For availability, the scoop I got from Sweetwater, and possibly this is the case for other vendors, is that they can still get them but they go out so fast that they are essentially pre-order only. I clicked the Notfy Me When In Stock button and my Sweetwater rep emailed that I could reserve one. They won't charge me until it's in stock and I could cancel at anytime. This was at the start of May and they are supposed to show up sometime in late June. So possibly other places are in the same boat.
I just got the reface CS from sweetwater. Same type of situation. Was originally looking at the CP but I am first a bass player and guitar player so having the CS for synth bass was appealing…. Plus to my ears you can get some pretty cool electric piano and organ sounds from the CS as well.
@@dano4071 Solid intel. As an update, they pushed back the date on me so I'm still waiting on my CP. I really was excited about the tones available on the CP, but maybe the CS is good enough.
@@tigerkeyroll it’s more or less a toy/experiment for me. I wanted the Reface electric piano and organ models….once I figured out I could use the CS as a synth bass and still get the other sounds I was looking for it made sense for me to get that model. I’m just trying to pick up the keys, I’m sure the other two models get much more authentic sounds for those applications. I just didn’t want to have to buy more than one reface lol.
I love that noise of the original Rhodes. Obviously would be annoying in a mix with other instrumentation but for a solo piece it really adds warm and nostalgic character.
I swore, I'd never buy a tiny keyboard, I then swore I'd only use it as a sound box for my bigger keyboard. It's now always sat on my desk and I use it as a standalone unit. That keyboard is actually the bomb. If you left me with only one bit of equipment, it'd have to be the CP.
@@chrisnaran8293 My general feeling is they were likely planning on some kind of reboot of a full-size CP down the road, and these were kind of testing the waters to see the response. Few years later, they came out with a full size CP and YC. I still like them as portable devices.
I believe there was a Yamaha support page that mentioned this sound's existance and from what I recall, this piano sample set is their common standard piano test sound which they use on many of their keyboards and I also think they didn't mention why it's still there. Maybe they just didn't feel like removing it after the development and kept it in there. Unfortunately I can no longer find the page :/
@@theIpatix This is the most likely scenario, I believe. Grand piano is probably the synth engine's default sample set that they probably didn't intend to be an actual option, but by leaving the wheel between settings, the microcontroller never receives any signals for which sample set to switch to, so it just doesn't. I imagine the designers just never tested for it, since it's a weird scenario. One of those things that's more "bug" than "feature" -- not that I'm going to complain.
braved the mod on mine. was simple to disconnect a single doodad to get the piano as standard on the toy piano setting. i run mine through a cheap multieffects with some gnarly retro compressor on it and it sounds so good! really helps to get that organic, velvety tone and iron out some of my club-fisted playing dynamics. i only ever use the original rhodes and the piano. ive had people say its too expensive for a toy... but it's crazy nice for someone who could never afford the real thing.
I've found with mine that using the phaser with the depth all the way down creates quite a nice filter that cuts out a lot of the excessive low mids, it makes the Rd1 sound way more bell-like, and gives the Wurly a bit more bite.
@@JorbLovesGear If you ever come across a Wurlitzer 1953-1963 4410, 4420, or 4430 electrostatic continuous free reed organ grab it. These were built in the esteemed North Tonawanda, NY Niagara Falls Wurlitzer Factory. ( see the 1950 Wurlitzer factory tour... they even made their own nuts and bolts!) A great read for these organs is this incredible pictorial, animated article from the *North Suburban Hammond Organ Society* ( ggl NSHOS Wurli 4600). The 4600 is the 25 pedal 2 x 61 keys, full console model, but the 4410 spinet is identical internally. (I own a Wurlitzer 4410 and made a 10min adlib demo on my channel) .They never need tuned, and their electromechanical design makes for an incredibly thick, rich tone, but at the same time the flutes are very sweet. The reeds are all in motion continuously in isolated soundproof cast metal boxes. The reeds are not used acoustically, but for their harmonic content, then filtered into voices. The continuous playing of all the reeds was Wurlitzer's answer to Hammond tone wheel generators instant attack for popular music, as all tone wheels were always spinning. Hammond one upped Wurlitzer just two years later in 1955 with the introduction of Key Percussion, which immediately brought organ into the jazz world. Wurlitzer did have something Hammond TW organs could do. Sustain. Wurlitzer invented Sustain. Others followed. The principle of the circuit is each key on the keyboard has a capacitor/ resistor bleed off to ground. So every note played has it's own independent sustain. Wurlitzer ES reed organs also have String and Reed voices besides flute. Also Sustain-I for Flutes, and Sustain-II for Strings/reeds. This independent susa really makes independent voices mesh beautifully. ie. A tight string reed rhythm in the lower manual while playing a flute with sustain in the upper. The only issue I've ever seen with these ES (ES abbrev. not official just easier...) Wurli's is the four hard rubber, quarter size blower motor (actually it pulls vacuum...inside reed cabinet, stays like new in there!) mounts on some break. Just use Gorilla Glue and suspend motor back level with blower shaft. Something very cool is the tool-less amp/filter chassis removal. Just flip a lever. Oh' and the 4430 model has a built-in Wurlitzer SpectoTone (similar to a Leslie rotosonic drum speaker. The two 4" speakers have a crossover on them. Amazing sound.
BIG LOVE! Reface CP and its built in effects! I often dial in the sounds with the drive knob. I read somewhere, that the hidden piano is meant for service purposes ore something.
I have the Yamaha Reface Dx. Its truly amazing how Yamaha is able to encapsulate a classic in such a small package. I love mine. It obviously is missing many features do to its size and simplicity but it really gets to the soul & point of what a DX7 is.
I dig the explanation that the "hidden" piano sound is the default sound for their sound card before they load the other instruments, props to the designers for leaving it in as a fail-safe for if the selector knob breaks!
I use mine constantly. It's all over my new record. It's convenient. Sounds great and has high quality effects built right in. Perfect studio tool and doesn't sacrifice a ton of space for quality sounds.
I've only used MIDI cords that have separate In and Out cables. How is it this has only one? Recommended use with a keyboard that has In/Out that I'd like to use as in this video? Thank you in advance. Gg
In my earliest band days I had the brown Wurlitzer and loved it. Don't remember now what happened to it, probably traded it in on other equipment. Later I began to play left hand bass on a Pro 1 synth and used the Wurlitzer like the one you have for the piano and had a DX7 sitting on top. I always preferred the Wurlitzer because it had more "bite" for lack of a better way to describe it. I no longer tour at 77 but I have my studio and still record and make vids for my youtube channel. Since I record into a computer using a DAW, I use a lot of pluggins now. It's amazing what they have done with software these days. Some of the emulations of the old synths are quite good these days. U-he does some unbelievable stuff, and no, I don't work for them lol! Enjoyed your vid by the way. Took me down memory lane just a bit.
My first rock band in highschool (Legacy) featured TWO keyboard players! One was an excellent percussionist and I played flute so we had alot of flexibility. Anyhoo, one of the keyboards was a Wurlitzer reed organ with a Leslie. It sounded really good but he broke into the electrics of the organ and installed a Big Muff fuzz box that he kept on top in the sheet music holder. It growled like a hell hound. Fuzzed reed organ badness.
@@Chris-is6xb Hi Chris, yep, those leslie's were killer to run about any organ thru. When I had the brown wurlitzer, I had a vox continental organ thru a leslie. Mine, and I'm guessing yours since it wasn't a hammond, had a break out box I guess you'd call it that plugged into the leslie and then you plugged whatever instrument or organ into the box. It had a foot switch that controlled the rotating horn and bottom part. And it was indeed cool. Never thought about adding a fuzz, but that would have been cool I'm sure. But this was back in the sixties and we did not have as many choices for effect pedals then as we do now. What a great ride music has been for me. Sometimes up, sometimes down, but never out of the game. I've been truly blessed because music has always been the love of my life. And todays music world? Fantasy land with all the "tools" we have to work with now. I go back to when the first studio I worked in had two Ampex two tracks. Very good machines, but quite limited. And now today in my studio I have a computer based system, 48 dedicated tracks go out by a light wire interface to my fully automated DM-2000 Yamaha board, a beast. And if you ever need more than 48 tracks you can sub mix in the software and send sub mixes out to the board. And editing is a breeze compared to the splicing blocks we used on the tape machines. And we won't even get into the myriad of pluggins available now lol! What a wonderful time to be in music. I just wish I had more years left. The younger Gen has no idea what they have lol! But I love watching what they do with it, and some of them are amazing. And then of course there's youtube "university" where you can learn about anything, but I'll stop here. That's another deep well!
I had a 1976 Rhodes. I wanted the CS Pro 1, but couldn't afford it. I used a Yamaha CS5 for left hand bass and loved it. The Rhodes got too cumbersome to haul, so I went with a DX7, then added a TX7 module. Sold the DX/TX because i got a great deal on a DX5.
Wurlitzer with chorus is absolutely Supertramp! Since 1979's Breakfast in America album, their white Wurlitzer was always paired with a Boss CE1. And it's a sound almost only associated to them.
The other classic wurlitzer sound for me is 'you're my best friend' by Queen. Just that octave bass bit. I never knew at the time what that instrument was, but when I heard a wurly I knew instantly that was it.
I love the sound of the reface CP - it's a damn professional instrument for the price, especially considering how many features it actually has. But when he played the Mk II, I was instantly reminded why all the fuss over these old keyboards is completely justified. What a brilliant instrument the Rhodes is, anything you play on it sounds like actual heaven - even with background noise.
A clavinet is an electric clavichord. The clavichord is pretty much the oldest stringed keyboard instrument we know, dating back to the 1400s. They were also Johann S. Bach's favorite instrument.
I really adore my CP and this was a fun and thorough tour. You really blew my mind with the hidden piano sound. That's such a fluke thing and it's great. Also really appreciate the way that you refer back to the way the original instruments function. Also I've been toying with getting a midi controller to have a larger keyboard for my small synths and this cemented that choice for me- especially seeing how you can get a smoother curve with the controller (I find I really have to slam down on the CP's keys to get a forte). Thanks for a great video, really appreciate it.
Great video, Jorb! I've watched Ginger Root play locally on an old tine piano (can't remember if Rhodes or Wurli or one of the other brands out there), but couldn't help notice they were using these on tour. Noir also picked one up late last year, and we were vibing on it pretty hard. If someone has a daw in their setup and would prefer physical modeling to sample based playing, I really enjoy the sound and user experience of Pianoteq. It's also exceedingly processor-light, which I'm sure vintage computer enjoyers will appreciate.
Ooo I love ginger root, my guess would be wurlitzer! I just noticed a like, feeding back delay twisted time sound in one of their live recordings, I wonder if it was the CP, seems fitting. Good on the Daw recs, thats a blindspot for me
Great video. One method I use to get more ‘feel’ from playing the lil’ CP is to play it into an amp (Fender Champ) via a couple of guitar pedals. Suddenly the ‘sample of a sample’ feeling just evaporates and it feels noice and expressive. I hope this helps.
Love the Reface CP as well. I dig how weird it can actually get with the effects and have gotten a lot of Radiohead-esque sounds out of it. I looked for a full size EP from Yamaha with these sounds and none of them are quite like the CP. It's a keeper.
Great video. The whole Reface series are so tempting, but it seemed like most of the attention was on the DX and CS. Good to hear how great the Reface CP sounds.
Ahh thanks Josh. These are great, a little vinyl sim into your 404 and you're in business. Actually, theres surprisingly good epiano sounds on the SC88, if you dont mind velocity just being on volume. Run that mf'er through the 404 and you're in lo-fi heaven
Oh also the digital delay 'swoosh' you're talking about is a small amount of lp filtering on the delay time which slows the rate of change. Without some form of smoothing you'd get that terrible 'zipper' sound and clicks whenever you changed it but they've set the cutoff (relatively) high so it's very obvious. The analog delay will also have some filtering on the time but there's a lot more complicated stuff happening to emulate the pitch behaviour of an analog delay so it's not as evident. You probs already know this but it's something I didn't know until I started trying to make a tape delay in max msp & I feel like others might find it interesting too
Very interesting, I wonder how a filter can affect the change of delay time. Safe to say there are a lot of tricks you can do with filters to get a great sound!
Something I really love about this video is including context for comments on price and value. You'd be amazed how many videos just say something is well-priced or not without any context, which gets stale really quickly. Love the fact that you said it's good value up to $x which is super helpful when shopping on Reverb, and continues to be useful for years. Great review, thanks for posting!
I bought the Reface CP exactly for the vintage electric piano sounds. It is an excellent bargain. The hidden easter egg grand piano is also awesome, just wish it didn't require restarting the keyboard. One of the best aspects IMHO is the hands on effect controls. I love dialing in distortion, wah, phaser, etc... Great demo...
@@ferox965 I just wish the Grand was a 7th setting. I’m unlikely to want to do anything other than add a little reverb to the grand where as the toy is great for additional effects.
The Reface series is amazing. Every model kinda punches above its' weight class. But the lack of standard midi ports and midi implementation is not as dynamic as what the keyboards do. For instance the Reface DX can't turn off its clock. Which makes it a bitch to chain with other hardware.
Hi Carter. I was not a fan when they first came out as they were overpriced imho. When Yamaha dropped the price to £269 here in the UK I bought the CS because I wanted a modern alternative to my CS-01, (no CV/Gate or MIDI), next came the DX (my DX100 is unwell and needs TLC), quickly followed by the CP 'cause I didn't have a Rhodes or Wurli or a CP piano sound in my collection. Not got the YC but every reface I have definitely offers plenty of bang for your buck. I don't have much space in my studio so the reface form factor is the perfect size for me and great for throwing in a bag when going somewhere. It took me a while, but I can endorse your words "the reface series IS amazing." Thanks for the warning about chaining the DX, I've not chained it yet but now I know, all thanks to you.
I just put my DX at the end of a chain, the 'sequencer' on it is more of an afterthought or sketchpad anyway, not something you want running the show. Since it hasn't got an arpeggiator I can't think what else you'd need its clock for other than delay, and you can just dial that in manually like in ye olden tymes.
Another minus of the Reface DX is that it always send Program Change. No way to turned it off. For me it was a problem while controlling some soft synth (that also doesn't have a PG receive off). Fortunately I found a software MIDI Pipe that solved that problem. And yes, the Reface DX it's great! :)
Thats weird about the DX. It got this new wave of FM editing right a little sooner than some others, with fixed ratio's and panel faders for operator editing.
YES and to the point. And thank you. I also ❤ my Reface CP. I have great Wurlitzer too. But - I just really really hope that Yamaha could make a version with an xtra octave. That would make it extremely versatile: small jam-sessions with other musicians, songwriting sessions in the sofa, working on stuff when traveling - in the park, at the beach. Those 3 octaves are just not really enough - please Yamaha: Make a "Reface +" !
They made it. It's called CK61. It looks big, but it weighs like 10lbs. It has the Reface CP and YC sounds (but not the extra ones from the newer big expensive YC and CP keyboards), and good acoustic pianos, and some extra sounds that are so-so, just there in case you're desperate. There are more physical controls, too... but not as many knobs for fx (but the fx are all there, and more). I didn't like the 61 key keyboard that much - the CK88 has Yamaha's portable Graded Hammer Standard action keys, and I like those better than the PSR-style sprung synth keys on the CK61. But the CK88 model weighs over 20lbs. They both have down facing speakers, which are not as powerful as the P-125 speakers, for example.
hey! we met briefly at the beginning of the parcels concert and "exchanged" subscriptions (Lea Kalisch channel). been really enjoying the videos, pulling me back into synth and electronic music stuff I did like ten years ago. great vibe in the videos, and this one is giving me lots of GAS
This is nuts - great sounding piece. I nearly spit out my coffee when you showed the piano easter egg. It's a great marketingredient ploy - everyone wants to be in on a "secret mode". 😉
@@JorbLovesGear damn, the rhodes sounded so good. i liked the noise, too. sounds alive. i use an SV-1, but it makes me want to ditch it and buy the headache gear.
Nice demo, thank you so much. I may be crazy, but as good as the Yamaha is, the MKII, even with the noise sounded almost incomparable in so many ways compared to the Yamaha for me. If you never played the MKII in the video, maybe, but hearing them back to back the digital aspect of the Yamaha was clear for me. I have a MKI that the mice got into and am rebuilding, I use a Roland FP-7 for the Rhodes sound currently, it's not bad, but ain't nothing like the real thing. For portability, the Yamaha here is the best I have heard for sure though.
I've always felt, and I'm sure many other Reface CP owners would agree, that Yamaha should have included the Grand Piano in the selector knob instead of the dreaded, awful, and useless toy piano sound. Thanks for sharing.
Turn off your reface turn knob between 2 settings you will notice it won't let you do this while it's on as a magnet kicks in. When you turn it back on when the knob is between an E. piano and a different setting You will get a piano tone.
Haha this has been my only electric piano since it came out, I love it so much :3 I live on the Rhodes I & II and the built in FX are just so outstanding. It's like they're specifically voiced to sound good with THIS keyboard. I love playing with different controllers too, like grated hammer action will get me playing completely different things on it than synth action. So inspiring!
That reface is dope! I also have that, the mark II, & a 200! It saved you time & frustration too. It keeps you from shelling out hundreds of dollars on maintainence and tuning. It’s the best of the digital things. I have a Montage. I understand.
I just started my approach to the keys as a drummer. Thanks for Inspiration on this video, i've a lot ep's with amazing tuning options on my casio ctx, so i'm excited now trying it out 👍All the best from Germany 😉😎
I love mine... always wanted a real Rhodes, but the reface does it for me. I use an Alesis QS8 with 88 weighted keys as my main keys so that with a sustain pedal gets me in the right place for not much money.
Recently got one! I love the sounds a lot! My only complain is the velocity sensitivity, or general output volume. The CPs are really quiet compared to the rest of the reface series. I can play all of them while family is at home, watching tv or something, but not with the CP, which is a shame, since I really love it
This has been at the top of my gear list since I first found out about it. I feel like while there are some good digital options for pianos nothing sounds quite as good or as full as something real. Nice to see someone doing a quality in depth video on it 🤘
@Of Age Non Related Carp Nonetheless the sounds on it to me sound way better than any plugin version I’ve heard of the same emulations. You are telling me you really can’t hear a difference?
Love my CP. This whole range is great. Didn't really get them when they came out, but then I played them and I was like, Ah ok - they're not trying to be more than they are, but what they are sound really good. Been lusting after the YC for a while...
$450 vs what $10,000+ for all 3 originals. The difference is not great enough to justify that. Especially in a mix where most couldn't tell and nearly all wouldn't care.😂
Great video! I totally agree with your assessment of the CP..I use it as a module in my studio and feel the sound quality is unbeatable at this price point. I also have the DX and it is also amazing! Btw..I drag mine out but the pool as well for making music while relaxing! Thanks for sharing!
Man, if they existed as something like a Volca- or Boutique-sized box I could plug a controller into I would be more into these. I think each of them is so cool! But I don't want 4 keyboards I'm not gonna use :(
Great video! I first realized how good this one is thanks to the band Crumb. I like the drive effect, too. As for the question of sampling vs. modeling (and admittedly, I’m a little out of my depth, maybe): I’d venture to guess this is mostly, or all, physical modeling. The fact that a toy piano is even included, in my mind, is likely explained because the technology is focused on (and sufficient for) metal tine, reed, and rod modeling, a family in which toy piano exists. I think the lower toy pitches are less down sampling and more just out of the range of what was intended or would be natural for a toy piano. Regardless, I find the toy piano most useful (or at least less obviously a toy piano) when playing those low octaves, as it sounds like bells-orchestral, church, whatever. I believe Yamaha responded about the grand piano sound, saying it’s only meant for testing purposes. This would also back up my thinking that it’s mostly/all modeling. Yamaha indicated (again, if I recall) that the piano wasn’t officially added, because it wasn’t up to their standards. So, the modeling technology was sufficient for tines, reeds, and Clavinet strings, but not grand piano. Also, if there was capacity for samples on this, as with a digital piano or ROMpler, I think grand piano would be on there, in place of toy piano (but, if it IS sampling, then maybe there WAS enough room for the samples necessary for a limited range toy piano, or electric pianos, but not enough space required for grand piano; again, could be a mix of samples and modeling, too). I find the built-in piano plenty good for my use, for plugging into pedals, and for practicing on the go, though!! Oh, last piece of evidence that it’s modeling: when I send refaceCP through a gnarly dirt/drive pedal, I hear subtle mechanical “grace” sounds, like hammers returning to rest position, something like that. AMAZING VIDEO, JORB!
Ooo interesting. If it is modelling, this is about as low a price point as that is happening in hardware. What about some combination of things, a samples for the initial hit and then modeling beyond that, is that a possibility? Does modeling stretch in lower octaves like a hear on the toy piano? I dont know why not.
@@JorbLovesGear Yeah, I agree with your line of thinking! Reason DAW’s Radical Piano combines elements of modeling and sampling, which might’ve helped me realize that there’s modern ways of combining the two (Radical Piano adds incidental mechanical noises and also models sympathetic string resonance, etc.). “Captain Obvious” alert: All I really know is that my refaceCP sure sounds good going through tons of effects pedals🥰-an excellent case of an instrument that’s focused and limited, and yet also powerful, versatile, inspiring, and useful as hell. For me, every sound and effect has proven useful or worth exploring, at some point.
@@JorbLovesGear Even more evidence you (we?) were correct. I was looking in the manual for info on the half-damper function, when I found Reface CP’s tone generation is: “SCM (Spectral Component Modeling) + AWM2”-some searches and skimming of (sometimes very technical) info leads me to understand that the former (SCM) is maybe more like modeling or synthesis (e.g., to help avoid obvious differences in velocity layers… ?) and the latter (AWM2) is more so PCM sample playback... I think. This link contains the best, most definitive info, even down to what processors and memory are inside Reface CP: sandsoftwaresound.net/spectral-component-modeling/
Perhaps more practical and important than all that ☝️”nerdy crap” 😉, I find that CP’s keyboard actually allows me to-somehow, somewhat-convincingly pretend to be able to play jazz solos. I think the lack of resistance and the size of the keys (much easier to reach for distant intervals, etc.) makes it easier to do glissandos, and more. I still accidentally hit adjacent keys sometimes, but occasionally that even sounds like jazz. Huzzah! 😅😊
The Reface CP is one of the best purchase I've gotten in a long while. I only wish there was a way to run external sources through the echo, wah & vibrato effects. Aside from that, it's such a damn good keyboard to own. 💪💪💥💥
I really enjoy your playing, especially with these sounds. Makes me want to rush out and buy a Reface CP in the hopes that it will teach my fingers to work the way yours do.
I wish they would have included a Hohner Pianet patch instead of the toy piano. It might be interesting to see what they could have done with velocity sensitivity on it.
Just snagged one of these bad boys brand new from Sam Ash. I had set up alerts for Sweetwater when you first posted this vid as I had been interested for years but never copped one. Sweetwater alerted me they had some stock but they were slightly marked up...I watched on Sam Ash till the stock ticked down to 2 and decided I didn't want to wait another 6 months, so I bought it for $400 new. It's totally worth it IMO. My only minor complaint is that on the bottom end of the velocity curve, the response is a little odd, basically nothing harmonically about the sound changes but the volume drops drastically. Ultimately it's a minor quibble as I rarely play that softly. For the vast majority of play this thing sounds stellar. The onboard effects are a big surprise, they really sound great, and are very tailored to fit the sounds.
I love mine. Cured my desire for a vintage Rhodes, especially now that the prices of vintage pianos have tripled and quadrupled. The only things I would change would be add standard MIDI in/out, tweak the velocity curve, and replace toy piano with something more useful, like a DX7 electric piano or a better acoustic grand.
@@kvmoore1 yes, I know, and it's not very good. Instead of the toy piano, I'd have preferred and acoustic grand that was on the same level as the electric piano emulations.
I use with batteries often..rechargeable power cell much better. I take it everywhere. Power on with selector between settings and a hidden yamaha grand loads. Use a mic and record from the built in speakers for amazing grunginess.
Indeed you've just showed up how the magic in these work. That 'hidden' sound is the sample. By turning on with the selector between the 1-2 position you bypassed the whole effect patch that makes these samples turn into something sounding really really close to the originals
er, I don't think that's how it works at all. They're all different sample sets, not "effects" applied on a base sample set. It would be nonsensical to try to do it that way. The hidden grand piano sample set is just that -- a separate sample set. Most likely, it's just what the sampler engine is set to use by default, and it's designed to change to a new set when one of the pins connected to the selector wheel goes high. With these selector wheels, each position makes contact with a different output pin, but there has to be a small gap between them to prevent shorting them together. If you move the wheel between two settings, you can find that spot where no output is connected. No pin connected -> no output active/high -> sampler engine never switches from the default sample set.
@@ChamiCh you would be surprised on how big companies make things dirt cheap (for them) and still make them work flawlessly. I just shared my opinion. Do you actually know how much memory would a digital instrument need (between Processing and Storage space) to be virtually no-load time between samples ? If so, the Reface CP and the others in that series could be waaay more costly.
Yeah, I'm with @chami on it being different samples, its clear to hear that they're distinct. There was also conjecture in the comments about the sound being physical modelling, which would impress me, but I dont know for sure. SCM implies it may be
@@JorbLovesGear the full-sized CP line uses a mix of sampling and physical modeling, and Yamaha is quite proud of their AWM2 sampler engine and likes to put it in everything they can, so I definitely see this being a possibility.
I convinced a friend of mine to get one of these! He ended up selling it and getting a real mk1 (and all the headaches that come with that) but it was fun while it lasted!
This is the kind of instrument I wish I had growing up, it sounds SO GOOD for the price and portability is great. Did you already cover the CS? Has an amazing engine
@@JorbLovesGear I got the reface cp first, and was blown away by it enough to look into the CS. Someone on TH-cam did a cover of ROYGBIV with it and it totally sold me. Worth checking out for anyone on the fence about it, or just to enjoy and appreciate the sounds coming from such a cheap board! It still amazes me every time I hear it
I owned all the Reface series Yamahas. The CS was a nice analogue-like issue, yet nothing I'd recommend anyone who wants a true analogue sound but can't afford it, mostly for the limitations of adjusting the parameters while playing and, again, sound. The DX is nice but lacks two of the original 6 operators, and it sounds very clean (like a DX7 mark II would). If you don't care about missing 2 operators and you prefer the clean sound over the (in my view more charming and lively) sound of the Brownface, consider buying the Dtronics DT-RDX controller also. The YC is a cute organ with old style drawbars. I liked the sound of it, yet it lacked a pedal option for the Leslie speed which was a drawback. The CP sounds simply amazing, so much so that I upgraded to its big brother, the CP73 (which features amazingly responsive natural piano's and a great keybed btw!). I sold all the refaces because I could afford a real DX7, lots of other keyboards have good organ sounds too, I got real vintage analogues so the CS was obsolete even before I got it but the CP, if only as a module, I highly recommend for its few but very usable electric pianos, its fool proof interface and its small keyed but great keybed.
You do much better than myself at the Clavinet…every time a Clavinet preset comes up on a synth I tend to be able to play appropriately 2 seconds of funk before I run out of steam 😝.
Huge fan of my reface CP! Picked it up during the pandemic because my Korg SV-2 was on back order for almost a year and I wanted something to hold me over. Still one of my used boards! I play in a jazz combo at my college and I keep the reface on top of my grand for a different sound here and there. The delay are some of my favorite to play with to add more texture in stranger sections.
Yamaha needs to get back into the serious keyboard game again. They've always made great stuff. My DREAM would be the long awaited sequel to the mighty AN1X!!!!!
The overdrive is excellent - you can adjust it so it barks when you dig in. I wish I could have it in a pedal for my bass guitar because I've been searching for a good overdrive for decades!
Not sure what you mean with AN Synthesis. There is AWM and AWM2, but that's basically samplesets. In the somehow legendary VL-synths from the 90s they used a "Free Oscillation Virtual Acoustics" synthesis, something close to Karplus-Srong.
I stand corrected: In the manual for their Reface series they indeed speak of "AN (Analog Physical Modeling)", regarding only the CS. CP uses "SCM (Spectral Component Modeling)+ AWM2", DX of course FM, and YC AWM.
The Reface CP is purely a rompler, with multi-sampling and end-looping on all sounds. That's why it's relatively inexpensive. No analog modeling whatsoever in this, except for the DSP effects sections, which are sounding great.
I bought the Reface CP in summer 2021 from Amazon, paid about $400 for it. I had no idea that they've become such a rare commodity now. Once I heard the CP70 sounds, I was sold. Good CP70/80 sounds are not so common. I can't stand mini keys, but I made an exception here. The effects are spot on for this era of keyboards. I also hooked it up to full size keyboards for a better playing experience. Major gripes: The Toy Piano was a mistake should have had the hidden acoustic piano in its place. Also, the breakout midi cable is not good, it should have had a standard MIDI OUT and IN instead.
Always searching for a "Wodes" or a "Rhurlitzer" type sound .. it always sounds better in my minds ears than actual attempts to achieve this elusive combination, lol
If you don’t like the noise in your Rhodes, try replacing the preamp with one from Avion Studios. They are about $200.00 and it takes less than an hour. You also gain tremolo.
The only things I'd change are 1. the finish (huge dust magnet and hard to clean) and 2. the keyboard. If it was a rack or desktop unit it would be a nice space saver. Otherwise, as you basically state, it's incredible. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it!
Ok, as a piano player, I'd want a full-size weighted keyboard, so this would just be a module for me. BUT--I have lots of excellent Rhodes, Wurlie and Clav apps on my iPad. So even if I didn't want to use a regular computer, an iPad makes more sense to me. You also can get dozens of other apps including analog and digital synthesizers, organs, strings, etc. So it makes financial sense too. Of course, if you already have any kind of digital piano, synth or workstation, you probably already have all of these sounds in there, with more effects, more layers and a better keyboard. So you don't even need a module. Aside from those criticisms, I don't like the wall wart power supply. And it really should have overdrive, which is an important effect for Rhodes, especially, but also Wurlie and Clav. I can see somebody using it if they have it, but I probably wouldn't recommend it.
The Wurli and SCARBEE Classic EP-88M expansion sound libraries for the iPad Korg Module both sound great in my opinion. Much cheaper and more flexible.
the cp has an overdrive in there. it is the first knob after the source selector. jorb just did not mention or even used it in the video. as you can see, it is all down. just sayin. cheers!
@@geoffk777 As much as I use and appreciate VSTs, sometimes I just don't feel like dragging my keyboard and tablet/computer setup along with me if I wanna go somewhere, so the portability is a big plus. Plus the physical feedback from having the keys and knobs (I know a MIDI keyboard can do that, but then that's another piece of equipment on top of a device with VSTs). I might be old school, but unless I need VSTs to simplify a setup, I prefer having the immediacy of an "instrument" handy when I want to put ideas down in a hurry or jam with others.
@@mr_bassman6685 I totally appreciate not wanting to use VSTs, especially on stage. And this unit is certainly portable. But my original criticism stands. It's just too tiny to be a serious piano. So you're going to need a bigger MIDI keyboard to play it. And , in that case, why bother? Casio and others make 88-key weighted keyboards with battery power and excllent sound that weigh less than 10 pounds (5 kilos) and are pretty cheap. So why buy something that's too small to play instead?
18:35 If you want to hear chorus on a Wurly from the '70s, there are heaps of examples. Choruses weren't really available in the '60s, apart from the Mu-Tron stuff, or actually rewiring a Leslie..
For availability, the scoop I got from Sweetwater, and possibly this is the case for other vendors, is that they can still get them but they go out so fast that they are essentially pre-order only. I clicked the Notfy Me When In Stock button and my Sweetwater rep emailed that I could reserve one. They won't charge me until it's in stock and I could cancel at anytime. This was at the start of May and they are supposed to show up sometime in late June. So possibly other places are in the same boat.
I just got the reface CS from sweetwater. Same type of situation. Was originally looking at the CP but I am first a bass player and guitar player so having the CS for synth bass was appealing…. Plus to my ears you can get some pretty cool electric piano and organ sounds from the CS as well.
@@dano4071 Solid intel. As an update, they pushed back the date on me so I'm still waiting on my CP. I really was excited about the tones available on the CP, but maybe the CS is good enough.
@@tigerkeyroll it’s more or less a toy/experiment for me. I wanted the Reface electric piano and organ models….once I figured out I could use the CS as a synth bass and still get the other sounds I was looking for it made sense for me to get that model. I’m just trying to pick up the keys, I’m sure the other two models get much more authentic sounds for those applications. I just didn’t want to have to buy more than one reface lol.
@@tigerkeyroll Appreciate the update. I've been after one, so this really helps. Thanks!
@@tigerkeyroll i ordered one from sweetwater and they told me sometime in september for it to ship
If yamaha made the reface series into rack modules i would buy all of them.
absolutely agree
I actually enjoy them as is... Kinda forces you to approach them differently😊👍🏻🎹
Would they fit into a single rack drawer? They're not very tall.
Oh hai rich evans
@@bigbeautifulbreakfast nope thought of doin that..they’re 20” long
I love that noise of the original Rhodes. Obviously would be annoying in a mix with other instrumentation but for a solo piece it really adds warm and nostalgic character.
I swore, I'd never buy a tiny keyboard, I then swore I'd only use it as a sound box for my bigger keyboard. It's now always sat on my desk and I use it as a standalone unit. That keyboard is actually the bomb.
If you left me with only one bit of equipment, it'd have to be the CP.
The hard pan of the Rhodes tremolo has always been uncomfortable to listen to on headphones and they emulated that part PERFECTLY
At full depth it can be pretty jarring oh yeah
lol
Totally! Hard pan on two speakers side by side in a room is less... hard
That's the best part of the Rhodes if we're honest, that hard tremolo!!!
Got one, too.
It’s great.
Don’t quite understand why they didn’t make the acoustic piano a standard preset and the toy piano the easter egg 🤷♂️
Many say that and I agree, if it was that way round I would have bought one three week's ago; a shame really.
@@chrisnaran8293 My general feeling is they were likely planning on some kind of reboot of a full-size CP down the road, and these were kind of testing the waters to see the response. Few years later, they came out with a full size CP and YC. I still like them as portable devices.
I believe there was a Yamaha support page that mentioned this sound's existance and from what I recall, this piano sample set is their common standard piano test sound which they use on many of their keyboards and I also think they didn't mention why it's still there. Maybe they just didn't feel like removing it after the development and kept it in there.
Unfortunately I can no longer find the page :/
Totally agree
@@theIpatix This is the most likely scenario, I believe. Grand piano is probably the synth engine's default sample set that they probably didn't intend to be an actual option, but by leaving the wheel between settings, the microcontroller never receives any signals for which sample set to switch to, so it just doesn't. I imagine the designers just never tested for it, since it's a weird scenario. One of those things that's more "bug" than "feature" -- not that I'm going to complain.
I flew commercial one time, and not only played my ReFace organ, but also had Pro Tools running on my laptop. Sequencing at 38,000 feet!
braved the mod on mine. was simple to disconnect a single doodad to get the piano as standard on the toy piano setting. i run mine through a cheap multieffects with some gnarly retro compressor on it and it sounds so good! really helps to get that organic, velvety tone and iron out some of my club-fisted playing dynamics. i only ever use the original rhodes and the piano. ive had people say its too expensive for a toy... but it's crazy nice for someone who could never afford the real thing.
Any resource for that mod? I havent really looked into it, but I imagine its disconnecting a single point of that mode switch?
I need to do this
Any chance you can disconnect the clavinet instead because i wouldn't use that but use toy piano
I've found with mine that using the phaser with the depth all the way down creates quite a nice filter that cuts out a lot of the excessive low mids, it makes the Rd1 sound way more bell-like, and gives the Wurly a bit more bite.
ill have to try that!
@@JorbLovesGear If you ever come across a Wurlitzer 1953-1963 4410, 4420, or 4430 electrostatic continuous free reed organ grab it. These were built in the esteemed North Tonawanda, NY Niagara Falls Wurlitzer Factory. ( see the 1950 Wurlitzer factory tour... they even made their own nuts and bolts!) A great read for these organs is this incredible pictorial, animated article from the *North Suburban Hammond Organ Society* ( ggl NSHOS Wurli 4600). The 4600 is the 25 pedal 2 x 61 keys, full console model, but the 4410 spinet is identical internally. (I own a Wurlitzer 4410 and made a 10min adlib demo on my channel) .They never need tuned, and their electromechanical design makes for an incredibly thick, rich tone, but at the same time the flutes are very sweet.
The reeds are all in motion continuously in isolated soundproof cast metal boxes. The reeds are not used acoustically, but for their harmonic content, then filtered into voices. The continuous playing of all the reeds was Wurlitzer's answer to Hammond tone wheel generators instant attack for popular music, as all tone wheels were always spinning. Hammond one upped Wurlitzer just two years later in 1955 with the introduction of Key Percussion, which immediately brought organ into the jazz world. Wurlitzer did have something Hammond TW organs could do. Sustain.
Wurlitzer invented Sustain. Others followed. The principle of the circuit is each key on the keyboard has a capacitor/ resistor bleed off to ground. So every note played has it's own independent sustain. Wurlitzer ES reed organs also have String and Reed voices besides flute. Also Sustain-I for Flutes, and Sustain-II for Strings/reeds. This independent susa really makes independent voices mesh beautifully. ie. A tight string reed rhythm in the lower manual while playing a flute with sustain in the upper.
The only issue I've ever seen with these ES (ES abbrev. not official just easier...) Wurli's is the four hard rubber, quarter size blower motor (actually it pulls vacuum...inside reed cabinet, stays like new in there!) mounts on some break. Just use Gorilla Glue and suspend motor back level with blower shaft. Something very cool is the tool-less amp/filter chassis removal. Just flip a lever. Oh' and the 4430 model has a built-in Wurlitzer SpectoTone (similar to a Leslie rotosonic drum speaker. The two 4" speakers have a crossover on them. Amazing sound.
I absolutely love the sounds you're getting out of this keyboard!
BIG LOVE! Reface CP and its built in effects! I often dial in the sounds with the drive knob.
I read somewhere, that the hidden piano is meant for service purposes ore something.
I have the Yamaha Reface Dx. Its truly amazing how Yamaha is able to encapsulate a classic in such a small package. I love mine. It obviously is missing many features do to its size and simplicity but it really gets to the soul & point of what a DX7 is.
Same. Now I want a CP and a CS!
If only they put the ability in it to store more presets
I dig the explanation that the "hidden" piano sound is the default sound for their sound card before they load the other instruments, props to the designers for leaving it in as a fail-safe for if the selector knob breaks!
I wish they'd make the toy piano the hidden sound and the actual piano out front.
I use mine constantly. It's all over my new record. It's convenient. Sounds great and has high quality effects built right in. Perfect studio tool and doesn't sacrifice a ton of space for quality sounds.
I've only used MIDI cords that have separate In and Out cables. How is it this has only one? Recommended use with a keyboard that has In/Out that I'd like to use as in this video?
Thank you in advance.
Gg
In my earliest band days I had the brown Wurlitzer and loved it. Don't remember now what happened to it, probably traded it in on other equipment. Later I began to play left hand bass on a Pro 1 synth and used the Wurlitzer like the one you have for the piano and had a DX7 sitting on top. I always preferred the Wurlitzer because it had more "bite" for lack of a better way to describe it. I no longer tour at 77 but I have my studio and still record and make vids for my youtube channel. Since I record into a computer using a DAW, I use a lot of pluggins now. It's amazing what they have done with software these days. Some of the emulations of the old synths are quite good these days. U-he does some unbelievable stuff, and no, I don't work for them lol! Enjoyed your vid by the way. Took me down memory lane just a bit.
My first rock band in highschool (Legacy) featured TWO keyboard players! One was an excellent percussionist and I played flute so we had alot of flexibility. Anyhoo,
one of the keyboards was a Wurlitzer reed organ with a Leslie. It sounded really good but he broke into the electrics of the organ and installed a Big Muff fuzz box that he kept on top in the sheet music holder. It growled like a hell hound. Fuzzed reed organ badness.
@@Chris-is6xb Hi Chris, yep, those leslie's were killer to run about any organ thru. When I had the brown wurlitzer, I had a vox continental organ thru a leslie. Mine, and I'm guessing yours since it wasn't a hammond, had a break out box I guess you'd call it that plugged into the leslie and then you plugged whatever instrument or organ into the box. It had a foot switch that controlled the rotating horn and bottom part. And it was indeed cool. Never thought about adding a fuzz, but that would have been cool I'm sure. But this was back in the sixties and we did not have as many choices for effect pedals then as we do now. What a great ride music has been for me. Sometimes up, sometimes down, but never out of the game. I've been truly blessed because music has always been the love of my life. And todays music world? Fantasy land with all the "tools" we have to work with now. I go back to when the first studio I worked in had two Ampex two tracks. Very good machines, but quite limited. And now today in my studio I have a computer based system, 48 dedicated tracks go out by a light wire interface to my fully automated DM-2000 Yamaha board, a beast. And if you ever need more than 48 tracks you can sub mix in the software and send sub mixes out to the board. And editing is a breeze compared to the splicing blocks we used on the tape machines. And we won't even get into the myriad of pluggins available now lol! What a wonderful time to be in music. I just wish I had more years left. The younger Gen has no idea what they have lol! But I love watching what they do with it, and some of them are amazing. And then of course there's youtube "university" where you can learn about anything, but I'll stop here. That's another deep well!
Good to hear that cheers.
Sounds like a really cool stage setup!
dude your video editing is epic
I had a 1976 Rhodes. I wanted the CS Pro 1, but couldn't afford it. I used a Yamaha CS5 for left hand bass and loved it. The Rhodes got too cumbersome to haul, so I went with a DX7, then added a TX7 module. Sold the DX/TX because i got a great deal on a DX5.
None of the REFACE models are discontinued. Like so many other things, the chip shortage has put production on hold.
Ahhh makes sense
Wurlitzer with chorus is absolutely Supertramp!
Since 1979's Breakfast in America album, their white Wurlitzer was always paired with a Boss CE1. And it's a sound almost only associated to them.
The other classic wurlitzer sound for me is 'you're my best friend' by Queen. Just that octave bass bit. I never knew at the time what that instrument was, but when I heard a wurly I knew instantly that was it.
That’s how I run my Wurlitzer. Only because of them.
@@adamziolkowski2549 Classic sound. Hard to beat.
Sold!!!!!
What does reface mean?
I love the sound of the reface CP - it's a damn professional instrument for the price, especially considering how many features it actually has. But when he played the Mk II, I was instantly reminded why all the fuss over these old keyboards is completely justified. What a brilliant instrument the Rhodes is, anything you play on it sounds like actual heaven - even with background noise.
exactly, its close but nowhere close to sound the same
The comparison should be done once the EP has been put through a mic.
I've always loved the sound the early Reggae organists would achieve with clavinet and it's variations, they made cool use of this
A clavinet is an electric clavichord. The clavichord is pretty much the oldest stringed keyboard instrument we know, dating back to the 1400s. They were also Johann S. Bach's favorite instrument.
I’ve heard Bach was a wurli man. I prefer tines, myself
Nah, Bach felt da funk!
Triple Bach loved the hopsichord
Well of course Bach loved the Hopsichord, and hops, he was German, right? Nobody likes a Beer more than a German! 🍺
Easily the most useful demo of this instrument I have seen.
🙏🙏🙏Happy to do it
I really adore my CP and this was a fun and thorough tour. You really blew my mind with the hidden piano sound. That's such a fluke thing and it's great. Also really appreciate the way that you refer back to the way the original instruments function. Also I've been toying with getting a midi controller to have a larger keyboard for my small synths and this cemented that choice for me- especially seeing how you can get a smoother curve with the controller (I find I really have to slam down on the CP's keys to get a forte). Thanks for a great video, really appreciate it.
He just wanted to say I love the sound of the seventies cuz it makes him feel like he's on a Daft Punk record
Great video, Jorb! I've watched Ginger Root play locally on an old tine piano (can't remember if Rhodes or Wurli or one of the other brands out there), but couldn't help notice they were using these on tour. Noir also picked one up late last year, and we were vibing on it pretty hard. If someone has a daw in their setup and would prefer physical modeling to sample based playing, I really enjoy the sound and user experience of Pianoteq. It's also exceedingly processor-light, which I'm sure vintage computer enjoyers will appreciate.
Ooo I love ginger root, my guess would be wurlitzer! I just noticed a like, feeding back delay twisted time sound in one of their live recordings, I wonder if it was the CP, seems fitting.
Good on the Daw recs, thats a blindspot for me
Great video. One method I use to get more ‘feel’ from playing the lil’ CP is to play it into an amp (Fender Champ) via a couple of guitar pedals. Suddenly the ‘sample of a sample’ feeling just evaporates and it feels noice and expressive. I hope this helps.
Great sounds, every now and then I find myself wanting a Reface CP it sounds great. Nice to have the comparisons to the originals too. Cheers!
Ohh great to see you here, much appreciated. 🙏🙏🙏
The Reface series is honestly incredible. Forget what everyone says, I love my CS and DX and I’ll never let them go
Love the Reface CP as well. I dig how weird it can actually get with the effects and have gotten a lot of Radiohead-esque sounds out of it. I looked for a full size EP from Yamaha with these sounds and none of them are quite like the CP. It's a keeper.
This in even like 49 key full size case with some more control over eq or the effects would sell really really well
Beautiful Radiohead sounds indeed
"bespoke dongle"
That's my solo project
the dongle of Digital Foundry
Lol omg I just came to the comments section to mention my new jam band idea, “Bespoke Dongle.” 😜
You are!
The bespoke dongle is garbage. Trying to get midi routed through that thing was a pain. The usb works like a charm though.
Great video. The whole Reface series are so tempting, but it seemed like most of the attention was on the DX and CS. Good to hear how great the Reface CP sounds.
The YC is great too. I love messing with the drawbars while I play.
Ahh thanks Josh. These are great, a little vinyl sim into your 404 and you're in business.
Actually, theres surprisingly good epiano sounds on the SC88, if you dont mind velocity just being on volume. Run that mf'er through the 404 and you're in lo-fi heaven
Oh also the digital delay 'swoosh' you're talking about is a small amount of lp filtering on the delay time which slows the rate of change. Without some form of smoothing you'd get that terrible 'zipper' sound and clicks whenever you changed it but they've set the cutoff (relatively) high so it's very obvious. The analog delay will also have some filtering on the time but there's a lot more complicated stuff happening to emulate the pitch behaviour of an analog delay so it's not as evident.
You probs already know this but it's something I didn't know until I started trying to make a tape delay in max msp & I feel like others might find it interesting too
To be honest, it sounds a lot like a tape flange effect when he sweeps the delay along like that.
Very interesting, I wonder how a filter can affect the change of delay time. Safe to say there are a lot of tricks you can do with filters to get a great sound!
Something I really love about this video is including context for comments on price and value. You'd be amazed how many videos just say something is well-priced or not without any context, which gets stale really quickly. Love the fact that you said it's good value up to $x which is super helpful when shopping on Reverb, and continues to be useful for years. Great review, thanks for posting!
I use this as a module as well, and I love the onboard effects. The Yamaha Reface CP is an amazing device that is user-friendly.
I bought the Reface CP exactly for the vintage electric piano sounds. It is an excellent bargain. The hidden easter egg grand piano is also awesome, just wish it didn't require restarting the keyboard.
One of the best aspects IMHO is the hands on effect controls. I love dialing in distortion, wah, phaser, etc...
Great demo...
I wish they had switched the toy piano with grand piano.
@@ferox965 I just wish the Grand was a 7th setting. I’m unlikely to want to do anything other than add a little reverb to the grand where as the toy is great for additional effects.
The Reface series is amazing. Every model kinda punches above its' weight class. But the lack of standard midi ports and midi implementation is not as dynamic as what the keyboards do. For instance the Reface DX can't turn off its clock. Which makes it a bitch to chain with other hardware.
Hi Carter. I was not a fan when they first came out as they were overpriced imho. When Yamaha dropped the price to £269 here in the UK I bought the CS because I wanted a modern alternative to my CS-01, (no CV/Gate or MIDI), next came the DX (my DX100 is unwell and needs TLC), quickly followed by the CP 'cause I didn't have a Rhodes or Wurli or a CP piano sound in my collection. Not got the YC but every reface I have definitely offers plenty of bang for your buck. I don't have much space in my studio so the reface form factor is the perfect size for me and great for throwing in a bag when going somewhere. It took me a while, but I can endorse your words "the reface series IS amazing." Thanks for the warning about chaining the DX, I've not chained it yet but now I know, all thanks to you.
I just put my DX at the end of a chain, the 'sequencer' on it is more of an afterthought or sketchpad anyway, not something you want running the show. Since it hasn't got an arpeggiator I can't think what else you'd need its clock for other than delay, and you can just dial that in manually like in ye olden tymes.
Another minus of the Reface DX is that it always send Program Change. No way to turned it off. For me it was a problem while controlling some soft synth (that also doesn't have a PG receive off). Fortunately I found a software MIDI Pipe that solved that problem. And yes, the Reface DX it's great! :)
I have the YC reface because I really wanted my CP 25/35 back very badly
Thats weird about the DX. It got this new wave of FM editing right a little sooner than some others, with fixed ratio's and panel faders for operator editing.
YES and to the point. And thank you. I also ❤ my Reface CP. I have great Wurlitzer too. But - I just really really hope that Yamaha could make a version with an xtra octave. That would make it extremely versatile: small jam-sessions with other musicians, songwriting sessions in the sofa, working on stuff when traveling - in the park, at the beach. Those 3 octaves are just not really enough - please Yamaha: Make a "Reface +" !
you can use any keyboard you want... and this toy treat as sound module
I need this
@@kazymarty111 but who wants to bring a whole extra piece of gear?
I have the reface YC and I always hook it up to another keyboard. I wish they’d done the reface as pure modules without the tiny keyboard.
They made it. It's called CK61. It looks big, but it weighs like 10lbs. It has the Reface CP and YC sounds (but not the extra ones from the newer big expensive YC and CP keyboards), and good acoustic pianos, and some extra sounds that are so-so, just there in case you're desperate. There are more physical controls, too... but not as many knobs for fx (but the fx are all there, and more). I didn't like the 61 key keyboard that much - the CK88 has Yamaha's portable Graded Hammer Standard action keys, and I like those better than the PSR-style sprung synth keys on the CK61. But the CK88 model weighs over 20lbs. They both have down facing speakers, which are not as powerful as the P-125 speakers, for example.
hey! we met briefly at the beginning of the parcels concert and "exchanged" subscriptions (Lea Kalisch channel). been really enjoying the videos, pulling me back into synth and electronic music stuff I did like ten years ago. great vibe in the videos, and this one is giving me lots of GAS
Ahh cheers, great show.
Thanks for popping in, this keyboard is a real winner
Thanks for making this video! I have been loving mine for a long while - and now I can point folks at this to share how great it is.
ahh cheers, thats exactly what I want, spread the word
This is nuts - great sounding piece. I nearly spit out my coffee when you showed the piano easter egg. It's a great marketingredient ploy - everyone wants to be in on a "secret mode". 😉
Truue, like we're all in on it
Ear candy! The Fender Rhodes tone, especially when mixed with a phaser, is probably my all time favourite keyboard sound, synths included.
Absolutely same
I can absolutely see why you use the reface more but my god your MkII sounds absolutely magical
I love my Reface CP dearly but my jaw dropped when I heard the genuine MKII. Irrespective of the noise, it sounds unbelievably good.
@@medardfischer Agree, the sound of the real thing is captivatingly beautiful.
Yep. I was like "That CP is sounding good" ....then he plays the Rhodes and I am like "Well then....gulp"
Putting them back to back feels so rude. lol
@@JorbLovesGear damn, the rhodes sounded so good. i liked the noise, too. sounds alive. i use an SV-1, but it makes me want to ditch it and buy the headache gear.
Per your closing ramble: It's a stellar value! It's also a masterpiece of design homage.
Love my reface cp,it has actually helped me learn chords alot better than I imagined.Most excellent addition to my mini studio setup.❤️🤖👾📡
Real over-performer for a mini rig. Nice!
Wow, when you turned the chorus on, my eyes closed and I got really calm😌 this thing sounds great!
🙏🙏🙏
Nice demo, thank you so much. I may be crazy, but as good as the Yamaha is, the MKII, even with the noise sounded almost incomparable in so many ways compared to the Yamaha for me. If you never played the MKII in the video, maybe, but hearing them back to back the digital aspect of the Yamaha was clear for me. I have a MKI that the mice got into and am rebuilding, I use a Roland FP-7 for the Rhodes sound currently, it's not bad, but ain't nothing like the real thing. For portability, the Yamaha here is the best I have heard for sure though.
Rhodes number 1 every time for my ears, absolutely beautiful sweet sound. 👍🇬🇧♥️🙏🌈
I wish they would make a module out this.
love it! I bought one over a year ago now and it still sounds awesome for playing some 70s music like Beegees etc etc
I've always felt, and I'm sure many other Reface CP owners would agree, that Yamaha should have included the Grand Piano in the selector knob instead of the dreaded, awful, and useless toy piano sound. Thanks for sharing.
There’s a way to get a piano sound 🤔 I think you turn it off and put the knob between two settings
@@bensabourin3464
Yes I know, but it would have been nice to get rid of that useless Toy Piano selection and replace it with Grand Piano instead?
@@AlainHubert yeah would have been better to put the toy piano secret ahah
Turn off your reface turn knob between 2 settings you will notice it won't let you do this while it's on as a magnet kicks in. When you turn it back on when the knob is between an E. piano and a different setting You will get a piano tone.
@@bensabourin3464yes that's literally what the comment is about... It's also mentioned in the video in the section titled grand piano...
haha love the hainbach call out. love that guy. also loved this vid. so many demo vids don't go into the kind of detail you did. props.
Haha this has been my only electric piano since it came out, I love it so much :3 I live on the Rhodes I & II and the built in FX are just so outstanding. It's like they're specifically voiced to sound good with THIS keyboard. I love playing with different controllers too, like grated hammer action will get me playing completely different things on it than synth action. So inspiring!
That reface is dope! I also have that, the mark II, & a 200! It saved you time & frustration too. It keeps you from shelling out hundreds of dollars on maintainence and tuning. It’s the best of the digital things. I have a Montage. I understand.
I just started my approach to the keys as a drummer. Thanks for Inspiration on this video, i've a lot ep's with amazing tuning options on my casio ctx, so i'm excited now trying it out 👍All the best from Germany 😉😎
Cheers, thanks for that! Yeah, this little guy is a great place to start
Just ordered one. I hope it arrives some day.
I actually love the noise of your mkII. There's something super nostalgic about it.
It is a cool sound
Thanks Jorb for all the information you've provided for me.I appreciate you bro.
🙏🙏 Happy to share it, cheers
Love mine, if they could do a bigger key version that’s otherwise exactly the same I’d buy another!
CP88?
I just want the reface exactly as it is but with bigger keys! It did have an SV1 in the past which is a similar concept.
Love mine. It sounds incredible, and is a fantastic songwriting tool
I love mine... always wanted a real Rhodes, but the reface does it for me.
I use an Alesis QS8 with 88 weighted keys as my main keys so that with a sustain pedal gets me in the right place for not much money.
Great review of the CP. thank you! it was sad to hear your Rhodes in its (then)current state though. I hope you’ve since been able to repair it.
Recently got one! I love the sounds a lot! My only complain is the velocity sensitivity, or general output volume. The CPs are really quiet compared to the rest of the reface series. I can play all of them while family is at home, watching tv or something, but not with the CP, which is a shame, since I really love it
This has been at the top of my gear list since I first found out about it. I feel like while there are some good digital options for pianos nothing sounds quite as good or as full as something real. Nice to see someone doing a quality in depth video on it 🤘
Cheers, happy to share it
@Of Age Non Related Carp Nonetheless the sounds on it to me sound way better than any plugin version I’ve heard of the same emulations. You are telling me you really can’t hear a difference?
I'm in love with you piano style. Wish I could play like that!
Appreciate that, I cant play many other ways! lol
I love this CP. And man, you missed what i consider to be the greatest knob: the drive. It give the sound an all different set of dimensions.
Love my CP. This whole range is great. Didn't really get them when they came out, but then I played them and I was like, Ah ok - they're not trying to be more than they are, but what they are sound really good. Been lusting after the YC for a while...
I love my YC - tweaking the "drawbars" and switching the speed on the rotary is so much more fun than playing static organ presets.
Just got a used one for 220€ (245€ total once shipped & insured) and I think it is a wonderful keyboard!. Thanks for the video
The Yamaha is great no doubt, but man those vintage ones have that little extra character. Even liked the extra noise. Cool vid!
🙏🙏🙏
$450 vs what $10,000+ for all 3 originals. The difference is not great enough to justify that. Especially in a mix where most couldn't tell and nearly all wouldn't care.😂
Yes I have it and I am happy since years. Great sounds. Period
Great video! I totally agree with your assessment of the CP..I use it as a module in my studio and feel the sound quality is unbeatable at this price point. I also have the DX and it is also amazing! Btw..I drag mine out but the pool as well for making music while relaxing! Thanks for sharing!
🙏Happy to share! Yeah I'd like to incorporate the CP into more mobile jam stuff, would be a great fit
I have a 73 MK I and I love my Reface CP! Total tone zone!
Man, if they existed as something like a Volca- or Boutique-sized box I could plug a controller into I would be more into these. I think each of them is so cool! But I don't want 4 keyboards I'm not gonna use :(
I bought the Reface collection DX, CP, YC, CS IN 2015 - 2019 and think that they are the ultimate portable instruments with the best mini keyboards.
Great video! I first realized how good this one is thanks to the band Crumb. I like the drive effect, too. As for the question of sampling vs. modeling (and admittedly, I’m a little out of my depth, maybe): I’d venture to guess this is mostly, or all, physical modeling. The fact that a toy piano is even included, in my mind, is likely explained because the technology is focused on (and sufficient for) metal tine, reed, and rod modeling, a family in which toy piano exists. I think the lower toy pitches are less down sampling and more just out of the range of what was intended or would be natural for a toy piano. Regardless, I find the toy piano most useful (or at least less obviously a toy piano) when playing those low octaves, as it sounds like bells-orchestral, church, whatever. I believe Yamaha responded about the grand piano sound, saying it’s only meant for testing purposes. This would also back up my thinking that it’s mostly/all modeling. Yamaha indicated (again, if I recall) that the piano wasn’t officially added, because it wasn’t up to their standards. So, the modeling technology was sufficient for tines, reeds, and Clavinet strings, but not grand piano. Also, if there was capacity for samples on this, as with a digital piano or ROMpler, I think grand piano would be on there, in place of toy piano (but, if it IS sampling, then maybe there WAS enough room for the samples necessary for a limited range toy piano, or electric pianos, but not enough space required for grand piano; again, could be a mix of samples and modeling, too). I find the built-in piano plenty good for my use, for plugging into pedals, and for practicing on the go, though!! Oh, last piece of evidence that it’s modeling: when I send refaceCP through a gnarly dirt/drive pedal, I hear subtle mechanical “grace” sounds, like hammers returning to rest position, something like that. AMAZING VIDEO, JORB!
Ooo interesting. If it is modelling, this is about as low a price point as that is happening in hardware.
What about some combination of things, a samples for the initial hit and then modeling beyond that, is that a possibility?
Does modeling stretch in lower octaves like a hear on the toy piano? I dont know why not.
@@JorbLovesGear Yeah, I agree with your line of thinking!
Reason DAW’s Radical Piano combines elements of modeling and sampling, which might’ve helped me realize that there’s modern ways of combining the two (Radical Piano adds incidental mechanical noises and also models sympathetic string resonance, etc.).
“Captain Obvious” alert: All I really know is that my refaceCP sure sounds good going through tons of effects pedals🥰-an excellent case of an instrument that’s focused and limited, and yet also powerful, versatile, inspiring, and useful as hell. For me, every sound and effect has proven useful or worth exploring, at some point.
@@JorbLovesGear Even more evidence you (we?) were correct. I was looking in the manual for info on the half-damper function, when I found Reface CP’s tone generation is: “SCM (Spectral Component Modeling) + AWM2”-some searches and skimming of (sometimes very technical) info leads me to understand that the former (SCM) is maybe more like modeling or synthesis (e.g., to help avoid obvious differences in velocity layers… ?) and the latter (AWM2) is more so PCM sample playback... I think. This link contains the best, most definitive info, even down to what processors and memory are inside Reface CP: sandsoftwaresound.net/spectral-component-modeling/
Perhaps more practical and important than all that ☝️”nerdy crap” 😉, I find that CP’s keyboard actually allows me to-somehow, somewhat-convincingly pretend to be able to play jazz solos. I think the lack of resistance and the size of the keys (much easier to reach for distant intervals, etc.) makes it easier to do glissandos, and more. I still accidentally hit adjacent keys sometimes, but occasionally that even sounds like jazz. Huzzah! 😅😊
4:05 Plus that Deepmind keybed is awesome , given it's pricepoint.......Great feel...
The Reface CP is one of the best purchase I've gotten in a long while.
I only wish there was a way to run external sources through the echo,
wah & vibrato effects.
Aside from that, it's such a damn good keyboard to own. 💪💪💥💥
Big yes to that.
I really enjoy your playing, especially with these sounds. Makes me want to rush out and buy a Reface CP in the hopes that it will teach my fingers to work the way yours do.
I wish they would have included a Hohner Pianet patch instead of the toy piano. It might be interesting to see what they could have done with velocity sensitivity on it.
I would've loved a pianet
Just snagged one of these bad boys brand new from Sam Ash. I had set up alerts for Sweetwater when you first posted this vid as I had been interested for years but never copped one. Sweetwater alerted me they had some stock but they were slightly marked up...I watched on Sam Ash till the stock ticked down to 2 and decided I didn't want to wait another 6 months, so I bought it for $400 new. It's totally worth it IMO.
My only minor complaint is that on the bottom end of the velocity curve, the response is a little odd, basically nothing harmonically about the sound changes but the volume drops drastically. Ultimately it's a minor quibble as I rarely play that softly. For the vast majority of play this thing sounds stellar. The onboard effects are a big surprise, they really sound great, and are very tailored to fit the sounds.
I love mine. Cured my desire for a vintage Rhodes, especially now that the prices of vintage pianos have tripled and quadrupled. The only things I would change would be add standard MIDI in/out, tweak the velocity curve, and replace toy piano with something more useful, like a DX7 electric piano or a better acoustic grand.
There is a "hidden" acoustic piano emulation in the Yamaha Reface CP.
Seriously!
There is standard direct midi, it just requires a DIN dongle that's included.
@@kvmoore1 yes, I know, and it's not very good. Instead of the toy piano, I'd have preferred and acoustic grand that was on the same level as the electric piano emulations.
@@BossDD3 yes, I'm staring at the dongle hanging off of mine right now. It's stupid that it should require a dongle.
@@RaymondCastile my preference would be a good Mrs Mills upright instead of the Toy Piano and a proper detent for the "secret" grand piano.
I use with batteries often..rechargeable power cell much better. I take it everywhere. Power on with selector between settings and a hidden yamaha grand loads. Use a mic and record from the built in speakers for amazing grunginess.
Indeed you've just showed up how the magic in these work. That 'hidden' sound is the sample. By turning on with the selector between the 1-2 position you bypassed the whole effect patch that makes these samples turn into something sounding really really close to the originals
er, I don't think that's how it works at all. They're all different sample sets, not "effects" applied on a base sample set. It would be nonsensical to try to do it that way. The hidden grand piano sample set is just that -- a separate sample set.
Most likely, it's just what the sampler engine is set to use by default, and it's designed to change to a new set when one of the pins connected to the selector wheel goes high. With these selector wheels, each position makes contact with a different output pin, but there has to be a small gap between them to prevent shorting them together. If you move the wheel between two settings, you can find that spot where no output is connected. No pin connected -> no output active/high -> sampler engine never switches from the default sample set.
@@ChamiCh er, I don't think you understand how these things work.
@@ChamiCh you would be surprised on how big companies make things dirt cheap (for them) and still make them work flawlessly. I just shared my opinion.
Do you actually know how much memory would a digital instrument need (between Processing and Storage space) to be virtually no-load time between samples ? If so, the Reface CP and the others in that series could be waaay more costly.
Yeah, I'm with @chami on it being different samples, its clear to hear that they're distinct.
There was also conjecture in the comments about the sound being physical modelling, which would impress me, but I dont know for sure. SCM implies it may be
@@JorbLovesGear the full-sized CP line uses a mix of sampling and physical modeling, and Yamaha is quite proud of their AWM2 sampler engine and likes to put it in everything they can, so I definitely see this being a possibility.
I convinced a friend of mine to get one of these! He ended up selling it and getting a real mk1 (and all the headaches that come with that) but it was fun while it lasted!
what an upgrade. lol
This is the kind of instrument I wish I had growing up, it sounds SO GOOD for the price and portability is great. Did you already cover the CS? Has an amazing engine
It really is great. I haven't tried the cs! Would like to though
@@JorbLovesGear I got the reface cp first, and was blown away by it enough to look into the CS. Someone on TH-cam did a cover of ROYGBIV with it and it totally sold me. Worth checking out for anyone on the fence about it, or just to enjoy and appreciate the sounds coming from such a cheap board! It still amazes me every time I hear it
The CS is my favorite synth and I own a JP-08, Poly D and Deepmind 12. Something about the simplicity and sheer amount of sweet spots
I owned all the Reface series Yamahas.
The CS was a nice analogue-like issue, yet nothing I'd recommend anyone who wants a true analogue sound but can't afford it, mostly for the limitations of adjusting the parameters while playing and, again, sound.
The DX is nice but lacks two of the original 6 operators, and it sounds very clean (like a DX7 mark II would). If you don't care about missing 2 operators and you prefer the clean sound over the (in my view more charming and lively) sound of the Brownface, consider buying the Dtronics DT-RDX controller also.
The YC is a cute organ with old style drawbars.
I liked the sound of it, yet it lacked a pedal option for the Leslie speed which was a drawback.
The CP sounds simply amazing, so much so that I upgraded to its big brother, the CP73 (which features amazingly responsive natural piano's and a great keybed btw!).
I sold all the refaces because I could afford a real DX7, lots of other keyboards have good organ sounds too, I got real vintage analogues so the CS was obsolete even before I got it but the CP, if only as a module, I highly recommend for its few but very usable electric pianos, its fool proof interface and its small keyed but great keybed.
You do much better than myself at the Clavinet…every time a Clavinet preset comes up on a synth I tend to be able to play appropriately 2 seconds of funk before I run out of steam 😝.
Lol, its a totally other genre of keyboard playing. Its own skill to work on
Huge fan of my reface CP! Picked it up during the pandemic because my Korg SV-2 was on back order for almost a year and I wanted something to hold me over. Still one of my used boards! I play in a jazz combo at my college and I keep the reface on top of my grand for a different sound here and there. The delay are some of my favorite to play with to add more texture in stranger sections.
Great job, Jorb! Love my CP too! However you did forget one super important feature: the optional keytar strap attachment!!
oh my god how could i forget. ripping the CP70 as I roll around stage. lol
i loved listening through this so much, loved your style of playing with it
🙏🙏
Yamaha needs to get back into the serious keyboard game again. They've always made great stuff. My DREAM would be the long awaited sequel to the mighty AN1X!!!!!
One of the best and most fun pieces of kit that I own
same
Wow I’ve was looking for a budget friendly ep for some time and Nver new about the yamaha CP .. I will def will be buying this now
AAyyy here you go!
Much better sounding than i thought it would. Only thing is missing is an overdrive effect.
There is drive! I must've cut everything that included it
The overdrive is excellent - you can adjust it so it barks when you dig in. I wish I could have it in a pedal for my bass guitar because I've been searching for a good overdrive for decades!
If I recall correctly, the Reface series is all physical modeling, using the AN synthesis engine.
Not sure what you mean with AN Synthesis. There is AWM and AWM2, but that's basically samplesets. In the somehow legendary VL-synths from the 90s they used a "Free Oscillation Virtual Acoustics" synthesis, something close to Karplus-Srong.
I stand corrected: In the manual for their Reface series they indeed speak of "AN (Analog Physical Modeling)", regarding only the CS. CP uses "SCM (Spectral Component Modeling)+ AWM2", DX of course FM, and YC AWM.
The Reface CP is purely a rompler, with multi-sampling and end-looping on all sounds. That's why it's relatively inexpensive. No analog modeling whatsoever in this, except for the DSP effects sections, which are sounding great.
I bought the Reface CP in summer 2021 from Amazon, paid about $400 for it. I had no idea that they've become such a rare commodity now. Once I heard the CP70 sounds, I was sold. Good CP70/80 sounds are not so common. I can't stand mini keys, but I made an exception here. The effects are spot on for this era of keyboards. I also hooked it up to full size keyboards for a better playing experience.
Major gripes: The Toy Piano was a mistake should have had the hidden acoustic piano in its place. Also, the breakout midi cable is not good, it should have had a standard MIDI OUT and IN instead.
Always searching for a "Wodes" or a "Rhurlitzer" type sound .. it always sounds better in my minds ears than actual attempts to achieve this elusive combination, lol
If you don’t like the noise in your Rhodes, try replacing the preamp with one from Avion Studios. They are about $200.00 and it takes less than an hour. You also gain tremolo.
"Hello my name is Jord and i love gear" damn didn't realize this guy was roided slay king
watch out im about to throw these synths so far
The only things I'd change are 1. the finish (huge dust magnet and hard to clean) and 2. the keyboard. If it was a rack or desktop unit it would be a nice space saver. Otherwise, as you basically state, it's incredible. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it!
Cheers! I've seen a few module conversions online, I kind of want to try to do it...
Ok, as a piano player, I'd want a full-size weighted keyboard, so this would just be a module for me. BUT--I have lots of excellent Rhodes, Wurlie and Clav apps on my iPad. So even if I didn't want to use a regular computer, an iPad makes more sense to me. You also can get dozens of other apps including analog and digital synthesizers, organs, strings, etc. So it makes financial sense too. Of course, if you already have any kind of digital piano, synth or workstation, you probably already have all of these sounds in there, with more effects, more layers and a better keyboard. So you don't even need a module.
Aside from those criticisms, I don't like the wall wart power supply. And it really should have overdrive, which is an important effect for Rhodes, especially, but also Wurlie and Clav.
I can see somebody using it if they have it, but I probably wouldn't recommend it.
The Wurli and SCARBEE Classic EP-88M expansion sound libraries for the iPad Korg Module both sound great in my opinion. Much cheaper and more flexible.
the cp has an overdrive in there. it is the first knob after the source selector. jorb just did not mention or even used it in the video. as you can see, it is all down. just sayin. cheers!
@@studio42.thelivesessions38 Ok, I withdraw that criticism, but my other comments stand. I still don't see a real case for buying one.
@@geoffk777 As much as I use and appreciate VSTs, sometimes I just don't feel like dragging my keyboard and tablet/computer setup along with me if I wanna go somewhere, so the portability is a big plus. Plus the physical feedback from having the keys and knobs (I know a MIDI keyboard can do that, but then that's another piece of equipment on top of a device with VSTs).
I might be old school, but unless I need VSTs to simplify a setup, I prefer having the immediacy of an "instrument" handy when I want to put ideas down in a hurry or jam with others.
@@mr_bassman6685 I totally appreciate not wanting to use VSTs, especially on stage. And this unit is certainly portable. But my original criticism stands. It's just too tiny to be a serious piano. So you're going to need a bigger MIDI keyboard to play it. And , in that case, why bother? Casio and others make 88-key weighted keyboards with battery power and excllent sound that weigh less than 10 pounds (5 kilos) and are pretty cheap. So why buy something that's too small to play instead?
18:35 If you want to hear chorus on a Wurly from the '70s, there are heaps of examples. Choruses weren't really available in the '60s, apart from the Mu-Tron stuff, or actually rewiring a Leslie..