The Perfect Performing / Touring Piano

I'll start by saying the one little negative I have about this piano: the sheer weight: to some that's good, to me, it's acceptable, but it is cumbersome: NOW besides that, the feel, sound, usage, voice editing, everything is spot on. I've been waiting for mine for a long time, and I finally got to order one and have one all of my very own, well worth the wait!

As a pianist, I wanted to feel like I was playing a piano, the onboard speakers gives me that in your face piano sound, so the feel of the piano is really GREATLY affected, even with stage monitors, you get a little fill above the piano, to feel very realistic.

Great sounds, 128 voices. . so the polyphony won't ever die off, plenty of room to play. I cant' say enough about this rig.

Not Disappointed

Had the CP300 for a while at home and have been very happy. Finally used it for a gig (despite the weight!) and wow - the best keyboard for live work I have used. People came up and said things like - "you make it sound so like a piano" - weird I thought it was!
Great to cut through the band (in stereo) and great in solo spots.
That said I tend to like a bright (and sometimes gritty) piano and this does not disappoint. Particularly good for rock and blues. I love it!

Simply The Best

I have played piano with country legends and gospel greats since 1979 and have owned nearly every make and model avaiable. This piano is simply the best I have ever played. I came up through the ranks; from the YAMAHA CP series of the seventies, to the digital pianos of the eighties; even the YAMAHA P200, P250, and now this one! I love this piano. Everywhere I perform people approach me and say, "What is that keyboard you are playing?" If you want your songs to be full of the sweetest acoustic piano sounds ever heard, get this piano! You won't be dissapointed!

This Is The Best Keyboard for Real Piano Players

Yamaha got it right on this one if you want something that actually feels like a real grand piano and sounds like one too. Their keyboard action and piano sound is far superior to the Roland RD series. I have both of them.

The Perfect Piano

Absolutely thrilled with this purchase ! I always wanted to have a piano in the house, but without the bulk, expense, and hassle of owning an acoustic piano. I also wanted a good quality sounding piano / controler for recording in my home studio. The CP300 is without question the perfect answer. The Grand Piano sound on the CP300 is as good as any I've heard on any workstation, keyboard, or even acoustic piano for under $10,000. Yamaha has also included several other quite useable pianos, as well as a really nice variety of digital pianos, organs, and strings to round out the presets. (You certainly won't get that with an acoustic piano) They've also included high quality stereo XLR outs, which makes it perfect for recording. You'd need a $10,000 piano, $2000 in mics, and a million dollar room to get better results on your own. It never needs tuning, I can play with headphones when the baby is asleep, it costs a LOT less than most acoustic pianos and takes up a LOT less space. It's a little too heavy and bulky for me to think of using it as a "STAGE PIANO" (unless you have a tour bus and your own roadie), but overall an exceptional product.

This is the closest it gets

This is one awesome stage piano! The moment I sat down and played it I got instant inspiration and just wanted to play it more. It makes you want to play it! The action is fantastic, some say its heavy but I grew up playing a Schimmel Upright and it feels just right to me. I can see if you maybe have never had a real piano how it could feel strange. The piano sample is the best out there. The electric pianos are pretty good, the clavs are awesome, the organs are OK , and every other sound is very good. I really wanted to talk myself into buying the nord electro but it just doesn't have a great piano patch and the action is waterfall, good for organ but not for piano and I don't feel like carting around an extra weighted midi controller. The organs and eps on the electro are great though, so if that is your main thing get that. If you are a piano player at heart though, this is the real deal and you will not be disappointed. The 30w built in moniters are great for practicing and live, they have good all around response and are loud and clear. The really cool thing about them is that they create a vibration throughout the keyboard when cranked, creating a realistic piano vibration (i doubt this was on purpose but its awesome!). The only downside is the 70 lb weight, but I just got this to replace my fender rhodes 73 which was 140 lbs, so its a lot easier to cart. plus you don't have to bring extra moniters to the gig. Get this piano!

Very Good. Not Perfect.

I am very happy with this digital keyboard, but wanted to mention where I feel it could be improved. First of all, I play keyboard in my own trio (jazz, fusion, funk, blues, etc) and have two KC-550 amps for stereo sound. The 128 note polyphony is good, but when you use 2 patches combined, things change. Notes DO drop off, first of all, especially if you like to play with some sustain to make up for the short duration of the actual patch's sustain. If you listen to a single note, the sound is excellent for about 3 seconds, then it loses most of its beauty and it becomes obvious that you are listening to a "patch" rather than a true string vibrating in a wooden piano body. To overcome this, I use slow strings under my keys, much like what Brian Auger is doing these days. It fattens the sound and fills in. If you play staccato or don't hold your chords down too long, you won't notice this, but I play with drums and bass, as well as sing, so the piano is the "orchestra" and I would like to have true sustain and natural decay. This is a fault, in my opinion. I'm looking at the new, very expensive, Yamaha grand and the new Roland V-Piano as a possible replacement because of this reason. As far as the keyboard "feel," it is also very good, but not as good as I would like. I play hard and, while it's better than anything else I have played, I still beat the crap out of my hands on 4-hour gigs. It seems to me they could engineer some kind of pressure-reducing strip, like what you might stand on if you have to work on concrete floors all day long, to prevent the hard "bottoming-out" that I get. It would work normally for those who don't play quite so hard, but save me from stress-fracturing my fingers when I'm pounding it.

One other thing...if you don't like the original sounds as much as you thought you might, you can make HUGE improvements by going through all the parameters of the individual voicings to improve them. I've done changes to most all of the patches I use and they are FAR better than the factory pre-sets. Just be careful not to overdo it, and keep the original settings somewhere, so you can fix things if you get crazy. And by all means, make sure you are using two amps. Stereo sound is a WORLD apart from a single amp. I use Monster cables and they are good. There's a new cable I want to try...very expensive, but I think it will improve the sound. All in all, the best stage piano out there at the moment. Heavy, yes. Expensive case, no doubt. But it's the sound that counts. I move the piano, two amps, seat, heavy stand, microphone, cases of electronics and music all in a Honda Pilot with room to spare.