What a great opporutunity it was to meet the master Peter Baartmans at Piano Distrubtors Orlando. You've seen his videos and you've heard him play in the past and hearing him live beats the You Tube videos by a long shot. Here's my take on the day.

The Orlando store is loaded with a fine selection of Yamaha grand pianos and the entire line of Yamaha digital pianos. Walking into the store was like a kid going into a candy store. I was the first customer to enter the store for the workshop and was introduced to both Peter and Ben Harrison Product Manager for Portable Keyboards, Digital Pianos & Clavinova. Peter was still in the process of setting up the CVP 609 grand piano version with to his preference. After he finished he immediately did a demo of the touch screen, the equalizer and his preferred settings. He did mention he's a pianist and the CVP 609 is his preferred choice because of the grand piano action and 88 keys. While he was doing a one to one demo for me 4 more customers arrived and at that point the workshop started.

I could only stay for 2 hours, when I left he was still covering some of the features of the CVP 609. He did not have a Tyros 5 to demo . All 5 of us that were in attendance got attention that would not have happened with a larger group. Peter is very personable and his personality matches what you've seen in the You Tube videos. Likewise Ben is very knowledgeable guy. I let both know that Yamaha has a large following of devotees to their arrangers at SZ. Peter in fact was familiar with SZ and mentioned he has visited in the past.

This workshop was tailored for the home CVP owner, many of the features demonstrated i.e. registrations, eq, styles, midi recording, audio recording are known to those of us have owned Yamaha arrangers for many years..........but it wasn't all about the features either. Hearing and watching Peter's hands fly effortlessly over the keys was the high point for me. He did a style demo using the I, IV, V progression to demonstrate a Bossa Nova style.......it sounded good, but then he took the tune One Note Samba with the same Bossa style, added some chord progressions with added 9th, 11ths and 13ths that really made the tune come alive. Haven't heard anyone play the tune like he did on an arranger.

One of the very cool features he did a demo of was the just digital piano feature along with the nuances the instrument is capable of. By the way no external amplification was necessary since the CVP 609 grand style has all the amplifcation anyone would need in a home or cocktail lounge/restaurant setting. Loaded into the CVP 609 are samples from 3 different style pianos, a concert grand, medium sized grand and an upright piano. Here's the cool techy part, on the touch screen when you tap the lifelike looking graphic of the concert grand you're able to raise the lid virtually via the screen and with each setting and the higher the virtual lid opens the sound changes. There's also a control via the touch screen to change room acoustics everything from a large cathedral to a living room. I guess that's what some would call "selling the sizzle, not the steak". I enjoyed every second of Peter taking us thru that part of the piano. I didn't realize that the "V" in CVP stands for versatile as in Clavinova Versatile Piano.

Got some photos too, videos to follow once I transfer them from my phone and do a bit of editing to the vids.

WOW!

I'll bet next generation Tyros has a touch screen, finally.

Awesome Steve .....Im so glad you went.

The CVP 609 is older then the T5....
back then everyone expected the T5 to have a touchscreen
But Yamaha does not think the old timers playing and buying T5 will like a touchscreen.

Not alone should the T5 have had the touchscreen, but also the piano sounds and the piano room feature, but the piano sound has its very own sound section on the CVP 609 and boosts its own 128 voice polyphomy.

The 609 is a great instrument, sadly i dont like the keybed, it feels worse to me then a the cheaper Fatar weighted keybeds.



Peter indeed is a great guy, that takes time to explain stuff, glad you liked the performance and all the explanations...

According to Peter the CVP-609 is closer to the Tyros 4 than it is to a Tyros5. From the conversation doesn't sound like there will be a touch screen on the next generation Tyros, but that's not factual either.





You both would have loved what you heard!
<iframe width="854" height="510" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rOKpjTFsY3s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
You Tube Clavinova CVP 609

"But Yamaha does not think the old timers playing and buying T5 will like a touchscreen."

Watch that old timers stuff - most of us resemble that remark!

Gary

Steve thanx so much It was like being there .....

Why do you think only 5 people were at the workshop wit a star like Peter Baartmans there? I would think it would have been a packed house? In any event I wish I was there also...
good job reporting Steve appreciate it!!

Donny, I'm glad to hear my live report made you feel like you were there

I agree with that kind of talent Peter is that you'd think the house would be packed . I did har a sales rep saying they were expecting a large turnout for the 7 PM concert. I'm guessing that if someone planned the 7 PM concert they wouldn't be able to attend both as was case for me, I could only attend one or the other.

Ben and Peter said the Tampa workshop had a great turnout. I'm guessing too it comes to the location , this is Orlando on the Orange Blossom Trail, just a very short distance away is Disney World, Universal Studios and International Drive. I don't know all the demographics But I have to believe with the resorts there are lots of transients because of the resorts. I wouldn't expect a store that sells lots of high end Yamaha acoustic grands and digital pianos would be located where it is, but then again I don't know enough about the surrounding areas.


On the subject of touch screen, I didn't catch the entire remark but I got the impression that Yamaha felt a touch screen wasn't the best for live play. No reference was made to "old folks". But that was only my take away.

I mentioned to Ben and Peter, back when I worked with them on the S950's introduction, about a touch screen for the, then not yet released, Tyros5 and got basically the same consensus.

I'm sure there are many live players that find touch-screens the bees knees and consider them easy to work with, but I'm not one of them...I still prefer the basic button style setup that's on my Tyros4 and now on the present Tyros5.

I wasn't too struck on the CVP-609's touch-screen, but I suppose, with time, one could get used to it, but I still wouldn't prefer it over buttons.

Also, I'm to understand that visually impaired players would find touch-screens very difficult to work with, and I've heard this directly from several people with vision problems.

I can't say for sure if this is another reason why Yamaha has held back on touch screens, but considering the CVP-609 has one, and since it's quite likely there will also be visually impaired "home" players, it doesn't appear so.

So, perhaps the Tyros6, or maybe even the PSR-S950's replacement will introduce the touch-screen on Yamaha's "portable" arrangers...nothing would surprise me.

Ben (who's based out of Ontario Canada) and Peter are great guys and very dedicated to putting on a good show. I'm glad you got to attend Steve, and that you enjoyed the presentation.

Ian

Steve I agree that knobs and sliders for live play is the way to go on any Kb.....
cities in Florida that aren't near Disney could be a better draw with more "full time residents" living there vs tourists to try to sell a big money item like the CVP-609..and who knows how it was marketed that is crucial also. In any event great pics, great reporting,

Thank you buddy!

Ian, I thought you may have known Ben just had a DUH moment and didn't mention your name. He did say he was from Ontario when we got talking about the storms that hit NY/NJ and New England this past week. You too got the same message about touch screens.

Donny, Thanks, my pleasure to have been able to attend and follow up with a report to SZ.

If no touch screen...then at least let's have QUIET switches.
Touch screen isn't great for live play...Interesting ...Korg and others don't see it that way...
I think it's just a profit situation.
The profit on the T5 has to be insane.

My gosh a 24" touch screen is only $300, let along the small one on arrangers.

Yamaha is no different than any other company...profit (as much as possible)...is the bottom line.

I bet they do make a nice profit on every Tyros5 they sell, although I'm pretty sure the biggest gains are in the CVP and PSR range.

Ian

Touchscreens work very well for real time use....

But... Only if the touchscreens interface is created for it, like on the wersi sonic, with a larrge 15" screen and a few big controll items...

T5
probably cost less than $1000.00 to make....

MSRP on the CVP 609 grand style is $19,999. I would imagine it's what piano dealers call a "B" item meaning ( or at least it used to) that the lowest price they'd sell for is 20% off, that still makes the cost of the grand style $15,999. Sad part is after about 8 years it may only be worth a fraction of that original selling price. But purchasing an acoustic grand should yield close to or even more than the original selling price if past history is any indicator.

Yes, Steve, acoustic grands do hold their value very well, but on the other hand, upright acoustic pianos don't seem to fare nearly as well. It also depends on the brand name with Yamaha pianos being among the highest.

Nowadays, it's very difficult to sell an older upright piano, even if it's been well maintained, whereas a good brand named grand, such as a Yamaha or Steinway, may sell for much more than its original price (depending on the model).

Ian

Why spend all that money?........there are other alternative ideas....T5, etc, etc, in a piano shell comes to mind for a fraction of the cost...

it's all about the feel, the look, the prestige of a grand piano, which nothing else matches ...
JMHO

In the 70s when I worked for Avery Piano Providence in the sales department I once had a customer who came in purchased a high gloss off white 5 foot 1 baby grand. No one in the home played piano, he bought it for the look and prestiege. The guy never even flinched at the retail price. He did insist though that we give him a piece or 2 of sheet music so he could dsiplay it on the music rack of the piano.

Decandent....

... well, maybe he had some friends that played ...

JMHO but I think thats an outrageous price for a digital piano in a wood case. The manufactures seem to try to take advantage of the home player market.
A good alternative is to roll you own. Get a case and put whatever keyboard and sound system you want in it.
Here's just one of many who offer cases. http://www.grandillusionpianoshells.com

Theres even shell for pro guys who play two keyboards but want that B3 look. Portable too.

Just follow the money trail!

Gary

Interesting a shell that makes a nice piece of furniture. When you think of the work/craftsmanship that goes into building a small grand that can had be for thousands less than a digital has to make you wonder, why?