Normally I would not post a review of a Clavinova on an Arranger forum. But sometimes a product comes out that is so impressive in looks, feel and style and technologically advanced that its appeal cuts across product boundaries and becomes a universal favorite.

The CVP-309 is a fine example of such an accomplishment and deserves a salute from all music fans. This is the culmination of decades for research at Yamaha R&D and these guys have stuffed the guts of this beast with every advancement in arranger technology known to date. Think of this as the ultimate fusion between an acoustic Grand and a turbo charged Tyros housed in the most elegant polished piano black finish money can buy.

This piano is meant to be the centerpiece of your living room. It will draw oohs and aahs even when it is not playing a single note! The very first thing you will notice when you sit down and rest your fingers is the touch. Man, this thing is incredible. Yamaha went to extraordinary lengths to emulate the action of a real acoustic piano by incorporating an elaborate system of interlocking levers and weights. I was fortunate enough to see a cut out view of how this is assembled. This is plain freakish. I would never have thought I would say this, but the emulation feels better than the real thing. It actually bounces back like a real piano. I actually liked the feel of this to a real acoustic.

Now the sounds. The Grand Piano sample is exquisite. This together with the incredible touch makes you wonder – have we just crossed the point where the emulation excels the real instrument? All the classic DX7 bells are there and well as the Wurlys, Rhodes, Jazz and Gospel organs. All the Tyros voices with the Mega voices are included. I felt they sounded even better on the CVP-309. Could it be better filters and D/A converters? Yamaha left nothing to chance. GM, GM2, XG, Mega Voices, Sweet/Live voices – you name it – its there. Be prepared to be amazed by the Trumpets, Strings, Harmonicas and Accordions. Every patch has been edited to perfection with just the right amount of vibrato, sustain, effects and EQ. They got rid off all the annoying sounds. You can be rest assured there will be no rude surprises.

The display is gorgeous – multicolor 640x480 VGA LCD that can be mimicked on a TV. You can show the lyrics or the score just like a Tyros. The navigation and menus are pretty much the same as the Tyros. It even has red and green guiding lights above the keys to teach someone how to play. It has a fancy vocal harmonizer, a very powerful sound system with multiple speakers plus a microphone that picks up your room reflections and auto adjusts for the right amount of ambience to the final sound. It has USB, a Smart Media slot, and even a floppy drive – a perfect marriage of old and new technology. It has all the accompaniment modes – single, fingered, full keyboard, AI – no matter what your preference is – you are covered.

The styles are typical Yamaha. Very playable even by inexperienced keyboardists. Chord changes are smooth. The styles are the only department where Yamaha fails to dethrone the Pa1X. But with a little patience you can copy the Pa1X styles and create your custom ones from scratch. Yamaha, you should hire Stephen Kay of Korg to spruce up your styles.

To summarize, if you were a piano player and couldn’t afford to have your own grand piano, and wished to enhance your playing with the backing of a top-notch orchestra, the CVP-309 is your dream come true. This is not suitable for gigging musicians. But still, I would encourage everyone to at least go to a Yamaha dealership and check this thing out. It is Yamaha’s statement to what can be done with a cost no object design.

Yamaha has introduced two ground breaking arrangers. On one end we have the CVP-309 and on the other end we have a small wonder – the PSR3000. Now lets wait to see what they do with the Tyros II. Heck, I will settle for 76 keys. Semi-weighted will do just fine.

Tapas