Yamaha CK88: Yes, I played one

Posted on May 15, 2023 by pj

I always hesitate calling one of these posts a “review,” especially when the actual trial is serendipitous. Had to stop at Whole Foods and decided to drop into Guitar Center just to see what they had on the floor. Lo and behold, a Yamaha CK88!

It was a nice surprise, but I didn’t have the usual lead sheets that I use when testing. So, it came down to random plunking and noodling.

First, I’m going to lay out most of the good news. For instruments in the $1,000USD (61 key) to $1,500 (88 key) range, the CK sounds damned good. The user interface (UI) is intuitively direct and had only one “What the?” moment.

I played and listened to the CK88 through its built-in speakers. The built-in speakers are a bit unusual for Yamaha stage/synth instruments, but not so for its digital pianos and arranger keyboards. The CK88 has sufficient volume for practice and maybe enough for an acoustic-level rehearsal. Thus, I put the CK’s speakers in the “courtesy speaker” category. Being 2x6W, 12cm by 6cm ovals, they are not unlike the courtesy speakers on the Case CT-S1000V (or S500) — just OK. They are not boxy, something I don’t tolerate under any circumstance.

I started out with acoustic piano because, err, it was the 88 GHS keybed in front of me. I found both the main acoustic piano (CFX) and Rhodes (78Rd) to be satisfying. I would prefer to play the Rhodes on the GHS rather than the CFX. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been playing the Petrof grand occasionally, but the GHS just did provide the same enjoyment. On again, off again, I’ve been thinking about a digital piano for home and the GHS action ain’t it. The GHS seems to bottom out, for lack of a better description. Forget organ swipes on the 88, too, unless your hands are made of leather.

Practical tips department. The piano sounded muffled when I first started playing. The last customer pulled all of the EQ sliders to -12dB, thank you. Reset, always reset.

Next, I jumped into the acoustic, non-keyboard sounds. The CKs are like a “greatest AWM2 hits” from MODX/Montage. The brass voices are pleasant enough and would be useable in a band setting. The voices range from Jerry Bruckheimer to mellow, more musical horns. The only voice that threw me is “Sweet Trumpet” which is suitable only for mariachi covers.

The saxes are typical AWM2 saxes — emergency use only. I’m spoiled by Super Articulation sax. The oboe is a bit too bright for my taste. The clarinet and bassoon are not bad. The flutes are cool. Strings are varied and useable. I can’t be too harsh because the CK beats the up-scale, expensive YC61 for orchestral voices and, notably, pipe organ.

Venturing into synth brass, pads and leads, we’re back to greatest hits territory. You’ll probably find something close enough for rock’n’roll among the lot. There’s no point in getting too OCD on a machine with limited editing and few real-time parameters to tweeze. CK has what I would call “Yamaha Quick Edit” which apply offsets to the actual voice parameters. Want deep editing? Look to MODX/Montage.

Now to the organs. The CK cops the pipe organs from Genos™ — excellent choice. Maybe it was the EQ or sumptin’, but the VOX (V) didn’t pierce my ears and the Farfisa (F) didn’t have that Sam The Sham rasp. Oddly, I give Reface YC the edge as far as combo organs are concerned.

As to the main event — Hammond B-3 — the CK is much more than Reface YC in a tuxedo. The drawbars are nice and smooth, offering the right amount of resistance. The drawbar throw is a little short (a la Reface) when compared to Yamaha’s clonewheels. The CK drawbars slide and don’t have the Reface drawbar detents.

To my ears, the CK and Reface YC basic drawbar sound is the same — pretty clean and artifact (e.g., leakage) free. The rotary speaker sim and effects chain are what make the difference. Obviously, the CK is richer in that regard. You get so much more for the money with CK (full-size keyboard, better effects chain, acoustic piano, EP, decent acoustic/electronic instruments, A/D input, audio playback, etc.), why would anyone bother with Reface anymore, unless they absolutely must have the portability?

I like the CK vibrato/chorus implementation and UI more than Reface, too. All of the organ controls are more Hammond-like even if they are a bit small.

I developed a preference for the CK Rotary 2 sim over Rotary 1. I wish I knew which rotary speaker algorithms Yamaha chose for CK as I would like to recreate the CK sound on MODX. The CK horn/rotor turn a bit too fast and, unfortunately, the speeds cannot be changed.

The only “What the?” moment had to do with the DRIVE buttons and what they apply to the internal signal. If I were giving the CK a serious spin, I would study the effects chain and controls before sitting down in the driver’s seat.

So, there it is. The CKs offer great value for the money, no doubt about it. I personally would go with the 61-key model (CK61) since I play mainly organ/synth. The GHS isn’t for me and suggests that I should “go large” if I ever follow through and buy a digital piano for home. Having MODX, I don’t feel like I’m missing out although I need to make better use of MODX sliders for real-time drawbar control.

Other reviews and comments about digital pianos:

Just because…

Posted on May 10, 2023 by pj

It looks cool — the limited edition Korg microKORG Crystal synthesizer and vocder. Videos: Ooh and Aah.

The picture to ship a thousand synths (or whatever the *cliché* is)

No word of new content. €539 transparent bag included. Available July 2023.

Yeah, Superbooth 23 has commenced. I don’t intend to make a big deal out of it. After NAMM 2023, I need a break from chasing shiny objects (Korg Crystal excepted).

I like the form. I like the size. I like the price ($199 USD). Roland AIRA S-1.

I hope Roland grow the AIRA product line. Most punters — me — are more likely to buy a 200 buck expansion box than a $5,000 Oberheim OB-X8. Please, please, please add an AIRA like the D-05 boutique. Roland, you would sell zillions of ’em.

NAMM 2023: Little things

Posted on April 24, 2023 by pj

Roland Gigcaster

Turn your back for one second after NAMM 2023 and Roland slip out the Boss Gigcaster 5 and Gigcaster 8. These are audio streaming mixers aimed at the podcasting community.

Astutely, Roland recognize that these mixer have application beyond podcasting. They are, after all, mixers! Gigcasters have all the features one might want in a small format studio mixer. Thus, Roland show musicians happily strumming, singing and playing keys in their bedroom studios. They are rather attractively and colorfully styled.

The Gigmaster 5 sells for $480 USD and the Gigmaster 8 costs $700.

There’s gold in those podcasting hills and small format podcasting mixers (desktop production boxes) are busting out all over. Yamaha, for example, introduced the AG08 USB streaming mixer ($630) at NAMM 2023. The AG08 joins the lower-priced AG03 mk2 and AG06 mk2 models.

Indiegogo: InstaChord

InstaChord is a MIDI guitar Indiegogo project. They are trying to get enough backers to go into production with expected delivery in April 2024. Early bird bundles go for $374 USD.

The InstaChord looks like a Klingon Bird of Prey. 🙂 There are six strummable “buttons” instead of strings, and a 2-D button matrix instead of a fretboard. Buttons in the matrix select chords using a numeric method similar to I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, dim vii notation within a scale.

InstaChord produces sound through its own internal speaker. The internal tone generator is a Dream SAM2695 (GM sound set). The SAM2695 is the same chip inside of the Akai MPK Mini Play. InstaChord sends and receives MIDI via USB Type C or Bluetooth.

UJEII — AKA “My Main Man” — shows off an early prototype in this Insta Chord Demo (Katsunori UJIIE). UJIIE shows that he can rock out strumming, not just shredding keys!

The InstaChord reminds me of the old You Rock Guitar (still sitting in my closet). Unlike the YRG, InstaChord does not try to mimic guitar strings or fretboard. YRG requires standard fretboard fingering, which is a barrier for many casual players (like me). I simply don’t have the time to practice guitar skills on top of keys. InstaChord requires a modicum of music theory; any good keys player should be able to adapt.

Check out the free InstaChord-i IOS app, if you want a taste.

Not to pick on the InstaChord folks in particular, but, hey! If you have a new product, at least Google the product name before committing to the name. Searching on “InstaChord” took me to the W.A. Productions plug-in by the same name. Come on!

BlackBT SusEx Pedal

BlackBT® announced the SusEx® pedal which combines MIDI foot switch and continuous control (expression) functionality. SusEx is available for pre-order costing $150 USD. It is expected to ship in June 2023.

I contend that the SusEx is not “the first” to combine footswitch and expression control in one pedal. The “first” title goes, instead, to the Boss/Roland EV-1-WL. I’ve been using the EV-1-WL for well over a year now… Like the Boss EV, SusEx communicates over Bluetooth BLE and USB. No 5-pin capability, tho’

None the less, the SusEx has a cool way of switching between sustain mode and expression mode. It senses foot position and automatically switches mode. With the EV-1-WL, one either adds an external footswitch for sustain, or presses down hard with the toes at the top of the pedal. Check out the SusEx demo video

The SusEx pedal is absolutely tiny and should be lightweight and easy to transport. Dunno about you, but I’m tired of toting around heavy, built like a tank expression pedals. Some folks may not like the pedal throw, but that is personal preference.

Donner

Donner established a reputation for bargain-priced guitar toys. Now they are coming for keys. Donner have a line of portable piano and arranger instruments. Products include the Donner Essential B1 Analog Bass Synthesizer, the DMK-25 PRO MIDI controller, and the D1 Drum Machine and Sequencer. Of course, they also have — TA-DA — podcasting gear, too.

The Donner direct sales outlet is currently running a sale on select products including the B1. These guys want market share!

Donner are going to give low-cost specialists Casio and Akai conniptions. I don’t have any direct experience with Donner products, but do suggest getting native English tech writers to produce and edit their marketing literature and manuals. Slipshod writing gives people a bad impression of product quality and many people are unsure about Donner as a brand.

Just a quick Yamaha CK observation. The CKs are clearly aimed at the Roland VR-09, which sells at the same $1,000 price points. The CK beats the VR for non-organ sounds. Fight’s on!

NAMM 2023: Pickin’ up the pieces

Posted on April 15, 2023 by pj

NAMM 2023 is a wrap with all of the major products rolled out. Here are a few items that might have escaped your attention and are worth checking out on-line.

Hammond 122H Heritage Leslie

You just can’t buy a new Hammond XK-4 and not connect its 11-pin speaker port to a new Hammond 122H Heritage Leslie. This new model comes out in August: solid-core wood cabinet, 40 Watts, new servo motors, independently controllable upper horn and lower rotor, switchable from a 122 to a 147. Projected price is $7,000 USD.

Artinoise re.corder

The Artinoise re.corder is not new, but it was at NAMM 2023. The re.corder is a wireless wind controller based on the classic soprano recorder. I took a look at the re.corder a few years ago and decided that it wasn’t quite mature enough. It’s time.

The re.corder comes in four colors (black, blue, red and white) and is 120g light. Sweetwater handles re.corder sales in the USA and they posted a NAMM 2023 video of the re.corder driving Audio Modeling SWAM Cello.

It’s only $199 USD. Cheap enough to try wind today!

Audio Modeling SWAM and Camelot

Speaking of SWAM, Audio Modeling announced upgrades to SWAM (now v.3.7.0) and Camelot (v.2.2.4). These are the full fat personal computer versions. The Camelot upgrade includes a Yamaha CK Smart Map. That was fast work.

I hope that many of the enhancements will eventually appear in the IOS versions of SWAM and Camelot. I would love to see SWAM ensembles, too.

Audio Modeling, BTW, have a partnership with our friends at ILIO.

Bastl Bestie

Bastl have kicked loose a new box: the Bastl Bestie. The Bestie looks like a Dude, but it’s nasty. Bestie is a 5-channel stereo mixer with stereo distortion and saturation. It can mix clean with distortion kicking in during boost (i.e., rotating past 12 o’clock). Leave Channel 3 unplugged and it feeds the output back to the input.

Like the Dude, Bestie operates on either USB power or four AA batteries. The Bestie is 180 Euro through the B Shop. I didn’t see the Dude in the B Shop, so Bestie may be the new Dude. North American retailers include Patchwerks in Seattle.

This beast could be fun as a key-top small mixer that adds grunge.

mki x es.EDU DIY System

No, I didn’t accidently lean on the QWERTY keyboard. That is the name of the series of educational DIY synth kits developed by Erica Synths and Moritz Klein.

C’mon, dudes. Try your new product names in the Google before branding. If customers can’t easily search on a name (like “re.corder”), they ain’t gonna find you.

Kits in the EDU DIY series include:

EDU DIY VCO $79
EDU DIY VCA $69
EDU DIY EG $69
EDU DIY Sequencer $79
EDU DIY VCF $84
EDU DIY Mixer
EDU DIY Noise/S&H
EDU DIY Output
EDU DIY Wavefolder $109

You’ll find them wherever fine modules are sold. 🙂

Whimsy

Yamaha took a lot of heat by using the word “breakthrough” in its NAMM 2023 (self-)promotion. To some, releasing a modestly priced keyboard like the CK is not “breakthrough” enough, though I see Yamaha selling scads of these.

I’ll close with a little bit of Yamaha whimsy. Thanks and a tip of the hat to the person who posted this link on Gearspace.

NAMM 2023: IK AXE I/O ONE

Posted on April 14, 2023 by pj

It would be easy for a keyboard player to blow off the IK Multimedia AXE I/O ONE. It is so obviously pitched at guitar and bass players.

Not so fast. Where else can you get a 1-in/3-out USB audio interface — with MIDI — for $130 USD?

If you’re an iPad-toting keyboard player who needs MIDI IN and stereo audio out, the AXE I/O ONE has it covered. That’s 5-pin MIDI, by the way. The AXE I/O ONE has two expression/switch pedal inputs. Many MIDI controllers do not have an expression pedal input, so the AXE I/O ONE could fill that gap. The control panel application assigns MIDI channel, CC#, minimum and maximum data values. [MacOS and Windows only.]

The main audio input is a Neutrik jack backed by a Class-A mic preamp. You can go clean as well as down and dirty. Should be possible to post-process keyboard audio through an IK effect chain. Audio conversion up to 24-bit/192 kHz is supported. Unfortunately, you can’t hit the AXE I/O ONE with a stereo signal (mono input only).

AXE I/O ONE is USB-C bus powered. The box is 5.1″ x 5.7″ x 2″ (13cm x 14.5cm x 5.2cm) and weighs only 0.8 pound (0.37kg). Software includes AXE Control Panel, Amplitube 5 SE, and TONEX SE. Available today.

If you need to replace your aging Korg Plug-Key or Alesis Control Hub, the AXE I/O ONE is worthy of consideration as long as you can live within its limitations. An IOS control panel app would just about make this perfect for keys at $130.

The Arturia MiniFuse 2 provides similar features for $149 USD. The MiniFuse 2 does stereo input and also has a USB-A hub port. That means you can connect a MIDI controller to your iPad (or computer) through the hub port. Unfortunately, the hub port can source only 250mA of current. Still, a viable alternative.

NAMM 2023: Round-up

Posted on April 13, 2023 by pj

And the big Yamaha reveals are — new Transacoustic™ pianos and the Clavinova™ CVP 900 series digital pianos. Thank you for playing.

Given the long run-up to NAMM 2023 (April 13-15), I expected manufacturers to trickle out new product announcements. [Not the usual supernova explosion nebula.] Thus, I’ve collected a round-up of pre-NAMM announcements:

I will continue to monitor the Inter-webs for interesting product announcements.

Keyboard-wise, that’s not a bad bunch of new issues in a global economy which is still recovering from supply chain problems, factory fires and that damned, bloody virus.

CK61 and CK88 keyboards are shipping and first impressions are reported on various forums. It’s good to have product ready when everyone’s passion is high. No point in raising the (marketing) heat when units won’t ship for months and months. Initial impressions are good, but keep an eye out for open box CKs from order-try-return customers.

A Korg NTS-2 oscilloscope kit arrived on my doorstep yesterday, so I will be busy. 🙂

NAMM 2023: Hammond XK-4

Posted on April 11, 2023 by pj

Hammond have dropped the XK-4 hammer just before NAMM, April 13-15, 2023.

Quoting the Hammond XK-4 web pages:

New Modelled Tone Wheel 2 (MTW2) sound engine
Virtual multi-contact keyboard
New digital Leslie™ speaker algorithm
New tube modelling system
User-assignable knobs and switches
Pitch bend and modulation wheels
Color display
11-pin Leslie jack
AUX INPUT jack with gain control knob
Four control jacks: damper pedal, expression pedal, foot switch, Leslie switch
USB-A flash drive and USB-B TO HOST ports
5-pin MIDI IN and OUT
Standard AC mains plug (IEC C14)
Weight: 20 pounds

Check the Hammond XK-4 product video. The XK-4 details page has links to all-playing demos by Jim Alfredson (organ) and Eric Johnson (drums).

MTW2 models slight pitch fluctuations due to tonewheel backlash and volume fluctuations due to de-centering. The virtual multi-contact keyboard simulates the feel of an electro-mechanical keyboard.

The XK-4 provides three vintage combo organs: Farfisa, Vox and Acetone. It also includes classical and theatre pipe organ stops which can be registered in the traditional way.

No manual (yet). Folks will want to know more about those assignable knobs, etc. Will the XK-4 make a good controller for non-organ voices on iPad? Will it interoperate with IK Multimedia B-3X? If the XK-4 is a good controller, it’s lack of non-organ sounds could be moot.

The new XK-4 replaces the old XK-1c model. You can find XK-1c advertised as low as $1,395 USD, if you can still get one, that is. Typical XK-1c MAP is $1,725. As usual, no XK-4 price announced as of today. Jim A’s source sez “2K MAP, available August.” Hold your breath. 🙂

NAMM 2023: Small stuff

Posted on April 7, 2023 by pj

Instead of talking about the big kids, here are a few boutique, cottage industry MIDI gizmos. My current fixation is finding a fully programmable, tiny MIDI controller to send patch changes (Bank Select MSB, Bank Select LSB and Program Change messages).

If you’re ready to buy, try tindie.com — an Etsy for independent, boutique electronics. Tindie sells an incredibly wide variety of electronic goods. Keep those inventors and makers busy and happy!

Phantasmal Force

The Distropolis Goods Phantasmal Force is tiiiiinnnnyyyy. It has sixteen individually programmable buttons, a programmable knob and an OLED display. It’s bus-powered and sends MIDI over USB Type C and TRS-A serial ports.

Phantasmal Force sells for $125 USD on Tindie. There, you get to customize case and button colors.

The retro, pseudo-typewritten reference manual is a scream.

AMC3 MIDI Controller

The AMC3 MIDI Controller is back in stock. The AMC3 has three, fully programmable, 3x100mm faders (Bourns). The AMC3 is class-compliant, sending MIDI over USB. The AMC3 has a 3-digit LED display.

The AMC3 reminds me of the Sparkfun Danger Shield, which I used in my Danger Shield Drawbars project. Unlike the Danger Shield, the AMC3 lives in a rugged, dust-resistant ABS chassis. The chassis is 5 by 7 inches. If you’re looking for actual drawbars, try the Crumar D9U kit.

The AMC3 costs $149.99 and AMC3 are offering a 10% discount (good for the next two months).

The AMC3 is configured via tycocommander. Tycocommander is part of the Koromix Tytools package. Although the AMC3 folks don’t mention it, the AMC3 is Teensy-based, hence, tycocommander. Thus, it may be possible to overwrite the original AMC3 code with your own.

I would contact AMC3, however, before doing anything so drastic! Be sure to get a copy of the original factory code!

Anavi Macro Pad 8

Gamers are familiar with macro pad keyboards — small keypads capable of quickly sending multi-character sequences. Stands to reason, if a macro pad can send ASCII over USB, it can send MIDI, too.

Amazon is clogged with macro pads. The trick is finding a macro pad which is fully programmable (as opposed to being configured for ASCII key strokes).

The Anavi Macro Pad 8 fits the bill. It has eight mechanical key switches and an optional mini OLED display. Everything is mounted in a clear acrylic enclosure (optional). The Macro Pad 8 communicates through a Micro USB port.

According to Anavi:

Anavi Macro Pad 8 is powered by a Microchip ATmega32U4 microcontroller, so it is possible to use as an Arduino Leonardo-compatible development board and upload Arduino sketches through Arduino IDE or PlatformIO.

Now we’re talking!

The base Anavi Macro Pad 8 is $46 USD on Tindie. If you dress it up with the enclosure and OLED, it’s $69 USD, including shipping to the USA. I have one on order. Fulfillment is good and it’s on its way from Bulgaria.

If eight keys are too many, check out the other Anavi products on Tindie.

Random NAMM 2023 comments

In the old news department, Yamaha have released the CK stage keyboards and have given the YC organ-focused keyboard an update. The CKs are good value for the money and are better “all-rounders” than the YCs. The CKs even have pipe organ voices lifted from Genos™.

If this week’s postings are meager, I spent waaay too much time blasting Yamaha for the lack of pipe organ voices on the YC. Montage and MODX have two decent FM pipe organ performances and should have been included in the YC update. Presently, the CKs undercut Yamaha’s own YC as far as church music is concerned. If you have a Montage or MODX, sample Genos and add pipe organ voices of your own. YC is a closed system in that regard.

Meanwhile, Yamaha’s competition are not sitting still. Hammond are teasing the XK-4: 61 keys, pitch bend and mod wheels, color display, and assignable knobs. It follows in the footsteps of the lower-cost XK-1c model, having B-3, Farfisa, Vox and pipe organ (!) sounds. The XK-1c MSRP is $1,995 ($1,725 MAP). We await the official announcement for anything definitive. I’m curious to see how Hammond will price this puppy.

The Yamaha NAMM 2023 pages are active with placeholders for a few new products to be announced at the show. Hope for the golden magical unicorn is fading. Still, there is the princess.

Korg are finally shipping the Nu:Tekt NTS-2 oscilloscope in North America. Thank you, Korg!

Back to practicing for Easter Sunday…

AWM, AN and VL in one Yamaha synth

Posted on March 29, 2023 by pj

What if you could buy a Yamaha synth with AWM2, AN and VL synthesis and buy it today? It’s not the unicorn super-Montage, it’s the Yamaha EX5 (released in 1998). The EX5 supports:

AWM tone generation
VL tone generation
AN tone generation, and
FDSP tone generation.

The EX5 had brothers, the EX5R rack module, and the diminuitive EX7. The EX7 is more limited in a number of ways including the absence of VL. Formulated Digital Sound Processing (FDSP) is a note- and velocity-dependent effect processor — an early version of Virtual Circuit Modeling. FDSP models electromagnetic pick-ups, water, PWM, flanger, phaser, etc. [I won’t say too much more about FDSP.]

AWM, AN, VL and FDSP can be combined (layered) in a variety of ways. (See the EX5/EX7 manual for details.) All of the synthesis methods share a common element structure as shown in the image below.

Yamaha EX5 common element structure [Yamaha]

The main difference between the synthesis types is how the “oscillator” is handled:

AWM: The oscillator is formed via sample-playback.
VL: The oscillator is the instrument model (mouthpiece, bow/string, etc.)
AN: The oscillator is a simulated VCO (Voltage Controller Oscillator).
FDSP: Same as AWM.

The remainder of sound processing is based on the standard AWM pipeline with the addition of a few extra VL, AN and FDSP parameters.

Yamaha EX5 allowed combinations of synthesis methods

All is exciting and fantastic until one reads the polyphony spec:

    Voice Type      EX5/5R Polyphony  EX7 Polyphony 
    --------------  ----------------  ------------- 
    AWM/Drum              126               64 
    VL+AWM               1+AWM 
    FDSP                   16                8 
    AN(Poly)+AWM         2+AWM             1+AWM 
    AN(Layer)+AWM        1+AWM 
    AN+FDSP           AN:1; FDSP:8

So, I would forget about that fat stack of AN or VL oscillators (layers). Forget phat two-handed analog chords.

How did Yamaha create this many-headed beast? Glancing at the EX5 service manual, the EX5 tone generation hardware consists of two SWP30B processors configured in the age-old master/slave tandem. (The SWP30B is two generations older than the current SWP70.) The EX7 has only one SWP30B. Further clues come from Yamaha itself:

The DSP (Digital Signal Processing) system used to create the EX effects is also used by the AN, FDSP, and VL (EX5/5R only) tone generators to create voices. This means that less DSP capacity is available to produce effects when the aforementioned voice types are used. This imposes limitations which are different for the EX5/5R and EX7. The Reverb and Chorus effect units function normally regardless of the type of voice used.
There are no limitations to using insertion effects in the EX5 or EX5R Voice mode. In the Performance mode, however, insertion effects can be used on a maximum of 4 parts (voices) if the performance setup consists entirely of AWM voices. If a VL, AN, or FDSP voice is used in the performance setup, however, an insertion effect can only be used on one part (voice).

Colloquially, Yamaha have robbed Peter to give to Paul.

In EX5, DSP1 is always assigned to reverb, chorus and one level of insert effects. DSP2, however, is flexibly assigned between insert (AWM), VL, AN, and FDSP. Likely, Yamaha returns DSP2 output to a single TG channel in the front-end of the AWM2 pipeline (i.e., a return datapath).

Given the limitations in the EX5 internal architecture, I understand why Yamaha deployed the SSP2 digital signal processor in the Reface CS. Reface CS uses AN Analog Physical Modeling and is eight voice polyphonic. Although Yamaha don’t say much about its filter, Reface CS is not restricted as to filter algorithm (i.e., can be something other than the AWM2 hardware filters).

Sometimes you need to look back in order to see forward. AN-X™ is on the horizon and we will soon see if Yamaha raids its treasure vault. [Again, 25 years later.]

Yamaha MX vs. CK

Posted on March 17, 2023 by pj

I’ve spent waaaaaay too much time on this already, so here’s a quick observation on Yamaha CK’s position in the Yamaha line-up.

Blake Angelos (Yamaha) mentioned that the CK does not replace MX. I take him at his word because CK and MX are aimed at two different use cases: live (CK) and studio (MX). Some forum folk noted this distinction as stage keyboard vs. synthesizer. Obviously, you can use a CK in your personal studio or play an MX on stage. The (marketing) question is, “What is the primary intended use?”

The MX series are synthesizers derived from the venerable Motif XS (MOX). The MX internal sound architectures is very similar to MOX. The MX series are 16-part multi-timbral. The MX have patterns and arpeggios. MX are designed for DAW integration and arrive with Cubase AI. You can connect an MX to a DAW and play a 16-part General MIDI file and get a reasonable result. You can create and edit new sounds at a very deep level thanks to the John Melas tools.

The CK series are intended for live playing. It has many, dedicated front panel controls to make real-time adjustments while playing. The number of tweakable voice parameters is relatively small versus MX. The effects signal flow is limited and fixed. The CK does not have patterns and arpeggios. The CK does not have drum kits. If you throw a General MIDI file at the CK, you’re gonna miss percussion. 🙂

So, functionally, you have two very different primary use cases and capabilities. The series are offered at different price points, too:

     Model      MSRP      MAP 
     ------    ------   ------ 
     CK61      $1,249   $  999 
     CK88      $1,899   $1,499
 
     MX49      $  799   $  569 
     MX61      $1,099   $  799 
     MX88      $1,599   $1,199
 
     MODX6+    $1,899   $1,499 

     YC61      $2,499   $1,999
     CP73      $2,699   $2,099 

     Montage6  $3,699   $2,999

Yamaha like to offer a range of products that appeal to a range of customers — something for everyone. Customers on the tightest of budgets find the MX49 and MX61 under the magic (psychological) $1,000 USD threshold. The CK61 is exactly at the $1,000 mark, filling the gap between MX and MODX+.

The YC series, CP series and Montage are premium-level products. Many (most) customers and I would think twice about dropping $2,000 or more on a keyboard. This is not a casual decision especially if one is considering a piano- or organ-focused keyboard (CP or YC, respectively). Thus, the CK series is a good value proposition for price-conscious customers.

I’m going to restate a certain point that I made previously because I was misunderstood by some. When the Reface series was first released, many of us wanted to see all of the Reface engines combined into a single, full-sized keyboard. We liked the sounds (engines) and interactive interface, but disliked the mini-keys. The CK series combines the Reface YC and Reface CP into a single full-size model — and throws in a good set of bread-and-butter sounds to round things out.

Functionally, CK organs and sound editing are not at the same level as premium YC and CP series. CK has the old Reface YC sample-based engine; YC stage organs are a superior invention. You get what you pay for.

If one needs FM, then MODX+ is your full-size gateway. CS, AKA “virtual analog”, has yet to be seen in a current Yamaha product. And you already know the rumors…

Thanks for reading!

Sand, software and sound

Electronics and computing for the fun of it

Tag Archives: NAMM 2023