and recording settings. BUT, I can't independently navigate to midi settings and turn off local control. The over all experience on the SmartPianist app is sluggish at best, and somewhat difficult. But at least, despite buttons that need to have proper voiceover labeling, I was able to set a good touch curve and EQ setting for the speakers.

2. After a staff person turned off local control, I powered the piano off and back on again after sometime, and found that local control was still off! Not only that, my touch curve and brightness settings were retained. After resetting to factory settings with the classic C7 plus power shortcut, local control was turned back on and all other settings were unsurprisingly reverted back to factory defaults. Well, in the case that if I were to acquire this instrument and exchange the NU1 for this, I don't need to worry. I'll just turn local control off, and pipe everything through the speakers of the piano. Heck, a fancy hifi system plus piano all in one! Alas, since I'm returning to the US to continue my studies at the end of this month, and as of now, China isn't the place I'll be staying for most of the year, I feel it isn't worth it to seek someone out who may want my NU1, and then buy the NU1XA. I'll just go to the piano store in the sun for the next few days before my return and play there.

3. The NU1XA as a midi controller has been a huge improvement over the NU1. I can hit more velocities, trill better, and generally play more smoothly on the NU1XA. Unfortunately since I can't read the midi data recorded, I can't tell you how consistent the instrument is data wise. But feeling / playing wise, I loved it very much. Of course, a grand action would be more incredible, but with what we have as an upright action, this NU1XA does it very well. The closeness of me listening to the fancy pianos from the sample libraries returned, and I can really take in the sound that's in / near my face. Of course, the sound is not all around me, as it's not a surround system. But at the end of the day, that would be an overkill.

4. Speakers: I feel when EQ's set to Bright1, the speakers sound their best. The piano sounds bothpowerful and brilliant, and my dad enjoyed the sound today. Unfortunately, I can't turn the volume up too high, or risk hearing distortion from the tweeter. I felt like 75% was what I could do to get a distortion free sound, but even then, it felt a bit low. Don't get me wrong, the distortion only happens very rarely, 2 or 3 octaves above middle C and forte would lead to such unnatural sounds. But I did hear some today, so thought I'd share.

5. Epilogue / Side note, AppleVis was a major blind accessibility hub. Unfortunately, with a recent health scare from the founder, this website is closing its doors. If the website had continued to exist, I would have reported problems with the SmartPianists app and potential workarounds to other blind musicians. Unfortunately, I can't even help those in my community due to the website has now gone into a read-only mode, and is forecast to go offline at the end of this month. So I have to voice accessibility on other means. I know not many blind people read this forum, but I want to share with you my experiences and problems, so you can understand better what's it like for me to use modern music technologies like the hybrid pianos we're talking about today.

So much for now. Thoughts and comments are welcome as usual!

David

Pete14

David Lai The NU1XA as a midi controller has been a huge improvement over the NU1. I can hit more velocities, trill better, and generally play more smoothly on the NU1XA. Unfortunately since I can't read the midi data recorded, I can't tell you how consistent the instrument is data wise. But feeling / playing wise, I loved it very much.

Interesting, because the action is supposed to be the same, so it could be that the new sensors are indeed better!

Yamaha vaguely states that the new sensors can ‘better-capture’ the pianists intentions (I’m paraphrasing), so it could be the reason for the improvements you’re noticing.

Now, let’s get that NU1XA into your room! 😄

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