Yamaha Reface CP

The only reason I give 4 instead of 5 is that I had hoped to use it for microtonal music by reprogramming it with midi messages. It does accept pitchbend messages (despite not having a controller for that) so it is possible to use monophonically for microtonal music. It does listen to all midi channels (omni), so I thought it would be possible to reprogram it for 16 notes microtonal polyphony, but no. The channels are merged and then separated into different voices. As far as I can tell, not merging the channels would be a trivial feature to implement in the firmware, that's why only 4 for features. With that out of the way, it's a device that feels great, looks great and sounds gorgeous! My hands are not particularly big and I actually like these mini keys better than normal-sized synth action keys. The knobs are a bit more plasticky than they look in pictures, but it still looks great and plastic makes it lighter and more portable which is arguably the deal with this instrument. The instrument sounds are amazing and the effects are really well tuned to each instrument. The only exception might be the toy piano which is a sound I don't really love (even though I do like the Amélie soundtrack). With sustain, tremolo and reverb, it can be made to sound more like a vibraphone though. Some have commented on the hidden piano sound, but I personally find nothing wrong with it and consider it very useable. The speakers sound good for their size but of course they are very small so don't expect to get a lot of bass out of them. Also you need to hit the keys with a bit of velocity as they are a bit quiet for the lower velocities. Loud enough for playning in the garden :)

This is probably the closest I get to a real Yamaha CP-series electric grand piano.

The choice of sounds Yamaha put in this little machine is quite something. Aside from the amazing CP, you get a really good Wurlitzer, a good Rhodes Mark 1 (though some of the upper keys produce a bit quieter tone than the others, like you had a broken pickup in a real Rhodes), a very early 1980s sounding Rhodes Mark 2 (not a huge fan of the sound), a mediocre Clavinet, a weird toy piano, and a pretty good acoustic piano (which for the life of me I cannot understand why it is hidden).

The effects are really good aside from the wah, which is very underwhelming and barely resembles a wah wah pedal or an autowah (not sure which one it is trying to be). The phaser, when together with the Rhodes Mark 1 sound eats a lot of higher frequencies from the sound (a bit like a real phaser would), for my like a bit too much, so for that I would recommend using a real phaser pedal. The chorus sounds absolutely wonderful with the CP and the Rhodes Mark 2, while the tremolo goes really well with the Wurlitzer.

As many have stated already, the keys are really small and, well, not that usable in a band setting. You can overcome this by plugging the Reface CP to an external keyboard via MIDI or by USB, if you use a computer or a host module, if your MIDI keyboard doesn't have a MIDI port.

Also the onboard amp and speakers are borderline usable (the volume output is really low and distorts easily at higher levels), so connecting the Reface CP to an external amplifier is really recommended.

So, to summarize: for a gigging musician the Reface CP works best as a sound module, controlling it via an external keyboard. The sounds are (mostly) way better than what you get in a 2000€ workstation/stage piano. Especially the amazing CP electric grand sound is alone worth the 411€ price.