Yamaha CK61 & CK88

Yamaha CK88 stage keyboard.

In terms of pure bang for your buck, it doesn’t get much better than Yamaha’s CK keyboards.

The CK61 and CK88 on test here represent a completely new range from Yamaha. They join a stage keyboard line‑up that is still spearheaded by the more expensive CP and YC series I reviewed in SOS back in September 2020, but seem to have acres of overlap with them. What are Yamaha thinking, and what compromises have been made?

Two Become One

I’ll start by thanking Yamaha: the CK61 and CK88 are very easy to review and describe as a pair, with identical capabilities, and only physical differences.

The CK61 has a five‑octave velocity‑sensitive keyboard with Yamaha’s FSB (Future System Basic) action, which apparently was developed for their Electone organ range. It has a slightly narrow 160mm octave span (as does the YC61), compact 14cm‑deep key tops, and a touch which offers strong springy resistance in the first few millimetres of travel, before the key really falls. It makes for a reasonable piano‑playing experience from an otherwise fast synth‑like action.

Meanwhile, the CK88 has a piano‑like hammer action, using the Yamaha GHS (Graded Hammer Standard) keybed. That represents the first rung of Yamaha’s piano action ladder, but it’s perfectly nice for typical stage and studio use. There’s a normal 165mm octave span, spacious 15cm‑deep white key tops, sculpted black key fronts, and a precise, modern‑feeling 10mm key dip. No ‘escapement’ resistance of Yamaha’s high‑end Clavinovas, but certainly a supportive, swinging release. It’s mechanically quiet too, especially compared to something like a Fatar TP40, with little more than a dull thud at the bottom of the downstroke. As on the CK61, there’s no aftertouch sensitivity.

Then the only other difference is in the provision of mount points for a YMR‑03 music rest: the CK88 has them (though the rest is not provided as standard) and the CK61 doesn’t.

Yamaha CK61 stage keyboard.

Common Knowledge

As to what the CKs have in common: well, how long have you got? Despite being at the affordable end of the market, these keyboards have feature sets that are surprisingly extensive. So much so in fact that there’s no way I can cover everything here, though I’ll try my best to pick out all the really interesting and pertinent points.

The headline features start with the provision of a do‑it‑all soundset: tonewheel and transistor organs (with physical drawbars), some top‑class acoustic and electric pianos, and (to use Yamaha’s own front‑panel button groupings) brass and wind, guitar and bass, strings, synth pads and leads, chromatic percussion, and a few ‘others’. Approaching 400 preset sounds in total, which is more than the current YC or CP series can offer put together, even after a series of firmware updates that have extended their abilities.

You employ these presets in a three‑part multitimbral architecture, which proves to be a doddle to work with thanks to dedicated level faders and part on/off and selection keys just to the left of the central 128 x 64‑pixel white‑on‑dark LCD display. Any type of sound can be loaded to any part, so it’s quite possible to have three organs or three pianos on the go at once, or to start layering up synths alongside more bread‑and‑butter split‑keyboard combos. What’s more, each part gets its own independent effects chain. That includes a drive section (which also undertakes Leslie speaker duties), plus two multi‑effects engines. There’s a further master‑level delay, reverb and three‑band EQ.

Entire three‑part setups, encompassing sound selection, flexible keyboard splits and layers, transpositions, effects and additional settings can be saved to a kind of ‘multi’ memory called a Live Set. There’s room for 160 of these, directly accessible from eight front‑panel buttons across 20 ‘pages’ from which they load instantly. They can further be liberated to a plugged‑in USB thumb drive, either individually, in page‑size chunks, or all in one go. There’s also a global option to move forward and back through Live Sets one at a time using an appropriately configured foot pedal.

The CKs’ back‑panel connections are identical, featuring a 12V power input, quarter‑inch audio I/O and foot pedal inputs, MIDI I/O, a pair of USB ports and a switch for the built‑in speakers.

And talking of pedals, real‑time control provision on the whole is rather good. Two pedals can be attached — switch or expression types in either socket — and their function determined on a Live Set (rather than global) basis. They’re by no means limited to sustain and level duties: either or both can drive virtually any parameter that has a hardware control, including the volume of individual parts or the whole instrument.

The front panel manages to be busy but clear. The drawbars are very serviceable, despite their only 21mm travel, and the action of all buttons and knobs is very nice indeed. No wobbles or flakiness anywhere. And it’s worth noting how many single‑function buttons there are too, both for real‑time sound control (mono keyboard mode and unison) and functional operations (keyboard split and Live Set store).

All buttons that can benefit from it are capable of being backlit, to show on/off status: they can even do a variety of (user selectable) colours, which helps confirm which part is selected. As an aside it’s worth noting that the backlights seem to employ a ‘field‑sequential’ design, like some digital camera viewfinders, whereby some static colours are generated by rapidly strobing others. Glance quickly left or right while using your CK and you might see flickering or colour ‘tears’, which can be a bit disconcerting at first. You get used to it.

I’ll quickly mention two other interesting abilities, before we dig a bit more into the detail of the sounds on offer. First, any (or all) of the three multitimbral parts can be exclusively driven via an external MIDI keyboard. This gives the possibility of using the CK61, say, with an 88‑note controller keyboard, for that ‘best of both worlds’ setup where pianos are played from a hammer action, and synth or organ sounds from the built‑in lighter‑action keyboard. A parallel scenario can easily be imagined for supplementing the CK88 with a synth‑style or waterfall organ keyboard. Or, it’s a great way to incorporate a MIDI organ pedalboard. The way this is done is simple and clear, and a Live Set’s part list will show ‘EX’ next to any sound set being driven externally.

Second, a Master Keyboard mode, which happily runs alongside internal sounds, lets you define four keyboard zones that can transmit MIDI messages to external gear, with their own channels and transpositions. On recalling a Live Set where this mode is active, the CKs can even send out MIDI bank and Program Change messages to coordinate external synths, and there are per‑zone options to transmit (or not) messages from pitch and mod wheels, and the pedals. Master Keyboard mode is hidden in the menu system, but is easy enough to work with, and extends the CK’s functionality in a bigger setup enormously.

The front‑panel controls are also the same, offering hands‑on control over a number of commonly used parameters and some frankly adorable drawbar sliders. All together now, ahhh.

Sounds

All the facilities in the world aren’t worth much if not backed up by some good sounds, but it turns out the CKs come with an impressively broad and high‑quality sound set.

Let’s start with the organs. Five different types use the drawbars and associated percussion and vibrato/chorus controls. They are emulations, to differing degrees of historical accuracy, of a Hammond, Vox Continental, Farfisa Compact, Acetone (a 1960s Japanese transistor organ) and Yamaha’s YC‑45 from the early ’70s. In general, these are excellent, and exude character. They’re not without their quirks, though.

The Hammond does everything it should in terms of foldback of upper footages and percussion retriggering. The Leslie speaker sound, should you want it, is provided by one of two algorithms in the drive effect processor, Rotary A and Rotary B, and it’s to this processor that the two dedicated Rotary buttons at far left of the panel (the equivalent of a ‘half‑moon’ switch) are directly connected. Rotary A is a respectful, contained, light‑leaning sound, though capable of generating some very convincing and likeable overdrive distortion when the Depth knob is turned up. Rotary B has much longer hair, so to speak. There are far higher levels of a thicker distortion (which, at its extreme, gets a bit unpleasant), greater stereo width, and this cabinet is simply louder. It has a slower Fast rotor speed too.

Now to the transistor organs. These are better, in my judgment, than those in the YC series, and there are more to choose from as well. Here the Vox is all bright square waves, the Farfisa fatter sawtooths, the Acetone a dirty pulse with a bit of sub‑octave bleed, and the old YC model more or less a brighter Vox with less key‑on ‘tack’. They are still only approximations — there’s no attempt to recreate a Vox’s flute and reed tones, for example, nor its limited number of drawbars — but all can survive close scrutiny without needing to be smothered in effects. The percussion section is in play (and here, correctly, without that Hammond ‘discharge’). Vibrato/chorus can be enabled too, to good effect, though I wonder if the manic wobble rate of the C1/2/3 modes is a bug waiting to be fixed.

Non‑drawbar organs include nine pipe organs, four electric‑type church organs, an accordion and a musette. Most are very good, finding strength in more simple registrations than is common in stage keyboards. The accordions are superb too: a rarity.

The acoustic piano category runs to 13 sounds, but in fact six of those are different versions (mono, bright and warm‑balanced) of the excellent, luxurious, contemporary‑sounding CFX grand that has been Yamaha’s flagship for years now. It remains a pleasure to play, and has neither discernible velocity switching nor any glaring transitions in timbre from note to note. Held decays have good complexity for several seconds, and are fine even beyond that. A neat S700 studio grand and a plummy‑sounding ‘Live CF3’ have similarly good manners, and a U1 upright offers character in abundance.

The sound engine is not sophisticated enough to support sympathetic resonance, and sustain pedal bloom is generated by a Damper Resonance layer effect that will occupy one effect slot of the part the piano is loaded to, if you choose to use it. At default settings it sounds natural and convincing, but can become anything but, like a huge pulsating reverb, if you crank up the effect knobs. A Yamaha FC3A or other continuous‑type sustain pedal will support half‑ and partial‑pedalling for all acoustic piano sounds, and very nicely too.

...over 100 string, pad and choir sounds give masses of variation in timbre, style and scale, and often sound very classy indeed.

Electric pianos are represented by two Rhodes models and a warm and bright Wurlitzer. Not a lavish selection then, but once again they’re of excellent quality, with great velocity response, and some key‑off noises. Pedal response is subtly accurate too, with partial damping possible, but not half‑pedalling.

Further electric piano sounds include two clavinets, perfectly fine, but (like on the CP and YC series) an octave lower than everything else. It’s ironic that the six FM pianos exhibit velocity‑driven lurches in timbre, and are almost certainly generated from samples rather than a true FM engine. In practice they work perfectly well, though.

As for all other sounds, there’s not enough space here to go into much detail. To ruthlessly summarise though, there’s both breadth of coverage and impressively high quality. Brass/wind sounds are a highlight, with sassy and highly playable trumpets, trombones and saxes in both solo and combo groupings. Acoustic guitars and basses are way better than you might expect them to be, expressive and convincing when played well. Amongst the squelchy synth basses some plain fundamental tones are very welcome, working by themselves and as ideal layer components.

The over 100 string, pad and choir sounds give masses of variation in timbre, style and scale, and often sound very classy indeed. I particularly liked the handful of string machines nestled amongst the Jupiters and Oberheims. Fifty‑one synth lead sounds start out polyphonic, but can be made mono, with different flavours of portamento, and cover everything from typical ’70s funk to more modern EDM.

What the CK series does not have is any drum kits. There’s a good helping of bells and mallet instruments in ‘Chr.Perc’, and a smattering of folk and ethnic instruments (plus timpani) in ‘Others’, but you’ll have to look elsewhere for your beats.

Effective

As I mentioned, each CK part gets three effect processors of its own. The drive section, it could be argued, is more about rotary speaker emulations than anything else. Overdrive and distortion here is fine, quite organic and complex, but the Comp(ressor) is for my money too polite: it works, and adds some weight, but turned right up is the point at where I’d like it to be getting going.

The twin identical multi‑effects engines are pretty impressive. I counted 36 different treatments to choose from, within those front‑panel categories, and they sound very good. All the choruses and more psychedelic offshoots hit the mark, and there are further guitar amp sims and another Leslie, for distortion fetishists. Aside from several EQs are threshold‑ and pedal‑driven wahs, static low‑ and high‑pass resonant filters, and a sample‑rate reducer for lo‑fi effects. Three straightforward delays are offered (digital, analogue and ping‑pong) and the reverbs (hall, room and reverse) are quite respectable, capable of natural‑sounding and more synthetic results alike. The simple pairing of Depth and Rate knobs usually allows a wide variety of settings to be teased out.

The twin identical multi‑effects engines are pretty impressive. I counted 36 different treatments to choose from, within those front‑panel categories, and they sound very good.

Turning to the master‑level effects, the reverb there is subtly different, with a plate offered instead of the reverse algorithm. There’s also only one knob, fulfilling mix and other parameter duties at once, which works well enough but isn’t ideal. The master delay’s Depth and Time knobs let you do more, and a Tempo Delay algorithm lets you set time in bpm values, or via rhythmic taps of the Enter button.

Finally, the three‑band EQ. Offering a boost or cut of 12dB in each band it’s more spatula than scalpel, but is effective in what it does. There is a slight conflict of role, relating to the way it sometimes acts at a global level, and at others has settings recalled by a Live Set, but it just about makes sense in the end.

One small down side of the master effects is that individual instrument parts don’t ‘send’ to them (which would allow you to have master reverb on one part and not another, for example) but they instead act on the entire mixed output of the keyboard parts. The presence of part‑level effects stops this being a problem as such, but there’s not the useful additional flexibility there might have been.

ConKlusion

There is a certain studied lack of flashiness about the CK61 and 88 that might make you assume they’re deliberately feature‑starved and probably not for consideration unless you’re on a tight budget. The reality couldn’t be more different. Having spent several weeks with the CKs I think they can hold their own alongside models twice or three times the price, by Yamaha, Korg, Nord and others.

It’s true that some aspects of design are a way from state‑of‑the‑art. For example, the keyboard actions here are not Yamaha’s very best. Drawbars are short‑throw and aren’t a patch on the YC series’ long, LED‑backlit designs.

However, the GHS and FSB are not bad keyboard actions. Far from it — they’re more than fit for purpose, and they’re light years ahead of the clunky counterparts found on many cheaper MIDI controllers. Drawbars may be short, but they’re nice to use and can be set accurately.

In most other ways, then, I struggle to pinpoint any major drawbacks. Yes, the CK’s acoustic and piano line‑up is much smaller than that on the CP and YC series, let alone a recent Nord, but the excellent CFX grand sample is there, alongside several likeable, responsive Rhodes and Wurlitzer sounds. I’ll hazard a guess they’re what most users will be more than happy to stick with and end up using most of the time. The Hammond sounds great, the transistor organs are buzzy and ballsy, and the two Leslie simulations, very different from each other, are equally useful and fine‑sounding. The remainder of the sound set is stuffed with goodies that will only be bettered by computer‑based sample libraries and a few big‑money workstation synths.

The three‑part multitimbral design, and the way it’s been implemented in such a clear way, with dedicated controls and independent effects, is to my mind a big improvement over the YC and CP ranges. I prefer the effects implementation generally too. The knobs may be smaller, but as ever, size isn’t everything. Nothing about the user interface feels complicated or arcane, and it was only out of a sense of duty I ever felt the need to consult the manual.

In the final reckoning I’ve nothing but praise for the CK61 and CK88. I’d buy one without hesitation if I were looking to invest in an honest all‑round stage keyboard.

In the final reckoning I’ve nothing but praise for the CK61 and CK88. I’d buy one without hesitation if I were looking to invest in an honest all‑round stage keyboard. They’re a brilliant option if the budget is tight, but you shouldn’t overlook them even if it isn’t. They should fit right into diverse studio, educational and domestic environments too. In a period in which we all seem to be paying more for less, the Yamaha CK series bucks the trend, and then some.