A new keyboard in a huge box showed up yesterday by truck (Weighing in at 69 lbs.without stand). I had not seen this keyboard except in a picture, but thought I had to have it because of what it can do!
This is an 88 graded hammer action keyboard built in a beautiful mahogany wood grain with speakers slab type box. It is designed to be portable, although heavy and with it's 3 pedals in a seperate box which doesn't need to be installed to a stand, makes a beautiful package for those needing a full 88 note arranger keyboard at home or away (although I think it is more a home keyboard because of size and weight). This product has a great piano sound which features some of Yamaha's "natural sounds". Yamaha uses 3 layers of samples per zone and there are about 35 different sampled zones (multisamples). There is 96 note polyphony and Yamaha states in the on screen demo that the natural voices has it's own tone generator and the styles use it's own tone generator so you don't run out of polyphony when needing to play the right hand sounds as some keyboards do. There are session styles like the Clavinova CVP205 and most of the features found in the PSR2000 and PSR9000. There is a great sounding 60 watt sound system and a seperate mic input and gain control with a line/mic switch which goes through the effects processor but there is no vocal harmony function. Lyrics and notation are shown and there is a 16 track sequencer. This is a new product for the Pro Division of Yamaha even though this product shares most of the Clavinova divisions functions and sounds. Having the look of a more portable but beautifully designed keyboard, this product is sure to do well. The list price of this product is $3995 with a MAP price of $3495.00. It is less expensive than the Clavinova line similar products. For those of you who might like the sounds and styles Yamaha offers in a large, but still portable 88 note model, this is the one to check out!
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566

[This message has been edited by George Kaye (edited 08-30-2002).]