The Gaz Williams Show - Reface CP five years on, still good?

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I'd always fancied getting Yamaha's diminutive Reface CP, a paean to electro magnetic keyboards like the Rhodes and Wurly, Nick Batt was quite taken with it and described the layout of effects as very Lalo Schifrin inspired which is super cool in my book! I decided to buy one a few days ago but I wondered if it is still a useful device or has it been superseded?

[Fallingoverbackwards]

I have played mine constantly for years, i take it in the car on trips, on the couch. Its such great kit. True story, i left it on my backyard patio table and there was a down pour. I ran outside and it was absolutely dripping wet. However.... it had auto shut off. I brought it inside and i was nearly in tears, my wonderful wife took it completely apart and dried every component, left it 3 days, reassembled and it worked and has never stopped !!!

[arp_eg]

I purchased a cp when I was sent to Arizona for work for a few weeks. I was expected to live in a hotel room by the airport but I instead brought this and a zoom h6 into the desert, found some quiet spots and noodled for hours.

[roughshapes]

The CP is physical modeling, no samples and isn't based on any other previous Yamaha synth technology. I have a friend who works for Yamaha and that's what I was told. I love mine.

[ДмитрийКужеев]

Reface CP my favorite mini synth!!! Beautiful sound. Love it

[WoodomainJeremyBroun]

Very nice tour thanks - I think its the sheer quality of the sounds that can be squeezed out of it that is impressive as well as the range.

[PeterPanQuails]

I hope yamaha will make a 49-key version of Reface CP. It would still be quite compact and should have room for having bigger and better speakers. And of course put the acoustic piano sound front and centre.

[davidreidy]

I almost can play "I'm not in love"by 10cc entirely and sounds just amazing 🤖🥁

[ferox]

I love mine. I don't want to spend all my time looking at a screen. I wanted Rhodes sounds for a good price and being that I have a small apartment, this and the Roland JDXI are perfect for my needs. I'm a bassist, so this is perfect for writing/recording and demos.

[WoodomainJeremyBroun]

I think size is important (for busking/travelling) even at the expense of those extra keys. If its slightly longer it restricts its portability (eg on airplanes

[TenisDimants]

I like that it has the built in speakers and the small form factor, so I can take it around and jam.

[RhombusLabs]

I considered a Reface CP for quite a while then settled on the AAS Lounge Lizard VST. Great sound, value, effects are sync'able also.

[davebassP]

I got. DX last year, hardly ever used it. Swap[ed it for a CP this year and i play it almost every day. Its fantastic for working songs out, without the distraction of finding sounds and editing etc. Just plug and hours.

[ozybrks]

I am really glad to found your own chanel Gaz! That yamaha cp is amazing.

[savanaviolenta]

Khruangbin use one of those on stage.Love mine.

[jholtz]

Yes, still good. Just bought a new Reface CP (August 2021) to hook up via midi to my Yamaha CP300 piano. I bought it for the sounds alone. Not a fan of mini-keys, and don't plan to put batteries in it and take it all over the place. I agree that Yamaha should put this in a modular form. The sounds in the CP300 are great, and the keybed is one of the best, but the lack of a CP70/80 patch was almost unforgivable (though deep down in the XG waveforms on the CP300 there is a "detuned CP80" sound). The technology in the Reface CP is amazing...love the tremolo, phaser, delay, and reverb. Yes, still good.

[joemonroe]

You can permanently replace the toy piano setting for the acoustic piano via usb software update. However, you will lose the toy piano preset in doing so.

[chrisliddiard]

The refaces without the keyboard would make great sound modules. I was looking for a Hammond organ sound module with draw-pulls, and it turns out the Reface Yc was a great budget option.

[RaymondCastile]

The Reface CP is one of my favorite instruments that I own. I bought it not long after it was released, impressed by the various demos on YouTube. I wouldn't add a single feature. It's a complete instrument. The limitations are part of its musicality. I run mine through a Strymon el Capistan and Lexicon PCM70. I'd rather add outboard effects than stuff the instrument with more onboard ones.

[edjefferson]

I have a CS. One of my two complaints is the midi tempo clock for the looper is transmitted over midi out can not be disabled

[craigbrowning]

I have this archaic Emu probably 16-bit digital acoustic piano module. It is definitely a, but what I like about it is every feature is a knob on the front panel, including many channels voicing tuning and transposition which includes a few octaves settings. Although it sounds dated one thing it is good at doing a "Double Octave" effect (in conjunction with the unit with a more authentic piano patch) you can play things like a Salsa Montuno sound using only one hand, also using the piano in conjunction with other sounds like strings between the two..