unless you have extremely big fingers like some people. i'm lucky in a way cause i can play this easily with my slightly smaller hand, but can barely reach a 9th on a real piano
This is by far the best review of this little keyboard. You know how to drive it correctly and demonstrate the best of this keyboard... and your really a great player! Many thanks for this video! Greatings from Canada ;)
Mine just arrived today. Out of the box, this thing sounds decent. The built in mini speakers that it comes with are better than I was expecting. They're certainly usable for practicing at the beach or when I'm away from my main gear. When I run it through my KALI monitor speakers though, that's when this thing really shines. The notes from the Rhodes sound very percussive and real, unlike a lot of software and hardware emulations where it can get really spongy sounding or even too brittle sounding. The same holds true with the Clavi. Up until now, I haven't found a Clavi that I'm remotely happy with; this one does a good job. The onboard effects on this unit are all very good. I might not necessarily record using these effects, but they're very good for live playing. Another cool feature is that I can put this thing on my lap and play crazy left hand voices - a root and a tenth voicing is just a mild stretch - and then use my right hand to play my midi controller. These mini keys open up some different possibilities. Lastly, in no way does this replace a real Rhodes, Whirly, CP 80, or Clavi. Each of those instruments have too many idiosyncrasies to be replaced by a digital emulation with perfect or near perfect accuracy. What you're getting here is a compact kit that's small and portable that more than holds it's own with any of the best emulations of the included instruments.
The built in speakers are *better* than you were expecting? Damn, talk about setting a low bar. I thought the build-in speakers were so bad I just sold mine. It was worthless without an external amp.
I spent a few weeks demoing all four reface keyboards and the cp was by far my fave of the bunch. I was totally against the idea when I first heard Yamaha were bringing out a range of mini key three octave boards but I have to admit they do grow on you. The cp sounds good...to my ears, the keybed is a joy to play..for mini keys and those small speakers are not just an afterthought, they are quite loud and sound like quality. Ok so it's not 'groundbreaking' and many people will write it off without even trying one but they are a LOT of fun and if the price were a bit lower I would buy one myself. I still think the current street price is too high.
+yamahaforums The speakers are neither "quite loud" nor do they "sound like quality." They are a major disappointment. They rattle and clang like mad, even at 50% volume, unusable even for playing around in the evening in your sofa. I sold my unit because if that. If I have to connect external speakers even for home playing in a quite night, I might as well get some entertainment keyboard with full size keys and reasonable speakers.
Well you obviously had a faulty keyboard. Why didn't you get it replaced? I had all four reface keyboards here and they all sounded just fine through their built in speakers. I also played around with them at the Montage launch event and those were also fine. IF there were any issues I would certainly have said so.
+yamahaforums well then there must be a lot of faulty units out there and Yamaha doesn't care or even reply on the official forum: yamahasynth.com/index.php?option=com_easydiscuss&view=post&id=3509&Itemid=851
+beezesty Well that's 6 people out of how many thousands sold? I didn't find any problems at all and I'm pretty sure Yamaha didn't either or they would have replaced the faulty units. Small speakers are never going to handle all frequencies well. They are a compromise. The speakers on the reface are there so you can play anywhere the mood strikes, they are not really intended to be the main source of output. Having said that I will take this up with Yamaha and see what they have to say about the issues you mentioned.
+yamahaforums Well that was the English speaking forum. I invite you to take a look at the Google translated feedback of verified buyers at one of Europe's largest retailers: translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A//www.thomann.de/de/yamaha_reface_cp_reviews.htm I really think Yamaha should either not have included speakers, or serious reply to the shortcomings of this design.
Jer TheJambon lmaooo same! i don't have the money for these but want the CP and YC or CS after it. i'm gonna get the CP in september and i'll have to save for a while to get one of the other two.
5:42 I never thought of it that way! Mini-keys allow you to spread a chord voicing much wider than full-size keys do. *rubs hands together mischievously* NOW I'm interested.
Secret piano sound. Turn off the CP. Place the instrument selector button midway between any two instruments. Turn on the CP. You now have an acoustic piano sound.
It works but I heard some people complained that later on their CP could not turn into normal mode which means by hacking the CP you are destroying your lil el.piano.Even Yamaha are not aware of this hack.
T.I.N Mateus I have been playing mine for a couple of months in acoustic piano mode with no problems so far. But it does feel a bit wrong to be turning the knob into a middle position between two settings.
@@monx Jup. I had a Reface CP and can confirm that it worked. Also I had no problem switching back to a normal sound. It's such a shame that this sound wasn't included in the final product. I also think I have read somewhere that Yamaha "fixed" this mistake with a new firmware which doesn't feature the piano anymore :P It wasn't the best piano I have ever heard, but still, it was very usable and a joy to play on this little keyboard. For some reason getting limited by three octaves in conjunction with the easy but nice action of the keys always sparks my imagination and I can just play without running out of ideas :) I only have the DX now, I kinda regret selling the other models, first and foremost the CP.
I have for the project to purchase CP and YC to play live, I'd love to listen to you play with 2 simultaneously :) for me, very Nice combo CP and YC ^^
There is also a real piano hidden there!! 🎶 If you carefully move the voice control between two sounds when switched off and then switch it on, you will hear a real grand piano sound!! This is a little Easter egg. 🐣 It's a shame they didn't know! But as always, a great presentation 👍
I suspect that mini keys would be advantageous in terms of complex voicings for chords, and in terms of playing octaves more easily --- but would make some other things harder to play, in terms of rapid melodies. Hard to say. These Reface units would undoubtedly be a lot more compact, though. I guess that one could always connect a separate MIDI controller with full-size keys for situations where those full-size keys were better. I think it's funny that the demo includes a toy piano sound, because this thing reminds me of nothing so much as a high-tech toy piano.
i wanted to buy something cheap to learn how to play some steely dan/herbie hancock style rhodes and this is definitely it!! wow. I'm super impressed by this. As good as a REAL rhodes suitcase? no, but man this is close.
I know it's been four years since you posted this comment, but I recommend the Arturia Keylab 88 Essential. It isn't very expensive, but it has over 6000 sounds and it feels amazing. You get great Rhodes sounds out of it. Arturia sounds are always the best.
I know they never will, but i wonder if it's possible to get a firmware that replaces toy piano...because man, like everyone says- what a waste of a slot....
This sounds great when Katsunori-san plays it. But a 3-octive piano? I'd need a real keyboard to play it from. And they couldn't even stick a proper electric piano sound on it? It's not 1980. This is a great instrument in some ways, but I can't see myself getting one.
+geoffk777 Uh, yes? It has a Fender Rhodes, a Rhodes made to sound like the Dyno-My modded ones, and a Wurlitzer, all of which feature such details as mechanical sounds.
Ok, that's fine then. It wasn't demo'ed, so I didn't realize. But my comments about the keybard still apply. This is more like a rack module with a tiny keyboard stuck on than something hat you could use on stage by itself.
That may be true. I've been pretty satisfied with its keys and built-in speakers, I will definitely use this on the go or on sessions outside of my home. At home, however, I use another 73-key board to control it.The reason is purely that I like the feeling of using a lot of force when you want to, or expressive playing. The sounds are completely infallible. Hence why I got it. The mechanical noises sampled are also very subtle and tasteful.
I'm annoyed that they took up one of the few soundsets with a toy piano preset. The rest of the instrument sounds are pretty solid. But, that price is a little steep. I've not seen one in person to comment on the build quality--I'd hope it's quality at $400 price point.
Eric Liss this thing is super solid and has a textured black finish I've come to love. The yc actually has a slightly different, more organ like which man especially sense feel to it. I love both and played with a band through headphones and all were impressed
