LordEniac wrote:I purchased a Yamaha Clavinova CLP 611 around 1996 and am thinking of upgrading. My initial thought was to stick with the Clavinova line, but it appears that these pianos no longer support physical MIDI ports/cables (i.e. they're all Bluetooth). I haven't done exhaustive research on the MIDI features on the CLP 800 series, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Bluetooth latency is an issue. Call me old school if needed.
Edit.. The 845 will support MIDI over USB.
Never had any experience other than 5pin MIDI connectors, but I'm assuming USB is fairly reliable and latency isn't a huge deal.
My main reasons for wanting an upgrade are (simply put) a better "feel" of the tactile aspects (wooden keys, overall action, pedal feel, etc.) compared to the plastic keys of my 611.
Biggest question I have is, if my current Clavinova is working fine, is it really worth the money for better keyboard feel/action/etc.?
Thanks
The simple answer is that worth the money is relative and you will more or less get what you pay for. I've played several old and new Yamaha (and Roland, Casio, and Kawai) console and hybrid digitals lately and my personal conclusion is that they (with the exception of the lovely action of the Kawai and Casio hybrids do not have much to offer as durable and pleasant MIDI controllers. Everyone has their own tastes and that cannot be substituted by my limited viewpoint-- so basically I'm not sure this applies to you.
If I were buying for action (and modernity), and had a budget of say $5000 dollars + maintenance/accessory money, and the piano had other features I look for (high res MIDI, roughly predictable touch response etc) the Casio hammered hybrid would be on the list ( look for maintenance costs tho), as would Stage 88 and possibly other Nords, certain higher end workstations from Yamaha, Korg, and Roland, plus maybe Roland 2000, and perhaps a couple of others. Without excellent MIDI capabilities, setting the latest computer controls aside you can include Yamaha CP88 /73, Kawai hybrid, and rebuilt used flagship stage pianos (try before you buy!) as well as older casio privia lines pre-1000 especially if you are willing to buy a few and replace your current board every few years and dont care about having to buy a separate continuous midi pedal.
But you asked about value for cost. Newest console Casios and Yamahas as MIDI controllers in my opinion are too expensive for what you get, e.g. at the level of the Yamaha 800 series. For cheaper examples Casio px 1000-thru-7000 have actions that are bad to mediocre but they meet a price point that is appealing to many. Yamaha p525 action is nice new but is either not durable or not as responsive as it should be on certain notes -- in my limited experience. I honestly do not know if the nicer ones I've mentioned are more durable. I have reason to suspect so of the Nord Stage, which has a very light but lovely and responsive action and was present in a store where literally beating instruments is standard. Limit data set but here it is: any of those ~$2k-5k options in paragraph 2 seem worth trying at least.
You could go bargain (or not)hunting and for (non high res velocity) MIDI controlling -- I don't know about the rest of you setup but on-board sounds are important but not always critical. Action will be a bit weird vs the other boards mentioned but hey, you might like it even better depending. I don't have a ton to say about these controller only actions, but the few major and minor brand options I tried feel terrible to me. Store shelves are sadder these days than in the 90s, so I believe good ones are out there.
Corrected several remarks
Last edited by bani223 (17-09-2024 23:36)
MOTU M2 using native ASIO driver, Windows 11, weird tweaks needed to make it work, but seems fine now.
I have posted several times about tweaking Pianoteq
