Yamaha P120

Very easy to use. A thorough reading of the manual is a must, however, as changing any of the presets requires knowing what you're doing: what buttons to push in what order, etc. After reading the manual it's easy as pie. I've only played with the settings to see what other sounds I can get out of it, but the presets sound good and the slider for brilliance adjustment is effective. The built in speakers are a must for me needs. I live off-grid (produce my own electricity from the sun) and the small power consumption is great. Plus the sound is crisp and full from these little speakers since the juice is already converted to DC within the unit. An amp would have a buzz from the juice produced from my inverter.

I've got a unique P120 on my hands. As you may have read elsewhere, there has been an ongoing issue with keys breaking on the P120 (and several other Yamaha models which use the same keybed assemby... the Motif 8 and P80, I think) and mine was no exception. I purchased it used on ebay and knew ahead of time that at least one key was broken. When I received it I discovered 4 more. 5 in all. I had established a relationship with one of the tech crew at Yamaha prior to the purchase (asking questions about dealing with a broken key) and when I called back to report 5 keys broken they said, "That's too many to simply repair. Bring the unit to a nearby service center and we'll send them a new keybed assembly to replace it." This was done for free. Hard to believe but true. The new keybed assembly is the one used in the P140 and has a lighter feel than the old P120 keybed. I prefer the new lighter feel as the old one was a bit heavy, as others have reported. The 2 track sequencer is plenty for me as I have a 6 track on another unit and this one is primarily of playing. It's loaded with Midi connections and computer interface options, which I haven't used yet but am glad to have.

The expressiveness of the keybed is pretty awesome. I've sat down at Korg's, Roland's, Kawai', etc and have not felt the same sensitivity of response as this P120/P140 hybrid. The aftertouch is great. I switch between boogie and classical and enjoy the sound of both. My only complaint is the sustain sound. As the notes decay (especially in the mid range... an octave or so above middle C) it becomes a little thin, electronic sounding. Ironically, Yamaha's DGX and YPG series, with it's Live! piano voices are head and shoulders better than this P120, or the P140 for that matter. I'm hoping they box the Live! sounds in a tone generator so that I can play those sounds through the P120 someday.

Very reliable so far. Would and will use it at a gig.

Already addressed this in features above. Please read as it's a great story. Love 'em.

I would probably by it again. Can't beat the price/value. Wish it had the piano sound of the DGX or YPG but it's certainly passable as is. Can't beat the action and, for me, the fact that it has those built in speakers.

Straight forward.
Nothing new. Some functions could be more accessible like the volume of the dual and split instruments. Transposing could be easier, because two hands are needed for that. But Yamaha decided to keep it simple...

Keyboard action is a little on the heavy side but excellent. It is one of the most expressive stage pianos out there. The effects are basic, but effective. The only thing missing is a modulation and a pich weel... but hey, this is a stage piano, not a master keyboard.
The speakers are more as a bonus. They do the job and for the size they have (if you open the keyboard, you will see they are very tiny), they have a very good sound!!!

Piano: one of the best I have heard. Damper effect is very... effective. The sustain sample does the trick. I do not agree that Piano 2 is for rock music. It is more expressive than piano 1. Piano 2 seems to have some filtering through the dynamic range. If you play it hard, it opens up (but not like Roland pianos, that seem to have some kind of overprocessing when you struck the keys hard enough), if you play it very soft, you have a sound that is very mellow. The brightness slider makes a nice job. The sound is very clean trough the dynamic range in all the instruments, and the blending of the 3 piano layers are just perfect.
Rhodes is ok, wurlitzer could be better since it has no "filtering". It is just the same sound played louder through the velocity range.

The keys are very fragile. The system that yamaha uses for the keyoard is very sensible and very precise, but fragile. If a key wears too much, it just needs 0.1mm or so of wear not to fell right. It keeps leaning to the left side of the key, touching a rubber inside of it and make it harder to play and slower to come up. The keys aren't expensive, easy to replace, but very hard to get.
It's the price of a great keboard feeling.
Otherwise it is a sturdy construction.

THey are just veeery slow. They don't have the replacement parts in stock and they take weeks or months to get.

For me it is one of the best buys I have made.
It just has a perfect piano sound and you can express yourself through this instrument.

PIECE OF PISS... PLUG IT IN AND GO... HOWEVER, IF YOU WANT TO PLAY AROUND WITH SPLITS, THE BALANCE VOLUMES CAN BE A LITTLE TRICKY TO ACHIEVE THE DESIRED SOUND. NONE OF THIS FAFFING AROUND TRITON LARCKY!

ACTION: PERFECT!!! WOULDN'T USE ANYTHING ELSE. NUFF SAID.

PIANO: SUPER. SOUNDS AND MORE IMPORTANTLY FEELS LIKE A PIANO. IT CAN CATER FOR ALL MY GENRES: BLUES, CLASSICAL, ROCK, JAZZ ETC. RHODES SOUND IS ALSO VERY GOOD. YET NOT LIKE MY RHODES OR WURLITZER SOUND. I SUGGEST IF YOU WANT THE REAL MACOY YOU BUY THE REAL MACOY.

MANY PATCHES A WASTE OF TIME.

NB. ORGAN: VERY POOR... DWARFED BY MY KORG BX3 HAMMOND. CAN'T DO SLIDES, CHOPS... HAVE BROKEN MANY KEYS TRYING (AROUND 16)...

TO CONCLUDE: IF YOUR AFTER SPECILIST PIANO THEN THIS IS YOUR BOARD.

BASED ON THE STRENGTH OF THE PIANO PATCH I WILL RATE THIS:

NB. PLEASE READ....

AS STATED ABOVE I HAVE BROKEN A HUGE AMOUNT OF KEYS. I HAVE OWNED 2 P120'S AND THE FIRST WAS A DISASTER. AS I WAS TRYING TO ACHIEVE A GOOD ORGAN SOUND I WAS TYING TO DO SLIDES AND THINGS ON A DIGITAL PIANO!!! PLAYING A DIGI PIANO PRECUSSIVELY HAS ITS RESULTS. REPAIR WAS SLOW AND EXPENDSIVE AND FORCED THE PURCHASE OF A BACK UP IN THE FORM OF A RD170 (WHICH IS ALSO A QUALITY BOARD, VERY SIMILAR). I SOON BECAME GREEDY AND ENDED UP GIGING WITH THE PAIR. GREAT!

HOWEVER: NB. I HAVE SINCE SOLD BOTH KEYBOARDS AND NOW OWN A NEW P120, KORG HAMMOND BX3 (VERY AUTHENTIC; ESPECIALLY IN A GIGING CONTEXT), FENDER RHODES, WURLITZER AND A MICROKORG. THE NEW BOARD (P120) FREE FROM HAMMOND SLIDES IS A DIAMOND, RELIABLE AS $%$#. A LITTLE HEAVY TO HUMP AROUND. I MADE THE MISTAKE OF GETTING THE HANDLE IN THE MIDDLE OF MY FLIGHT CASE. PLEASE NOTE I HAVE PROBABLY BROKEN AROUND 15 KEYS (ON THE FIRST BOARD). REPAIRING THE BROKEN KEYS YOURSELF ARE A %$@# ON... LEAVE IT TO A PRO I SAY.

YAMAHA: EXCELLENT 10/10

WILLIAMS: TOSSERS: 0/10: WOULDN'T GIVE ME REPAIRERS NUMBER SO I COULD GET REPAIRS FIXED. AS A RESULT I WENT A WEEKEND WITHOUT A BOARD AS THE SHOP ONLY SENT OFF REPAIRS ON A WEDNESDAY AND RETURNED THEM THE FOLLOWING WEEK. I EXPLAINED THE SITUATION AND THEY STILL WOULDN'T GIVE ME HIS NUMBER.

WHEN MY NEXT LOT OF REPAIRS WERE DUE I WENT NUTS IN THE SHOP AND DEMANDED HIS NUMBER... FINALLY GOT IT AND PHONED HIM AND WITHIN 2HOURS MY BOARD WAS AS GOOD AS NEW... NONE OF THIS WEDNESDAY TO WEDNEDAY @#$%!!!! !@#$%^# WANKERS.

EXCELLENT BOARD FOR PIANO: IDEAL FOR ME (CLASSICAL, LOUNGE/JAZZ, BLUES etc.)

IF YOU WANT A DO ALL KEYBOARD I SUGGEST YOU JOIN THE LONG LIST OF NERD TOSSERS WHO WOULDN'T KNOW AN INSTRUMENT IF IT SMACKED THEM IN THE FACE: ITS HARD TO WRITE, HARD TO SAY BUT KORG @#%# IS YOUR PURCHASE... ESPECIALLY IF YOU WANT TO PISS ABOUT WITH NOB AND PATHETIC SOUNDS. HOWEVER IF YOUR A PROPER PLAYER CHOOSE A BOARD FROM MY LIST:

YAMAHA P120 : I USE FOR JAZZ, ROCK GIGS. PRIVATE CLASSICAL PRACTICE. HOTEL/ LOUNGE GIGS

KORG HAMMOND BX3: ROCK AND JAZZ GIGS. VERY LIGHT AND CONVENIENT. NOT THE REAL MACOY BUT DO YOU WANNA HUMP A LESLIE ABOUT. DEFINATELY THE MOST AUTHENTIC THING AROUND.

WURLITZER: CLASSIC ANTIQUE: ROCK GIGS. CAN'T JUSTIFY OWNING IT AT THE MINUTE HARDLY USED... USING IT IN A RAY CHARLES GIG I'VE GOT COMING UP IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS!!!!

FENDER RHODES: SAME AS WURLITZER (SEE ABOVE)

Yea, great. Easy to navigate though sometimes one can get a fiddle with the record track ready and split keyboard - but only when you are in a hurry.

Overall a neat all rounded stage piano. Would have been good to have some extra variations on the some of the pads, like the strings having more choices. The main piano sound is excellent. Godo features with functions being able to turn off the speakers with a rather stupid fiddly three way tiny weeny switch. The DC in is poor and will eventually fail with pluggin in and out 6 gigs a week.

An excellent piano sound. No complaints here - one of the best on the market.

Well, mine has just failed me. Turned it on, and nothing happens. PSU has tested fine, so something in the keyboard has died. About 200 gigs and 18 months old and has been looked after carefully. Not impressed at all Yamaha - not at all and is not good enough for pro gear if its fails.

Helpful, but a very fobbing off attitude. Repair is rediculously expensive and very slow.

A great bit of kit as is stated on the box. 18 months and its dies is rubbish, no matter what the reason. This cost me a gig and #250 payment. I managed to get hold of another keyboard, played two hous late and lost #250 from a #500 paying gig. Think I will send Yammy the bill.

PROS: In my opinion, the best piano out there when you combine sound quality with feel of the keyboard. I prefer this piano sound over the MOTIF piano. The p120s is nice to look at with the wood and silver. If you just want a really good piano, get this and consider no other. I also use vibes in my jazz gig and this is the only portable instrument I've seen that has such good vibes.

CONS:

1. The tremolo on the vibes is wrong. In fact, the tremolo effect on the would be more usable if it was a straight tremolo, not am auto-panning tremolo. I don't use it on the wurly sound either. I use vibes alot in my jazz gig and actually bought a guitat tremolo pedal to achieve the right effect on the vibes and the wurly. C'mon Yamaha, you went this far, why get stupid on the tremolo?

2. I would've been able to use this on my rock gig if it only had just a few more patches: quick attack strings, simple brass for hits, and perhaps one or two snyth leads. Seems like it would not have been hard to add that in.

I'm just using this as a piano, so literally turning the thing on and playing. It's very good for that. I did try editing reverb etc which was easy enough, but these settings are not saved and it really didn't make much difference to me anyway as the sound is fine as it is.

Seem to be quite a lot of features, including the sequencer. It's a pity you can't export midi files from the sequencer, but then again you could do this by hooking the piano up to a computer or hardware sequencer.

The action is tremendous. I tried the p60 in the shop and it didn't feel quite as nice. The sound certainly wasn't as good either. The p120 action is fast, nicely cross-weighted from heavier in the bass to lighter in the treble. It works my fingers harder than the semi-weighted keyboard I had before and is heavier than the upright I grew up playing. The weight of touch I think is just right.

The grand piano 1 sound is the only thing I am using at the moment. There seem to be some other good sounds as well. The electric pianos sound good to my ear, the jazz organ is pretty funky, the church organ is a goodun too, you can hear the wind going into the pipes before the note sounds and you could certainly make a good churchy din if needs be. I just play the piano. Piano 1 main sound is the best. The piano 1 variation patch doesn't add anything. Piano 2 is OK. Too bright for my taste. I'm quite happy with piano 1. The half pedalling effect is quite good. The inbuilt speakers are very useful. You can just turn this thing on and play. I hook the audio outputs to my stereo and run through some bass speakers to make the bass a bit fuller - of course you are not going to get strong bass from the inbuilt 4 inch (or whatever they are) cones. They sound very good and are useable but they are what they are.

Can't comment as I've only had it a month. It feels solid.

Can't comment as no experience.

The only criticisms are:

I think there should be a touch sensitivity curve somewhere between the medium and the heavy. You really have to bash a key on the heavy touch to get the third sample to play. But on the medium touch setting, you can't quite get that real big volume by hitting a key very hard. I know midi only has 127 levels of vol though. Medium is the setting I use anyway and I've got used to it.

The only other criticism I have has not caused a problem yet, but could potentially. The button panel is not so far from the back of the keyboard. I'm sure this applies to other models and manufacturers as well. But I have long fingers and there is an outside chance I could accidentally change the sound patch if II were playing fast chords. This is a fairly outside chance though and I haven't actually done it yet.

I really like this piano and I would get the same again if it were stolen. I play jazz and this instrument is already inspiring me to practise.

I finally bought this and I would like to share the things I would have liked to know...

Editing is pretty easy. The manual (available online) is clear about every function that is available. It takes two hands to adjust effects, reverb, transpose, etc.
There is a handy backup ability such that when selecting a sound it remembers your effects settings (and/or other things) even after power off.
The panel buttons feel a little tacky, but I hope they are durable.

I've had this keyboard about two weeks and played it at least an hour or two a day.

Keyboard action: Heavier feeling than any grand or upright I have played or could find at the local piano shop. The "down weight" on the lowest key is 87 grams (pretty high) however the keys still play very similarly to a piano and feel good. At first, my wrists and fingers stung (they were used to playing toy casios), but now I believe they are getting used to the weight.

The built in effects are only average, although the "phaser" actually sounds pretty awesome!

Grand Piano 1 is very nice sounding and mellow, I am practicing classical songs on it. Its variation as well as G.P. 2 are quite percussive-sounding through headphones, but sound less mushy and more clear over loud speakers. The sound-board reverb is great. There is significant attention to detail: the pedal has a continuous effect on sustain, and when you release a key you hear the sound zip out, like on a real string. There is a sublte "note-off tambourine" when playing staccatto notes above middle c; artificial or authentic, it IS there. I have also heard some resonant ringing from higher notes but I think that was caused by the loudspeakers and room and not altogether obtrusive; and over headphones I don't hear any ringing.
The response to velocity seems as close to a piano as these things can get. I think it is excellent!

E.Piano 2 (Variation) sounds pretty nice in the low keys, but not very "authentic".

Harpsichord: very percussive, with a "loud at any volume" sound. I guess that's harpsichord for you. It's a big bowl of Mozart in your face and is not velocity sensitive.

The other sounds- eh, they're there but not very inspiring. (To me)

Dunno.

Yamaha emailed me back in about 24 hours and were nice.

I really like it. I'm pleased with its flexibility with settings and midi. If my fingers get strong enough then I'm sure I'll love it for a long time.

I agree that the samples are the best on the market, they have the most natural piano-like sound, and in addition they sound really three-dimendional. If you close your eyes, a real piano emerges before your eyes. No other digital piano has such three-dimensional samples.

But I wonder why nobody has commented on the crappy sustain phase of the piano.

If you hit a chord with sustain pedal and let it ring, the sound changes into some strange, bright, quiet rattling while dying away. Reminds me of a rotating coin on a table that rotates faster and faster while coming down to the table surface. The sustain phase is programmed much better in other pianos (Kawai).

However, all in all it is still the best digital piano in that price range to date.

They called back to answer my question.

I have 2 P-120's. They're not perfect but are an excellent value. Weighs less than 40 lbs., built in speakers, excellent sounds and effects . Great meat and potatoes keyboard. Acoustic pianos, electric pianos, clav, vibes, are great. Also, Jazz organ is useable and strings layer well as do voice patches. Basses and strings are very generic but that's what makes them very useable. No gimmicks, just solid sound with a heavier than Roland action. To retain effects settings, and/or velocity settings you can go to 9.1 through 9.5 of the edit programs. 9.x allows you to specifically retain certain settings.

Yes, that's right. I paid $750 for the P120 new about one year ago but I get special pricing and that price is also WITHOUT a trade in. You should be able to buy it new for $900 (if you have a great relationship with a retailer and can dicker) to $1100 if you just ask, "What's the best you can do on the price?"

I'm a punch and play kind of guy. If I have to fuss with knobs or buttons much, the keyboard is useless to me. If you can push a button you can get a sound. I use only four voice settings and their variations.

The Pianos are stunning, I usually use Grand Piano 2 because it cuts through the mix and is a little bright like an upright piano and is excellent for The Blues I play. Reverb set to Hall 2 and Effect to Delay.

Electric Piano 2 - Great Wurly and Rhodes sounds. I prefer to use the Variation button with this setting with Reverb to Hall 2 and Effect to Tremolo.

Electric Clavichord - I use the variation with this Clavinet, also. I didn't think I would use it much when I bought it but it does have its place. Very funky and great in a band setting. Reverb at Hall 2 and Effect at Phaser.

Jazz Organ - OK, it isn't a B3 but it does have a place. Using Jazz Organ and the Variation button you will get "The Leslie" to speed up and slow down without changing the tone. This is very important because on most boards like the Roland RD 170 it does change the tone and is useless. From the bass up to about an octave and a half above middle C is a good range for the B3 sound. Get much higher than that and it isn't a very realistic tone. Set Reverb to Hall 2 and Effect to Delay and you will even get the B3 key click.

For the best dynamics in playing set the Touch to Hard.

There is one drawback to Yamaha and that is the settings are not stored when you turn the keyboard off. It would be nice if it did that but I can setup the voicing, reverbs and effects I use on the P120 in less than a minute. It would also be great if the Yamaha had Stretch tuning like Rolands for solo playing in tune from the lowest to the highest notes.

Much of this has been covered. Polyphony is great with no loss of notes and I use a lot of sustain pedal, trills, slides up and down the keyboard (when appropriate) and octave and intricate bass patterns.

I love the keyboard action. Not quite like a grand or upright but similar and the best and most realistic piano action available on a piano with a plug.

The sequencer is very good and I have yet to run out of notes while using it. I only use it to hear how I sound and how a song is coming along. Very easy to use.

I play and sing The Blues and the P120 fits the bill perfectly for me with my settings as listed above. I play solo and with two Blues bands.

I have had friends play Rock and Classical on it and they love my P120, too.

Velocity and Aftertouch? Play it like a piano and the P120 does what it is supposed to do.

Onboard effects are excellent!

Reliability and can I depend on it? I live off of it. I gig sometimes up to seven days a week and sometimes twice a day. I am a simple man and I use the P120 without a backup and without any other keyboards.

I have never dealt with Yamaha. I haven't needed to. I have used Yamahas for over 15 years and NEVER had a problem with them. If I did, I would shoot it to put it out of its misery and buy another one.

Yes, I would buy the P120 again. Last time around I couldn't decide between the P90 and P120. I'm glad I went with the P120 because I forgot how nice it was to have built in speakers for use in hotel rooms and quiet practice playing.

I have been playing over 45 years and I'm 53. I have owned a lot of keyboards over the years. From old Wurlys, Rhodes, Vox Continental, Kurzweil, Ensoniq, Roland, Korg but I have been playing Yamahas for at least the past 15 years.

I make my living from playing and singing The Blues. This piano has everything I need and then some fluff that others might find useful.

When I started playing Yamahas the lineage I have owned has been a Clavinova (chopped without the stand), a P80 and now the P120.

Last time around I compared it to Roland's RD700 and RD170. I also bought the RD170 and kept it for about three months as a backup and practice piano because the P120 stays in the van between most gigs. I sold the Roland because I just didn't like the action or piano sounds.

The two Roland features I liked were Stretch tuning and memory for the settings but I can live without it.

I usually use the house or festival PA but I also own and play it through a Crown amp, Mackie mixer and Yamaha speakers.