Yamaha Keyboards

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It is beautifully styled with the sound patches intuitively placed. Most noticeably were the onboard left and right speakers housed in a well designed cabinet. No need to plug a separate sound system to listen to this keyboard. I sat down and took the piano out for a test drive. Having played many pianos in my life this one stood out for me.

In particular the keys responded with assurance to every musical expression that I demanded of it. So inspiring, that I had a hard time to draw myself away from it. The key action is somewhat more forgiving than the stiffer CP250.

There are some subtle differences between the Yamaha CP300 and CP250 that are not readily noticeable. The CP300 is cosmetically the same as the CP250. In other words, no new face lift for this keyboard. 

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Product managers at Yamaha must have finally been listening; a long awaited mono piano patch, a staple of the CP33 made its inaugural appearance on the CP300 . I can’t understand why this feature never made it into the CP90, 120 and 250 line of stage pianos.

After all, a mono patch is almost a necessity for a piano to cut through the crowded sonic spectrum that is the typical domain of a stage band. I guess the product managers have been listening to its paying customers, the owners of CP250, 120 and the CP90 keyboards.

The sounds emanating from the CP300 contrasts that of the CP250 in that each patch on the CP300 sounds noticeably ‘brighter’ while the CP50 sounds slighter ‘fuller’ or richer. It is presumed that the Yamaha CP300 digital Some CP300 key features include:

One of the most popular, the Yamaha MM8 keyboard has a good reason. Some of you may wonder what the MM eight stands for. It actually stands for mini motif, a representation of the motif keyboard created by Yamaha.

One of the contrasting differences between the motif and the MM8 is that the sound libraries are borrowed from the PSR line of keyboards. Hence, the Yamaha MM8 is somewhat of a hybrid.

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One notable feature is that the keyboard itself is actually an 88 note piano with graduated hammer action and is considerably larger than previous models.

If we look at the top console layout of the keyboard it would appear to be somewhat sparse but that is just because of the size of the keyboard. Yet there are a lot of features built-in including an array of buttons to keep you happy.

This keyboard is somewhat light to carry even though it features graded hammer action keys. Certainly the Yamaha MM8 is well-suited for band performance, however if you are considering using his kennel is a full-fledged recording studio on its own then you might want to consider another keyboard for that purpose or hook it up to a computer equipped with MIDI software.

On power up the Yamaha MM8 defaults to an somewhat punctuated acoustic grand piano rather than the standard acoustic piano. Yamaha refers to this as the power grand, a sound that is very present and upfront.

While it is a great sound it isn’t all that great for creating solos in his more well adapted to background playing. I would suggest using some of the other internal piano sounds. The MM8 features the ability to split or layer the keyboard in the same manner as many other keyboards, so nothing new there.

Wanting to certainly note which came as somewhat of a surprise is the fact that the keyboard only supports 32 notes of polyphony. That is a big surprise given the price for this keyboard. Maybe keyboards in this price range usually sport 64 notes of polyphony. So using the MM8

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Now it is time to take a look at a few other quality, professional keyboards, and compare them with the CP-4. Let’s start with the difference between the Yamaha CP-4 and CP-40.

The CP-40 is basically the next step down from the CP-4. It has the only CF grand piano sound, and all of the other electric piano sounds, as well as other sounds, but not as many variations as its big brother, the CP-4.

If you are looking to spend less money, this is a better option than the CP-4, but, it just doesn’t have the same quality. For instance, the keys are plastic, whereas on the CP-4 they are made from wood. There is a three-band EQ, but there are no XLR outputs.

Now we will look at the Yamaha CP-4 vs the Roland RD-800. Roland is a big name in keyboards and digital pianos, and the RD-800 has a lot of great features. It has far more sounds than the Yamaha CP-4 (over 1,100).

This keyboard has Roland’s Progressive Hammer Action, and the keys actually feel like real wood (but, they are real wood on the CP-4). One thing we do prefer on the Roland is the control panel, which is laid out well and easy to use.

The next comparison is Yamaha CP-4 vs Roland RD-2000. This keyboard has keys that are made with a wood and plastic hybrid, and they feel like real ebony and ivory. There are 88 keys, and the PCM sound generator. What we like about this that the Yamaha CP-4 doesn’t have are the two independent sound engines: V-Piano Technology and SuperNATURAL.

This keyboard also has premium action, and the controller features are quite advanced. But, it does cost more than the CP-4, so if you do not need these extra features, it may not be worth the price.

Now we take a look at the Nord Stage 2 keyboard. The first difference that you will notice between this and the CP-4 is the color.

This keyboard is red, so it is really going to stand out. As for features, it does have a few that you won’t find on the CP-4, but at the same time, the CP-4 has features that aren’t on the Nord Stage 2, such as the ability to use voice commands rather than pressing buttons to activate the features you want. But, it does have some pretty nifty editing software you won’t find on the CP-4. All in all, when it comes to the Yamaha CP-4 vs Nord Stage 2, Yamaha comes out on top.

We have one last Yamaha keyboard that we would like to use in this comparison, the P-255. Even though these keyboards are meant for professionals, anyone can play on this, thanks to the Yamaha Education Suite, which makes it easy to learn the basics of playing the piano.

Of course, this is also a feature on the CP-4. In fact, most of the features are pretty much the same on both keyboards. In the battle of Yamaha CP-4 vs P-255, we think it is pretty much a tie.

Whether you are going on the road, recording in the studio, or practicing at home, you need a keyboard that is going to give you the same sound and feel of a traditional grand piano. The Yamaha CP-4 gives you that, and so much more.

The sound sampling is recorded from the best hand-crafted grand pianos from Yamaha, and the built-in speakers really deliver on that sound, giving you the feel of playing in a concert hall, even if you are only playing in a small room.