NS3 Owner looking for piano-focused keyboard (not 88 keys)

[Winds]

I bought an NP5 last year to replace my Stage 2EX 76. About month ago, I purchased the Yamaha YC73. I have been writing up a fairly comprehensive tour of the YC, mostly in comparison to my long history with Nord keyboards, going back 14+ years and 7 different instruments. Your question has given me some inspiration to publish my take in this forum. I'll get to that in a few days, but for now, here's a short take comparison:

• The weight savings on the YC is very noticeable to me. Certainly much more luggable.
• The NP5 has smoother feeling action and I'd say the finger-to-ear connection is much less fussy. The YC action feels just fine, especially for playing live. Finger-to-ear is less consistent, but there is a lot more ability to dial in a feel that works for you.The YC's action is faster, tighter and smoother than the current HP action on the Electro.
• To me, the AP and EP sound selection is better on the NP5. The overall quality of the Nord library is much better to my ears as well. The EPs sound more natural and expressive, while the Yamaha's just seem a bit artificial to me. It's taking me a while to get my head around Yamaha's sound set. Live I don't notice it as much, and have found sound settings that work for me. Again, it's a deeper instrument but the Nord is better out of the box and don't need as much tweaking.
• Yamaha's upright piano samples are simply terrible compared to the Nord. There's nothing else to say there.
• I can tweak a Nord instrument with my eyes shut - it just works. I have the YC manual open a lot to figure out how to navigate the settings, and many of them are rather anti-intuitive.
• For the non-piano samples, the YC has no ability to load samples - you get what you get. Not really important to me and my playing use case. For what it's worth, the organ engine is pretty good.

I've had the YC out for about 5 rehearsals/gigs now and am still dialing it in. It will be my gig instrument for the time being as I'm just not up for lugging the NP5 around, despite it being a better sounding and more intuitive instrument.

Give me a few days and I'll post up my ever-growing review.

Thanks for the lengthy reply. After checking through the details again I think I should be getting the CP instead of the YC. I really don't need the organ and whatever the YC has to offer as I need it only for piano. My question though, is the piano sound bank the same as the YC? If I'm not mistaken the feel of the keys are different.. not sure about the sound bank though.

[maxpiano]

CP and YC keys are the same (talking about 88 and 73 models of course, as CP61 does not exist) and CP has more acoustic pianos in its samples set (check CP and YC supplementary manuals or Data List documents on Yamaha support), so if your focus is piano you should actually prefer the CP than the YC.

[Rusty Mike]

CP and YC keys are the same (talking about 88 and 73 models of course, as CP61 does not exist) and CP has more acoustic pianos in his samples set (check CP and YC supplementary manuals or Data List documents on Yamaha support), so if your focus is piano you should actually prefer the CP than the YC.

Agreed. The action on the CP73 and the YC73 are the same. The CP has more piano samples. It’s also just a bit lighter to carry and a bit less expensive.

I bought the YC because I wanted the organ engine as well as piano.

[Winds]

CP and YC keys are the same (talking about 88 and 73 models of course, as CP61 does not exist) and CP has more acoustic pianos in his samples set (check CP and YC supplementary manuals or Data List documents on Yamaha support), so if your focus is piano you should actually prefer the CP than the YC.

Agreed. The action on the CP73 and the YC73 are the same. The CP has more piano samples. It’s also just a bit lighter to carry and a bit less expensive.

I bought the YC because I wanted the organ engine as well as piano.

Thanks for letting me know that the action is the same! It shud help me decide between a NP5 and a CP73.

Not mentions on Korg SV2 is it not favourable for some reason?

[maxpiano]

CP and YC keys are the same (talking about 88 and 73 models of course, as CP61 does not exist) and CP has more acoustic pianos in his samples set (check CP and YC supplementary manuals or Data List documents on Yamaha support), so if your focus is piano you should actually prefer the CP than the YC.

Agreed. The action on the CP73 and the YC73 are the same. The CP has more piano samples. It’s also just a bit lighter to carry and a bit less expensive.

I bought the YC because I wanted the organ engine as well as piano.

Thanks for letting me know that the action is the same! It shud help me decide between a NP5 and a CP73.

Not mentions on Korg SV2 is it not favourable for some reason?

Korg SV2 is very good on electric pianos but not as much on acoustic pianos (at least that's what many reviewers and users report and is also my personal feedback after testing it at a shop); its RH3 keybed is heavier compared to CP73 and also NP5 (even if closer to the latter) and that is also a factor.

[Winds]

Korg SV2 is very good on electric pianos but not as much on acoustic pianos (at least that's what may reviewers and users report and is also my personal feedback after testing it at a shop); its RH3 keybed is heavier compared to CP73 and also NP5 (even if closer to the latter) and that is also a factor.

Looks clearly like the NP5 or CP73 then since I'm more interested in acoustic piano. Thank you for this!

[Winds]

Hi guys. So I had the oppurtunity to try both.

Lets start with the good first.

When I tried the NP5, I think the piano touch slightly threw me off. But of course I'm familiar with the sound, and after awhile it kinda grows on you I guess. I probably tested it around for a good 10 minutes before deciding alright that's enough. Weight felt decent too.

Now the bad...

For the CP, it only took me about 2 seconds and I immediately thought nope not it.

Technically it's not all bad. I think the sound was quite nice, but there's just something about the touch that too me felt artificial and just plain wrong. It probably goes down to personal preference. A shame tho.

In summary. NP5, not perfect, but sound is already pretty good, touch works, weight works.. seems solid.

CP73, sound I would say a bit better, but touch felt so off. Didn't even try the weight as the touch completely turned me off.

Thanks for the insight guys!

[Rusty Mike]

Congratulations on your decision. The P5 is a great instrument!