Yamaha CP-30

Super easy to use. There's 2 outputs, each with 4 presets. You get Harpsichord and 3 piano sounds per output. It's super easy to figure out. The piano sounds are kind of like a 70's vibin' kind of feel, I love it.

Vintage 70 analog instrument. This ain't no Digi, it's 100% analog. It's very basic in it's raw form, this baby is meant to be paired with effects. It's dual output is pure genius though, you can detune one output to give it this full-sounding effect, and add a little distortion and the harpsichord + piano preset and this baby is AWESOME. I hooked mine up to a distortion pedal and it sounds great. what I like about it is that the possibilities are endless, you can hook this thing up to all sorts of pedals and fiddle with the dual outputs and get millions of sounds.

Not a Hammond B3 by any means, but still a really solid, nice, full sounding instrument. The bass is absolutely amazing. It was perfect for me, since I play in a duo and often hold down the bass part. The presets are ok, not amazing, but it really is the dual outputs and detuning that sets this piano apart from, say a fender rhodes. Plus, anyone who's anyone has a Fender Rhodes nowadays. This baby has a lot of street cred in piano circles, and plus, you will most definitely get more props from the hardcore rock piano peeps (like myself) for playing one of these vintage analog electric pianos than some crappy midi thing.

I only just got it, but it seems mighty solid to me.

n/a. since it's from 1978, pretty sure the support is non existent. I got this off CraigsList.

I'm amazed at this thing. For $250, it's quite frankly a great, all around, versatile instrument that gives a great range of sound, good expressive timbre and just amazing vintage analog capabilities. Again, the dual outputs is really what sold me. It's a great instrument for the price, I would highly recommend this for anyone seeking that 70s funk or prog-rock sound. Just amazing. One of these babies plus a Hammond console and you'll be able to kiss your crappy midi/digi goodbye forever. Effects sound amazing with this, it's meant to be played with as many weird guitar pedals you can find. I'm so happy with it, really. If you're looking for a great vintage instrument that's versatile and affordable get this. A Rhodes will always be a Rhodes, but nowadays you're paying for the hype and the name more than anything. The mainstream hipster crowd hasn't yet discovered this thing, so it will be insanely cheap. And it's only going to get more valuable in years to come. Long live analogue!!!!

Very straightforward, no frills. You can get the user manual free in .pdf format on the Yamaha website. Google "cp-30 manual" and you should be able to find it easy.

Lugging this pig around to gigs at 120 pounds would not be worth the effort to get this poor a sound.

No MIDI capabilities, action is more like a digital piano than a "synth" keyboard. That being said, I wasn't impressed with it. Why make piano/synth keys that have edges that feel sharp to the touch?

Sounds like a cheap toy. I was given one by a well-meaning person who saw an inquiry I had made looking for CP-70 parts. I sold it to a reseller after setting it up once and playing on it for about an hour, most of which was spent trying to get past the glaring flaws in the ADSR. The sounds are toy-like, and there was something really goofy about the sustain/release, like it cut off after a certain amount of time when I held the pedal down, as if I had let up on the pedal, though I hadn't. The tones themselves sound like something out of a child's toy. Please do not buy your children toys that sound this bad, it will make them not want to play real instruments if you ever find them worth buying a real instrument for.

There is no tone on this instrument that is worth listening to.

If you really want to hear how bad this thing sounds, call the Louisiana Music Factory and get the DVD "Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together" and listen to Allen Toussaint playing one of these things at Professor Longhair's funeral. Even in the hands of a Master like Allen Toussaint, the thing sounds like junk.

Apparently a couple of big-name artists used them at one point or another, but we certainly don't see them lugging them around now, like we still see an occasional CP-70 or Kawai EP-308 now, do we...?

The person who gave it to me told me that when the contacts get dirty -- which they apparently do at disturbingly regular intervals, from her description -- it would have a nasty habit of the offending note suddenly howling uncontrollably and at ear-splitting volume. She seemed to be under the impression that this was not uncommon in this particular model.

Haven't dealt with Yamaha Customer Service.

I can't believe that this thing made it past the first factory sound test, much less out the doors and masqueraded as a professional instrument, at Yamaha. It was worth much less than what I paid for it. Which was nothing.

Even the bass player (like me) can figure it out

The features are what they are, and not too bad for the era in which it was produced. Full polyphony and simple vintage sounds. I doubt that it is either expandable or midi compatible, but who cares. This is a great vintage sounding instrument, that is easy to play & cost me $100.00 at a Salvation Army store.

We never fail to get compliments on the sound of this piano when we play out. It sits so well in the mix, and has a great old electric piano sound for solos also. By combining the presets & playing around with the tremolo & detune functions you can create a wonderfully warm, wet seventies sound that will get noticed. My keyboard player begs me to bring this to every gig, and I usually do.

Rock solid. It weighs a ton so if you are going to gig with it(as we do) become friendly with your chiropractor. Bu that weight is due in large part to the heavy duty construction of this little brute.

Never had to call them. I would love to find a technician who could clean it up a little. But it works fine so I've never had occasion to call Yamaha.

If this was ever stolen, lost, or destroyed I would be heartbroken. I love this instrument enough that any where we play that has sufficient room on the stage I haul this out there. It weighs a young ton, but the sound is well worth the pain

pie.

full polyphony, 8 unique, mixable voices. works like a simple combo organ.

sounds awesome! especially with the on board tremolo. i love the sound of this piano. some might say, "oh it's no rhodes/wurlitzer." and then i'd say, "exactly!"

like a tank.

never needed it.

i just got this one, and i love it. it would suck if it got stolen and i'd probably buy a new one...but the guy who took it would be a lucky man, since the top of mine is shiny, candy apple red where the woodgrain used to be. i wanna put a combo organ or something on top of it, but it seems like a shame to cover up all that nice, bright red.

sorry this is so short on details, but it's simple really. if you're looking for a wurli/rhodes cool, buy that. but if you can't afford them at the steadily increasing (ridiculous?) prices, consider the cp-30. i'm INCREDIBLY pleased with mine, and it looks and sounds cool as hell too.

Pretty simple to use. Everything is laid out on front and labeled. The presets are good but you can edit them as well. Apparently you can get up to 256 possible sounds by tweaking all the settings and sound combinations. See if other EP's can do that (I'm looking at you Rhodes and Wurli!) You can also run it through effects pedals and different amps to get more sounds, but because its analogue, it can get noisy.

Polyphony is 76 max, due to the technology. later versions (CP-25,35) used FM like the DX7 and have somthing like 16 notes max which was a turn off. CP-30 has tremelo for both channels, decay, bass and treble, and a stereo output balance control. i dont use the detune function, i think it makes it sound too cheesy. If you play the right stuff on it, it sounds pretty much like a Wurly/Pianet but with its own character.

First off - Just because it has piano presets, doesn't mean it sounds like a real piano. If thats what you want, get a digital and leave this beast for the people who love it. It has the following presets:

Piano 1: Mellow Rhodes like sound
Piano 2: Harder, more trebly - like an early 90's digital piano preset
Piano 3: Kind of like a Clavinet, if you adjust the decay
Harpischord: Exactly what it says, not bad though if you like the Doors!

You can also combine the above sounds with the second identical set of voices (theres 2 banks, 1 for each channel) to get more sounds. To my ears, the voices on each bank, despite being labeled the same, are slightly different in sound.

The CP-30 is good for rock, funk, or anything that would normaly use a electric piano.

The keys are weighted, which is good but they all weigh the same (no graded action). Velocity sensitive with gradual increase in volume, versus a stepped increase. I gave the sound quality a 9 because it is analogue and noisy - but its vintage

Built Yamaha tough - all wood/metal parts. This is NOT a plastic toy. These pianos costed about $4000 US in todays money in the late 70's, and thier build quality reflects that price tag. I would use a seperate keyboard for other piano sounds, but this is unique. Its very heavy at 120 pounds, but remember even the manual states that carrying/setting up this beast is a 2 person operation. I think the Rhodes MK1 weighs more.

You can get the manual free from the Yamaha Japan site. I wanted to get the service manual but Yamaha wasn't at all helpful. They just sent me a link to thier owners manual page even though I stated I already had it and downloaded it from there! I know they dont support the CP-30, but come on, you telling me they have NOTHING on it?

If you like Gary Numan (Down in the Park), Fleetwood Mac, The Stranglers (Black and White album), you'll love this sound. I can approximate any EP sound I like, and it has its own feel.

It is very hard to lose/have it stolen. Its 120 awkward pounds, and I can hardly find anybody to help me carry it as it is! What I love most about the sounds are that its vintage, and unique and DOESN'T sound exactly like a Rhodes/Wurli EP or patch. Everybody and thier drummer has one! I've wanted one of these for a while because the cost of the other EPs are extremely inflated ($1000 CDN for a Rhodes/Wurli, $500 for a beat up Pianet T, etc.)

The CP-30 has a pleasing sound, which like another reviewer mentioned, sounds great with other instruments. I use it with a Hammond and I love it. The only thing I would change is putting a mid-range EQ control as its VERY bassy.

Only 8 push-buttons and a few rotary controls for volume, treble, bas, tremolo and pitch. How hard can it be? Even a guitarplayer, like I am, get sound out of it!
I like the way the case folds into a stand.

As for features, this baby's got only 3 "piano" sounds and a harpsicord, and that's it. If you need anything else: buy something more modern :-). But it's stereo and you can get a lot of sounds by selecting more pianos at a time and carefully using the tremolo and pitch controls. But they're variations on a theme.

I'm actually not a pianist but a guitarplayer. I like the sounds. It's touch-sensitive, but it's a little weird too. Takes some getting used too. It has a real vintage-vibe (like we guitar players want so badly for our guitar-stuff...). Like said in other reviews, it sounds nowhere close to a piano. But a Fender Rhodes doesn't either, does it? Sounds like a CP-30 I think: nice! I play it through my Fender guitar amp, a tube-amp, and that sounds very very old skool! Damn perfect! When I'm in the mood, I hook it to my guitar-effects (analog delay, wah-wah, overdrive and stuff like that). I think you keyboard players should only use (tube) guitar amps and analog stompboxes! I can litteraly make any sound with it, except for whimpy synth-sounds of course. Oh, it does make some back-ground noise. Well, so does my guitar.

Mine hasn't got a scratch, all electronics work, no faulty keys. I like the way they built stuff in the old days: more solid than you would ever need! I don't use it to gig with though (luckily for my back, considering its weight and luckily for the audiences considering I can't realy play....). I don't think it would give any problems. Very solid, very reliable.

I downloaded a manual from the Yamaha site! (just for fun, not that you'd realy need it) It's nice they still provide one. Yamaha has a good reputation in the Netherlands.

This piano could well be on it's way to becoming a real vintage classic. I bought this because it was cheap and because I wanted to learn to play the piano a bit. 'Real' piano-players that visit me and play it are always enthusiastic about it. My girlfriend is also learning how to play and she likes it very much too. Tip for vintage-freak-keyboard players: buy a CP-30 while it's stille reasonbly cheap, buy a tube-guitar amp, get some cheapo guitar stomp-boxes and you have still plenty of money to buy a Hammond XB-3, Korg, Viscount or some other digital organ. Place it on top of the CP-30, that forms a very stable platform (try doing that on a Rhodes, ha!) and voila! Not suited for Bach or Tubular Bells!

Umm it is easy. Very easy. Works alot like old combo organs(Yamaha made the YC series combo organs during this same period). You hit a present and you play. You twist some knobs for tremelo and decay. Simple, very simple.

Not many. It has temelo, and it is an EP that works like a combo organ.

Let me say this...This keyboard is not a Rhodes/Wurli wannabe, nor does it want to be an a real piano.

This sounds like a Yamaha. Literally. A Yamaha. It is a Yamaha electric piano, and it sounds like it. That is the only way to describe it. If you are expecting rhodes, look elsewhere, if you are expecting a realistic piano...this is not for you either.

If you are looking for an electric piano that sounds differant then a rhodes or wurli, this might be for you. It sounds good. It sounds unique. It is great sound for an electric piano, and like most electric pianos it sounds good complementing other instruments.

This thing has a good array of sounds. It is really like getting 6 unique electric pianos with very differant personalities. That you can tweak and combine.

Like most instruments from the 70's though it is NOISY. It is the analog noise, and it gives the instrument personality. But if you are expecting a digital crispness get a digital. Leave the instrument with its own personality behind.

But if you are looking for a unique vintage electric piano...this is a good choice. Oh it is velocity sensative. I use it for indie. It can probably work for Jazz, Blues, and Rock. Not good for classical, like most EPs.

I use alot of effects on it...but I do like the bass sounds. The tremelo gives it alot of character. But hey...the keyboard has character.

It is to heavy to gig without a substaincial road crew. It weighs 100 pounds. But it is reliable. Reliable, but heavier.

ITS OLD!!!

Umm it is unique vintage instrument. I love it, but it is not for everybody.

you can work it with your eyes shut!

Great polyphony...Action is great, weighted keys (great for hard funk & also mellower touches) Tremolo & sustain, bass & treble controls,two channels 4 piano sound for each channel...Decay and pitch control..Plenty of scope for fine tuning nice chorus effect if you detune one channel. Tremolo great in small amounts. You tweek this mother enough to enable you to get a hard (add a little distortion) or softer (add a little reverb or delay) sounds...

I think it's pretty easy to get some very expressive sounds out of the CP30...It can sound a little lifeless if you try to play the wrong sh*t ...avoid the upper register...stick in the middle and bass (bass can overwhelm)...It isn't a realistic piano sound & It's best with other instruments not as a solo...It's totally 70's & pretty unique...perfect for Jazz,funk,prog or even dance (but remember alongside other instruments )It can be very phaaaat...and sometimes spacey! & It's easy to play!...It begs to be played! Whack the keys or play them lightly.

Ohhh yeah.
I'd gig this baby...But its HEAVY

N/A

I like it but i's a little big...I don't think it's easy to steal! I can't really compare it to others keys as this is my only one. The CP30 has been well used check out 70's MILES DAVIES...Herbie Hancock, Feli Kuti...

Easy in use, any presets are avaible on front panel

The most importend and best thing in this piano - keybord, very good action. Its an analog substarctive so max 76 polyphony.
Good tremolo ( especially played on one channel) and
chorus (only when played on two channels)

Pure 70' analog piano sound, especially played on one channel. On two channels when one is detuned it gives a little bit organ sound fine on harphicord - strong oldschool sound.
Do not buy this if you expect real piano sound !

well....beer resist, cigaret resist, shock resist. I know it from autopsy.

I know one man who can do anything with analogs so I sleep easy.

I think more simply its to stole the car than this mare. I've been playing this about three years and, I use yet fender piano and some analogs syntesizers. In Cp30 I love keyboard( if you instal midi in this then you'll get a very good keybord control) I'dont know which ones I can compare maybe to Vermona Piano -String but its refers only to piano sound.

It's extremely easy to use, although I don't have the stand, I hear it's kind of strange. I can tell just by looking at where it would have gone that you would want a sturdier more durable stand. I have a stageline and it works great.

The keys are weighted so it has a 'real' feel to it. The tremelo is great, if you use it right you can almost get some organ-y sounds out of it. Other time it sounds like you're underwater. The pitch is really great for a chorus effect, and the two banks of sounds are great.

You can get a ton of sounds out of this machine.It has a 3 piano settings, and one harpsichord setting. There a whole lot of tones you can get out of this, and I personally think it sounds a whole lot like a Rhodes with the right settings.

This thing IS HEAVY. If you're going to be playing a lot of shows, you may want to seriously rethink getting this.

I personally think this is a great keyboard, and if you're looking for a Rhodes style keyboard, take a look at this. It sounds a great deal like one, and it will never go out of tune.