Clavinova CLP-370 Review
Posted: 05 Apr 2009, 15:16
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS - 9/10 Looks nice! The Clp 370 comes in a big box ( roughly H 25'' W 58'' ) the box is very heavy and will require two relatively strong people to move it. The box will fit into an estate car or bigger but not a smaller car. The piano stool comes flat packed and is very easy to assemble. The piano is well padded inside the box and should you need to put the box down quickly it should not harm it too much. When you open the box the piano comes in five parts. The heaviest and hardest part to move is the keyboard, again to strong people are needed to move it. Conveniently the keyboard part has some handles on the back of it. Assembly is relatively straightforward; attach the sides to the bottom part ( the part with the peddles ) and then the back part to it, to create the stand. Lasly the keyboard is lifed onto the stand and attached. ( Please see your owner's manual for a more detailed description on how to assemble the piano )
RELIABILITY -can't say yet! I have owned it for almost a year now(?!) and its been fine! My one lives right near a radiator but is protected with a piece of chip board, and some layers of foam board blocking the heat from reaching it so it sould be safe!
KEYBOARD RESPONSE & SOUND QUALITY - 7 / 10This is just my personal opinon about the two most important things people look for in a digital: sound (piano in particular) and touch.
Bass and high register of piano sound good. Mid range sounds rather burly or muffled when not struck hard, you can't get that wonderful staccato sound on these
. The keyboard does not feel quite the same as real pianos, to me it has a less satisying feel and has less smoothness when the white keys are depressed. The synthetic ivory keytops feel nice ( much nicer then plastic ) and any moister from the hands quickly evaporates to prevent fingers from slipping.Overall not a bad piano, miles better then what I had to put up with before. ( a keyboard! ) If you are considering practicing on a keyboard then please do try to buy a digital piano at least - if you can afford one. If you move from a keyboard to a digital ( like I did ) there will be a slight adjustment period, you wont be used to the weight and your hands may ache a bit for a few days. To reduce the likeihood of that happening warm your hands in warm water before you begin pratice. It worked for me!
ADDITIONAL FEATURES - 9/10Haven’t really tested everything out yet. I recently tried out the recording feature. It’s easy to use, I think you can save up to 3 fairly long recordings on it. It records your performance as data so records the dynamics and pedal use as well but because it’s a digital piano and its saved as only data your recordings will lack the soul you get in an acoustic piano. Also the more pedal you use in a piece the more memory it takes. You can save your recordings on to a USB and can upload them onto other Clavinovas to play, or on to computer.
The metronome is pretty good, it does the standard clicking sound that can change to other time signatures. And also has the bell sound on the start of the beat like a real metronome. The volume can be adjusted too, so it doesn’t get too annoying!
The Clavinova comes with 50 demo ‘songs’ (pieces). The pieces are well known classical pieces like Chopin’s ‘Raindrop’ prelude, Bach Inventions, Mozart and Beethoven movements from sonatas, and some Joplin rags. They can be a useful practice tool, you can hear both left and right hand parts separately if you like and can loop bars in the piece that you choose so you can hear them again. The tempo of the demo pieces can be slowed down or sped up also. I think you can download more demo pieces
CUSTOMER SUPPORTHaven’t needed to use it!
MORE INFOhttp://clavinova.yamaha-europe.com/uk/index1.html