Yamaha CK61

[SumOne]

Yamaha CK 61, arrived today. 

 

 

 

Early impressions are that it's a good 'un. 

 

I'm sure something like a Nord Electro 6 would be better, but is also more than twice the cost. Or perhaps the Yamaha YC 61. But £750 was about as high as I wanted to go, I play in some quite grotty and boozy pubs, the risk of it getting knocked over or having a pint dropped over it is quite high! 

 

It seems in my Goldilocks zone for pub gigs: I've got an 88 key home piano that's great for home piano stuff, not great for other sounds though and is big/heavy to move. Also, I've got an M-Audio Pro 49 which is good for using with a Laptop/DAW but I've had hassles using this setup live. I had an MPC Key 61 that was excellent for home use and making full songs, but is complex and doesn't have quite so obvious/simple on-hand keyboard controls as the CK (like organ drawbars) for live purely keyboard playing.

 

The CK 61 is small (fits in my 49 key flight case), light, decent enough sound for the main things I want - Piano and EP and Organ (not quite so good sounding for some other stuff: Horns sound very digital - like an 80s keyboard, and Bass Guitar players have nothing to worry about being replaced by the Bass Guitar sounds!), seems okay build quality, fast startup, obvious and useful hardware controls that are relatively foolproof - it's really good to have pretty much anything you'll need directly there with a corresponding button/slider/knob (I haven't opened the manual and think I've got it all pretty much figured out within a few hours), semi weighted keys, easy to set 3x split points. Lots of in/outs. Added bonus features of in built speakers, battery power, and bluetooth to stream music through it.

 

My main gripe (which unfortunatly I find quite an issue) is the keys are slightly smaller than my other keyboards (15.9cm per octave vs 16.4cm), it's the Yamaha synth width keys rather than piano width which is a bit annoying for a stage piano, I find that small difference a hassle for muscle memory while also using my other keyboards and doesn't really save much space so seems a bit pointless (2.5cm over its 5 octaves). It's enough of an issue for me to consider other keyboards, but I don't think there is anything else with all the features and wider keys in this price range so I'd better get used to it. 

 

Edited March 9 by SumOne

[Happy Jack]

My CK61 has become my go-to when I'm restricted on space or set-up time. It's very Jack-of-all-trades and there's not many sounds that it excels at (though the orchestra with flute is superb) but as a one-size-fits-all it will always do a job for you.

 

I particularly like the ease of use. Having pairs of buttons dedicated to modulation by semitones or octaves is SO much better than burying that in a menu somewhere, and the range of easy-to-reach sounds for use at gigs is spectacular and makes it easy to change on the fly mid-song.

 

It took me a while to get my head around the fact that the user-controlled sounds have nowt to do with Midi and are just 3-way mini-mixes of stock sounds (with various FX available, of course). Given that I hate having anything to do with Midi, for me that's an absolute Godsend.

 

When I'm playing a full 2-set or 3-set gig on keys then I'll take a 3-board rig using a Stay stand. The CK61 sits in the middle and is chiefly there for piano and orchestral sounds, though it also does good clavier and useful bits like harmonica and even banjo. Below that is a Hammond SK1 which does organ ten times better than the CK61 can ever do, natch. Above it is a Korg Kross which is another Jack-of-all-trades but I bought it precisely because it does excellent brass.

 

[SumOne]

I know this is just GAS that I need to avoid, but the trouble with the CK 61 is I just know there are things like the Yamaha YC 61, and Nord Electro 6D 61 that will be even better (but £1k more), I'm close to convincing myself it's worth the extra for something that'll last for years and hold it's value well.....but of course, once I got that I'd then I'd be eyeing up the Nord Stage 4!

 

I thought Bass buying was an expensive game! But really, a £700 Fender Player series J or P will not sound or feel all that much different to a £4k vintage or custom shop one. Whereas, arguably (at least my internal monologue) a £4k stage Keyboard probably does actually sound, perform, and feel significantly better than a £700 one.

Edited March 12 by SumOne

[BigRedX]

15 minutes ago, SumOne said:

I thought Bass buying was an expensive game! But really, a £700 Fender Player series J or P will not sound or feel all that much different to a £4k vintage or custom shop one. Whereas, arguably (at least my internal monologue) a £4k stage Keyboard probably does actually sound, perform, and feel significantly better than a £700 one.

 

You should have tried buying synthesisers back in the late 70s / early 80s. Back then around £300 would get you an entry-level mono synth (one note at a time) with a single VCO and envelope generator and no patch memories. Or you could buy a decent guitar or bass for the same money. A good mono synth would cost twice that and polyphony plus user memories were heading into terraced house in need of modernisation prices.

[dave_bass5]

Oh, i didnt know we had this thread. I almost got a CK61 earlier this month. In fact i ordered it 3 times but each time canceled the order as i just cant decide. 

Its not the CK61, i know ill really like it, i love my MODX so im used to the Yamaha way of doing things and how they sound, but it would need to replace my Fantom 06, and while im sure it can, it just seemed like a lot of hard work making the switch. 

I love the idea of the 9 drawbars, the fact that it sounds like the Reface, and the much more usable pianos. Im sure I’ll get one at some point. Still need to sell my MODX6 first. 

[SumOne]

21 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Oh, i didnt know we had this thread. I almost got a CK61 earlier this month. In fact i ordered it 3 times but each time canceled the order as i just cant decide. 

Its not the CK61, i know ill really like it, i love my MODX so im used to the Yamaha way of doing things and how they sound, but it would need to replace my Fantom 06, and while im sure it can, it just seemed like a lot of hard work making the switch. 

I love the idea of the 9 drawbars, the fact that it sounds like the Reface, and the much more usable pianos. Im sure I’ll get one at some point. Still need to sell my MODX6 first. 

 

After a couple of weeks I'm still impressed with the CK 61, no issues with it.

 

I guess the Fantom 06 is fairly similar to the MPC Key 61 that I sold to get the CK 61. The MPC Key 61 is  more capable than the CK 61 in most ways - but, it is double the price, bigger, heavier, less 'hands-on' for things like organ drawbars. For live use I think the more 'what you see is what you get' approach of the CK 61 with things like physical controls and very little menu diving and faster startup is better, even if it has fewer effects and the sounds are sometimes not as good.

 

My main issue is still the fact that the key width is just slightly thinner than a standard piano, I find 5mm thinner per octave noticable, I am getting more used to it though.

 

I have been on the fence about returning it a couple of times due to key width and the nagging feeling that I'm always going to think a Nord Electro 6 is probably the best of these sort of stage pianos with organ drawbars....but £1k extra is quite difficult to justify. And actually, the Nord is missing a couple of things I find useful like the way the CK lights up buttons to show which sound your are editing, integrated speakers, bluetooth connection, pitch and mod wheel, and the Nord it weighs twice as much, so it isn't better in every way.

Edited March 22 by SumOne