My Yamaha YC73 review

[taxman]

Yamaha YC73 review

I was disappointed with the stage 4 and probably wont buy one, But I was interested in trying a YC73. So I bought one. Here’s are my thoughts and the reason that I returned it.

I play gigs, lots of them. Uk and Europe. I have used Nords since 2007.
I’ve had most of them. I currently have a Stage 2 76 and an Electro 6D 73. And lots of other keyboards. I’ve had 3 x Stage 3’s and don’t like them.
I’ve been playing since the early seventies. Including some name bands.

So im gigging lately with my E6 and fancy spending some money. So I see a few decent youtube videos of the YC61 73 88 etc
Its being sold as a great live keyboard, with Ac piano’s, EP’s, Organs and some synths etc. It has pitch bend and mod lever.
Lots of Live Sets. And as it looks like Nord have abandonded the live set modes. I was interested in try one. I like a 73 so that’s what I got.

The keybed is really nice. They describe it as an similar to an EP keybed. I think its great and it was even nice for organ palm slides. I did upgrade to the latest OS with the better rotary. Its very good.
The Piano feels and sounds lovely.
I programmed up all of the sounds I would need to gig. I tweaked some nice sounds.

I wasn’t sure if it was actually cutting it, The live set mode was a bit rubbish. Its difficult to see, The screen is small, its not an Oled display. I think that in the heat of battle the display would be pretty useless. Theres so much in it that you can hardly read it
In live set edit mode there isn’t even a move command. It has a swap, but that’s not really as useful to me.
If I need to re arrange the set during sound check, just before a gig, My E6 has an organize mode which is great.

So I sat with both of my Nords plus the YC
A-B ing them with both of my Nords I found that the keybed of the YC73 felt similar to my stage 2 76, which has the nice fully weighted keys. And the lovely CFX piano in the YC sounded great, it actually sounded very close to the White grand of the Nords. The Rhodes didn’t sound even close, The Wurlitzer was rubbish. The organs were v good but I just don’t think they were right for me. It didn’t really have a Vox conti which is important for me. The other sounds, Strings Synth etc were all very nice, But I felt there was something missing, Something that I have in my Nords. It was things like not being able to use the sustain pedal to also control the rotary. I find it handy to just use one pedal. And the master reverb didn’t have anything you could adjust accept level, and anything above 1 was way to much. You cant even select which type of reverb, stage room etc.

The YC73 does have a couple of things that I would like on a Nord. The XLR out’s plus a pair of jack outs. And the Jack in’s would be very handy.
So I put it back in the box and sent it back. Nice, but for me, not a gig board.
Norm

[neomad]

Thanks for the review.
I have an YC61, along my NS3. The organs are far superior I might say. Nothing else. But the beauty is that I can expand the sound palette with just one cable to an old ipad mini... and it's extremely portable. Keybed is a shame... sh_t keybed for the price.

It's now my portable unit that can be a decent 4 zones controller too, yet allowing a dual keyboard operation. I bought it cheap, I keep it, but is not my main keyboard.

[Macsaint777]

I own a Yamaha YC88, and a Nord Stage 4. I am not sure if you ever used the Sound Mondo app on a mobile device, but it allows you to move and edit any of your live sets very very easily. Also, for your reverb comment, you can easily adjust the insert effects to be any of the reverbs you want, as well as adjust their rate and amount. I find the Stage 3, and now Stage 4 compact editions a perfect partner to the YC88, which has a built in audio/midi interface, and allows me to play the awesome Nord pianos, with a far superior action on the Yamaha. If I had to get by with just an iPad and the YC88, I can set up B3X on the iPad along with PianoTeq and Tal-a-Uno LX and have all the sounds I could need, in a great easy to use and interface included package with the YC. The organ engine itself is superior in the Stage 3/4 but the Leslie sim is much better in the YC. I can get by with either, but the YC is definitely the more flexible of the two due to its built in interface and awesome action.

[daniel70]

Interesting that my experience with pianos and electric pianos on my Nord Stage 2 and my YC73 is totally different: For me, the CFX sample on the YC73 is not on par with the gorgeous White Grand on the Nord, as well as the Nord uprights for my ears sound much better than the Yamaha upright sample. But i like two of the Rhodes samples from the YC73 much more than all the different Nord Rhodes samples.

[Normski]

Thanks guys for your comments. Its good that there are other views, than just mine, and that you enjoy your YC’s.
Regards Norm

[anotherscott]

In live set edit mode there isn’t even a move command. It has a swap, but that’s not really as useful to me.
If I need to re arrange the set during sound check, just before a gig, My E6 has an organize mode which is great.

You move a Live Set by hitting Store and selecting the location you want to Move it to. But I'd agree that is still not ideal for re-arranging the order during sound check, where you're likely to want it to move it to a location that you don't want to overwrite (hence the swap function). You're probably looking for some kind of "insert" function that would move all the subsequent Live Sets as well. Re-ordering at-the-gig from within the board is probably not so practical. At home, the John Melas librarian is another option. At the gig, if you need that function, I'd probably look at something like Set List Maker on a smartphone, where you could create a master song list and orderable (and easily reorderable) subsets for any particular gig. Tapping on a song name can easily send the Program Change to the keyboard that would call up the needed Live Set regardless of its location. This can be an equally useful strategy on Nords.

It was things like not being able to use the sustain pedal to also control the rotary. I find it handy to just use one pedal.

The YC has a menu option for that.

As for the overall comparison, in addition to things that have already been mentioned in this thread, I think the Electro front panel design is better than the YC's, making it easier to use. The Electro also lets you load custom samples. OTOH, YC has other advantages of its own as well.

[Rusty Mike]

Even after several months, I can’t find a good use for the CFX pianos. They’re just to biting for the music I play. The Hamburg and S700 pianos are usable with some tweaking. On my Nords, the White Grand and Amber Upright are my go-to pianos and fit my music perfectly. Overall, I find the EPs on the Nord much more expressive and realistic compared to the Yamaha, but I’ve managed to get some usable patches on the YC.

The Hammond models on the YC however have some depth over Nord’s engine. Full of grit and spit. But the Electro’s organ has been perfectly usable.

I agree that the UI on the Electro, Piano 5 and Stage is much more intuitive compared to the YC. Some of it might be just from my 16 years and 7 models of Nord usage, but it makes more sense to me and I’m faster getting around it. I can do stuff on the fly on my Nords, where I’ve not yet gained that level of confidence on the YC. Too much digging and trying to understand Yamaha’s nomenclature.

My motivation to buy the YC was the lighter weight compared to my Piano 5 with a better action than the TP100 HP action. I’m awaiting the Electro 7 to see what action they put in it, which will determine how long I keep the YC.

[M_a_c]

... found the YC61 last Year in my local store and had been impressed by the Organ-Sound (especially the Rotary-Sim). With that it comes with something like a Pitch- and Mod-Wheel (Yeah!). So I decided to take it as upper Keyboard for Organs and Synths for my Live Set with the NS4.

But with the days I got very disappointed by the "other" Sounds. Okay – there are a handful of the famoust, really great and useful Motif-Sounds in, but (for a "Live-Keyboard") not many what makes me happy on my search for some alternative backing or Solo-Sounds (but tons of FM- and especially lots of SynthBass-Sounds?!?). With that these Sounds are a little thin and cannot cut through the Live-Mix (but you set them really loud). With that I found patches that have nothing to do in a 2000€ Keyboard - f.e. the guitars are a joke and something like an OBX-Jump, cannot be created without sounding techno-alike, since the raw-samples are that way. The greatest feature - the Effect-Section - looses its advantage when you had to programm something with a 2-digit Type-Info and easy to confuse controlers (you should try to add or change some effect on a poor light on stage - you cannot find / hit the desired button / controler). In Sum the whole interface did not reach me - and I really had some experience with Stage-Keys...

It still is a great product with a great Organ-Sound, a few good Yamaha-typical Sound, a great FX-Section, an "interesting" new type of keybed and built as a tank to last. But I decided that it will leave my inventory and I´ll take a NE5 or NE6 (61keys) instead. Currently using my old NE573compact and being much happier than with the YC61.
Well - since two73er Keys are looking a little oversized, I surely will change to a NE6D61 soon...

Just to add - I´d also had the CK61, but the Organ (and the rotary-sim) was to flat for my requirements. It had more and even better "other" Sounds as the YC61, but still an old MX49 offers more and better ones. With that the output gain was very weak for any reason. Nothing for my projects, but still a good package as a "swiss-knife" Key to carry from one rehearsal to the next...

[anotherscott]

Overall, I find the EPs on the Nord much more expressive and realistic compared to the Yamaha

On the YC, I think the pianos and EPs were optimized for the 88, and it is really essential to play with the velocity offset and depth parameters to get them to respond properly on the 61 or 73.

... found the YC61 last Year in my local store...I decided to take it as upper Keyboard for Organs and Synths...But with the days I got very disappointed by the "other" Sounds....not many what makes me happy on my search for some alternative backing or Solo-Sounds...the guitars are a joke and something like an OBX-Jump

While it may lag numerous other boards in guitars and synth/solo sounds, OTOH, you are comparing it here with an Electro, which has no pitch wheel, no modulation/LFO controls, no portamento, so is generally even lesser for guitar/synth sounds. One other thing worth noting is that the YC has external zoning functionality so you can also add some great synth (and other) sounds through, for example, an iPhone/iPad app (or a Roland Boutique module, etc.), with the ability to call up those external sounds (by themselves or split/layered with the YC's own sounds) from the Yamaha's own patch buttons and while still making use of those pitch and mod controls. (A YC plus a basic iPad or Boutique module is still cheaper than an Electro 6, too.)

[M_a_c]

While it may lag numerous other boards in guitars and synth/solo sounds, OTOH, you are comparing it here with an Electro, which has no pitch wheel, no modulation/LFO controls, no portamento, so is generally even lesser for guitar/synth sounds. One other thing worth noting is that the YC has external zoning functionality so you can also add some great synth (and other) sounds through, for example, an iPhone/iPad app (or a Roland Boutique module, etc.), with the ability to call up those external sounds (by themselves or split/layered with the YC's own sounds) from the Yamaha's own patch buttons and while still making use of those pitch and mod controls. (A YC plus a basic iPad or Boutique module is still cheaper than an Electro 6, too.)

Okay - I used it for Live-Gigging only... I like to have minimum rigging effort and don´t like additional external boxes...
So some of possible great features are not that interesting for me... And with the sounds - it´s a question of subjective tase...