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What is the latest Yamaha keyboard?

Yamaha introduces two new keyboards to their 2021 product line: the YC73 and YC88 Stage Keyboards. Both models are gig-ready and take inspiration from the manufacturer's YC61 model introduced last year, offering great feel and action, soulful sounds and drawbar control.

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Keyboardist alert! Yamaha introduces two new keyboards to their 2021 product line: the YC73 and YC88 Stage Keyboards. Both models are gig-ready and take inspiration from the manufacturer’s YC61 model introduced last year, offering great feel and action, soulful sounds and drawbar control.

Some key features include:

Exclusive Yamaha Virtual Circuit Modeling (VCM) to capture not only the sound of classic “drawbar” organs, but also their behavior down to the component level

A distinctive rotary speaker effect

Nine drawbars that shape the sound by controlling individual footages and essentials like percussion and vibrato/chorus enhance the tone The organ section also features FM synthesis, the now-famous synthesis method pioneered by Yamaha

Here’s the info, straight from Yamaha:

The YC73 (MSRP $2,999) features 73 weighted, balanced keys and is ideal for keyboardists who divide their playing between organ, piano, electric piano, clavi, synth, and other staple keyboard sounds. The YC88 (MSRP $3,499) is meant for musicians who prioritize the touch and response of an acoustic piano, offering 88 weighted Natural Wood keys with triple-sensor action, synthetic ebony and ivory key tops. Both add options alongside the semi-weighted “waterfall” action of the YC61 — the key shape preferred by organ players.

Check out the video below for the full capabilities of each:

Yamaha YC Stage Keyboard Series Overview

The YC73 and YC88 employ exclusive Yamaha Virtual Circuit Modeling (VCM) to capture not only the sound of classic “drawbar” organs, but their behavior down to the component level. VCM also reproduces the distinctive rotary speaker effect, which most keyboardists consider inseparable from the organ itself. In other words, the YC series does not merely take a digital snapshot of the world’s most imitated organ sound — it builds that sound from the ground up. This results in unprecedented authenticity.

Yamaha YC Stage Keyboards (YC73 top and YC88 bottom)

In true vintage fashion, nine drawbars shape the sound by controlling individual footages, and essentials like percussion and vibrato/chorus enhance the tone. The player can also customize key click, “leakage,” rotary speaker speed changes, and more. The keyboard may be split between upper and lower organ registrations. In addition to VCM modeling organ, the organ section also features FM synthesis, the now-famous synthesis method pioneered by Yamaha. Complementing the organ, two “Keys” sections utilize proprietary Yamaha “Advanced Wave Memory” which provides authentic acoustic and electric pianos, strings and brass, analog-style synth sounds, and much more. The Keys section features two dedicated effects processors along with configurable envelope and filter controls for real time manipulation and interaction. Like the Organ section, the Keys section also features FM synthesis for many classic sounds like DX7 electric pianos, leads, basses and more. The Keys section may also be split with the organ section across the keyboard or played from an external MIDI controller keyboard to either the Organ or Keys section.

For more information about the YC78 and YC88, visit Yamaha.io/YC

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The piano notes are arranged lowest to highest, from left to right. This means that the lowest note is all the way on the left side of the piano. As you move from left to right, each note is higher than the one before.

As you can see, the note C is the note all the way on the left of our 12-note pattern. That’s why it’s easier to think of the order of piano notes as going from C to C, instead of A to A. C is our starting note, because it happens to be the first note of every 12-note pattern. But keep in mind, there’s really no such thing as the “starting note” on the piano, or in music in general. Notes go on forever and ever in both directions, up and down, …D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F…, without an end or a beginning. Even so, it’s convenient to think of one note as if it’s the starting point. It just makes the notes easier to learn, easier to memorize and easier to visualize.

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