Yamaha CP88 Review

I received the Yamaha CP88 today. This will be a very brief initial review that I may update when I use it for more time.

General

It is a very solid instrument with all metal panels. Not very heavy for such a robust stage piano at 18kg. Slightly better than those 22kg digital pianos. It's also good-looking, kind of vintage due to rocker switches, etc. I like that they put the pitch and modulation sticks above the keyboard and not to the left as on some other stage pianos, thus it's not too wide.

Interface

It's very easy to use, similar to a Nord interface but everybody already knows that.

Keyboard

It has NW-GH3 action. I'm not sure what exactly that means since the name is a mix between NWX (as in P515) and GH3 (as in some of their Clavinovas). The keys feel nice and heavy. I've been going back and forth between it and my Yamaha AvantGrand N1X and the CP88 feels slightly heavier and just a bit more pushing against your fingers compared to the real grand piano action. But difference is not huge and I felt comfortable with that transition. It's not a tiring action to play, nor is annoying in any particular way. What is more, it doesn't have artificial escapement simulation which is something I love! It's graded though and has wooden sides (cores?). The touch response with the piano sounds is very good. I returned a YC73 (with BHS action) before getting the CP88 and I think the BHS action was less heavy and easier to play but also more pushing towards your fingers and the BHS also had some plastic feel to it whereas here I feel more of "pushing some real hammer" beneath my fingers. That is all subjective but I can say the NW-GH3 action is definitely a superior action compared to the BHS and is probably among the best digital piano actions I've tried.

The white keys have some fake ivory surface to minimize friction. I'm not a huge fan of those. But my skin is very dry usually. Maybe people who sweat a lot will find it good. The black keys have artificially roughened texture and I find this pretty silly. All at all, the smooth white acrylic and (whatever it's covered with) black surface of my N1X feels more refined and higher quality than this fakery. But it's not a criticism. Maybe some people love those things.

Sounds

This is a professional stage piano for gigging musicians, not acoustic piano replacement (or home piano), so take that in mind

All sounds are really sweet and nice. I first went through all the factory programs which include various acoustic pianos, electric pianos, as well as various layers with pads, organs, synths, etc. and there wasn't a single one that made me think "this is cheap, why did they put it?". I'm usually very critical about layered pianos with pads and strings but I guess the quality of the samples and effects is pretty high here because none was annoying, they are very subtle and varied and many of them reminded me of sounds I've heard on Lyle Mays records. It's definitely been programmed by real musicians who use these programs rather than engineers.

As of firmware 1.5 there are now 6-7 full different acoustic piano samples with the CFX naturally being my favorite, I'm used to that sound already. They recently introduced a Hamburg (presumably Steinway) which is also very nice. There is a "Nashville" sample which sounds realistically imperfect and thus suitable for non-classical piano work. When I say "imperfect" I don't mean honky-tonk, rather a piano that is more real life, like a good workhorse (non-concert size) grand piano that you would find in a studio. And it's not an exaggerated piano sound that is artificially brightened or something like that. It's just a nice studio grand piano sound (I think Nashville is the studio where that piano was sampled) that can find great usage on stage and in more pop/jazz oriented context.

There are also a few upright pianos and the recently added felt piano in 1.5 is absolutely fantastic! Especially combined with the excellent reverb and compressor it's a nice sound for modern cinematic/pop stuff.

There are so many Rhodes samples and all of them are excellent (I'm starting to repeat myself)... The effects and the amp simulation are too. Enough said.

The pads and strings are all very nice. Jazz organs are OK I think, there's nice rotary simulation. Maybe not for purists but usable.

All the effects sound great. The reverb is a high quality one IMO. Not to VST standards but better than the average for professional stage pianos. And light years ahead of the usual reverb in home digital pianos.

Features

It has a USB interface, so I can easily add Moog Model D (and other iOS synths) to it through a single USB cable to my iPhone (for both MIDI and digital audio). It also has a very good master controller functionality with 4 external zones with detailed settings (including program change), so one can prepare live sets that include external synths.

Another "feature" is Yamaha have IdeaScale where people can suggest features for the CP/YC (and other instruments) and they listen to the customers and implement some ideas, constantly improving the usability, adding samples and features. Seems those instruments were created as platforms that can be constantly updated and enriched and that is rather surprising when you consider it's Yamaha who are the last company you could expect that from!

Cons

It would be great if there was VRM. There's only damper resonance effect which is rather subtle but as I said it's a professional stage piano for gigging and not for home situations.

I returned the YC73 because one of the encoders didn't have resistance when turned (leaked oil according to Yamaha service center). Well, I also have a few of these here 😕 I'm already tired of returning instruments to Thomann (with no piano available for weeks) and I will consider this a small issue and will live with it after all.
I feel dumb now. Seems like the no-resistance encoders are intentional and I returned a perfectly working YC73. But well, it's a blessing in disguise since I like the CP88 more than the YC73 😀

CyberGene one of the encoders didn't have resistance when turned (leaked oil according to Yamaha service center). Well, I also have a few of these here 😕

I'd say that is unacceptable in a € 2.159 instrument. Even more so if this is the second one you find these defects in.

Otherwise, nice review, good photographs!

Cheers and happy further evaluation,

HZ

HZPiano I'd say that is unacceptable in a € 2.159 instrument. Even more so if this is the second one you find these defects in.

I'm trying to figure out what to make of it. When I spoke to a Yamaha technician, he wasn't familiar with the YC73 (nor CP88 for that matter), it was a local Bulgarian Yamaha technician and in his own words this is very minor and won't affect the function of the encoder in any way. The encoder works as expected, it just turns more easily than the rest of the encoders. It's not such a big deal after all and I guess many people wouldn't notice it. I'm wondering if it's caused by low quality control and/or defective batch of encoders. The serviceman said the situation with spare parts is war-like at the moment and I can order these encoders for him to replace them but it can take 6 months... Maybe Yamaha are also having shortages with those parts and decided to just use what they have (a risky and arguable decision if it was intentional though!). Besides, according to Thomann, Yamaha only supply a few pianos which are immediately pre-ordered which is why there are no available pianos at any moment now and one needs to pre-order.

I'm pretty sure only a very few people would notice that different mechanical resistance of the encoders though since it works smoothly otherwise and its function is not affected, only the mechanical feel. Maybe it's me who are too anal about these things...

Something that may be useful for people who are buying the CP88 for gigging. I tried to find a soft case for the CP88 since the original one by Yamaha is ridiculously expensive. The only one that had matching dimensions is the Gator GKB-88 Slim:

https://www.thomann.de/intl/bg/gator_gkb_88_slim.htm

I'm happy to say that it is a perfect fit! Not only this, there are two internal straps that are meant to secure the piano inside and they go at positions where there are no knobs and buttons, so it's as though they calculated it for the CP88. And those internal straps also have a very thick padding at the upper part, so they serve as spacers that lift the case above the encoders and the knobs. The case itself seems very robust and thick padded but I will have to see that after I start using it more.

Hmm, I think the "faulty" encoder might be a feature, not a bug. It's the same encoder that (besides other functions) is used for "rotary speed" control and when used as such it only has two values (slow and fast) and maybe it's intentionally with lower resistance, so you can quickly flick between slow and fast Leslie. I will feel very stupid if that is by design and I didn't consider it and returned the YC73 for it 🤦🏻‍♂️ But I'm glad I took the CP88 instead.

I was not aware that the NW-GH3 was a “wooden” action; I was under the impression that the current wooden actions were the NWX and GrandTouch, and all the rest were plastic (‘folded’ actions).

I don’t care about the fake escapement either, but I have to admit, it is barely noticeable in the P-515.

I am one of ‘those’ who believe that the wood makes a difference, and that all things being equal between plastic/wooden keys (design/weight, etc..) there is still something to wooden keys that is missing in plastic keys. What it is, I don’t know; but my fingers do

Great review. I'm glad you're happy with it. Now let's see/hear you play it. 😀

God Bless,
David

CyberGene

In the photo, what is the mini-keyboard above the CP88 (with brown wooden cheeks), a Moog?

Can you or do you use either keyboard to play the other via midi, or do you just like to have the mini right there to play - separate - from the CP88?

Drew-r In the photo, what is the mini-keyboard above the CP88 (with brown wooden cheeks)

It's an ASM Hydrasynth (with custom-made wooden cheeks by an Italian member of the Hydrasynth Facebook Group). It's my favorite synth, very easy to program but also with very powerful architecture and supporting polyphonic aftertouch, i.e. when you play a chord and hold it, you can accentuate separate notes by pressing more the corresponding key with your finger. That is a very rare feature, most keyboards support only channel aftertouch which means that if you push a key, it won't know which key you're pushing and will activate aftertouch for all the currently held notes.

Drew-r Can you or do you use either keyboard to play the other via midi, or do you just like to have the mini right there to play - separate - from the CP88?

I only connect the audio output from the Hydrasynth to the audio input of the Yamaha, so that I can listen to both at the same time from my headphones connected to the Yamaha but otherwise I play them separately. I prefer that way, the hammer action is for pianos, the synth is for synth stuff 🙂

HZPiano I'd say that is unacceptable in a € 2.159 instrument. Even more so if this is the second one you find these defects in.

It is now confirmed this is a feature, not a bug and is intentional 🤦🏻‍♂️ Very silly on my side to return the YC73 thinking it was defective while it was perfectly OK but anyway, I like the CP88 more 😀

Here’s some random noodling, some Rhodes + Hydrasynth first, then in the middle I show some of the piano samples, then I end with the felt piano and a lot of reverb.

Can I have some ‘random noodling’ to go?😉

It’s definitely worth it, you guys, this obsession of ours, and if only more people knew this, they’d spend less time small-talking and more time playing an instrument.

I go to sleep thinking piano; I wake up thinking piano, and there is no better obsession that I can think of on this planet.

Pete14 Thank you, Pete! And yes, I go to bed with the piano, not just because I always think of pianos but because if you look close at the video above, you'd realize that's actually a bed I'm sitting at and my pillow is also visible there 🤣 My wife is usually on my right (well, when I'm not snoring, that is) and my CP88 is now on my left...

Before the NWX (and its escapement emulation), there was the NW (CLP470 and CLP480). With its name, the NW-GH3 could be closer to the NW than to the NWX (or even identical).

I think it’s a GH3 action (because it has triple sensors) but with wooden cores. I think the NW actions were similar to Kawai if I’m not mistaken: with long wooden key sticks. And this one is a folded action, possibly close to GH3 action, hence the name. The NWX is a more advanced action at least from my memories with the P515.

CyberGene I go to bed with the piano, not just because I always think of pianos but because if you look close at the video above, you'd realize that's actually a bed I'm sitting at and my pillow is also visible there 🤣

Honestly, I was wondering if that was a bed you were sitting on, but I didn’t feel comfortable asking you.😁

So yes, you literally go to bed playing the piano, and it would be interesting to know how your bed compares to an overpriced Jansen bench.😉

Pete14 The bed is too low and the stand is already at its lowest possible position but I'm still too low and uncomfortable. I'm wondering how Glenn Gould and Evgeni Bozhanov manage to play that low... I use some pillows to get higher.

Hopefully I will find a space soon where I can make my own small studio and a home office... The bedroom is at its limits right now 😢

I love Gould, but I’ve come to believe the whole sitting extremely low and “I only play on that chair” was simply Gould being Gould.

He did love “shocking/pissing off” the establishment, but sometimes he went a bit too far, or should I say too low?

I wonder if some of his excesses (including over-medicating) eventually caught up with him. I’ve heard that he developed several “hand-issues” towards the end of his life.

P.S.

Good luck with building your studio/office/man-cave.😉

CyberGene Here’s some random noodling, some Rhodes + Hydrasynth first, then in the middle I show some of the piano samples, then I end with the felt piano and a lot of reverb.

Awesome!

Great music to go with a psilocybin treatment. 😀

Seriously though, I wish I could just sit down and create music like that. Thanks for sharing.

God Bless,
David

Great review and loving that spacey vibe CG, just what I need to help me get to sleep now………