Yamaha CVP-509 digital piano

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Draft

Just bought one - I will write down a few tricks and tips for absolute amateurs (like I am) and music educators (which I am not) - Daniel K. Schneider 17:41, 9 September 2011 (CEST)

The Interface

The keyboard has a fairly complex Interface. Some functionality can be reached through different paths.

There are various kinds of controls, roughly:

  • Some buttons that lead to a tool
  • Style selection, style control, voice selection, sequencer buttons
  • The LCD and related controls (A-J and 1-8 up/down) buttons
  • The data wheel + Enter buttons
  • The direct access button
  • The function button

(more to come, need a good picture first that isn't copyrighted ...)

Voices

Kinds of Voices

MegaVoices
are intended for creating sounds with MIDI, e.g. auto-accompaniment
Super Articulation! (SA) and Super Articulation 2 (SA2)
implement realistic transition and continuity between notes. Super Articulation 2 implements Articulation Element Modeling (AEM). This adds vibrato and other effects, mainly to wind instruments. For each SA/SA2 voice, pedals can be used to add extra effect. Press the Info (7) button in the Voice Selection display.
Natural
Mostly keyboard sounds. These are obtained by various sampling technologies (Stereo Sampling, Dynamic Sampling, Sustain Sampling, and Key-off Sampling).
Live!
Quote “acoustic instrument sounds sampled in stereo, to produce a truly authentic, rich sound”
Cool!
implement various electronic elements synthetically
Sweet!
acoustic instruments
Live!Drums
Drum sounds, obtained by dynamic sampling and stereo sampling
Live!SFX
Latin percussion instruments, obtained by dynamic sampling and stereo sampling
Drums
Various drums and other percussion sounds can be played with the keyboard
SFX
Implement some special sounds assigned to individual keys
Organ Flute
Allows to configure vintage organs (e.g. a Hammond) with flute footage levers, organ types, rotary speed, vibrato, etc.

Modifying voices

Harmonies and Echo are used by some built-in styles, e.g. Jazz BigBand styles. It's probably a good idea to select such a style and then inspect the voices used. Try for example "Modern Big Band".

Harmony
You can play a polyphonic instead of a single voice
1) Press the [VOICE EFFECT] button (rectangular button at the extreme right of the keyboard)
2) Press the [I] (HARMONY/ECHO) button
3) Press the [J] (TYPE SELECT) button
You can choose between a variety of chords, e.g. two notes, three notes, various 4/5 note variants.

The effective chord that will be played depends both on the selected harmony and type and the chord that is played. I.e. if auto-accompaniment detects a minor chord then the voice of right or right 2 (or the combined) also will be minor.

Echo type
Start as above, i.e. bring up the TYPE SELECT tool
At the bottom of the same menu (as Harmony) you then can define either an echo, a tremolo of a trill and the parametrize these.
Use the 4-8 buttons to parametrize
Other parameters
1) Select a voice, then Press (6UP / VOICE SET)
2) You now can change many parameters using the various TABS

Supported file formats

Midi variants

  • MID (type 0 and type 1)
  • KAR (only play de midi part, but cannot display the karaoke text)
  • TUNE 1000 (commercial karaoke format extension)

Note: For the follow the lights feature, one can assign parts. By default it takes the first two tracks (if I understood right).

Music (audio) formats

  • MP3
  • WAV, i.e. the typical file format found on Music CD's

Yamaha proprietary

... I don't really understand much here.

  • Yamaha XG
  • Pianosoft Disklavier series (also works on CVP line)
  • ClaviSoft (specifically targets CVP line)
  • Yamaha Style files (?)

Other

  • Roland GS (saved as midi)

Troubleshooting and errors

Before reading on, see FAQs at CVP Users Group Forums !

Internet connection
  • Warning: Only very specific (and I'd say exotic) USB Wireless adapters seem to work. I didn't manage to use a main-stream Zyxel 802.11n 300Mbps. The keyboard wont recognize it.
Styles and voices
  • Sometimes rebooting helps (off switch)
  • Sometimes, perceived errors are not errors, but an effect related to the way styles are programmed (harmony, echo). E.g. some styles implement polyphony voices that will remain even you switch the voice. Changing the voice parameters or changing the style is the solution.
Factory and custom reset

There exist two ways of doing a factory reset, a global reset or resetting only certain parameters. In both cases you will loose data (unless you saved customization on a USB stick)

  • Function button -> System reset tab
  1. Factory reset(s)
  2. Custom reset(s)

Note: You also can do a full factory reset by holding down the C7 key (right-most key on the keyboard) and then switch the power on. You will loose all data.

Firmware and PC Drivers
  • Occasionally Yamaha releases firmware. Before downloading check your version.
Function->
  • Midi drivers for Windows may be outdated on the included CD. E.g. there wasn't any Win 7-64 bit driver. It can be downloaded here:

Links

Manuals

The included print manual is not enough. Some information is available on the included CD, but may not be up-to-date. All the manuals are available at yamaha, in particular:

  • Internet Connection Guide (For firmware version 1.10, i.e. 2010/2011). Upgrade the firmware if yours is lower. Adds some extra information with respect to the owners manual.
  • Owner's manual this is the same as the CVP-509/5/3/1 included printed owners manual. Useful to download if need to search for something.
  • Reference manual. This is a complement of the printed owner's manual. It has extra information, is more concise and some information is easier to find...

User forums

Midi files for download

See:

On some sites you can find files that specifically target the Clavinova CVP series, i.e. it uses Yamaha voices, in particular:

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