With a rich heritage of traditional piano manufacturing dating back to the late 19th Century and a reputation as leaders in digital music and audio technology, Yamaha is uniquely qualified to develop the latest generation of pianos.
Digital pianos, first introduced in the 1980s, use electronic waveform generation to emulate the sound of their acoustic counterparts. They never need tuning, can be used for silent practice on headphones and in many cases, can play other instrument sounds too. Plus many models are light and portable, making them ideal for professional musicians.
Yamaha were pioneers in the use of sampling to further enhance the accuracy of their digital piano sound. ‘Sampling’ is a technique where multiple recordings are made of a real piano and stored on memory chips. These recordings can then be played back by the keyboard. But the tone of a single piano note changes when you play it louder or more softly. Using intelligent software, and still more samples, Yamaha is able to reproduce this effect to generate a digital piano sound which is indistinguishable from it’s acoustic source. On some instruments, even the sampled sound of sympathetic string, damper and soundboard resonance is used to complete the illusion.
For purity of purpose in digital pianos, look no further than the Yamaha CLP Clavinovas. CLP models are chosen by many of the world’s leading music schools and conservatoires, yet with a wide selection of cabinet styles and finishes, including the new slim line variant they are equally suited to home use.
Digital electronics also present many more opportunities to the musician, especially in the home. Today’s CVP Clavinova range offers literally hundreds of different instrument sounds, including drums and many automatic accompaniments that make you sound and feel like you have a whole orchestra behind you.
There’s a price advantage too. The latest P-Series models pack amazingly realistic sounds into compact, portable packages, perfect for the gigging musician, home studio setups or simply the joy of playing piano.
By adding more features, sounds and backing styles, the DGX range of ‘Portable Grands’ combines piano functionality with workstation performance for home music producers.
Meanwhile the Arius range is a great introduction to Yamaha’s digital piano family and includes many of the features of our top models yet is affordable to beginners and students alike.
To view our full range, take a look at our website or call into your local store to try out the amazing sounds for yourself.