I’ve tried several in the past but none of them sounded right. In fact, most of them sounded absolutely terrible, especially at the bass end of the keyboard. But I’ve finally got my hands on a beautiful sounding Yamaha CP-70 virtual instrument. Somewhat blingy thanks to the Alicia Keys styling, but I can definitely live with that as it sounds fantastic.

These pianos were (and still are) absolutely iconic and were heavily used in studios and live setups throughout the 1970’s and 80’s, and can be heard on many a famous tune from the era.

Just like a regular piano, it has wooden keys operating hammers which strike steel and copper wound strings, but with the addition of piezo-electric pickups mounted on the harp casting to amplify its sound, instead of a traditional piano soundboard.

This gave it a truly unique sound and made it much lighter than a conventional grand piano, and therefore much easier to move around. And because it has pickups, it doesn’t need to be mic’d up – Just plug in the power and audio cables and you’re good to go.

The instrument became fashionable again in the 2000’s thanks to the band Keane who based their entire sound around the CP-70, and today they’re highly sought after and sell for around £3,000 to £5,000 if they’re in good condition. Or you can do what I did and buy the virtual instrument instead for £129… Quite the saving and with the added bonus of it never going out of tune.

Here’s a track you may (or may not) know, that I hastily threw together in Cubase which featured this amazing instrument on the original 1980 recording…