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.

It's simple, but not limited. The blending, trem, detune, eq are all very straightforward. The keys play nice.

The differences between the piano sounds are subtle, but if you try different combos and through in some of the harpsichord sound, it can be pretty great. The trem is great and you can choose whether or not you won't it on both banks of sounds or not. The eq is only bass and treble, but it's fine. There's outputs for each bank of sounds, and one for both together.

I wanted a great, warm electric piano sound, and that's what I got. With tweaking, you can get the harpsichord to sounds a bit like a clav. The blending of sounds gives you some options. It's got a sort of percussive poppy slap if you really slamm the keys, but it's kinda cool.

It's without a doubt the heaviest thing I own. I hope I never have to gig with it regularly. But that means it's solid. The thing's old and seems in good working order...

I'm not a keyboard player by trade, but I wanted something with a good sound that played well, and like a real piano. I'm very happy with it. I've done a little recording with it, and love the sound. I've seen lesser models going for more, so I feel like I got a decent deal. I wouldn't buy one that you had to get shipped, cuz the size and weight are prohibitive.

Very easy to use. Just turn it on, and push some buttons.

Polyphony? I don't know, but the detune is awesome. I love to play with both in tune, and then slightly detune one so that the chorus effect kicks in. A little more detuning and you get a nice mental hospital sound. The tremolo on mine doesn't work anymore. And where can I get a pedal for the tremolo?

It plays wonderfully for me. The range is very good. I can sound like I'm underwater, in outer space, and anywhere in between or beyond.

As sturdy as it is, I have no worries.

I got this free, and in almost mint condition. It was used by a church, so it was well taken care of. I like to run it through a Digitech RP2000 effects processor. A must for otherworldly sounds. I can create entire universes with this combination.

I bought it quite used, with no manual, and was playing one of the best gigs in my life not 3 days later. You simply put your fingers on the keys and it sounds phat! Plus, unlike a Rhodes or Wurlitzer, it never goes out of tune, which makes up for it being such a beast(weighing about 110 lbs).

This keyboard is perfect for me, as I hate MIDI, menus, and anything that gets in my way (all my keyboards are from before 1980). I love the action, the sound (smooth, warm, and quite punchy). The detunable oscillators help thicken up the sound. It gets a ten for simplicity.

The sound is thick and very reactional to your playing. Its great for any music, especially jazz and funk. I especially like to run it through very light fuzz, just enough that the punch gets rawnchy. I also love it through analog echo machines, like in making tripped-out dub-reggae.

This is the only one of my keyboards that's always at every show (even though my chiropractor has advised against it). Its never not made a noise it was supposed to, or vice versa.

I've owned it for 3 years, and never once had any problem with it.

I'll probably be playing this bad-boy until MIDI digs its clutches into my cold, dead corpse. I love how you can fit almost any other keyboard on top of it (as well as setlists, samplers, mixers; and, as my band mates were so wonderful to point out, beer bottles and ashtrays). I love that Fela Kuti is the only other person I've seen playing one. If only it would just lose about 30 lbs.

Simple, like a Rhodes

I just bought a Fender PA 100 (10/01/01) to use as a pre amp for my keyboards. WOW, what a differance. The cp 30 turned from a sterile sound to a lush sounding keyboard. The piano became very expressive.
I have become used to the feel of this keyboard a have found it confortable now. The reverb on the amp made a diffrence too.

Solid

N/A

Nice addition to my Rhodes.

it trys to be a fender rhodes but falls way short

it is a very solid keyboard. the keys feel great but next to a fender rhodes it merely sounds like a cheap keyboard. the things weight will break your back. really heavy. someone gave it to me. do not buy if you have a lot of gigs cuz it will break your back and the stand is really weird.

9. The keys on mine are great. I find that it plays easier than the rhodes. the action is bouncy and very playable by beginner and pro.

7. It's very simple with the options of comboing various piano's and harpsichords. Also the tremolo and the tremolo pedal input prove to be really useful.

7.5 Once again the tremolo is really nice and warm. when played softly it is very mellow, but when attacked has that slight distortion like the rhodes. I would say good for funk and prog rock music. But definitely not a solo instrument.

10. It is indestructable. While it is really heavy it is really strong. Mine itself has taken a few spills and has been spilt on and it doesn't even flinch. Definitely quality.

8. It is really heavy but if I lost it. I would definitely find another one. however if that was impossible a whurly or a rhodes would definitely cover the job.

All analog, and very simple. The big feature of this piano is
two independent oscillators per key, for detuning. Have schematics.
Like all analog instruments, needs to be tuned on startup.

Full analog polyphony at two oscillators per note: four settings
per oscillator: three filtered triangles and a square "harpsichord"
setting. Tremolo per oscillator with adjustable intensity and speed.
Decay and pitch control per oscillator. Onboard base and treble
controls. Stereo balance. Supports sustain and tremolo footswitch.
In stereo out, one oscillator per channel: sounds *great*. Velocity
sensitive weighted keys with nice dynamic range; feels a bit odd, but
quite usable.

This thing has a truly unique sound: somewhere between an electric
piano and an electric organ, with a tone color all its own. Listen
to any Supertramp album: it's the electronic keyboard responsible for
their signature sound. The keyboard feel is very good once you
get used to it.

If I had one in good condition, I would definitely trust it implicitly.
Mine is suffering after 15+ years: a couple of the oscillators have
developed bad noise, and the main amplifier seems to have some bad
pops in it. Physically, it's a tank (both by weight and sturdiness).

I have no idea. It was a gift from a friend who wanted it out of
his house many years ago.

I'm thinking about whether to keep this, because it's going to be
expensive to get reconditioned and I don't have time to do it myself.
If I regularly recorded or played gigs, I think I'd have one around:
there are some really unique things it can do, and it's good nostalgic
fun.

Very nice.

The action is a bit hard on mine but livable.

I love the simplicity.
It is pretty expressive for such an old thang.

It was worth the purshase

good, old, and very nice action

beautifully cheesy, but gets nice late 70s melloe sound from piano one and two on both channels. Also, try to dutune one channel slightly, creating a chorus effect.Also have a listen to the intro to the Doobies "you keep me runnin"----cp-30, i think so

very tough, nice mactac, i love it!!!!

i couldnt see this thing needing repair.

hooked up to my amp, aaalllmmoossst sounds like a hammond in the mid bass register. Have a boss distortion to one output and a chorus to other, This makes a nice leslie effect between the two, if the channels are balanced right, the distortion has to be non sensetive and you have to have a two channel amp.

It's an electronic piano so it's very easy to use. All you need is an amplifier or you can even plug it in your home stereo. Weights about 40kg and it feels even heavier. Can't carry it on own.

These were made 1979-198?, I think. It has 88 keys with hammeraction. Allthough hammers hit electronic circuits instead of strings. It has 8 layers of sounds, 4 for each channel. Tremolo effect, decay and bass/treble. No midi.

Sound hmmm... I think with right kind of amplifier it could be very suitable for rock, pop and funk bands. As a solo intsument it's a little poor. The sound is more like Wurlitzer than Rhodes. At bottom register it's kinda organlike. Middleregister is the best. It's soft and warm when played carefully and attacky and funky when played hard. If you overdrive with your amplifier it's even better. Upperregister is a problem. Sound is very weak and it has no color. Also it's hard to get the whole register balanced cause the bottom's very powerfull and upper is not. Try to do the beginning of "Riders on the storm"! It's impossible. I found also hard to fit with my other intruments like organs and synths. Like it was always out tune. Weird. But comping with guitars, that's what I liked!

I could depend on this. It has a good vinyl case wich transforms to it's legs. No tuning just keep the dust out it's inside and there are no problems.

Don't have the expierence but I can imagine that it would not be easy to get the help from Yamaha.

I just sold it and will not get it back. But it is just beacause it did'nt fill my needs and took too much room in my small aparment. If I playd in a band I would probably try get a Wurli or Rhodes instead of this one. But still, it's kinda funny and believe that someone could be happy with this.

This is more of an electronic piano than a synth per say, so it doesn't have too many controls on it. A five year-old can use it! Although there are limited presets, with the stereo combination and individually tunable channels, you can come up with cool, warm sounds. The manual is very basic compared to Yamaha's other manuals.

This thing doesn't have much in the technical department. No built-in effects, midi, or expansion capabilities. I did hear once that there was a way of modifying it to get a midi output, especially for the velocity sensitive keyboard. The keyboard is faily large (6 octaves) and somewhat pressure sensitive, but kinda noisy. The polyphony is endless. Built for the road, the top cover acts as legs and holds all the required hardware, including pedals. The top can easily hold another large keyboard, or lots of beer like another respondant mentioned!!

This keyboard has a sound of it's own. It doesn't really sound like a piano, synths today come a lot closer to the REAL thing than this. It can however sound very mellow and different. The keyboard has a strange bounce to it that takes a while to get used to.

This keyboard, like all others of it's era, is built to last. I've had it for more than 15 years now and it never failed me. It weighs over 150 pounds of steel and wood -- very solid.

I've never had the need for repair and I do not know of any upgrades. Like I mentioned above, I know it is possible to modify it to get midi data from the keyboard to drive other midi devices, but I do not know how.

If I were to go back in time, I would've waited to have enough dough to get the CP-70 instead. Although it has a particular sound, it was my only keyboard for a long time and I grew tired of this synth piano sound. Today, I'm glad to have it amongst my other gear. I often use it and would use it more if I could get midi out of it.