Product Review: Yamaha TransAcoustic Piano – Hybrid Piano

Acoustic or digital piano? With a Yamaha TransAcoustic Piano, you don’t have to choose! This special hybrid piano technology combines the best of both worlds. Volume control on an acoustic piano – normally reserved for digital pianos – is just one of the many features of a TransAcoustic piano.

Since Yamaha introduced TransAcoustic technology to the world of pianos in 2015, both TransAcoustic and Silent technology have also become integral parts of Yamaha’s string instruments and guitars. Yamaha TransAcoustic pianos are now in their third generation, with the brand offering entry-level pianos with the new TC3 system alongside the larger, more expensive TA3 systems. Of course, these acoustic pianos with special features are in a much higher price range than regular entry-level digital pianos.

Yamaha TransAcoustic – Hybrid Piano

A Yamaha TransAcoustic Piano is basically a hybrid piano with a structure so similar to a Yamaha Silent Piano that it is indistinguishable from the outside. Moreover, Yamaha TransAcoustic Pianos are also equipped with a mechanical damper. When situated between the hammers and the strings, it stops the hammers just millimeters before striking the strings.

In this Quiet mode, you can play digitally sampled sounds through headphones, just like a Silent Piano – ideal for practicing late at night. But TransAcoustic goes a step further, with two transducers that transmit the digital sound to the soundboard of the piano. This allows you to play a beautiful acoustic sound at a controlled volume.

Acoustic and Digital Sound Combined

Even when you know you’re playing a hybrid piano, it’s strangely confusing: Are you actually playing the piano acoustically or digitally right now? Sometimes you really can’t tell. The only time you’ll notice the difference is when switching between acoustic and digital mode.

In general, we can already call TransAcoustic a clever combination of the acoustic and digital worlds. And while this may seem trivial from a technical standpoint, it is not. After all, it took centuries to develop piano soundboards that perfectly amplify the string vibration.

In this sense, transducer technology gives the soundboard a second life. However, since a soundboard is not a loudspeaker, there are certain limitations to how it can amplify the piano sound. The digitally generated sound lacks some resolution in the treble range, and the stereo width is not comparable to the sound of a good loudspeaker system. Nevertheless, the digital piano sound from the soundboard is well-balanced and simply feels much more authentic than any conventional digital piano.

Yamaha Pianos in Comparison

Acoustic pianos are the foundation of all TransAcoustic pianos, most of which are also available without TransAcoustic or Silent technology. The price difference to these models is an indication of how much the additional technology and electronics add to the price.

It should be noted that Silent and TransAcoustic systems are more than just a sound module underneath the keyboard. In addition to muting features, they also include advanced sensor technology. This should affect the keyboard and mechanics as little as possible – more on this here.

To illustrate the difference, let’s take a look at the smallest model, the b1 in a high gloss finish (PE). It is a classic small piano, as used in many music schools, and for just under 4,000 it meets all expectations in terms of keyboard, action, and playing characteristics. A smaller soundboard and shorter strings result in a slightly weaker bass range, and the keyboard is also somewhat angled. If you’re looking for a bit more, you should take a look at the larger B2 and B3 models.

Based on the b1 PE model, the Silent Piano b1 SC3 PE represents the next step. In addition to mechanical muting, you can play the digitally generated sound through headphones in Quiet Mode. With a price difference of just under 2,000 Euros to the basic acoustic Yamaha b1 PE, the Yamaha b1 TC3 PE TransAcoustic model is almost twice as expensive as the basic model.

TransAcoustic TA3 vs. TC3

In addition to the top-of-the-line TA3 series, Yamaha offers the entry-level TC3 series. The basic acoustic piano models here are already of different quality and accordingly more expensive. For example, the smaller Yamaha YUS 1 PE model is priced at 12,800 Euros, the Silent SH3 model at around 16,000 Euros, and its TransAcoustic counterpart (TA3) at around 17,700 Euros. There is also a self-playing Disklavier model in this class, which costs around 21,000 Euros.

The TA3 Series also includes three grand piano models: C3X TA3, C1X TA3 and GC1 TA3. No question, playing the C3X is a luxurious experience – but the price is well over 40,000 Euros. The Yamaha GC 1 TA3, on the other hand, is a very reasonable 30,800 Euros (pianists can dream, can’t they?…;-).

Transducer Technology Explained

Structure-borne sound transducer – an awkward word, but that’s the technical term. Loudspeaker technology makes use of transducers to transmit electronic vibrations to objects. In principle, it works very much like a loudspeaker, except that the transducer lacks the loudspeaker diaphragm that converts the electronic vibration into air movement.

Each Yamaha TransAcoustic piano uses two transducers to transmit the digitally generated sound to the soundboard, located on the left and right sides of the lower part of the soundboard. Amazingly, a tiny contact area with the soundboard is all it takes to amplify digital piano sounds and audio tracks with volume and clarity.

Authentic String Resonance

Perhaps more of a side effect, but still impressive, is the interplay with string resonance. This effect is familiar from digital pianos where virtual string resonances are added to digitally generated piano sounds, usually using physical modeling systems.

With a TransAcoustic Piano, however, the digital sound benefits from the real acoustic string resonances as long as the soundboard amplifies it. In this case, the vibrations of the soundboard activate the strings.

All in all, this sounds even more complex than the artificially generated sympathetic resonance, which is certainly one of the reasons for the lively and almost astonishingly realistic digital sounds. Of course, playing the piano through headphones is also a vivid sound experience because the digital sound generation also takes such subtle sound details into account.

Playing Feel and Keyboard

This is where a hybrid piano has an advantage over a digital piano: While the keyboard and hammer action of a digital piano are designed to simulate an authentic piano touch, this is exactly what you get with a hybrid piano: a real piano touch. And you’ll definitely feel it even when playing digital sounds – the smallest model, the b1 TC3, already benefits from this. If you think of it as just a digital piano, that’s an absolute luxury!

Theoretically, playing in Quiet mode makes a difference because the hammers cannot strike the piano string fully. In practice, however, this is not a noticeable shortcoming. In addition, non-contact sensors that scan the keyboard ensure that there is no interference with the keystroke or key movement.

Below the keys are sensors that create an electric field. Further sensors attached to the keys move in this field, which allows for precise, high-resolution detection of the key movement. This complex system provides the ideal conditions for transmitting the finest nuances to Yamaha’s Expression Modeling.

Yamaha TransAcoustic Piano and External Devices

The focus here is on connecting to computers and mobile devices, with identical features on all TransAcoustic models. Of course, MIDI transmission of keyboard and pedal action is also possible – the electronics module offers USB-MIDI and Bluetooth-MIDI connections for this purpose. This allows wireless connection to the Smart Pianist app as well as playback of audio songs via Bluetooth Audio.

The MIDI connection for the electronic sound generation works in both directions, so you can record and play back your performance using a DAW. This is not possible for the acoustic part, a feature reserved for Yamaha Disklavier models.

However, you can record the electronic part “on-board” using the built-in recorder, which can record MIDI and audio formats. The USB to Device connection lets you store these recordings externally.

Yamaha TransAcoustic Piano & Smart Pianist

You can control the main electronic functions directly from the module located under the keyboard. However, it’s generally recommended to connect to the free Smart Pianist piano control app (iOS/Android), available for both smartphones and tablets.

Whether you’re selecting sounds or configuring special features, it’s always easier to use the app. You can intuitively explore and operate all functions, such as selecting and adjusting sounds, controlling recordings, or playing along to sheet music. As with Yamaha’s digital pianos, the Smart Pianist app is a real asset for TransAcoustic pianos.

Binaural Piano Sounds

Yamaha has also come up with something for playing on headphones. While this is of course a great thing – and not just for practicing-, the sounds are often too direct, even with artificial reverb.

Yamaha solves this problem with binaural sounds. These sounds, recorded with a microphone specialized for head-related stereophony, create an extraordinary room-filling sound effect when played on two channels. While it only works when played on headphones, this shouldn’t be seen as a limitation – it’s simply the nature of binaural audio technology. The result is fantastic spatiality and an amazingly realistic soundstage.

Digital Sounds

The Yamaha TransAcoustic Pianos offer two grand piano sounds – CFX and Bösendorfer – and thus two very strong sonic ideals. The CFX plays brilliantly and brightly, and while the Bösendorfer has an overall softer response, it still sounds powerful and transparent. A great playing and listening experience in every respect.

Binaural sampling was used for the CFX and Bösendorfer, which is noticeable when you play them on headphones. Stereo sounds recorded without the use of binaural technology complete the comprehensive sound selection. These include an upright piano as well as digital piano classics such as harpsichord, digital piano, strings & more. The quality of the additional sounds is quite good, but there is a noticeable difference compared to the excellent digital piano sounds.

It is not possible to layer the digital sounds, as is the case with the digital pianos of the Clavinova series. But with a Yamaha TransAcoustic Piano, you can still play two sounds at the same time – acoustically, to be exact. When you play without the mute function, you can hear both the acoustic piano and the digital sound generation at the same time. The soundboard handles this without any distortion.

You can quickly turn the digital sound on and off by pressing the volume button, which makes it much easier to find a good balance. Further, it’s a nice effect to turn on a pad sound while playing the piano, for example, to accompany a chorus.

Playing a Yamaha TransAcoustic Piano

Yamaha’s TA3 series is clearly the top of the line, and it plays accordingly. But if you’re choosing the new TC3 series, you’re not sacrificing quality playing characteristics. In fact, both TransAcoustic series offer a fantastic playing feel and sound experience.

The combination of acoustic and digital piano has been achieved at the highest level. While playing a TransAcoustic grand piano is a dream, you can feel the quality of TransAcoustic pianos even in the smallest, entry-level model, the b1 TC3. What the smallest and largest TransAcoustic models have in common, however, is the excellent fine-tuning of the digital sound generation, which is particularly evident in two areas:

1. You always get the feel of a real piano keyboard.
2. The CFX and Bösendorfer piano sounds are absolutely top-notch in terms of sound quality, dynamics, detail, and expressiveness.

As far as acoustic pianos are concerned, there is a choice between very different price ranges, from entry-level pianos to the YUS and U models. These are naturally superior to entry-level pianos in terms of sound and playing characteristics. Nevertheless, you can enjoy high-quality craftsmanship and the clear “Yamaha sound” with its distinctive rich overtones even with the small b1 model.

In Conclusion: Hybrid Piano “Plus”

The TransAcoustic line of pianos not only expands but redefines the term “hybrid piano” – a Yamaha TransAcoustic piano is much more than the sum of its parts. While the Silent Piano is already an extremely attractive solution for those who want to practice quietly but still enjoy the playing characteristics of an acoustic piano, a TransAcoustic Piano offers more possibilities and thus even more enjoyment.

With the added possibility to amplify digital sounds through the soundboard, TransAcoustic pianos can do new things, such as play acoustic music at a controllable volume. Moreover, the combination of acoustic piano and electronics opens up a world of creative possibilities from app connectivity to recording applications.

Yamaha TransAcoustic Pianos offer not only functionality and versatility but also excellent craftsmanship and manufacturing. Great instruments with outstanding playing and sound characteristics – whether you play digitally or acoustically.

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