Description

The Best Value For Money Choice For Professionals

Discontinued April 2011 – replaced by Yamaha CLP440

Call UK Pianos: 020 8367 2080

 

Other Colours

CLP340 Mahogany

CLP340 Cherry

CLP340 Polished Ebony

 

You Get:

30 day money back guarantee (if you’re not happy with your piano, you have up to 14 days to return it for a full refund)

3 year UK and European warranty (any faults will be repaired in your home or the piano collected and replaced)

Free delivery (includes UK, Ireland and most European countries)

Free Yamaha piano stool (non adjustable, without music storage)

* Adjustable matching piano stool (with a wide range of adjustment – up or down – allowing you to sit comfortably, and at the correct height. This is essential for developing the right technique, especially if you’re a beginner)

* Digital piano headphones (covers the whole ear and blocks out external noise. They’re superb!)

– Free Music Book – (50 Greats For The Piano)

* items only included in the CLP340 bundle offer

 

What Our Customers Say…

 

“Folks are friendly, reply to your e-mail within a day, are knowledgeable”

I truly can endorse Thomann Musicstore in Germany. Be sure to select your native language! Folks are friendly, reply to your e-mail within a day, are knowledgeable and have ample stock. During the process of buying the digital piano, I changed my mind and ordered another type, which was no problem at all.

When phoning Thomann, you can be sure to get somebody who speaks your language (German, English, Dutch and so on) which is a relief since not all musical terms or expressions are known to me in either English or German.

Shipment is standard 8 euros and is done by a local freighter. I mean, if I drive to the next big city in my neighborhood, I’d spend more on gas and probably have to rent a car to haul the pretty big box back home. Due to Christmas time, it took a little bit longer than expected but still very reasonable: something like a week.

Matthew, The Netherlands

Purchased: Yamaha CLP-340 (including piano bench.)

 

Hi Graham,

Thanks for your reply. Based on your advice, I have finally bought the Yamaha CLP-340 for myself. It’s really a wonderful Piano and I’m already loving it’s touch(especially the Synthetic Ivory Keytops) and the sound.

Thanks once again.

 

Regards, Vikas

“Superb service… my order arrived from here nearly twice as fast as from similar type stores in the uk! Keep up the good work!”

Ian Randell, London on 15.03.2007

 

Read more customer comments…

 

Description

GH3 action with synthetic with ivory keytops

128 note polyphony

New 4-level DSS piano sample

28 voices with dual and split

Damper resonance

USB to DEVICE

2-track recorder

Internet Direct Connection (IDC) with LAN port

2 x 40 watt amplification

Dimensions

1408 x 917 (with music rest 1018) x 514 mm (w x d x h)

Weight

69 kgs

Choice of Finishes

Choose from dark rosewood, cherry, mahogany, or polished ebony

Delivery

Free delivery to UK, Ireland and most European Countries.

Assembly

The piano comes flat-packed and is easy to assemble (instructions in English provided). The electronics and keyboard are fixed in – all you have to do is assemble the base.

There are four screws that fix the base to the keyboard, four to fix the base together and a few smaller screws to fit the back board. The screw holes are already made and no gluing is required. Even the screw driver is provided!

I do advise two people to do the job though – purely because of the keyboard’s weight – It is heavy and safer to have a helping hand when lifting it on to the base.

Alternatives to the Yamaha CLP340

 

Compare the Kawai CA93

Compare the Roland HP307

 

Yamaha CLP340 Reviews

“Here’s the 10 reasons I bought the Yamaha CLP340”

1. Brand name. (Includes better selling potential the piano in the future)

2. The sound of the Yamaha, not too bright and not too dull. I was not able

to listen to listen to the less known pianos as some are not even sold in

the Netherlands. Though a sound sample is provided for most instruments, a

MP3 file does not really do justice to the sound…

3. The touch. I am in the lucky position to have a grand piano (Steinway &

Sons) at hand. The Yamaha mimics it the best, in my opinion, except for

the escapement found on the Steinway, it really feels the same, again in my

humble opinion.

4. The ivory keys. I dislike the bright white shiny plastic keys on most

instruments. Though this is not a must, it certainly was worth some extra

euros. But to be frank: if I didn’t have that extra, I would’ve go for a

piano with the normal plastic keys.

5. Ecstatically I found the Yamaha the prettiest to see. Most piano’s do

not have a complete backboard. Yamaha does and it really looks better than a

partly closed backside of the piano.

6. Earlier experiences with the Yamaha brand. I’ve owned a Yamaha product

some 15 year ago and was always impressed with the quality of the

instrument. The 69 kilogram of instrument isn’t in the manuals but are found

in the wooden legs, back plate, keys and top cabinet. It is crafted

beautifully and a feast for the eye!

7. Technical possibilities. The split function is a nice touch, but again

not a must. Various settings like bright/medium/mellow various settings for

reverb and so give you a the possibility to ‘fiddle’ around with the final

sound of the piano. Not a must, must certainly nice to have. Although

(again!) not really a must for an electrical / digital piano, the option you

have, like left/right hand practice and so on are really a bonus.

8. Connection possibilities. Up- and download, USB stick, connection to a PC

(sadly enough I have an Apple iMac and Yamaha seems to ignore everything

that comes with an Apple logo on it). Download study material from the

Internet: it’s all there and I am really using it! Tons of different music

pieces, including score can be downloaded from a special site. And hey, I am

a computer user from the start of the PC in the eighties so that really

appealed to me!!

Not everybody has the means or possibility to use a direct cable connection

(UTP) and wants to use a wireless lan (WLAN) connection. What I really was

surprised of learning, is the method Yamaha uses to (wireless) connect the

piano to the Internet. Nowadays almost everybody has a wireless network at home.

To setup a safe WLAN, you should encrypt the data stream and protect it with a

(secret) key. Usually this is done with a WPA or WPA2 encryption. In the old days

a WEP encryption was sufficient. Sadly enough, WEP encryption can be broken within

5 minutes (sic!). So, an encryption that you DON’T want the use is a WEP.

Yamaha offers only a WEP encryption and that I find amazing. For a modern company

like Yamaha this is really, really stupid. So do what I did: buy yourself a LinkSys

Wireless Ethernet Bridge, connect that sucker to the UTP connection on the piano with

an UTP cable, set it up for WPA2 (the CLP340 won¹t know a thing!) and start

downloading study material an other fun stuff in a protected environment.

9. Sound. Since I was interested in an digital piano, I was not looking for

an instrument that could produce sounds like a locomotive, chirping birds,

oboe, distorted guitars or analog saw tooth and square oscillators. I would

have been happy to purchase a device that just gave me a grand piano,

upright piano, Fender Rhodes, honky-tonk and harpsichord. Well, Yamaha gave

me 16 different sound of which I¹m probably not using ten.

10. Graham Howard’s information on a lot of different digital pianos and

their manufacturers. This really helped me narrowing down the selection.

It’s  understandable (for an not-native-English speaking person), very

instructional and fun to read. The top ten lists come in really handy, but

even so important is how top ten list was made. For example: it prevented

me from buying a solid wood key type for perfectly understandable reasons.

The only minor I’ve found is the metronome. I used to have mechanical

metronome that I could setup for any beat, 4/4, 12/8, 3/4 and so on. You’d

always heard what beat it was: walz: O oo   O oo or 4/4: O 000  O 000  O 000

and so one. The metronome on the CLP just ticks…

Matthew van Os

the Netherlands

Read more CLP340 reviews

Click here to write a review

Questions and Comments (Email your questions to grahamhoward ukpianos.co.uk)

Last week i bought a Clavinova CLP340 and we are extremely happy with

our purchase…we got an amazing price $2400 for the PE version.

Today I was reading some reviews and I found out that this summer Yamaha

will be launching the CLP440 and was a bit dissapointed of learning this at this point.

Charles

—

Hi Graham

After quite a bit of research (and a read of your online book which was both enjoyable and informative!)

I have decided on a CLP340. My only concern is that this model has been around for about two years now.

Do you have any idea when a new model is due? Also, if I did go ahead and buy the 340, would the arrival

of a new model devalue the old one?

Thanks

Tristan

Reply/ Hi Tristan

The CLP340 would be an excellent choice!

Yamaha CLP models tend to change every 2-4 years.

So there ‘might’ be a new model coming out soon.

But I’ve not heard anything yet.

The arrival of a new model shouldn’t have much

bearing on the current model’s valuation. I

wouldn’t be concerned about this really.

Yours pianistically,

Graham Howard

—

Hi Graham,

 

Thank you for taking such an interest in peoples piano-bying. My two remaining contenders are Yamaha CLP 340 and Classenti CDP 2. I’ve tried the Yamaha, it sounds and feels really nice, but the Classenti is a dark horse to me. Is it compareable to the CLP 340 in any way? My main interest is the piano sound and the keyboard feel.

Best regards

Peter

Reply/ Hi Peter

The Yamaha CLP340 has a nicer sound and a

more realistic touch than the Classenti CDP2.

It is a better piano all round.

The Classenti isn’t far behind though…

With the Classenti you still get a realistic,

warm, rich, resonant piano sound. And the key

touch is the same weight as an acoustic piano.

The keys on the CLP340 are a little more

responsive than the CDP2. This is where it

wins mostly.

If budget isn’t an issue then you would be

happier with the Yamaha.

But, if you want to spend under £1,000 then

the Classenti CDP2 is second to none.

Yours pianistically,

Graham Howard

—

Hi Graham

Thanks for the replies. Although, by the time I looked at the information you provided, I had already bought a piano. Needless to say, I did do a good bit of digging around on the net, and when I had a rough idea of the pianos I wanted to look at (some Yamaha’s and Rolands), I used some of your tips to assess which I thought was the better quality piano within my price range. That, coupled with some great online reviews, I went for the Yamaha CLP 340, and I couldn’t be happier!

So thanks for the tips that you’ve made readily available on ukpianos.co.uk, they helped quite a bit!

Brett

—

Hello Graham,

First of all let me thank you for your extremely helpful book – it has answered almost all of my questions! However let me outline the situation now left….

I currently live with my parents (hoping to buy my own flat at some stage.) My mother has a Max Adolph baby grand which her father bought secondhand in about 1945. I played it as a child (I did get my grade 7 but a long time ago!) but for the past 15 years it has really been an ornament stand. The wood and soundboard look in good condition but the action on a lot of the keys is “sticky” and when you look at the keyboard from the side the keys are all at slightly different heights. I know from previous tuning – it hasn’t been tuned for at least 10 years – that some of the tuning pegs are loose and don’t hold their tune. My father seems to remember the piano tuner telling us that the frame was twisted but I can’t recall this.

I’d chosen to buy a CLP-340 thanks to your guide, and planned on a digital so that I could keep it upstairs, play it at night with headphones and take it with me if/when I move. I’d figured that the Max Adolph would be too expensive to renovate and wasn’t mine to play with anyway!

However my mother has now had a renewed interest in the piano! So the question now is what to do with the old one….

Do you think we should

1) Is it worth getting renovated – I’m guessing this would be expensive but we’d have a functional baby grand at the end…. (I am trying to save for my own place though, and parents don’t have any cash)

2) Now that we have the space, should I spend the £1500 on a used upright rather than the CLP-340 (??better piano but less mobile)

3) Should we sell the baby grand and just buy the clavinova (that’s my feeling).

Also any ideas on how best to sell said baby grand in said condition would be welcome! We really don’t want to scrap it, and my parents don’t want to give it away either.

Apologies for long and rambling email! Oh if it helps I haven’t really played the piano since my music degree in 2002 (mainly a trombonist) but would like to get back up to speed, mainly for own enjoyment.

Many thanks,

Rose.

Reply/ Hi Rose

It sounds very much like your grand piano isn’t

worth renovating. The costs involved just wouldn’t

be worth it at all.

The CLP340 is a very good choice. You will find

this piano has a similar touch to a grand, and

its sound is one of the best.

The best way to sell it is in the ukpianos.co.uk

Market Place.

Here’s the link:

http://marketplace.ukpianos.co.uk

Yours pianistically,

Graham Howard

—

At the moment I’m considering the Yamaha CLP 340.  I like the idea

of the direct connection to the internet (IDC) and a few extra voices to

play around with.  My next decision is where to buy.

I want to buy online for the discount but still want a decent service –

I need to go back on your web site and compare the internet sites you

recommend.  Does any particular internet shop stand out for value and service?

thanks, Allison

Reply/ Hi Allison

Thomann stand out from the crowd as being the best

for after sales customer service. They are truly

outstanding!

You might find lower prices at rockingrooster.co.uk

and imusician.co.uk. But you won’t get the same

level of service.

Yours pianistically,

Graham Howard

—

Hi again Graham

I’m about to go for it with Chappells who will match the 1800 pounds price I

got online for the CLP 340.

Just to be clear. It’s definitely good value for money, in your opinion and

worth going up from the CLP 330.

You’ve sort of said this, but I just want to be sure before I part with all

my cash!!

Incidentally, is it not possible to get a high quality – realistic for

classical music – digital piano without all the gizmos – vibrophone etc?

I really appreciate your advice.

Best wishes

Jim

Reply/ Hi Jim

There isn’t any decent digital pianos without gizmos.

The Yamaha CLP340 is an excellent choice. But you

can get it online for a lot less:

http://budurl.com/Gear4MusicCLP340

Yours pianistically,

Graham Howard

—

Hi Graham

1)  My friend’s CLP330 has a clunky sound – particularly when the key is depressed slowly and quietly, and then released – the sound is the key returning upwards, and is quite obtrusive….

2) Looking things up on the internet, I have noticed that  some people recommend the 340 as being well worth the extra £200 (+)… What is your expert opinion?

3) Are there any headphones in particular you would recommend, eg are the Numark ones  OK?

Reply/ The Yamaha CLP340 is absolutely better than

the CLP330.

If you’re anything but a beginner then it’s worth

spending a couple of hundred pounds more to get

the CLP340.

** Yamaha CLP330 versus Yamaha CLP340 (main

differences) **

With the CLP340 you get:

(1) Synthetic ivory keys – it feels just like tickling

the ivories on an old-fashioned Bechstein grand.

(2) Double the power (2 x 40 watts versus 2 x 20 watts

on the CLP330). This adds a richer tone, especially

in the bass.

(3) Higher quality speaker system.

(4) More extensive sound sampling. On a real piano a

note sounds different depending on how hard you strike

the key. It’s all to do with harmonics.

To replicate this on a digital piano a note needs to

be sampled several times so it produces the right

amount, or specific type of harmonics related to the

speed the key was pressed — it’s complicated stuff!

Anyway, Yamaha went a little bit further with the

CLP340 in developing these sound samples.  The

result, which is probably all you’re interested in :-),

is a more authentic sound.

Yours pianistically,

Graham Howard

—

I chose the CLP340 because, after reading your and other advice and reviews, it seemed to have the highest spec for the money. As a player who has reached Grade VII Associated Board I wanted a sound and touch that corresponded to that of a good conventional piano. I was not interested in the extra ‘bells and whistles’ just the quality of the sound and the playing experience.

Regards, Marie Layng

—

Hi Graham,

I received the pdf piano quide and opened it without any issue. I read all at once, and

decided which one to buy indeed

One of my friends had CLP340, I am a new beginner and didn’t want to spend

that much at start – though I liked it’s touch and sound very much. Then I looked to

few Kawai samples, I didn’t like CN series at all, from CA series CA91 was good

but much very very expensive. I read one input from your forum, someone got CLP

340 and how happy he was from the synthetic ivory touch (which I felt the same).

The sales man in Kawai shop made a very nice statement saying I need to get the piano

I like, otherwise I’ll not enjoy it and not play it. This plus your pdf made me to decide

on Yamaha CLP340 : it’s nice to get one from your top 10 list, and this is the only option

in top 10 which has quite cheaper price tag than the other 9.

Hopefully in a week or so, I’ll get my own CLP340!

It’s great to be able to access so much info; I felt myself “secure” after reading your book,

at the end understanding what all these specific things are about pianos (such as GH3,

MIDI, transpose, etc..). I could understand and decide which parameter is important to

me. I felt my feet on the solid ground, thanks very much to you!

Selena

Yamaha CLP340 Review
“I bought a yamaha CLP 340 after looking at various music sites, talking to piano teachers and looking at shops. The piano primarily is for my daughter who has just passed grade 4 piano. Previous to this we had an acoustic which went out of tune albeit slightly with great frequency.

It took a while because digital pianos are different than acoustics and I found demonstrations I heard played to the piano’s strengths. It was only side by side that the untrained ear could differentiate between models and the dynamics and response. What did put my daughter off initially, was at low volumes, hearing the clicking of the keys, but once into it the advantages outweighed this. These included the heavier hammer actions which mimicked the response of an acoustic piano better than a lot of acoustic pianos, at least at entry levels tried.

What gave the 340 the edge was better speakers, the feel of the keys and it was more or less the same spec as the 370. the extra piano sounds are good and at least for non piano players make the repetition of pieces more bearable and helps to give the headphones a stay of execution. I would definitely recommend and can hear the difference and improvement in playing very quikly.”

Rating: (9 out of 10)

Reviewer: Eddie Chappell, Staines, Middx.

 

“The CLP340 is just what we were looking for, whilst a nice looking piece of furniture, it sounds excellent and whilst i do not play, my daughter now sounds like a professional when she plays. In piano mode it sounds so realistic and the key action is so realistic. We have of course not yet been able to use it to its full potential as my daughter is still learning (currently at about grade 3), but when it was demonstrated to us, i was amazed by its performance and could have believed i was listening to an instrument that cost much much more than it did.”

Rating: (9 out of 10)

Reviewer: Pierce Kitson, Miami, Florida

 

“Yamaha CLP 340 – we wanted soemthing that sounds like real piano and feels like real piano but does not cost like a real piano.

If we could afford and if it was available here in Israel – we would by the CLP 380

My wife says that when she closes her eyes she can not tell the difference – we could not ask for more.

She also uses the headphones a-lot since we are in an urban area.

The Training program is amazing as well – you have 50 songs that you can play *with* by letting the music play one hand and you can play the other. You can also control the tempo which makes it excellent for learning slowly and then increasing to the real tempo with time.

It’s also nice to be able to listen to your piano as a stereo system :-). just nice.

All and all my wife would never buy a digital piano if it would not give her the feeling it’s a real one. all the rest is bonus.”

Rating: (9 out of 10)

Reviewer: Andreas, Israel

 

“I recieved the CLP340 a couple of days ago and was very impressed with the quality of the piano. It is beautiful (I splashed out on the polished ebony) and sounds amazing. My boyfriend and I love ut and we have been fighting over who’s turn it is to play ever since!”

Rating: (8 out of 10)

Reviewer: Melanie Griffiths, Cardiff, UK

 

“We recently purchased a Yamaha CLP 340 and overall are quite happy with it. Because of
the location of the piano (on second floor, up a rather old stairs) we were not in a position to risk getting a heavy acoustic up there, though had my eye on a beautiful old Yamaha U1 for a while. The clp 340 feels nice and looks nice, though sounds some way short of a real acoustic. We bought the piano as a learning instrument so the instrument is perfect in that respect.”

Rating: (7 out of 10)

Reviewer: Andrea Sykes, Oxford

 

“In the end I settled for my original choice of a yamaha clp 340 – I’m hoping this was the best chouce. I am finding the key action quite heavy and clunky and also quite tiring. I have been playing a yamaha pdp100 (quite old now) which is extremely light and had got used to this and was wondering if this fully explained the feeling of “clunkiness” but it does seem a little heavier than the acoustic piano I remember as a boy.”

Rating: (6.5 out of 10)

Reviewer: Damion Chamberlain

 

“I have a Clavinova 340.

I’m having fun with it, slowly trying to get my fingers to do what they used to be able to do several years ago.

One thing I notice — the upper register doesn’t seem to ring out like a grand. In fact it seems on the dull side. I’ve tried the 4 different grand piano variants, and played with the brilliance switch, but it still seems thin on top (if you see what I mean). I mentioned this to a professional pianist who plays both acoustic and digital, and he said there should be an electronic way to vary the balance between top and bottom. I haven’t yet found a way to do this on the keyboard or in the manual.”

Rating: (7.5 out of 10)

Reviewer: Malcolm Part

 

“I´ve bought a Clavinova CLP-340. Reason: I read Graham Howard’s digital piano book and understood the following:

* The difference between the key weights: I chose a heavy-weighted keyboard (CLP 340 is one of those)
* I own a vertical piano but keys weight more. Anyhow, I know that grand pianos are, in a sense, softer and thanks to your book I understood the importance of having a light enough keyboard, so that future playing in Grand pianos can be better accomplished.
* The importance of more than three levels of sensitivity (CLP 340 has four)
* The importance of the sound of the key sustained sound after stroke (I tested the CLP and it lasts 12 seconds after stroke)

I was looking for a Roland, because of its 100 levels of sensitivity, the screen and the sampling of the piano sound. But two things kept me from insisting although I wasn´t able to try a real one:

* Th Hpi 7 and HP207, which were the ones I was hopping to get cost a lot more then the Yamaha.
* These models have the scapement feeling, but I had understood from the book that this was more a vice than a virtue.
* They were supposed to be ligther in key-weight but that I wasn´t able to confirm personally, so I took it from granted from the book.
* Roland does not have a direct distributer in Colombia.

I really wanted a Kawai, but there are no possibilities not even to see one in my country.

I hope I can return to your page in future years once I´m ready to update again my digital piano.”

Rating: (8 out of 10)

Reviewer: Jorge Maldonado, Bucaramanga, Colombia (South America) 03/03/2011

Email your questions to grahamhoward@ukpianos.co.uk