Yamaha CSP-170 Satin Black Walnut - Ex Demo
This instrument is discontinued

Staff Review by Alan Hamilton

I visited Yamaha Music's head Office on the 3rd September 2017 to attend the launch of the new Yamaha CSP series pianos

It's fair to say I have attended lots of new product launches since I took over A&C Hamilton Musical Instruments in 1989, I have always enjoyed them and I'm always amazed by the improvements I have seen.

The Yamaha CSP digital piano is a very different idea. Although nothing is truly unique the idea to bring them altogether in 1 package is! Every single objection that I could have to the concept has been dealt with.

The Yamaha CSP170 is so good I bought one

I delivered my piano to myself on Saturday so I could have the weekend fiddling with it

There were several reasons why I decided to buy this piano.

• I can play keyboard and a little guitar so I understand chords
• I can read music but slowly and I have to work at it
• I would like to be able to play in a band one day
• at 55 things are starting to slow down - playing piano is excellent exercise for the fingers
• I'm an average player but I want to get better

The Yamaha CSP170 is a piano and you can access the important sounds by using the function button and pressing notes to get variations. You do not need an Ipad to play it as a piano

Connecting the Ipad is easy and automatic - Open the Smart Pianist App and it's done

The App is organised into 4 main groups

• Piano Room - let's you adjust the Piano to suit your ear, add reverb andjust the lid etc.
• Voice - Choose from hundreds of sounds, layer and split, change effects
• Style - I was so impressed with the quality of styles and all can be played piano or keyboard technique and there's hundreds of them
• Song - This is a huge section and extremely versatile. There's loads of piano excercises, Classical pieces, popular pieces and if that's not enough you can add you own

I have a simple philosopy - the more I play the better I'm going to get. However this isn't quite true and neither is "practice makes perfect". Perfect practice makes perfect.. a subtle differance.

With the Yamaha CSP170 I can improve more for the same amount of time playing and here's why

Yamaha have taken a tried and trusted piano teaching system developed by great piano teachers over decades, they haven't tried to re-invent the wheel here. I don't have masses of books everywhere but I have loads of practice pieces to improve my sight reading, technique and timing. Complicated patterns are easy to understand because I can see and hear them

Yamaha have included loads of high quality midi files with tunes to suit every one, again I can improve my sight reading and timing. Because I'm practicing technique with the `Lessons` learning my favourite songs will be easier. I'm loving the beautiful arrangements, it inspires me!

All the built in tunes have lyrics so I can sing the right words

If I want to accompany myself the chords can also be shown on the lyric display and this demonstrates another area I wish to improve. Playing the melody whilst I'm singing is bad practice, I should accompany the singer not play the same note. The chord information allows me to do this. It also makes me listen for chord changes which improves my ear. I can play arpegios, broken chord or simple harmonies because I have the chord information there

This leads us onto another amazing facility. The CSP170 can play audio files. What's really clever is that it can work out the chords for you and display them on the screen whilst the tune plays. If your`re not comfortable with the key you can transpose the tune and the chords at the same time and play in a key your`re more comfortable with

After running a music school for nearly 30 years hearing teachers and students views on how they want to enjoy playing I can honestly say that this instrument does absolutely everything for everybody. For beginners or great players it will inspire!

As a piano the CSP170 is outstanding with Yamaha's CFXIII grand piano samples and the Bosendorpher grand piano sample. The key action is Yamaha NWX with wooden keys, graded action, escapement and ivory feel. The amplification is rich and full.

It's impossible to write in words how amazing this instrument is, everyone has their own way of doing things. It's so important to have a really good demonstration to see it's full capabilities and how it can work for you. We have 3 demonstrators in the shop so please come in and see us before you buy any other piano