Yamaha CP Portable Electric Piano and Vintage Sound Engine, 37-Key Mini Keyboard, Built in Speakers, Synthesizer (reface

I've been playing piano for pretty much my whole life, and I really wanted to get something that a) is EXTREMELY portable and self-contained, and b) actually sounds good, and not like a toy. I landed on the Reface CP after watching some videos of it in action.First off, no, it probably doesn't NEED to cost $450, I can't deny that no matter how much I love it. But I will say, I don't regret buying it at all. This thing is just FUN. I have several other really nice electronic instruments that unfortunately have not been getting nearly as much use lately as this thing. I feel like sometimes, with all the endless options and menu-diving, I'll feel paralyzed by the choices available on some other instruments. I love how this thing kind of looks like something that was made 50 years ago. No screens, just a bunch of old-fashioned looking knobs and switches.And for something with relatively limited options, the variety of sounds you can get out of this is impressive, I love playing with all the different effects. Everyone I've shown it to has been likewise impressed at how professional it sounds, at such a tiny size. Plus, these are some of the most classic keyboard sounds of all time, I love being able to play things that sound almost exactly like some of my favorite 70s/80s recordings.I've always wanted an instrument I could carry around easily, now I don't have to be jealous of guitarists anymore lol. I can take it to the park, or a friend's house, or throw it in my car while I do my delivery work and use it to learn or practice songs in my down time. Yamaha crushed it with this thing, I wanna get the Reface YC as well someday.

Love it!! Great vintage EP tones, high quality construction, real-time tweaking with the effects. The mini keys are surprisingly easy to get used to. It sounds awesome except for the useless "Toy Piano", (WTF Yamaha?), "The Secret" acoustic grand piano more than makes up for it though. Also useable as a midi controller. Make sure you upgrade the latest firmware. v1.3 adds better midi control and the ability to transpose/change tuning.

I love, love, love this keyboard!The cool factor is off the charts and I like gear that "just works" without a lot of fuss or a steep learning curve. (I have wanted the Teenage Engineering OP-1 since it first came out, but I'm unwilling to put the time in to learn.)From the start, I noticed how refined and well-made the CP is. You might think it's a toy or a cheap kids' keyboard from a distance. Not so. It feels like it has heft and substance.The bottom line is this: you just want to PLAY this thing. I've been playing piano on and off for 50 years and since I got my CP I can't wait to pick it up, throw it on my lap, and play. It's also *really* nice to have onboard effects that I will use, with knobs and switches that feel familiar.While the built-in speakers are convenient and a must-have when you have immediate inspiration or are trying to figure out a song you're listening to, the CP sounds great on headphones and even better through a decent amp. I tested mine through a capable but small monitor, then through my '65 Princeton Reverb,,, and it sounds incredible.The small keys might be an issue for some people. I consider myself an intermediate piano/keyboard player and I had no problem adjusting to the key size. Frankly, I'm faster on this thing for leads than I am on my full-size Yamaha digital piano. To be fair, in college, I had a little Casio keyboard that I'd mess around with when I couldn't get a practice room. While that was years ago, maybe I'm just used to the tiny keys.

I held back on buying this for quite some time, wanting an electric piano like a Wurli or Rhodes, but not having the space for it, nor the available funds for expensive auctions. I had thought about going all DAW (Arturia and NI have great emulations as well as Logic X); I had thought about going with a higher end electric piano, but size is a big issue for me, as I only have a home studio and that's constrained to a small space in my apartment.This keyboard has the tones I wanted, in a physical device that fit my space. I know that in my DAW I can get the tones I wanted, but the form factor here makes this portable enough so I can sit away from my studio (say on my couch) and jam out. I am planning on taking this to work and playing when I need a break. It was easy to drop into the mix, it kind of cuts through the mix out of the box without much from the mixer or DAW.What took me by a pleasant surprise was how decent the speakers are. After hearing volcas and roland boutique speakers, I just assumed I'd need headphones (which this sounds quite gorgeous with btw) - the speaker sound is a bonus treat for the player. But for couch-surfing piano playing, the speakers do great. I think it'd be hard to hear them if you had a gig with other musicians and it'd be hard to hear if the person was in the back of a place... but it has flexible routing for i/o that makes it easy to adapt for the space you're playing in.The stomp-box style effects are good - although I think the drive could be a bit more crunchy. The wah only sounds good to me in the Clav setting. The tremolo was great, kind of giving me a bit of control over the attack. The chorus is lush, i prefer the phaser. Both the delays were above expectation. The reverb is nice, adding richness, but don't expect the best from the reverb. I'll probably stick a reverb pedal at the tail of this to get a really rich shimmer.The CP's got a good high and low tone, but i'd keep the tone set more to the middle, where it really sings. In my "sea" of analog and digital synths, drum and groove boxes. The keys are small, like any mini keyboard, and work as a midi controller. but vice versa the minijack midi has a splitter, so you can also hook in your midi controller of choice if you have stubby fingers or the muscle memory that makes using this harder.Overall - i'd go with it as is. That's what made me buy it - out of the box, with nothing added just by itself - it is a great electric piano.