Hi Timothy,
Welcome to Yamaha Synth!

The CP33 and the CP4 Stage are based on different technologies and are years apart in that respect. Sorry, I do not have a CP33 here to hear what you are trying to match. There is always a thing about growing accustomed to a piano sound - I know exactly what you are talking about. The CP4 Stage is a new (different) piano. Ultimately, you should attempt to construct a piano that responds to your needs.

What you call "blindly experimenting" is to be commended and encouraged, because part of the design concept of the CP4 Stage and its Spectral Component Modeling, is that you can very much customize the piano to your particular likes. The CP4 Stage represents a huge advance in user customizing _ you are given 15 complete source VOICES from each of three Yamaha Acoustic Grand Pianos. (CFX, CFIII and an S6). Part of the design concept of the CP4 Stage is that you can 'build' your own piano and vintage keyboard using the new Spectral Component Modeling engine... Your store your custom piano in a PERFORMANCE memory.

The CFX acoustic piano is a rather recent addition to the Yamaha Concert Grand lineup... (2002 or so). And has been extremely well received on the concert piano and competition circuit. The CP33 was likely based on the the Yamaha CFIIIS 9ft Acoustic Grand found under Acoustic Piano2 on your CP4 Stage.

If you are playing in MONO, it is highly recommended you 'build' your piano from a mono source VOICE ('Mn' in the name). When experimenting - you have two INSERT EFFECTS that you can apply to your custom piano - you will see that the Factory Performances (which are there for you to either use as is or customize to your liking) Many have the DAMPER RESONANCE as one of the INSERTION EFFECTS (linked to how the sustain pedal works, when the dampers are lifted the soundboard will create reverberations within the piano box itself), and often a "PRE-AMP". Now it may be easy to understand the PRE-AMP when you are talking about a Rhodes type epiano or a Wurlitzer type epiano, but what does a PRE-AMP mean on an acoustic piano?

Well, it refers to what is best understood as a microphone pre-amplifier. You are adjusting the timbre of the sound via very meticulously modeled boutique Equalizers. This makes sense because the piano as you hear it from the CP4 Stage is the result of miking positions much, much closer than a human would place their ear to listen to a piano. You are not hearing the piano sampled from across a large room. Room acoustics, distance and all, can be programmed using soundboard simulation (inside the piano) and reverberation (outside the piano). You are initially hearing the piano as interpreted, up-close, with classic close-miking technique. So changing the microphone pre-amp characteristics is a way to profoundly affect the overall character of the sound.

Each of these EQ types has a different musical character. And here experimentation is going to be a key. They are as follows:

Mic 2Band-1 - Mic pre-amp 2-band #1
Mic 2Band-2 - Mic pre-amp 2-band #2
Mic 2Band-3 - Mic pre-amp 2-band #3
Mic 3Band-1 - Mic pre-amp 3-band #1
Mic 3Band-2 - Mic pre-amp 3-band #2
Mic 3Band-3 - Mic pre-amp 3-band #3
Line - simply straight sound - no specific "musical" quality

Yamaha does not provide information about exactly which boutique Equalizers are modeled, you choose them by ear anyway. If we told you what it was it might change what you think you hear. But take your time. These are very unique sounding EQs, each with a different character. As recording engineers we would often talk about the musical quality in an EQ, more than just making a frequency softer or louder, classic EQ's each had a musical quality. Some were warmer than others, some had a bold quality. These are things you will have to hear as you make adjustments.

Why 2-Band and 3-Band? Isn't 3-Bands better than 2-Bands? These are common questions. And it really depends on what you feel needs to be adjusted. Don't EQ a band if there is nothing you want to change, choose the correct tool for the issue at hand. A 3-band is no more or less better than or worse than a 2-band, much like a hammer is neither better than or worse than a screwdriver... they each have different uses and a place. Pick the proper tool for the job.

It may take a while of going back and forth between EQ'ing and playing, changing, and playing, before you even hear the difference but rest assured, these are boutique level physical models of top flight Equalizers. And can change to a great degree the overall character of the sound you are playing. It cannot turn a CFIII into a CFX but it can change the overall timbre of the sound and is well worth the time and effort to experiment.

As musicians, we owe it to ourselves to master use of Equalizers - we have an advantage over the average person because we can relate to Frequency if we choose to... if you are having trouble around the middle frequencies (near middle "C") we can easily determine that the "A" below middle "C" is A220, The "A" above middle "C" is A440... middle "C" is C261 - so setting an equalizer to affect that region of the keyboard is a no brainer.

As a musician it should be easy to relate the frequency (pitch) we are playing to using an Equalizer. the lowest note on a piano is A27.5 which is 27.5Hz. The Frequency doubles every octave... so A55, A110, A220, A440, A880, A1760, A3520. The highest note on the piano is C4186.01 or 4,186.01Hz - zeroing in a problem area should be easy. Take your time, designing (customizing) your own piano sound is part of the benefit of having a CP4 Stage.

If you get stuck please feel free to post back here.

Thank you so much for your quick reply! Having this resource available is yet another reason I'm glad I bought this keyboard.

You're right... the "blind experimentation" has actually become a very enjoyable exercise for me, and I am closer and closer to building the perfect piano sound for my application. However, the information you just provided regarding the microphone placements and the customization available there might be the key thing I've been missing. I can't wait to try a few things out there!

Thanks for your help, for taking the time to really answer my question, and for your encouragement to learn as much as possible about this awesome new instrument. I look forward to creating something awesome with it.

-Tim

I have grown very accustomed to the following sound from the CP33: mono piano, bright, no effects, soft touch response. Is there a sound on the CP4 that is sampled from the same piano, or better yet, IS the same sound as the one I described above?

I have found the part edit section, and have tried some touch response edits on various versions (cfxmn, cfxmnfl+, cfmn, etc) of mono pianos in the CP4.

One important aspect of the CP33 Mono piano voice was that it had compression (as Yamaha touted here: http://usa.yamaha.com/products/music-production/stagepianos/cp33/).

So on CP4 I'd start with Acoustic Piano 2, CF Mono, add compression, increase the Velocity Sensitivity Depth, punch up the higher EQ, turn off other effects. (Also, the CP33 Mono piano patch did not have key-off samples. You could turn that off too if you wanted.)