Finally released! With new UI and(!) touchscreen Can't wait to play one.

CVP-609



Best Regards,

Joost

So, Yamaha will never have a touch screen!
I guess never is not never??

The next TX will more than likely have it to...but maybe not?

Time will tell....maybe this year??
Lee

Touch screens are OK in the home which is probably where Yamaha are aiming this Piano, but I honestly believe they are a bad idea for professional use on stage; you need tactile buttons. And it looks too spindly for a miniature grand piano. Suzuki's look much nicer.

I have a friend nearby that has ordered a CVP-609, so I will have a chance to spend a bit of quality time on the instrument.

I love the look, but it's the sound that's most important, and so far, from the brief demos I have heard, it sounds much like the Tyros4, which is very good indeed.

I hope the touch screen does not cross divisions and wind up on the next Tyros, as I am not a fan...many reasons, the main one being no tactile feedback. I love the nice big buttons on my Tyros4.

One nice feature the CVP brings to the table is Yamaha's very own graded hammer action, which is my favorite.

Ian

Not sure about Canada, but definitely in the UK the Tyros big buttons are a plus for the main customer base and you can quickly change an arranger part or use the fills without having to look directly at them - more by touch.

But these Piano's are generally for a different type of player - and if your buying a miniature grand, at least 75% of the purchasing decision is on the aesthetics.

I remember, many years ago, playing Yamaha's old (then new) CS-80 synthesizer, and commenting about the nice big buttons, and then being told Stevie Wonder had one...Yamaha has generally been good on making things easy to find on their instruments.

The buttons on the PSR are a little smaller, and still pretty good, but they don't hold a candle to the big brightly lit buttons on the Tyros4...they remind me of Hall's Cough Drops.

You are mainly right about the client base on Tyros4, TWD, although this past year we sold four Tyros4's to that many professional recording studios (one each), mainly due to the instrument's quick setup (and great sounds) and easy to do recording (audio and MIDI) which is ideal for doing quick song demos in the studio. One guy likened the Tyros4 to a "Swiss Army Knife"...pretty cool compliment.

And yes, you are right again...CVP Pianos, especially the grand versions, are bought by people who are very interested in the look. I'd rather use an 88 note controller with a Tyros4...to heck with the look.

Ian

I have no problems at all getting pretty much 100% reliability from touch screen use, Ian. As long as the GUI is designed so that the buttons are big enough and separated from each other by the required degree (which is an issue even with hardware buttons), I can hit what I need and have no worries about whether it works or not.

There is a lot of blowback from the early days of arranger (or WS) touchscreen problems, but nowadays (as the almost universal use of tablets shows) those issues are long gone.

Physical buttons add enormously to the cost of an arranger, and no redesign is possible once the production model is shipped (whereas software can be changed quite easily). I agree that the arranger's primary functions have dedicated buttons (too many people are married to that), but editing and fader control, things like that SHOULD be touchscreen, IMO.

The cost of these things is dropping like flies, and I can only hope that the day where something like an iPad screen is used for most of an arranger's functions is not too far off...

Touch screen on PA3X is way easier to use than the dark PSR
s950 buttons on black background, and many of the functions ALSO have buttons or real sliders as well. Touch screen on my Roland E50 still works perfectly.
I may punch a hole in the screen on the Yamaha trying to MAKE it touch responsive, at least for a while after playing one of the other keyboards.
DonM

LOL... playing a MotifXS/XF is an exercise in frustration!

I keep hitting the dang screen constantly, then go 'Doh!'

Mind you, as I said GUI is critical. I played a Kronos recently, and found that many, many mission critical things are way too small to accurately hit in the heat of live playing. The main "performance" quick select is nice and big, but most regular stuff is TINY and cramped compared to the PA3X.

The screen may be bigger, but cramming too much into it has ruined the entire experience, for me at least.

I'm a screen kinda guy myself, and I looked at a Kronos and the screen was a big no-no for live work. If you're faffing around in a studio where you have the time to carefully pick your way through all the stuff in view, then no problem. Pa series screens are a doddle in comparison.