YAMAHA CLP-825 DARK ROSEWOOD CLAVINOVA DIGITAL PIANO

Clavinova pianos feature voices of two world-renowned concert grand pianos. One of them is the CFX, Yamaha’s top-flight concert grand piano. Pianists around the world are enamored with the impressive, dazzling, richly expressive sound of the CFX in concert halls. Another sampled concert grand is the Imperial, the flagship model of Bösendorfer, a time-honored Viennese piano brand with an ardent following. The Imperial is known for its abundance of color and natural, warm feeling. Yamaha faithfully reproduces the idiosyncrasies of these concert grand pianos by carefully recording the entire tonal range of each of the 88 keys, making minute adjustments to capture the most harmonious tones each piano has to offer.

Players can experience the effects of Grand Expression Modeling by playing a song on a CLP-800 Series piano. For example, playing the many fast passages in Mozart’s “Piano Sonata No. 16 in C major”—a piece familiar to piano students—with the same light touch as you would on a grand piano results in a rolling, light-hearted tone, yet each note is clearly distinct from the others. When the same note is played repeatedly with the damper pedal down to sustain the sound, these pianos replicate the natural tonal variation produced by the physical phenomena in grand pianos by simulating the way the hammers strike strings that are already vibrating. This allows the player to add expression to repeated notes as if they were practicing on a grand piano, a useful option in places like the development of Beethoven’s “Für Elise.”

The concept behind the acoustic design of the CLP-800 Series is to cause sound to radiate into the surrounding space as widely as it does from grand pianos. For example, the CLP-865GP/845/835/825 feature diffusers—a special mechanism for diffusing sound. The higher-end CLP-895GP/885/875 models replicate the rich grand piano sound with diffusers in addition to waveguides, Bidirectional Horns and cleverly placed and oriented speakers. These design features allow players to feel the sensations of the sound filling the entire space, the hammers striking the strings in front of them, and the reverberation dissipating into the edges of the space (Grand Acoustic Imaging).

The GrandTouch and GrandTouch-S keyboards were designed around the concept of “a keyboard with the feel of a grand piano action,” with the goal of allowing pianists to feel the keyboard with their fingertips in the same way as they would when playing a grand piano, and from there to create exactly the sound that they are looking for. Specifically, these keyboards are notable for their responsiveness, offering everything from light, delicately nuanced tones to boldly powerful notes in answer to the strength with which the pianist plays the keys. They replicate the pleasing response felt when the grand piano hammers strike the string, and are free of any wobble when pressed to their fullest extent. Highly absorbent synthetic-ivory white keys and synthetic-ebony black keys prevent slipping even during extended play and feel just like those of a grand piano.

This iteration of the CLP-800 Series features many gentle curves in the shape of the body to give the pianos a feeling of warmth and openness. Sitting in between the sweeping curves of the side arms of a CLP-875, for example, gives you the strong impression that you are playing a grand piano. The wide music stand integrated into the instrument is not only unobtrusive to the player’s dialogue with the music, but also highly functional, capable of holding several sheets spread out.

One advantage of choosing a digital piano is that you can play with headphones on to keep your surroundings quiet. However, many people may find that their ears become fatigued if they play with headphones on for too long. One of the main reasons for this is that sound played directly into the ears is completely different from the natural sound of an actual piano.

Binaural sampling solves this problem. This is a method of sampling in which special microphones are placed on a mannequin’s head in the same positions as the pianist’s ears to capture piano sounds the way that they sound in reality. We chose this method to create the ambience and full, natural resonance of acoustic pianos in Clavinova pianos. This makes pianists feel as though they are sitting at a grand piano even when they play with headphones on. The experience is so pleasant that they forget they are wearing headphones, no matter how long they continue to play. On the CLP-800 Series*, binaural sampling was used for the Bösendorfer Imperial as well as the Yamaha CFX.

CLP Series pianos feature 50 of the most famous classical pieces as well as 303 exercises by Hanon, Beyer, Czerny, and Burgmüller. Sheet music is also available for download and viewing on the Smart Pianist app. Try practicing with one hand at a time, or simply listen and enjoy.

The CLP-800 Series is also compatible with the FC35 optional three-pedal unit, which functions as an auxiliary pedal for small children to practice pedaling. Simply place the FC35 on a suitable stand* or otherwise adjust it so that it sits in a position appropriate for your child’s height.

Smart Pianist is a free application for use with Yamaha digital pianos/hybrid pianos that can create song data from PDF scores and then play it back, as well as analyze song data stored in your smart device and display chord progressions or piano accompaniment scores. The Bluetooth® MIDI function* of the CLP-800 Series lets you connect to Smart Pianist wirelessly.

Combining Smart Pianist with a CLP-800 Series makes it easier to enjoy playing the songs you want to play and increases your performance repertoire.

*Availability of Bluetooth MIDI varies by country.

You can play music through the audio system on the CLP-800 Series* by using a Bluetooth-enabled smart device. You can stream audio data such as mp3 files, and even enjoy playing along with any songs on your smart device.

*Availability of Bluetooth audio varies by country.

The CLP-800 Series comes complete with 20 different and simple rhythm patterns* (drums and bass accompaniment) that are perfectly suited to many types of music, letting you spice up your performance with some backing musicians, make practice more interesting, or open up your creative flow with inspiring new ideas.

*The rhythm function is not included on the CLP-825.

The CLP-800 Series offers a variety of ways for you to record your favorite performances, described below.

Multi-track MIDI Song Recorder

The recording function featured in the CLP-800 Series allows you to record your performances* with a single touch, which is useful when you want to review your playing objectively. Additionally, you can record up to 16 tracks** for simultaneous playback, so different hands can be recorded separately or overdub parts with different voices.

*Recordings are made in MIDI format and can also be saved on a USB flash drive. Compatible software is required for playback of recorded data on a computer.

**CLP-825 features a 2-track song recorder.

A new Volume Limiter function lets you set a fixed maximum volume level, to protect your hearing from loud sound over the speakers or headphones. The function is a safeguard against small children damaging their hearing by accidentally turning up the volume too high.

One of the allures of the grand piano is the sympathetic resonance created by the vibration of the entire instrument. CLP-800 Series pianos reproduce a richer, more natural resonance than ever before, featuring a new tone generator chip paired with a groundbreaking technology called Virtual Resonance Modeling (VRM). VRM creates a richly varied sound by simulating the complex sympathetic tones created when the vibrations of the strings are propagated to the soundboard and other strings, corresponding to the timing and intensity of key playing and pedaling. This technology even replicates the sounds the dampers make when they are raised off the strings, in addition to the resonance of the duplex scaling, strings, soundboard, and case. CLP-800 Series pianos allow you to enjoy the same momentary dynamics and deep sympathetic sounds that are produced by the entire body of a grand piano.

The interaction and interplay of the hammers, dampers, and strings inside a grand piano respond to the intensity, speed, depth, and other subtle nuances of the pianist’s touch, creating a limitless range of tonal expression. This range comes from both types of tonal variation, the type controlled by the player and the type that occurs naturally as a result of physical phenomena happening inside the piano when it is played. When playing a grand piano, the pianist infuses their performance with different types of expression, from the force they apply when depressing the keys to what they decide to do with sustained notes in terms of releasing the keys to cut them or layering them with subsequent notes.

Yamaha has applied a combination of knowledge and techniques gained from over 120 years of acoustic piano manufacturing and advanced acoustic design technology for concert halls, theaters, and other commercial venues to the acoustic design of the CLP-800 Series. Specifically, we optimized the placement, orientation, and volume balance of the speakers in the low, mid, and high frequency ranges of the CLP-800 Series based on our analysis of the sounds emitted by the components of grand pianos and where and how they radiate away from their sources. We also installed diffusers, waveguides, and Bidirectional Horns to take advantage of the indirect sound reflected from the walls to enhance the reverberation of the sound. These design features reproduce the reverberation and depth of natural sound in the surrounding space, creating a sound field close to that of a grand piano.

When playing grand pianos, pianists make minute adjustments to their input in response to whether the hammers at the ends of the keys are striking the strings in such a way that the piano produces the desired sound. In other words, players create sound by sensing the smallest changes in the resistance they feel in their fingertips within strokes measuring only 10 mm. We focused on this essence of sound creation from the player’s perspective and the changes in resistance they feel in their fingertips. Thanks to this unique approach to development, GrandTouch/GrandTouch-S keyboards provide an outstanding level of control to players so that they feel the same sensations as they would on a grand piano keyboard.

The higher-end CLP-895GP/885/875 models feature a GP Response Damper pedal. CLP-800 Series pianos not only simulate the resistance of grand piano dampers when the pedals first begin to take effect, but also accurately blend the tonal variation with the sensation of the dampers being raised off the strings with precision sensing of pedal depth. This allows players to practice proper pedaling—even half-pedaling—at all times. The combination of GrandTouch pedals and the GP Response Damper in higher-end models of the CLP-800 Series enables more authentic, grand piano-like pedaling than ever before.

Yamaha has developed a mannequin head specifically for binaural sampling. We also measured the ear shapes of nearly 100 people to create an “average ear” model and carefully examined the types and positioning of microphones to use with it to ensure that everyone can enjoy the same effects. As of 2024, Yamaha makes the only digital pianos with binaural sampling-based piano sound* for headphones.