Yamaha CSP 170 and 150 digital piano

You are on the wrong track Neville..

This is not meant as a replacement for arrangers
This is to give people that buy a typical digital or hybrid piano, an arranger on the side

The instruments are first and foremost a digital piano
And the ipad adds an incredible amount of new features..

And the improvement on Tyros 4 has been available for 4 years now, but i guess we both realise that 4 is a typo.

We obviously disagree on both things..
I do think this is a great feature for piano’s, it adds Many things..
And i also think the Tyros 5 outperforms the Tyros4 in almost every way..
(Sound, 76keys, effect, organ world, ensemble voices and more)

But there is Nottingh wrong with disagreeing, as its only opinions..

Enjoy your Tyros 4, because thats all that matters.

Cheers mate.

Perhaps I'm one of the duped folks - because I just bought one of these new CSP pianos, the CSP-170.

I was looking for a digital piano for several reasons - I didn't want to ever have to move an acoustic piano, I wanted to be able to control the volume or use headphones to practice, I wanted all 88 keys like an acoustic piano, and I figured I'd enjoy additional voices and features of a digital piano.

I went to the local dealer with my wife expecting to get a CLP or CVP series piano. My budget was between $3000 and $5000, depending on what I figured the value was. The dealer was having their big piano sale so I was getting 15% to 20% off MSRP for the Clavinova pianos.

I looked at the CLP-635 and CLP-645 pianos. For me, it was clear I wanted the nicer keyboard of the 645 and the nicer sound system as well.

I also looked at the CVP series of pianos. Well, I'm no music arranger, but I liked the additional features and the nicer screen. I did want to be able to layer music, record music, and I liked the lights that helped teach how to play a song. However the only CVP I could afford was the CVP-701. It didn't have the greatest speakers, the screen was small, and it didn't have the nicer wooden keyboard. It cost much more to get more voices, arranger tools and buttons, and a larger screen than on a CLP. If I could afford it, I would have gotten the CVP-705.

My wife wanted something that looked like a piano. She liked the CLP. But because all that can be hidden when it's closed, she left it to me - CLP-645 or CVP-701. I was leaning toward the CVP-701.

As I was debating this, the salesman said they did get a new model, the CSP-150 just recently, so I went and took a look. My wife liked it a lot. It looked more like a traditional "piano" than even the CLP, it had only 2 buttons and a volume slider by the keyboard. The weird part - it required an iPad (no Android support until Spring - and we'll even see if that happens...).

I liked it quite a bit. The large iPad screen allowed for a controller that was colorful and large. It had plenty of room to show music. The piano could just be a piano without it, and look like a piano. It had about the same speakers and keyboard as the CLP-635. But the kicker for me was the learning lights. Not just a light for each key like the CVP, but a column of 4 lights above each key. It made learning songs easy, it was a great tutor/guide, and having 4 lights gave me a clue as to where to go next with my hands. I read music okay, and I play kind of okay, but for my level of piano experience, this was a nice feature.

So it seemed to be the best of both worlds - it looked really nice as a digital piano and piece of furniture like the CVP, but it also had many of the voices and styles and the learning lights, and a "screen" like the CVP. Yeah, I had to get an iPad, but even with that, it was still priced between the CSP and the CVP, kind of in the sweet spot for my budget and feature set desires. I also saw a strong upside to the iPad controller, the possibility of a number of integrated "smart" features in the future. I did feel nervous that this was a new product line and its future uncertain. But I took the plunge. Except I ordered the CSP-170 because it had the wood keyboard and much nicer speaker box than the 150.

I do enjoy the piano a lot. It sounds good, it has more voices and styles than I'll ever user or need. And the stream lights are helpful and fun like a game too. I haven't yet tried the feature that takes my music files and creates a score it can teach me, but looking forward to trying it.

I don't think this is for a professional. Recording a song can be done for fun, but there's no "arranger screen" that gives one screen access to common arranger features. This seems more like a family digital piano, to help people learn to play, to enjoy learning songs and recording them - definitely more for family enjoyment/entertainment and not serious like the CVP could be. And definitely not at all like a stage keyboard. I could never imagine that Yamaha would be foolish enough to even consider the CSP approach to be sufficient for professionals, this is a different market segment entirely that they are targeting in my opinion. Apples and Oranges from the Tyros and other arranger / stage keyboards.

Again, I think the CSP was a good choice for me and the family - but I don't plan to do any professional mixing or arranging on it. And I couldn't imagine trying to manipulate tracks in real time for true music recording with this piano.

Daniel, i definately think the csp idea works perfect for the average fammily, as long as they are prepared to buy, or allready hve an ipad. Which in my book is a very nice tool, and not only for using with the csp..

How do you like the piano sounds in the csp-170?

I really like the idea of looking like a simple piano and then with an ipad turning into so much more...

Roland is going the same approach..
Looks like this might be the future for digital and hybrid piano’s
Glad you like it

Welcome on board Daniel

The CSP was also at music messe
And seems the piano app now also runs on android, thats good news.