Chopin Nocturne Op.9, No.2 - Yamaha Clavinova CLP-470

Thanks to an extraordinarily generous gift from my parents-in-law (thank you!!), I've been able to replace my trusty Clavinova CLP-950, which has served me well for 8 years (at least), with a brand new CLP-470.

It is an absolutely amazing machine. The CLP-950 was very good but this is in a different league altogether. It really does feel and sound (through headphones) exactly like a top quality acoustic grand piano, and it's going to make a huge difference to my playing. The list of features this thing has that its predecessor lacked is long, but the individual details don't matter - it's all about the overall feel and sound, and both are amazing.

The sound was recorded directly to a WAV file on a USB key (a very nice feature that the CLP-950 lacked). This allowed me to get the sound into the video without having to pass it through the line out and a sampler. I was playing through headphones so the original video was eerily silent apart from the dog messing around in the background. The blue light on the left is the USB key I recorded the audio to. I synced the sound to the video with OpenShot on Linux.

There are a few mistakes in this, including a really obvious one at the climax and a rather lame trill at the end, but it should serve to demonstrate the sound of the piano. Listen for things like the trills and the soft bass, both of which just don't sound right on the older model.

The strange arrangement of music on the stand is because I realised I now had two copies of the "50 Greats for the Piano" book that comes with the Clavinova, so by putting them side by side I could get through the piece without having to turn the page :-)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• piano
• clavinova
• yamaha
• music
• classical
• chopin
• keyboard

[tomsclav]

Cheeky sod :-)

It certainly wan't sight-reading. It took me a while to learn it, but it was ages ago and it'll take me some time to get back up to scratch. The trill at the end needs a flexibility in the wrist that I've lost through lack of practice.

The 330 and 430 are the equivalent models in two ranges, the "4" ones being more recent than the "3"s, so I'd expect the 430 to be better. I was going to get a 440 (next model up) but couldn't resist the 470 because the keyboard felt much better.

[paulallen34]

nice playing and a lovely piano,what is the main piano sound like without the headphones.

[tomsclav]

@paulallen34 Thanks! It definitely sounds best through headphones, as they always do. The amps/speakers in digital pianos are never perfect, and a lot of people recommend using an external sound system, which I haven't tried. I find this a bit boomy on the bass, but that may be due to the room I have it in (low ceiling, hard floor). The next model up has a "Soundboard Speaker System" which is supposed to sound good, but the shop was too noisy to tell and I was mostly interested in headphones.

[trygun90]

hi! very nice video and interpretation :D what headphones are u using in this video? cause i have the same piano (CLP 470) and i'm looking for some headphone that can make me feel real sound...

[tomsclav]

@trygun90 Thank you! I'd like to be able to say the headphones were the result of a rigorous selection process, but actually I just walked into Currys in Canary Wharf and grabbed a pair. They're Sennheiser HD-428s. They sound pretty good to me, are quite comfortable and don't cost much.

[dzeljpiano]

Your playing seems to be on a high standard !

[gotheirish]

amazing. how long have you been playing for?

[Hefman1999]

Outstanding - this sounds wonderful !! Great performance

[avq5]

The Clavinovas really are great instruments. Instead of going with the 440 I regrettably went with a CP-50 in order to save some money and space. It's got good features and lots of ways to customize the voicing but it is essentially a stage piano. The keys are a bit clunky and the action is very heavy. By the way, very nice playing.

[SonofBrummieDarkness]

Beautiful!

[GibsonLesBud]

Ok, just ordered it, next week it's mine. Don't have the same parents-in-law as you did though! :-)

Now learn to play like you, thumbs up!

[mcnallylee]

beautiful....the piano and your playing

[petrusmalk]

Beautiful piano sound. Very well played.

[th51bis]

I agree with you the quality of the sound is very nice (from Clavinova -Yamaha digital piano), but the most I like is the 88-Graded Hammer action piano keys from Clavinova/ Yamaha Digital Piano.