The Reface concept is to put extremely serious sound engines in products that are convenient to take everywhere. Engineers at Yamaha are musicians, this is no small item. It's important because they tend to understand on a deeper level, what one wants from a product. It doesn't mean perfection, but it does mean they understand what makes sense from a musician's viewpoint.

If you want to take a keyboard with you do you have to compromise the sound for the convenience of taking it with you? Well, not any more. Until now all these mini keyboards have all been of one variety (typically, they're analog synths) - Yamaha approach is quite a bit different. The CP, as a vintage piano module, is as serious a technology as ever came in a tiny package. Ever.

I'm glad it's not a rack module (remember those? not so popular any more) as a small keyboard I have options to use it as a module when necessary or play it (as is, anywhere). Part of the charm of all the original items being modeled in the Reface-series units was their interactive front panels (DX being the exception**). Rack modules, due to the nature of their placement typically, do not invite interactivity with their front panels (they usually are far away, inconvenient and inaccessible). Placing the Reface within arms reach above my main keyboard (connected via MIDI) when I want to use it out "Live" I get the killer sound and realtime access to the front panel controls. Sweet.

**The DX front panel was hardly used beyond program selection. We used to have a saying here at Yamaha, "the least pressed but on the DX7 was the [EDIT] button", so in a rethink of the DX FM a new multi-touch control surface will invite curiosity into the rewarding world of FM programming. New generation, less fear of the technology. DX FM in a stereo package with cutting edge effects and a few new FM programming wrinkles.