I just bought a Yamaha CLP-745 unseen....

Tyr

Well, i just broke Rule 1: Go to a Shop and test it out.

We moved to a new house last month and i wasn't sure if i can place my NV5 in the new living room. I actually wanted to take it with me to the basement because I have a large room there (26qm) as home office and man cave.

Now it turns out that the NV5 actually fits in the living room. The NV5 would have been wonderful in the man cave, but now I only have my MP11SE and it looks out of place. Exposed cables everywhere and it doesn't fit in with the rest of the furniture.

Normally I've not been very fond of Yamaha (especially the CLP-Line) for some time because I didn't really like their key actions. I had bad experiences with the CLP-545 and CLP-685. But since (first world problems alert) I want a piano that fits visually into the room and I already have a Kawai, I just went for it and ordered the CLP-745.

It would have some advantages:

- I don't need additional speakers (built-in 200W speakers).

- I can simply play VSTs via USB audio interface and forward them to the headphones in the CLP.

- The music stand is closer to my playing position. With the MP11SE, the distance is quite far away, so I have difficulty reading the notes.

- In rosewood it fits perfectly

I read some tests and reviews on YouTube and most of them found out, that the key action is greatly improved. Tim from AZPianoReviews said, that the action of the CLP-745 is a big step forward and i trust him simply because his reviews fit with my impressions most of the time. So i'm very curious to see if it meets my expectations.

It should arive next week, can't wait.

PS: GAS sucks! 😃

MacMacMac

Tyr PS: GAS sucks!

Does G.A.S. cost $5 a gallon? 🙂

Drew-r

Tyr

Congratulations!

Two years ago, this kind of news might have left me madly envious. But, the cooling-off-period inherently brought by the collective virus/canal/supply chain/global-hot-potato thing caused me to step back, re-evaluate and subsequently allow this particular gas attack to pass. I’m happy to say that i have since been infected with a more practical and far less expensive variant/model of gas.

I sincerely hope that as you get to know your 745, you will share some of the points of interest you experience along the way.

Thank you @Tyr

mmatthew

MacMacMac Does G.A.S. cost $5 a gallon? 🙂

Mac, more like $6 here.

Congrats on the purchase Tyr!

CyberGene

Your first impression will be it has too heavy action. Especially since you own a MP11SE. But just play it for some time 😉 The action makes sense when paired with the sound, I don’t know why and how that works exactly.

Tyr

CyberGene

I'm fond with the fact, that you have to acclimate to a new action. I found the NWX on the 545 godawful, even after months of playing. It felt like an old typewriter. I don't think that it will be that harsh and the NV5 action is also heavier than the GF2 on the MP11SE.

David B

video of you playing (when you get it) or it didn't happen. 🙂

God Bless,
David

HZPiano

Drew-r a more practical and far less expensive variant/model of gas

🍓

Tyr

Hi everyone,

i received the CLP-745 today and had not much time to play around with it, but here are my first impressions:

There are some good and bad things about the Action. It's not as heavy as the old NWX or GrandTouch of the previous models. It's easy to press and there is no fatigue going on. It has way less upweight and can be played near the fallboard with close to no effort. The bad is, it feels a bit unbalanced and cheap. Maybe i'm influenced by the NV5 and its precise and high quality action. At the end, it's the first CLP-Action that i like. It's not perfect but a step in the right direction.
The binaural Samples are way way better than before, especially the Bösendorfer which i like more than the CFX.
The Speakers are great for playback and for the other voices, but i think they aren't really made for the CFX or the Bösendorfer. Both of them doesn't sound much better than on a cheap entry level Piano, which is disappointing.

I'm curious about the VST playback over the speakers. I'll give it a try tomorrow.

MBiG

Tyr The binaural Samples are way way better than before, especially the Bösendorfer which i like more than the CFX.

Interesting, unfortunately I don't like the Boesendorfer sound at all on the 785. I can't imagine that a real Boesendorfer actually sounds like that. VSL offers a Boesendorfer for free. I am currently considering switching to VSL.

David B

Tyr I'm curious about the VST playback over the speakers. I'll give it a try tomorrow.

How did it go?

Tyr

David B

It works both on speakers and with headphones plugged in. There is some delay with the Yamaha Steinberg ASIO Driver. It's far from being unplayable but noticable.

I'm more or less shocked after playing the piano for some days how much is missing on the Yamaha samples compared to the Kawai ones, either on Headphones or Speakers. I don't notice much improvement at least on the non binaural samples. The other voices seem to be a copy & paste from a decade ago. I miss some richness (not harshness) and the sustain is rather short. I don't expect a Pianist Mode SK-EX Quality but it doesn't can compete even to Kawais HI-XL Engine on past instruments.

The key action is definitely a step forward. I still like it.

David B

Tyr There is some delay with the Yamaha Steinberg ASIO Driver. It's far from being unplayable but noticable.

I've heard a few other people mention that, but I have never experienced it myself. Running on a Mac the Yamaha audio interface in the N1X can run the buffer at 32 or 16 (if the software supports it). However, I don't know if "ASIO" factors into the Mac. No perceptible latency at all.

God Bless,
David

Mta88

Congratulations on your purchase.

I’m very curious to know how the built in speakers respond to vsts .

I myself have played with the ideas of replacing most of my equipment with one high end digital with powerful speaker system such as the clp- 745 to use alongside vsts.

Tyr

Mta88

In the past, i had tested this with the NU1X and it was amazing. The CLP-745 Speaker Setup isn't good enough to give a decent playback quality IMHO. Maybe it works better on the higher 785, but i doubt that.

Frédéric L

David B However, I don't know if "ASIO" factors into the Mac.

ASIO is an API designed by Steinberg for software like Cubase which makes them able to access directly the audio interface without the process of the Windows audio stack. Apple has made an homologous API, Core Audio, then ASIO is not needed and probably not available.

See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_Audio

Note, Microsoft has added a direct access with its WASAPI mode, but quite late, ASIO had already been the standard mode on Windows if we want low latency access from our musical software.

eddiepiano

Tyr In the past, i had tested this with the NU1X and it was amazing.

I can confirm this. NU1X + Pianoteq (I haven't tested other VSTs, but I doubt it's worse) is amazing and probably the closest to an acoustic I've heard so far.

Mta88

eddiepiano this is good to know.

I wonder what’s the going retail for a nu1x currently post Covid in the US

David B

Frédéric L Apple has made an homologous API, Core Audio, then ASIO is not needed and probably not available.

So Apple's design is more elegant/efficient. I guess that's why we pay the big bucks.

God Bless,
David

Frédéric L

David B The ASIO vs. CoreAudio is not the worst gap between the two platforms. All music oriented audio interface have ASIO driver, then this is not the point. And WASAPI could be used for music production tasks but it has been introduced with Vista : too late, DAW from previous generation have already been designed with ASIO.

The worst thing we have in Windows is that any badly written driver could trigger a uninterrupted DPC (Deferred Procedure Call), which freezes the OS for a while. For many people 1ms freeze from time to time is not worth to be noticed, but if a DAW runs in parallel, 1ms start to become an eternity.