Yamaha Clavinova CSP Digital Pianos Help Android Users Instantly Play the Songs they Already Own and Love

In fall 2017, the Yamaha Clavinova CSP-150 and CSP-170 digital pianos gave beginning musicians, for the first time, the thrill of sitting in with the band, and instantly playing music of their favorite artists. Via the exclusive Smart Pianist app for iOS, players could scan and play along with the audio files already residing in the music libraries of their Apple iOS mobile devices. Now, owners of select Android smartphones and tablets can enjoy the same experience. With over two billion Android devices in use around the world, this opens the door for multitudes of aspiring keyboarders to learn any song to which they already hum along in the car, in the gym, or at work.

The Clavinova CSP series is groundbreaking in that it dispels all preconceptions about the piano being a difficult and frustrating instrument to play. Rather, it effectively "gamifies" the piano experience, enabling users to play along to recordings by the original artists, from the very first moment they touch the keys. Central to this innovation is the remarkable Audio-to-Score function, available exclusively when the Smart Pianist app and the CSP are used together. This app scans the existing music library on the device and generates a piano accompaniment score. As the song plays, this score scrolls by on the device, which is tethered to the CSP via Android (and iOS) connections conveniently located behind the music rack. At the same time, cascading stacks of "Stream Lights" on the CSP guide the fingers to the correct notes. Because there are four lights above each key, the player gets plenty of advance notice about upcoming notes-the note is meant to be struck as the light closest to the key illuminates. This also provides the fun factor of band-simulator games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero, only with real music on a premium-quality instrument.

"Android users can now experience the thrill of instantly playing the piano that iOS users have enjoyed," said Ben Harrison, product marketing manager, Yamaha Keyboards. "The Smart Pianist app is the holy grail to learning, enabling aspiring musicians who have passively listened to favorite artists, wishing they could play their songs, to actively play these same songs immediately."

The complexity of the generated arrangement-how many notes are required in each hand, whether arpeggios or other techniques are called for, and more-is adjustable within the Smart Pianist app. This inspires users to engage with their favorite music immediately and "level up" when ready, all without the repetitive exercises and static canon of practice pieces that too often become an obstacle to casual pianists. In fact, the level of encouragement and feedback the Audio-to-Score experience provides makes it more likely that a CSP owner will soon feel the confidence and motivation to seek lessons from a professional piano teacher.

The Clavinova CSP-150 and CSP-170 also offer fully-orchestrated, hyper-realistic accompaniment styles and rhythms; a huge variety of keyboard, orchestral, and percussion voices; auto-harmonies; and many more of the musical and entertainment features of the Clavinova CVP series. Thanks to the Smart Pianist app, full control of all these functions is on hand even as the CSP itself minimizes blinking lights and buttons to retain the dignified appearance of a traditional acoustic piano.

Speaking of which, the Yamaha legacy of manufacturing the world's most relied-upon acoustic pianos is fully realized in the Clavinova CSP, which not only features solid, elegant cabinetry with a high-quality lacquer finish, but also uses painstaking multi-samples of two of the world's finest concert grands: the Yamaha CFX and Bösendorfer Imperial. Expressiveness and realism are further enhanced by Virtual Resonance Modeling (VRM), which meticulously recreates the myriad internal vibrations inside an acoustic piano, as well as key-off samples, which replicate the tone produced when the damper comes to rest on a string.

One hundred popular and classical songs by the likes of Adele, Sting, Elton John, and Coldplay are built in, as are 303 lessons by stalwarts such as Beyer, Czerny, Hanon, and Burgmüller. At the touch of a button on the Android device's screen, the user can play both the melody and accompaniment for these songs and lessons, again prompted by the Stream Lights on the CSP.

The Clavinova CSP series with Smart Pianist is compatible with a broad range of Android devices and OS versions that are capable of MIDI communication. These include the Google Nexus 5X, 6P, and Pixel line of smartphones running Android 8.1; the Samsung Galaxy S8, S7, and S6 phone families running Android 7.0; the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 and S2 tablets running Android 7.0; and more. For a complete and continuously updated list of compatible Android devices, visit http://4wrd.it/SMARTPIANISTSPECS

Pricing and Availability
The Clavinova CSP-150 (MSRP $3,999.00) and CSP-170 ($5,399.00) are available now in either matte black or polished ebony finishes. The Smart Pianist app may be downloaded for free from the Google Play and Apple App stores. For more information, please visit http://www.4wrd.it/CSP

About Yamaha
Yamaha Corporation of America (YCA) is one of the largest subsidiaries of Yamaha Corporation, Japan and offers a full line of award-winning musical instruments, sound reinforcement, commercial installation and home entertainment products to the U.S. market. Products include: Yamaha acoustic, digital and hybrid pianos, portable keyboards, guitars, acoustic and electronic drums, band and orchestral instruments, marching percussion products, synthesizers, professional digital and analog audio equipment, Steinberg recording products and NEXO commercial audio products, as well as AV receivers, amplifiers, MusicCast wireless multiroom audio systems, Blu-ray/CD players, earphones, headphones, home-theater-in-a-box systems, sound bars and its exclusive line of Digital Sound Projectors. YCA markets innovative, finely crafted technology and entertainment products and musical instruments targeted to the hobbyist, education, worship, music, professional audio installation and consumer markets.

To post a comment, you must register and login.