Yamaha Yus5 Review

[Neomi Bensch]

Its funny, it speaks to the difference in style and taste and personal preference and what have you, but I'd call the CP88 action "as heavy as I'd ever want a digital piano to be without me looking elsewhere." It's the most I've ever enjoyed playing a digital piano, that's for sure, but it's definitely more work to play than the spinet in my home studio.

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I received my CP88 today and I'm very happy with it. No need to post a review here since everything has already been said about it but if anyone is interested, I posted a review on another forum: -yamaha-cp88-review

I have a question to other people with the CP88 though. I've recently returned a B-Stock YC73 to Thomann because the depth encoder for effect 2 on the Keys section could be turned to easily, i.e. there's no resistance when turning it. Otherwise it worked as expected. (I was told by an independent Yamaha serviceman that this is a minor issue, probably caused by a leaked oil from the encoder and so the knob would still work with no worries, only the feel would be lighter but they can replace it for me. However it would require desoldering/soldering and the spare parts are now very hard to find and I may have to wait for a few months).

So, I ordered a brand new CP88 instead. Well it has the same "problem" with the "Speed" knob for the effect in the Sub section, as well as the "Rate" knob for the upper effect in the E.Piano section. Some other encoders are also kind of easier to turn than others although they still have resistance. I don't want to return it again because I am exhausted in returning instruments and I love the CP88 so far and this "problem" is indeed minor (and I can ask for encoder replacement later).

But I started wondering, is that normal? Can you check if you have such loose encoders on your CP-s? If we assume that is a defective encoder, I can't believe it's the second rather expensive stage piano with the same problem. Then I started wondering, the Speed knob in the sub section may also be used for the Rotary speed which has only two values: Slow and Fast. Maybe they created it intentionally loose, so that when you change the rotary speed through that knob, you can quickly flick through the two/values? I'd be glad if you can confirm this is a bug or a feature ?

I think it is just the variation of components. Also, pandemic and further parts shortage may caused quality control processes to be less strict. Obviously it's not something making users happy. One knob which is different than all others may be a little annoying, I must say. But I would be more worried about any single a bit unresponsive switch needing excessive force to activate.

It's heavier than my actual piano! (Yamaha YUS5).

Personally I like a heavy action, that resistance is easier on your wrists - if I'm bashing out 3 sets of Montuno on a lightweight action like a Nord Electro, I will feel it the next day, which isn't good in the long run.

That is one thing the Nords have over the Yamaha YC/CP, no Pedal Noise at all. I was thinking 'well who's going to notice', until the day after I buy the YC a client asks for a piano sound 'with a lot of mechanical noise and pedal sound', bloody hell ?. Plugins to the rescue.

No, there are no pedal noises and stuff like that but I don't like them anyway. My go to software piano for my solo classical piano recordings on my YouTube is Garritan CFX and I usually turn pedal and hammer noises almost all the way down, leaving only a faint amount audible and you have to listen very carefully to notice it. I don't think something like that is needed on a stage piano since a stage piano is for gigging and those pedal noises won't be heard and can even go in the way of the entire sound. And if I would be recording a critical solo piano, I would prefer software anyway and not the onboard sounds of a digital piano.

I definitely prefer the CP88 much more than the Numa X Piano 88 that I returned. To a certain degree the keyboards feel the same but I had difficulties playing soft on the Numa which could be because of not very optimal touch response but even tweaking didn't yield satisfying results. I also felt I couldn't play well towards the back of the keys on the Numa.

BTW, the action in the CP88 is quite heavy, probably heavier feeling than the Numa X. I think some people may not like it. The BHS action in the YC73 felt easier to play and lighter. On the other hand, the connection between the keyboard action and the sound is so well made, once you start actually playing the CP88 it feels pretty good. This morning when I woke up, I reached for the switched off piano and my first impression was "the keys are way too heavy... why is that?" but then I turned it on and suddenly when connected to the sound that feeling disappeared. It was very odd.

I don't understand why manufacturers think loud pedal noises are a good thing (the Rhodes nose is the worse!). Concentrate on the sound and resonances of the piano, not some mechanical noise the damn thing makes! Thank god I can turn down, or turn off the pedal noises on the Numa Piano X. That was the first thing I did.

Just to re-iterate what I wrote on the Numa X thread, I agree. There is a bit more resistance playing at the back of the keys on the X Piano. It feels like the key pivot point is closer than it should be. (I wonder if Fatar is also eyeing the ultra-slim DP market and the TP/110 keybed was designed with that in mind.)

BTW, the action in the CP88 is quite heavy, probably heavier feeling than the Numa X. I think some people may not like it. The BHS action in the YC73 felt easier to play and lighter. On the other hand, the connection between the keyboard action and the sound is so well made, once you start actually playing the CP88 it feels pretty good.

I feel the same way. I'd say the CP88 is fairly heavy and the X Piano is on the lighter side. The CP/YC73 is probably closer to the X Piano but feels different. Although I've demoed all those boards in the store, I only had a chance to A/B the CP88 and X Piano 88 as the YC73 I had demoed weeks earlier had been sold.

I also agree that the touch-to-sound connection is probably better on the CP88 over the X Piano, not that the X Piano is bad. I'm not surprised that a better connection to the sound makes the action feel better. Instead of having to adjust your playing (whether consciously or unconsciously), you are playing more relaxed.

I enjoyed playing the YC88 in the store, a lot more than the CP73, back when neither of these boards had yet had their velocity-tweaking updates, saying at the time that if the 73 had felt like the 88, I wouldn't have returned it. (Either 88 was out of the question for me due to travel weight.) But I did find the YC88 action to be on the heavy side, especially the lower keys. The velocity improvement to the 73s with the update plus the fact that I ended up unexpectedly finding it useful for organ, made the YC73 the right choice for me, though it's still a mental adjustment to not have a shallow slab on the bottom, to have that extra panel depth there.

Hi there, just wondering if you can connect 3rd part foot controllers to the YC 88? Or do you need to get the yamaha FC 7 to have an expression pedal. I already had a high quality BOSS expression pedal. But I can seem to get it to work on my YC. Any help is appreciated!!

Might be late to the party, but is connecting a dual manual controller (such as the GSi DMC-122) or two external MIDI boards to independently control both organ manuals still a no go? i.e. Yamaha has not yet implemented different MIDI channel to control the upper and lower organ parts? Or has there been a workaround included in an update that would allow this?

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