Yamaha CLP340 Reviews

“The weighted keys respond like a decent piano. Although I would say that the artificial ivory tops feel a little plasticky on the white keys”

I have had this piano for about 4 months now. Overall I am very happy and would recommend it to someone looking in this price range.

It is technically quite an impressive instrument. I love the Grand Piano sounds and the fact that you can make them warmer or brighter, and change the reverb. The amplification system gives an full and surrounding sound. The weighted keys respond like a decent piano.
Although I would say that the artificial ivory tops feel a little plasticky on the white keys, while the ebony keys feel good. Maybe they will feel better with age.

Some of the other voices are interesting and respond according to key pressure – the xylophone sound is brilliant. I would have preferred more variety on electric keyboard sounds than have a bunch of guitar/bass/human-voice sounds that are really just gimmicks. The store I bought it at (Pianorama in Mauguio/Montpellier) was fantastic for advice and a really professional delivery and installation. They were also competitive on price.

Overall a great buy. Though one thing that could be improved is the ability to jump quickly between sections in the prerecorded pieces – much easier when you are learning as you wouldn’t have to listen to the whole piece before getting to the section you want to learn. Maybe there is a way to do it but I haven’t been able to locate it in the manual. Aside from all that – hats off to Graham Howard for his pdf documents on how to buy a digital piano – as I’ve said before these documents made the purchasing process a breeze.

Review by Nicholas Quaine, Montpellier, France

 

“These are customer reviews from actual owners of this piano.
The most recent review is at the top of this page “, Graham Howard, Piano Advisor

Send me an email if you have any questions or need advice: grahamhoward@ukpianos.co.uk
Or call 020 8367 5107

 

2) “My piano teacher was totally excited about my Clavinova CLP340. She gave her thumbs up and probably even toes She could not praise the Clavinova enough really”

I settled on a Yamaha Clavinova 340 mainly because of the advice given
in your digital piano guide. I was going to go with the CLP370 , but the
premium on the wood keys did not seem to worth it to me. Your guide
seemed to suggest that too.

My situation is I have a 1996 (plus or minus a year) Clavinova that was
given to me. Free is always good

Anyway, I have an 8 year old and a 9 year that have been taking piano
lessons for 4 years now.

The piano teacher has expressed that my oldest is coming to a point where he
needs a “real” piano. A piano for example that can hold a note for 9 beats.

We told our teacher that we were going to get another Clavinova and she near
had a heart attack. She offered to go to the piano store and try one for
herself. Upon her return she was totally excited about my Clavinova CLP340.
She gave her thumbs up and probably even toes. She could not praise the
Clavinova enough really.

I would love to get an acoustic piano, my home and family circumstances just
can’t warrant that at this time. So the Clavinova for me was a good fit.
If the 340 can last as long as my current Clavinova, I should be good till
the kids get in high school at which point I may be in a better position to
upgrade.

Review by Gavin Ouckama, Florida, USA

 

3) “I am really happy with the sound, feel, and all other aspects”

I found Graham Howard’s digital piano guide very informative and useful, and
the forums at UKpianos also very helpful.

I was also influenced by the various sales staff I encountered at the three
different piano shops I visited, and deliberately didn’t purchase a Roland,
because of the heavy pushing one large store was doing with Rolands over
both Yamaha and Kawai. (which put me off buying Roland, and buying
anything from their store).

In the end I went with a yamaha 340 CLP, and splurged on the polished ebony
model, which is of course completely unnecessary, but it does look BEAUTIFUL
in my room, rather than just looking like a rather boring digital piano. I
spent more than I had originally intended, but think I will be happy with
this piano for a very long time.

I am loving playing it, and am really happy with the sound, feel, and all
other aspects.

Review by Sophie, Australia

 

4) “Unless I had read your guide and discovered that this made absolutely no difference in the key weight I might have been inclined to spend the almost $800CDN extra for them”

I received your digital piano buyer’s guide and armed with the information provided and my friend the piano teacher (who can give the digital the work out I can’t since I’m still just learning to play) we went and tested a variety of digitals using the 6 things to look for information and purchased a Yamaha CLP 340. It had a richer sound than the CLP 320 and the only difference between it and the CLP 370 was that the CLP had wooden keys.

Unless I had read your guide and discovered that this made absolutely no difference in the key weight I might have been inclined to spend the almost $800CDN extra for them. As it was, the CLP 340 was on sale for $2999CDN – which although not the primary reason for the purchase (the CLP 320 was $1,999CDN) certainly was a good incentive as well as the 5 year warranty the store provided.

Thank you for the wonderful information provided. It gave us much needed information – my friend and piano teacher knows her way around acoustic pianos but didn’t know what to look for in digitals – your guide was invaluable.

Review by Sherry Fulton, Canada

5) “It’s not often I develop emotion to physical things, however I can say the Clavinova CLP340 has won both mine and my families heart over”

Hi Graham, just wanted to say a big Thank You for all your advise on the
piano. I ended up getting the Yamaha Clavinova CLP 340 and what a beautiful
instrument it is. The Rosewood colour compliments my brown leather sofas and
it really looks lovely in my living room.

Since I’ve bought it the children and I do not reach for the tv. After a stressful
day at work and fighting through rush hour traffic I am able to unwind by playing
it. Even my wife has started practising, so it has been an all round
wonderful investment.

Now to my review. After having spent a few weeks deciding on which model to
buy I ended up placing an order with Thomas. Unfortunately they did give me
a lead time of 7-10 working days, and as I had already sold me M-Audio
weighed controller I really desied something faster. I therefore came across
Reidys, who delivered the goods I think 48 hours after I placed the order.

Whats more the nice delivery man helped me carry the 103kg box into my
living room. I did look at a piano at my local store, however even after
negotiating they came up £50 more expensive, so I settled for the online
deal and decided to spend the extra money I saved on some Seinheisser 280
Pro headphones. The only one thing to note on the retailers though is that
Thomann offer a 3 year warrantee, whereas I do believe you only get one
year in the UK.

However by now I was desperate to get my new instrument I decided on
sticking to a local British supplier, and took the risk nothing going wrong
after a year.

The piano itself required basic assembly whereby you join the legs, the
footpedal and the back. The finish of the piano is amazing and the buld
quality is truely exceptional, it really is an attractive piece of engineering.

Within about 30 minutes the piano was assembled and ready to go. What’s
more it came with a stool which also looks amazing. These normally cost £89
however Yamaha seem to throw them in as standard with the 340 range.

The only quirk I would say is tha tthe foot pedals are gold whereas the
trimmings in my house are all silver, however these are well hidden as the
pedals are tucked away out of full view.

I know there is a price difference in the CLP330 and the CLP340, however I
really do like the fact that I can put the sound up if I wish to command attention
of people when playing. I also do like the keys. They are not so slippy as they
tend to absorb moisture from the fingers.

I played single notes and was surprised to see that my ears could hear each
note up to 30 seconds after striking one which I understand is a good sign.
There are a range of additional instruments which I can select however I
don’t believe I will be using those much. The record functionality is
useful, the 50 preset tunes can be enjoyed, and I am yet to try the new
online feature Yamaha have introduced to download further songs.

In summary it’s not often I develop emotion to physical things, however I
can say the Clavinova CLP340 has won both mine and my families heart over.

Review by Amrit Sandhu (22/07/2010)

 

6) “The touch of the Yamaha CLP340 is very close to a grand piano”

I couldn’t wait until October to get my digital piano – I had it delivered yesterday. I purchased a Yamaha CLP340.

I really enjoy the sound – there’s only a slight difference in sound between the CLP340 and an acoustic piano and a huge difference between the CLP340 and P70 stage piano I previously had. The sound is realistic, warm, and resonant. The touch is very close to a grand piano, the key weight is very close to that of a grand piano as well.

There are a few voices I doubt I’ll ever use, choir, guitar, strings – but that’s because my main focus is piano – at the moment I doubt I’ll use any voice except grand piano.

As for the appearance, it looks absolutely wonderful in my home (of course, I’m comparing it to the stage piano I had previously, however, if you wanted a digital piano that looked very close in appearance to an acoustic upright, this one will definitely satisfy that requirement).

I had one small difficulty, the headphones I used with my stage piano did not work with the CLP340. I purchased a new set of headphones although had I been able to find a 6.3mm gold adaptor for my other headphones, that would have worked just as well. So if you’re planning to use headphones with the CLP340, you’ll need to keep that in mind.

I purchased the CLP340 from Giovanni Yamaha Music in Edmonton, Alberta. The piano was on sale, as the store is moving locations. I think, based on the several pianos I played in the store, I would have purchased the 340 even if it hadn’t been on sale. They were very helpful (although the salesman really did want to sell me a grand piano) and overall my experience was very positive and the salesman and Mr. Giovanni made the purchase very easy. It is a family owned business and that feeling of family extends to their customers as well. They have their own moving company who delivers and sets up the pianos – the delivery men were efficient, friendly and they commented on how much they enjoyed setting up pianos for people who were excited with the purchase. Frankly, I don’t think I would have enjoyed putting the piano together on my own, so having it delivered and assembled for me was a big plus.

All in all, the experience was a very positive one. If you have anyone looking for information on purchasing a digital piano in Edmonton, I’d suggest they check out Giovanni’s Music.

I thank you for your wonderful and informative Digital Piano Buyer’s guide. It did give me the information I needed to make an informed decision – particularly your point about the difference between wooden and synthetic ivory keys – wooden keys were the only difference between the CLP340 and the CLP 370 – and about an $800(CDN) difference in price.

Review by Sherry Fulton (01/09/2010)

7) “The clp 340 is very good for the differents sensibility”

The sound of a piano is made by the differents sensibility you can play and the clp 340 is very good for that.whe can adjust reverb and I think is very important.I am a musician but not a pianist and I have a teacher since a few moment 15 days,I play one hour every day.for me this piano is
very good but perhaps in a few years if I become very good I bought an other one.

Review by Bernard Martinand, France

8) “The synthetic ivory keys feel good and the overall feel of the keyboard is nice though at medium volume and lower the physical thunking of the keys was quite noticeable”

The CLP 340 was delivered to us about 2 weeks ago, it was pretty easy to assemble, and was well built with a very nice rosewood finish on what seemed to be mostly mdf.

The sound of the piano is pretty good, not amazing, as it is clearly obvious listening to it that it is digital, the additional voices ‘classical guitar’ etc are quite poor, as are ‘strings’.

The two principle piano voices are a mixed bag and I am still a little uncertain about them, while they are adequate at times they sound overtly artificial, the sound seeming to be overly augmented by synthetic enhancement, maybe a little overblown in a bad way. It just does not have that live clarity one gets from a real acoustic.

The synthetic ivory keys feel good and the overall feel of the keyboard is nice though at medium volume and lower the physical thunking of the keys was quite noticeable.

We bought this piano so that family members could learn to play and practice without disturbing others, it serves this purpose well, and seems a good instrument to learn on.

Does it have a captivating sound? no it doesn’t, far from it. It sounds adequate. I will consider putting it through my computer to access a more authentic piano sound.

If I were in the position I was in two weeks ago and still had the 1800 euro I would probably prefer to have bought the beautiful old Nippon Ghaki Yamaha U1 I saw in a local store, it sounded magical, oh well, such is life, maybe someday.

Review by William Ruane, Cork, Ireland (27/09/2010)

9) “I absolutely love playing it”

I have had the Yamaha CLP-340 for about 4 weeks now and I absolutely love playing it. Although I haven’t played an acoustic for several years, I think the CLP-340 has a realistic sound and the keys feel very similar to an acoustic (from what I remember!).

Before I bought the piano I was pretty certain I would never use all the extra features that come with the piano but after playing around with some of them I think they will be really handy extras. For example, the record function is really good for hearing yourself play and picking up on the areas you could improve. I also really like that the piano comes with 50 popular preset songs and the sheet music for it, and that you can play these pieces to simply listen to them, or you can change the tempo, and even turn off the left/right hand which makes it easier for you to learn/practice these pieces!

Am very satisfied with my purchase and will likely be playing it for a long time to come.

Review by Andrea Syloh (29/09/2010)

10) “The piano arrived within a couple of days and looks fantastic”

We’re very pleased with our CLP340, we had planned to purchase the CLP330 but the rosewood colour
we wanted at Chappell of Bond Street was out of stock, so I opted to upgrade to the CLP340.
To be honest I’d been umming and ahhing between the two, so the lack of stock swung it for me.

The piano arrived within a couple of days and looks fantastic. I bought it as an early Christmas
present for my wife, so can’t comment on how it plays, but she assures me that it’s wonderful.
It certainly sounds great and looks fantastic. We had an ancient upright before that couldn’t
be tuned quite right, so, pretty though it was, we decide to replace it with this model.

Thanks to Graham for the guide on buying a digital piano, it really broke everything down into
a simple step-by-step decision. We’d still be thumbing through the web looking at confusing
lists if it weren’t for your guide, thanks Graham!

Review by Adam Brown, Oxford (16/10/10)

11) “I would say it offers 80-90% of the feel and sound of a real instrument”

Setting up
I bought it from Gear4music. The box that it came in was quite big and well packaged. Assembling the piano was straightforward although you definitely need the help of another person! I went for the Ebony Black which looks fantastic (although it’s already showing the dust). I recommend a cover for it.

Sound
In short, it is the best I have heard on an digital instrument (although I bet it would be even better on the CLP380!) The Grand piano sound is authentic and can be adjusted for brightness (I prefer a mellow sound) and reverb which is useful as the acoustic in the room is very dry. The key resonance is a nice feature which does a great job of adding ‘colour’ to the sound. The amplifier has plenty of power (2 x 40 watts) with a lovely clear sound. My only concern is a slight boominess on the lower notes but this is only an issue when the volume is quite loud (Could probably solve this by moving the instrument away from the wall but don’t have space).

Touch
The touch is very good and weighted like a real piano. The keys are quiet in operation and I prefer the slightly dull off white finish to the shiny plasticy look of keys that I’ve seen on other instruments.

Features
Good choice and quality of sounds, transpose, demo function although my primary reason was to use it as a piano. I haven’t used the internet feature or MIDI features at time of writing.

Quality
First impressions are that it is well made and the overall look and finish is excellent.

Overall
Piano purists would probably still prefer an acoustic instrument, but digital pianos have really improved in recent years! I would say it offers 80-90% of the feel and sound of a real instrument but with lots of other advantages – size, cost, tuning, ability to control the volume or use headphones being just a few of them! I’m very pleased with my purchase and am really enjoying playing it!

Review by Tristan Humphreys (01/11/2010)

 

12) “Overall the look is solid quality”

Sound: Is quite realistic through its on-board speakers.
The range from warm to bright is very good responding to psessure
also effective.

Feel:Touch/Key weight I found impressive and to be able to set this
at three levels is very useful when children have a go.

Voices:Initially I was interested in Key sounds however the rest would
prove useful in mixes (have not done yet).The quality of samples are
excellent.Combinations and split mode are easy to set.
I found the transpose function a bit awkward,Would be nice to have
the adjust up/down select buttons closer to transpose button making
it a one hand(left) action.

Look: Straightforward modern design and nice finish.I chose rosewood, and
the colour looks fine in our setup. Overall the look is solid quality.
I did like the position of the plug panel hidden under the keyboard
out of sight.

All in all I am very pleased with the CPL340 so far ,and yet to
explore every aspect.

Review by Charles Phillips (15/11/2010)

13) “My recommendation to others buyers are not to be tempted to only focus on price”

Living in Gothenburg,Sweden we bought a CLP 340 and paid 1800 pounds for
it, in Sweden that’s a really good price its listed at 2330 so the
discount was at my liking.

At last, the piano has arrived. We have been playing quite allot the last
few days and my daughter and wife are thrilled.

The sound is brilliant and so even the feel of it. My daughter plays a
grand piano at school but she is quite satisfied whit the response from
the 340.

It has a rich sound and give a realistic sound image. Our criteria was
that the most important feature was that the piano gave a realistic sound
and that is the feel of the keyboard was close to a acoustic piano.
The Yamaha CLP 340 has been a pleasant experience.

My recommendation to others buyers are not to be tempted to only focus on
price, its well worth the extra money you spend on a piano in higher price
range.

Reviewed by Tor Haugen, Gothenburg, Sweden (25/11/2010)

14) “I narrowed my choice to Yamaha”

I am an experienced wind player, but a beginner on piano. Graham’s piano book certainly helped cut through the ‘geek speak’ and I set out to try three/four models at the big music store in Manchester – they didn’t have a pianist on the staff!! I none the less narrowed my choice to Yamaha and was pretty much set on the 320. After visiting my local store, Promanade music in Morecambe – a real family shop, not just a website, I was really impressed with their service and price and plumped for the Yamaha CLP340 in the end.

Review by Sandra Walsh, Kendal, UK (22/12/2010)

15) “We wanted to ‘future proof’ the purchase, swayed by the better Keyboard and Graham Howard’s high praise of the CLP340”

I’ve restricted my investigation to Yamaha for no better reason than fond memories of my Yamaha bikes and because too much choice would make things difficult, and came to the conclusion that a CLP320 would fit the bill. They seem to be £883 on the internet including delivery, headphones and bench, unless someone gives a better deal I’d go with Normans at Burton on Trent as it’s not that far should we ever need to go there.

So I’m very happy to see that the CLP320 is your number 1 choice between £500 & £1000. I’d be tempted to go for the better keyboard of the next CLP model but it’s a hefty jump, we have already gone up so much on the budget that Mrs Santa is getting twitchy, maybe I get her & the musical cousin to pay Normans a visit and try the two out while the children are at school….

A update is that Mr & Mrs Santa visited Norman’s on Saturday 11th. They had a CLP320, 330 and 340 all in Rosewood on display plus various other acoustic pianos in polished ebony. The salesman gave us a brief chat, he advised us to avoid the 320 on the basis of the interconnectivity and left us to it. We wanted to ‘future proof’ the purchase, swayed by the better Keyboard and your statement that the CLP340 makes you want to play and play, we went for the 340. In the past or daughter has stuck to things, she does not flit about so we’re pretty confident our purchase will not gather dust. Though should this not be the case ebay could be very useful; we watched an ebay sale of a newish 320 run up to £808, that was with a day or two to go so the final price could have been higher – what are these people doing when you can get a brand new one for £883 inc delivery & extras???

Anyway my wife loved the polished ebony uprights on display, and was interested in one….but what of the tuning, no ability to record to memory stick, no silent practice, the weight… so we compromised on a CLP340PE. There were none in stock, we left contact details with the weekend receptionist, asking that they check Yamaha’s stock & delivery and get back to us on Monday.

On Monday it wasn’t them phoning us, but us phoning them instead, they were lukewarm, seemed uninterested and uncertain if we’d get one for Christmas. So my wife got on the phone to Sheehan’s of Leicester, I’d spoken to them before and they seemed uninterested in matching an internet price on a P155 when I started looking at digital pianos. Anyway my wife found someone keen to do a deal, so we were promised a CLP340PE inc bench and 5 year guarantee for £1693 by Christmas. It came into Leicester on Friday, since Leicester is almost on my way home and because Fridays weather was good and we finished work early (Xmas dinner) I picked it up. By offering to pay by debit card instead of credit card I got them to reduce some headphones from £38 to £25 as part of the deal.

So we ended up spending twice what I thought we might and a CLP340PE from Sheehan’s it was.

It is now in the garage waiting for the day.

Review by Mick Chaplin, Burton on Trent (23/12/2010)

 

16) “I DEFINITELY made the right decision. I hope this website helps you to do so too”

This is a great digital piano. At over £1000 it is probably suited more towards an experienced pianist who is clear that it is not just a passing phase!
The digital piano itself is fantastic. The sound is so clear and sounds exactly like a grand piano!

It has many functions. You’re able to ‘split’ the piano, therefore being able to play 2 different sounds, one on the left hand side of middle c and one on the right hand side, my favourite is strings on the left and grand piano on the right.

I also enjoy being able to layer two voices over each other, this often gives the piece much more depth.
The transpose feature is very handy if you play in a band.

The feel of the keys is lovely too, theyve been designed to feel like youre playing on ivory keys.
On the plus side as well, it looks amazing, especially in black i feel.
I spent months debating which to buy.
I DEFINITELY made the right decision. I hope this website helps you to do so too

Reviewed by Katie Mattack, Ormskirk, UK (17/01/2011)

17) “The keys are almost as good as those of some acoustic pianos”

I like my CLP340 a lot. I don’t really play piano except for simple
chords to accompany singing. As I am not really a pianist I do not need
an acoustic piano. I wanted to have a piano for fun and to fill up a
space in my living room. The CLP340 comes with a book, “50 Greats for
the Piano” along with built-in music.

I am enjoying that feature a lot. A sound coming out from the stereo
speaker system is (to me) close to some acoustic pianos. Keys are
almost as good as those of some acoustic pianos. Finally, it looks
not bad in my living room.

Review by Park Sung-Won (17/02/2011)

18) “The sound is good, although you do need to have it up to close to max to get the whole of the piano to vibrate”

I used to play the piano back more years than I care to remember. Like most kids it is
possible to get to a reasonable standard quite quickly and then things become harder,
rate of progression slows and other things get in the way so you end up giving up. A
pretty familiar story.

So I started to look for a new piano when I got the bug again. Given that we have a young
kid, and that the time I get to practice will be when he is asleep, I was always going to
have to go for something with headphones. I used the advice in Graham notes and I ended
up going to a store that sells both normal pianos and digital to see what they are like.
At least that way I can compare.

I started off by trying to play on a £75,000 12 foot grand to see what that sounds like
and then worked my way back from there to see at what point you really start to notice
the difference. I noticed the difference from the 330 to the 340 model so that is why I
chose the 340. Mostly I am after a piano sound and feel so a lot of the options on other
more expensive machines I do not need or want. That said though I do not think that I
would have really been able to tell the difference unless they were side by side.

The sound is good, although you do need to have it up to close to max to get the whole of
the piano to vibrate, and I find the firmer action on the more expensive piano is more
realistic and actually makes me a better player as it is pushing my fingers up. This
makes it much easier to play tricky pieces. It actually does make you a better player if
you get onto a better keyboard.

I sometimes use a cheaper keyboard and I really notice the difference in the sound, due
to the fact that the whole of the 340 will resonate if you play this louder giving a much
fuller sound, and the quality of the action. Basically I think that the heavier the piano
you are going to get a better sound as the whole of the piano is part of the instrument.
This is much less important though if you do play with headphones on

My kid loves the piano with the demo tunes and just having one in the house is getting
his interest. He is under no pressure to try it out but he is curious about it and
actually likes making the sound.

Thanks for the advice Graham. It certainly took a lot of the uncertainty out of the
process of buying a piano as I was able to think about the things that were important to
me.

Review by Brett Rallings, Sweden (26/02/2011)

19) “My foot tends to slide off the right pedal”

I am happy with my CLP340.

The only problem that I have since encountered is that my foot tends to slide
off the right pedal but, until I find a more suitable solution, a strip of duck
tape on the pedal is sufficing. Also, I would certainly have preferred only 2
pedals and cannot envisage when I, personally, will ever use the middle pedal !
I gather, however, that all new pianos have three pedals.

Reviewed by Ken Barnes, Canterbury, UK (14/03/2011)

20) “It feels like a real piano, sounds lovely – a rich grand piano sound”

I wanted a piano that I wouldn’t get dissatisfied with as I progress and that would be as like a good acoustic piano to play and listen to as possible. I had read up about different digital pianos, and had a lot of very helpful advice from Graham Howard, and pretty much settled on the 340 in advance as the best option in my budget but I wanted to try a few pianos in the store. I tried a Roland and discounted it straight away – it was nice enough but middle C and Csharp sounded really odd – though there may have been a problem with the individual piano. I then compared the 340 with the 330 and the 370 (ie a model below and above it in the range) . I felt that the difference between the 340 and 370 wasn’t great enough to justify the extra cost, but that the difference in sound between the 330 and 340 was much more significant.

I’m really happy with my 340. It feels like a real piano, sounds lovely – a rich grand piano sound – and is a pleasure to play. I agree with one reviewer about the thunking of keys at lower volumes but I don’t find this detracts from the enjoyment of playing it. My only caveat and I don’t quite know how to describe this is that I don’t seem to be able to get the same swell by applying and releasing the sustain pedal as on an acoustic piano – it’s a more uniform sound, and feels like it’s more “on or off”.

Reviewed by Catherine Chisholm, Edinburgh, UK (11/03/2011)

21) “The piano – has quite firm keys which suits me”

When my old Clavinova SLP 85A (if I recall correctly) packed up I was looking
for a replacement good quality piano, preferably without the voices which I very
rarely use. I really liked the SLP 85A, however, to get the replacement piano
quality I wanted I felt I had to go to the CLP 340 level and the voices just
came with it. They are quite good fun but I could well do without them.

The piano has a very good sound but it is not as good as my old SLP 85A and, of
course, there is nothing like a real non-digital piano. My reason for going
digital again was solely because of the facility to use headphones and cut out
the piano sound.

The piano – has quite firm keys which suits me but may not be to every-body’s
liking. I am not a professional player but play just for my own personal
enjoyment and the CLP 340 meets my requirements very well.

I DO NOT LIKE the three pedals. I cannot conceive of when I am likely to ever
use the third pedal but all digital pianos now seem to have them. ALSO, my foot
tends to slide off the right hand pedal which is very disconcerting when
playing. I do not know whether it is because to accommodate the third pedal they
have been put closer together or whether the pedals just seem smaller or more
slippery. Anyway, I have stuck duck tape over the right hand pedal which has
helped, but not totally solved, the problem. I am still looking for a better
solution. I do not know whether it would be feasible to just remove the middle
pedal.

Appearance – looks okay but, in my case, was acquired to use and not necessarily
for its looks. It would certainly look better without the duck tape !

The music stand is much too short. It is about 7″ deep whereas most sheet music
is around 12″ deep. The result is that the music flops over whilst playing. I have
remedied this by placing a thin sheet of plywood on the stand to support the music

Overall I am pleased with the CLP 340 and think that it does represent good
value for money.

Reviewed by Ken Barnes (18/03/2011)

22) “The CLP340 ticked almost every box”

Dear Graham

We bought a digital piano in February of 2011, thanks to your very excellent & comprehensive guide & comparison of models. It made a very difficult decision much easier to make, & with lots more confidence.
We bought the Yamaha CLP 340, on a very good special ($2097 Australian dollars for the dark brown matt finish model) as the new models were just about to come out. We like it very much. I had started teaching my (then) 6-year-old son several months before on a keyboard that was touch-sensitive but without weighted keys, so wanted to get something with a beautiful, authentic sound, good touch & good quality. My techo husband was also very keen to have a piano with the electronic & data-transfer capabilities. This piano ticked almost every box, and we are all still (16 months later) very happy with it.

Thanks again for you very great & generous help, and for the service you provide that would be of huge help to many people.

Reviewed by Jenny Williams & Family, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (February 2011)

P.S. We had a friend who was looking for the same sort of thing at the same time, and were able to recommend with confidence the same one to them. They were also happy with it, and got a polished ebony finish one for even cheaper – AU$2000!

23) “Keys are almost as good as those of some acoustic pianos”

Howard did a superb job in reviewing digital pianos

About two years ago I thought about purchasing either a Yamaha CLP 340 or Roland HP 303. I was not sure which one to choose. After reading an amazing book written by Graham Howard, “7 Things You Must Know Before Buying A Digital Piano,” I decided to get a Yamaha.

I like my CLP340 a lot. I usually play chords to accompany singing. As I am not really a pianist I do not need an acoustic piano which needs regular tuning and is too heavy to move around. I wanted to have a piano for fun and to fill up a space in my living room.

The CLP340 comes with a book, “50 Greats for the Piano” along with built-in music. I am enjoying that feature a lot. A sound coming out from the stereo speaker system is (to me) close to some acoustic pianos. Keys are almost as good as those of some acoustic pianos.

Finally, it looks good in my living room. I think Graham did a great job reviewing digital pianos including most recent ones.

After reading his newer book, “The Howard Score digital piano rating system,”
I am now interested in getting a YAMAHA NU1 hybrid piano.

Review by Park Sung-Wong (16/11/2012)

24) “I have been happy with it”

Before buying my piano 2 – 3 years ago, I looked at the information on the UK Pianos site, along with any other web information I could find. I didn’t want a portable keyboard — I was looking for a good digital piano for my home.
My options in this part of Canada were limited to a couple of small stores dealing mostly in Rolands and a dealer with a large selection of Yamahas.

I didn’t quite like the sound of the Rolands available, and much preferred the Yamahas. After reading information on different models (especially from your site), and of course trying them out, I chose a Clavinova CLP 340,
and I have been happy with it. Thank you for the guidance provided at your site.

Review by Norman Treloar, Canada

 

>> For Yamaha CLP340 information, specifications and prices, click here