Yamaha CP88/CP73 Review – Here’s Why It’s Great

Yamaha CP88 Review

The Yamaha CP88 & CP 73 Stage pianos are relatively new keyboards from Yamaha. This release was very anticipated and I was very happy to give a full review on it below.

Incredible Stage Piano
Yamaha CP88
4.5

The CP-88 is one of my favorite keyboards. It's very similar to the Korg SV-2 when it comes to performance. The electric pianos and feel of the keys on the CP-88 are incredible, making it one of my top picks.

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It is my opinion that the Yamaha CP88 and CP73 stage pianos are extremely nice keyboards. The key-bed is one of the main selling points as the keys are made of natural wood. Everything that I have read and watched has commented on how nice they feel to your fingers. The spring is great and the key-action is exactly what you would expect from a stage piano. When I first saw the look of the CP88 I was immediately reminded of the ever-popular Nord, only in a different color. Continue reading to see my full review.

For those looking for a cheaper, yet high-quality Yamaha digital piano, check out the Yamaha P-45. This is affordable and heavily recommended amongst the piano community. I regularly play on one of these at my drummer’s house.

I was surprised to see them come out with another stage piano so soon as they recently came out with the Yamaha P-515. You can check my review out for that at the link.

The CP88 Key-Bed

Yamaha CP 88 Review

This is something that every serious pianist will be asking about. I realize that I already mentioned that the bed is fantastic, but I want to explain why. I think wooden keys just feel so much more realistic than other synthetic based keys. I also think they feel heavier to the finger, which definitely works with the action that the keys have.

Note: The Yamaha CP88 has hammer grade action keys. This means that the keys play as close to an acoustic piano that they possibly can. The lower register are weighted and have a little bit more resistance than the higher keys.

The tops of the keys are synthetic ebony and ivory and they are porous. This is supposed to make the keys have a little bit more grip to them. I have noticed this with some Yamaha Digital pianos and it’s always something that I really enjoy.

The keys are heavy in the low end and light in the high end, just like a normal pianoThis allows you to be more dynamic when playing expressively or playing pieces that require dynamics.

Are you looking for a bench with extra storage for your keyboard? I just did an article on my favorite piano benches that you can check out here.

Sounds

The main piano samples are the Yamaha CFX, the Yamaha S700, and the Bösendorfer Imperial 290. When hearing these samples you can’t really tell that they’re not coming from an actual piano. I was blown away when watching tutorials personally. The Bösendorfer is one of the most famous samples due to how realistic and expressive it is.

If you are looking for a nice set of headphones for your digital piano, check these ones out. These are my top picks specifically for digital pianos.

The electric piano sounds that come from the Yamaha CP88, in my opinion, are money. Check out this video and listen to the first electric piano sound you hear near the middle of the video. Very expressive and beautiful sounding.

Since this is a stage piano, there is no synth engine on this keyboard.

Design

The Yamaha CP88 and CP73 are designed to tackle the vigorous lifestyle of the road. They are extremely light with the 88 coming in at 41 pounds and the 73 coming in around 29 pounds.

Durability on these keyboards is quite nice and you won’t feel like it is going to break very easily on you.

Yamaha CP88 Overview

The wooden key-beds that I mentioned earlier are quite durable and can really take a pounding.

It is hard to not notice the resemblance in these keyboards and the classic Nord style.

The connectivity is really professional for the studio or live setting with USB MIDI audio. If you wanted you could use this as a MIDI controller and it would work really well for most functions.

Effects

The effect options are simple, yet effective. No pun intended. The three sections of sounds have their own dedicated effect channels. Something unique here is that you can actually change sounds and hold notes down without losing the sound.

There are also master effects with delay, reverb and master EQ with dedicated controls for easy, real-time tweaking of your favorite sounds.

Features

  • NW-GH3 keyboard with synthetic ebony/ivory tops
  • Three different grand pianos including the Bösendorfer
  • Something peculiar is that they added 2 upright piano sounds
  • Five different electric piano sounds for ultimate expressiveness
  • Yamaha CP OS updates enhance features and add new instrument Voices
  • Effects and controls for each section
  • Soundmundo which gives you access to thousands of free sounds
  • Ability to switch sounds without the sound cutting in and out
  • One-to-one UI which gives you direct control
  • Width 51.1″
  • Depth 14.3″
  • Height 5.56″
  • 41 pounds and 29 pounds depending on the model

Who Is the Yamaha CP88/77 For?

I honestly would recommend the Yamaha CP88 to serious pianists over beginners. It’s not that this wouldn’t be fantastic for a beginner, I just think it’s completely overkill. This is such a nice stage piano and I really think advanced players will fall in love with it the way that I did.

Overall

My overall thoughts on the Yamaha CP88 are that this is a new-age stage piano. I think the sounds are great, the feel of the keys are great and the sleek design is also great.

The screen is tiny on this keyboard so that is one thing that I know people aren’t going to love. However, I think it’s easy to follow and navigate even though it is on the smaller side.

The main downside of this is that it is very expensive. You will want to make sure that you really do enjoy this before you make the purchase.

A lot of people will be comparing this to the Yamaha CP4 and I think they will find that they prefer the Yamaha CP88 over it personally.

Yamaha CP 88

4.6

Design

4.9/5

Key-Action

4.7/5

Sound-Quality

4.6/5

Features

4.5/5

Speakers

4.5/5
3 comments
  1. I may be looking for something that doesn’t exist. I like the CP73 but I wish it started on C instead of E. The only 73 / 76 board I’ve seen that starts on C is the Korg EX 73, but it has semi-weighted keys and I don’t care for its piano sounds. Does any 73 / 76 board exist that starts on C and is comparable to the CP73?

  2. Never mind. I’m buying it. Adjusting the octave down, it’ll be kinda like a 65 key board starting on C, or like a 68 key board starting on A. Or like a 73 key board starting on…

    1. Hi Roland! Sorry for the delay on my response!

      I’m a big fan of the Yamaha CP73. I don’t know of any keyboards that have nice key-beds that are 76 and 73. I would recommend upgrading to 88 keys if the key-bed is important to you in that sense. Roland has the FP-60 that is near a similar price that I think is definitely very comparable! Might be something to look into! The whole FP series is awesome and ranges from $500 up.

      Chris

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