Features
Two world class concert grands in one digital piano
The Yamaha CFX, our flagship 9’ concert grand piano, offers sparkling highs and a powerful resonant bass with a sound that projects to the furthest reaches of any concert hall. The Bösendorfer Imperial is a piano known throughout its long history for its classic Viennese sound. Both are outstanding pianos characterised by distinctive traits of power, versatility, subtlety and lightness. Both are found only in a Clavinova digital piano.
VRM physical modelling - the distinctive reverberation generated by the entire body of a concert grand piano
In a grand piano, sound resonates throughout the body of the instrument, producing a rich reverberation that envelops the listener in sound. This phenomena is reproduced perfectly in the Clavinova through enhanced Virtual Resonance Modelling (VRM). It calculates the various states of the strings for each of the 88 notes on the keyboard, from one instant to the next, and timing and depth of damper pedals pressed. This technology allows for vivid, bright, richly-varied expression that reflects the limitless number of factors inherent in piano performance.
From staccato to legato - superbly expressive sound that responds to the player’s touch
Featuring Yamaha Smooth Release technology, Clavinova offers the crisp tone heard when playing staccato as well as the lingering sound produced by releasing the keys more. This provides finely-nuanced response to the pianist’s playing.
Smooth tonal transformations perfectly matched to key pressure
Sound in an acoustic piano attenuates over a long time. Pianists can change the volume of the sound - as well as its dynamics - to achieve both mellow and bright tones by simply changing the pressure they apply to the keys.
The Clavinova features long, carefully-sampled recordings of notes on a piano, reproduces them in rich detail and utilises unique Yamaha technologies to achieve smooth tonal transitions in response to the touch of the player.
Additionally, the Clavinova has been repeatedly tested and adjusted by numerous pianists in order to attain a performance feel similar to that of a grand piano.
Key-Off samples
The moment a pianist’s fingers lift from the keys of a grand piano, subtle changes occur in the instrument’s tone as the damper is lowered onto the strings to mute its sound. Key-Off samples features actual recordings of these changes, offering a faithful reproduction of the most subtle changes in the piano’s sound, allowing for a more realistic performance.
A fully immersive concert grand experience - even with headphones
Our advanced binaural sampling technology uses samples from the CFX, our acclaimed concert grand piano, recorded with specialised microphones that capture locational information and other nuances discerned by the human ear.
Once you choose the Yamaha CFX Grand Voice and put headphones on, the binaural sampled sound is automatically ready and no additional settings are required. Now with or without headphones, you can fully enjoy the concert grand experience at home. The resulting sound is so natural, so enveloping, that you’ll soon forget you’re even wearing headphones at all.
The Stereophonic Optimiser - a new kind of headphone experience
When using headphones, the Stereophonic Optimiser lets players enjoy the dispersed sound heard when sitting in front of an acoustic piano. With the Stereophonic Optimiser, Voices sampled from acoustic pianos* appear to come from the body of the instrument. This provides a comfortable, natural experience that removes the drawbacks of performing with headphones.
*The CFX Voice utilises binaural sampling technology
Built on a Legacy of Concert Grand Piano Craftsmanship
Grand Piano keyboards are characterised by a light feel when played gently, and a heavier feel when played with more strength. Conversely, a non-grand piano keyboard has a uniform resistance regardless of whether the player uses a gentle or heavy touch. This has traditionally been one of the most significant differences between the touch of a grand piano and that of a digital piano. However, when developing GrandTouch keyboard action, we sought to reproduce the true key resistance that is unique to the grand piano, with greater fidelity. The result is an instrument with a more responsive touch, offering a greater dynamic range than ever before. Now you can experience a much more controlled, nuanced sound when playing softly, or powerful, brighter tones when playing with a stronger touch - just like that of a grand piano.
Achieve True Balance
Pianists prefer grand pianos not only because of the way they sound, but also because of the way the keys respond to their touch. When grand piano keys are struck, there is a certain weight or resistance to the touch. Similarly, when keys are released, they return to a resting position based on the balance between the key and the internal mechanics of the keyboard. It is difficult to reproduce the natural return of the keys of a grand piano in a digital piano, due to differences in the mechanics. Yamaha carefully studied these characteristics when developing the GrandTouch keyboard, and has now reproduced this fine balance in the Clavinova digital piano. The result is GrandTouch - detailed grand piano feel that allows for uniform tone control, precise rhythm and smooth melodic expression - fundamental to an exceptional musical performance.
Leverage Your Artistic Expression
When playing a digital piano, the back area of the keys may prove to be a challenge to full musical expression. This is because the back of the key is closest to the fulcrum of the action. The closer to this pivot point that you strike the key, the less leverage you have and the more strength you need to apply. The greater length of GrandTouch keys give the player more leverage, allowing for better expressive control, even at the backs of the keys. This is the same support length found on the Yamaha S3X premium grand piano (as of April 2017), and is the longest support length used on any digital piano.
We Didn’t Let Any Detail Slide
Our fingers are more sensitive than we think, and for pianists, the texture of the piano keys is extremely important. The GrandTouch keyboard features white keys made from the highest quality synthetic ivory, developed independently by Yamaha. The black keys are finished in synthetic ebony. Synthetic ivory keytops reproduce the tactile surface of the real ivory keyboards once used in older acoustic pianos. It features highly absorbent material that prevents fingers from slipping even after hours of practise, while retaining the ideal texture and feel. Resulting from well over a century of experience in making acoustic pianos, this exclusive Yamaha technology achieves a finish that feels natural and comfortable. In addition to the feel, the appearance and fine texture of these keys is unmatched by any other digital piano, and is sure to inspire pianists from the moment they experience it.
Escapement mechanism of Clavinova Keyboards
The escapement mechanism in a grand piano moves the hammers away from the strings quickly after they strike them, in order to prevent any interference with string vibration. This mechanism produces a slight clicking sensation when the keys are pressed gently. Since Real Grand Expression offers players superb sound, touch and pedaling, we decided to create an escapement that delivers outstanding playability, repetition, and response without impeding performance. The Clavinova keyboards feature an escapement mechanism that reproduces this sensation near the bottom of the key dip. They have been designed in such a way that the click is discernible only on the lightest keystrokes, similar to the keyboard of a grand piano. These keyboards have been adjusted to provide additional friction that balances key repetition and response without impeding performance.
88-key Linear Graded Hammers - the first digital piano keyboard ever to feature realistic weighting on every key
Every single key on a grand piano keyboard is weighted differently. This is because the strings for each note are slightly thinner and shorter in the treble register, becoming thicker and longer towards the bass register. The 88-key Linear Graded Hammers of the Clavinova is the first-of-its-kind to faithfully duplicate this graded touch with differing weights and key return on each one of its keys. This results in a feel and response that is astonishingly like that of a grand piano, and allows players to gain an appreciation of a more authentic touch.
Steam wirelessly with Bluetooth audio
You can play music through the audio system on the Clavinova by using a Bluetooth-enabled smart device. Enjoy playing along with any songs on your smart device as you stream audio such as mp3 files.
Multi-track Song Recorder
The recording function featured in Clavinova digital pianos allows you to record your performances* with a single touch, which is useful when you want to review your playing objectively. Additionally, you can record up to 16 tracks for simultaneous playback, so different hands can be recorded separately or overdub parts with different Voices.
*Recordings are made in MIDI format, and can also be recorded to USB flash memory. Compatible software is required for playback of recorded data on a computer.
USB Audio Recorder
Record performances to USB flash memory and create audio files* you can save and play back on a computer, share with friends or create a CD.
*Data is saved in WAV or mp3 format
USB Connectivity
Connect the Clavinova to a computer or a USB memory device to manage your library.
