Yamaha P200

This board is layed out in typical Yamaha fashion. Bottom line, it is straight forward and anyone that can not figure out how to make it fly probably doesn't deserve to own an instrument. The sounds are by far the best for the price (piano sounds anyway). Organ sounds are limited but I have a Hammond XK-2 so I didn't buy this board for organ sounds anyway. This board, to me, is used exclusively for piano sounds and the stereo sampling is fantastic. Plug it in and you are good to go, period.

Features have already been discussed in this review so no sense in wasting time retyping what others have said. Plenty of notes available with 64 note polyphony. Limited patches on this board but I didn't buy this for lots of sounds, just a good piano sound. I have other boards to accomplish a variety of patches.

As previously stated this board has great piano samples. The Rhodes is also pretty sweet. Organ sounds are nothing to write home about. The action on this board is to die for. The closest thing to an acoustic piano out there, even when stacked against Kurzweil (which incidentally I was going to buy until I saw what lousy reviews they were getting on their new boards).

It is new so I can not comment on it yet. I will say, however, that this thing weighs a ton...built like a tank. I am sure this thing would destroy a wrecking ball if the two came in contact with each other. It could also be used as a paper-weight during a class-5 hurricane. As long as you have a good chiropractor I believe this board can take what ever abuse you can give it (short of sending it to the bottom of the ocean, of course).

Have not had to use it yet. This was one of the factors used to "sell" me on this board. Yamaha has been good to me in the past so I have no concerns that they wont be there for me in the future. Sorry Kurzweil owners but I know you can't boast about customer service and this is a critical element if you have a problem with your rig.

If it were lost or stolen I would first hunt down the SOB that took it, then beat him over the head with the board. The board surely wouldn't suffer a thing from the trauma and it would certainly drive home a point about stealing someones axe. I would buy it again if necessary. I stacked this board up against the Roland 600, the Kurzweil PC-2, PC-88, 2500/2600, Alesis QS-8, and more. No other board could compare with the combination of great piano sampling and unparalelled keyboard action. For the price, this is the one!

Plug in, turn on. It doesn't get easier than that. The presets are quite good. Editing them is not that difficult, although you're limited to the degree of tweaking you can do (but hey, it ain't a synthesizer!). The manual is not bad at all (unlike the horror of Roland manuals!).

The keyboard action is nothing short of fantastic, and I can say along with the others, that this is THE best action I've played on a digital piano or weighted key MIDI controller to date, and I've played many! I traded in my old KX-88 (which has long been regarded to have the best weighted action), and this kicks its butt! It was the main feature that sold me on this instrument, along with the excellent sounds. Polyphony vaires depedning upon the voice (instrument selected). The polyphony for two of the the acoustic pianos can either be 64 notes in mono or 32 notes in stereo. The other 2 acoustic pianos, the polyphony is set at 64 notes in mono only. All the electric pianos, the strings, the basses,and one of the organs are 64 note polyphony in mono only. The vibes are 32 notes in mono (2 voices layered on top of each other), and one organ is only 16 notes in mono only. It has built in reverb (3 modes - stage, room, and hall)and modulation (3 modes - tremolo, chorus, and symphonic) whose depth can be adjusted for each sound. It has no expansion capabilities listed, MIDI in, out, and thru (with velocity, but no aftertouch sent or received). There is no onboard sequencer.

Although this subject is quite a matter of personal taste, I feel that the acoustic piano presets sound very good, and are quite useable for many situations (rock, jazz, etc.). The electic pianos are pretty good as well. The other preset voices are not bad, but certainly not the instrument's strong point, although I do kinda like the acoustic bass. Editing the sounds (i.e. changing reverb amount, keyboard response, etc.) is quite easy, and surprisingly there are quite a parameters that can be changed to tailor the sounds to your needs and taste.

It's a Yamaha, built like a tank, so it can stand a missle hit.

For such a big company, I have always found Yamaha to be very responsive and helpful, and I've owned their stuff for over 25 years.

This is the best digital piano I've played. I love playing this as much as my Hammond B-3 (especially after all my computer based stuff has crashed, or I can't figure out why the program isn't responding). Of course, we could use more polyphony, but this is not any limitation whatsoever. I would definitely buy this over and over again (until they make a real acoustic piano that weighs 25 pounds).Without questions, this is the one to purchase.

Easy to use. I did not opened very often the manual.
Note however that I use it mainly as a piano.

64 voices polyphony, 32 in stereo, some midi features,
splitable keyboard, wheels. Enough to do what I want to do.

Key action is far better from other products of this category.
Piano 1 sound is :
- excellent in bass and middle,
- a little bit weak in trebbles (however, I suppose it is to
do like on a true piano).
Piano 2 and 3 sounds are medium.
Electric piano are very good.
Organs and vibes are very good.
Strings are correct.
Double bass is excellent.
Electric bass is medium.

Without the trebble weakness on piano 1,
I would have rated this point at 10.

Note that gradded hammer action (keys lighter in trebbles)
is good for playing piano, but is a little bit less good for playing
electric pianos, strings and connect the keyboard to a sound
module. But it one will quickly get used to this feature
and I think this keyboard have to been seen essentially
as an elctronic piano, rather than a MIDI controller,
even if MIDI features (split, performances, ...) are included.

As I read, I confirm it seem to be built like a truck.
You can hit keys strongly whithout hesitation.

N/A.

I take great pleasure playing this keyboard.
I think I have done a good purchase.
I will perhaps plan to sell it only if a better product
is released on the market. For the moment, I think the better
product thinking of a portable electronic piano is this one.

This is a great keyboard right out of the box. I have not opened the manual yet and have had the keyboard for two months! The features are not abundant, but why would you buy this board for anything but the sound and feel of the piano?

With 64 note polyphony, I haven't run out of notes yet. The action on the keyboard is the best I've played. I have owned or currently own a Roland RD500, Kurzweil PC88MX, Alesis QS8, and a Roland A90EX; and the action on the P200 blows them all off the stage. The graded action is wonderful!

Once you play the first piano patch, you may not get to the rest of the sounds. It is the best piano sample out there! The way it feels through the speakers makes it really emulate a real piano. The electric pianos are very nice as well. The strings are decent and work well in combinations. If you want the closest to the real thing - buy this board.

I have not had any problems with it so far.

Have not called for support yet.

I would definately replace it if it were stolen. I have been playing professionaly for 8 years, and this is my favorite keyboard by far. However, I am primarily a piano player - so that probably influences my decision.

This piano is AWESOME! You pretty much plug it into the wall and begin
playing away! The plugs in the back are clearly labelled. The keys are
intuitive to understand (switch between instruments with the press of a button)

But why use the other instruments?! The *piano* sounds are amazing!

Keyboard action is to die for. It puts my upright to shame.

A correction: The P200 has *88 keys* not 76 as mentioned above.
(count them on the picture at bottom!). It is a full instrument.

I've not owned a real grand, but I've played on some, and this keyboard
definitely holds it's own. Much better than the other keyboards (Roland, Kurtzweil, etc.)
where I tried it...The keys are very solid and have lots of depth and bounce back
at the right speed. None of that side-to-side plasticky feel you get
with some competitor's brands. Playing it has improved my playing a thousand-fold
compared to my acoustic upright that just didn't respond to fast trills
like I wanted it to. Key feel and piano samples are top-of-the-line!

Excellent! The sounds are clear and well defined.

Headphone sounds: I hook up a pair of Grado SR125's and it sounds
like true piano (I highly recommend this as it will do the beautiful samples
justice over the built-in speakers.) If I were to play this aloud (I have
an apartment so I can't :-(..I would buy an amp and some speakers to place
by my feet to better render the sounds.

Buy a set of open-air headphones (see Grado's) and you'll never play this
thing aloud again it sounds so perfect!

Very solid construction. I've moved twice and it's held up perfectly!
Good idea to keep it's box though for protection.

There is a good hard carrying case available for frequent moves. The stand is designed
for a gig setting or something since it is very easy to take the piano
off it's stand or vice versa (hand tightened screws).

I've never had to use it so I wouldn't know...

This piano is one of the things that keeps me going on afternoons
when I'm going out of my mind studying for exams! Definitely worth it's
price!

I love it!

Pretty easy to use. I haven't performed with it,
so I'm not really as demanding as some people might be.
No complaints here!

Virtually unlimited polyphony (haven't run into a limit in a reasonable test).
The built in effects are fine and predictable.
It's not meant to be an expandable synthesizer, mainly a solid piano action.
Fully MIDI capable.

The builtin sounds are *very* nice and realistic.
Definitely emulates various acoustic and electric keyboards very well.
The action on this keyboard is beyond belief. It's 90 pounds, but the action is worth it.
This keyboard is the groundbreaking feature of this instrument.
Don't waste your time with anything else if what you are looking for is good piano-style action.

Haven't had any problems with it. It appears to be made of cement,
and I don't anticipate having anything else survive a collision with it.

Haven't had an opportunity to find out.
I'm tempted to give this a positive rating because the best customer
support is a really good QA group, but I won't.

Expensive, but I don't think there's a keyboard with action like it on the market.
Nobody within $1000 at least.

The performance settings that come default with the P200 are great for most situations, however a little fine tuning and tweaking of the sounds could not be any easier. It uses the typical Yamaha interface, so if you're used to a Yamaha keyboard, then this should be no problem. For complete newbies, a little time spent with the manual will get you going-- there are little illustrations throughout the manual so that if you want to skip the text, you can just find the task you're looking for and follow the "button guides."

As stated by everybody else-- this keyboard offers 64-note polyphony in mono and 32 for stereo. (Only the first two samples are in stereo, yes they are both pianos) The keyboard action is excellent, featuring the newer type of keyboards Yamaha is now using for its Clavinova line. I have specifically compared this aspect of the P200 when I was still looking around, and it offers the most realistic piano action. When you get used to playing with the P200, and switch to another keyboard you feel as though you're playing something cheaper.

As far as DSP effects go, the keyboard has a few preset reverb and modulation buttons which you can "depth-alter." These are both easy to use, and manipulate, but if you need serious effects-- you'll have to run it through an effects processor as this keyboard *IS MEANT* to be a piano first.

If you're trying to decide between the P80 and the P200- a major deciding factor is MIDI support and implementation. If you plan on doing a lot of MIDI work, the P80 has very minimal support and you should definitely go with the P200.

The Yamaha P200 has 16 megs of RAM. (compare that to most keyboards in this price range) This is twice the amount of its predecessor the P150. All this space is allocated, very discreetly to only 13 instruments. (yes there are only 12 instrument buttons-- but the last one switches between acoustic and elec. bass) This severely limits people who are looking for a multitude of sounds within just the keyboard itself. HOWEVER, since the number of instruments is relatively low, Yamaha was able to make these instruments sound very convincing. This goes especially for the first two acoustic pianos which are stereo sampled. Yamaha did a good job in masking where the samples change are. You can play every note starting from the bottom, and there are no discrepancies between the low, middle, and high sections-- like a real piano.

Yamaha has a reputation for quality, and I have not heard any reliability complaints or recurring defects for the P200. I have had no problems.

Never contacted Yamaha.

This keyboard is definitely worth the pricetag. When I was looking around for a keyboard, my main concern was that it had to sound & feel like a real piano. Of course no electronic keyboard will ever replace a piano. However, the P200 is a great alternative. It offers a solid action that is also quick (sudden and fast repetition of notes is a breeze). Combined with the two acoustic piano stereo samples, this keyboard is a pleasure to play.

Presets are incredible. I thought the pianosounds of my Kurzweil (with Piano Rom-board) were great, but Yamaha is the best.

No features, just the best piano you can get for the money.

I don't like the organs. Hammond B3-like but it's just crap, like all synthesized Hammonds. No, don't even try, it's just a waste of resources and money. Vibes are nice, but again, it's just the pianos (acoustic as well as electronic, Fender Rhodes !!) GREAT....

Don't know. Twenty years ago I bought a Yamaha CP30, very heavy, very strong. And it is still going strong, so I guess Yamaha is Ok.

Never needed any support ......

As long as I intended to buy a new El.Piano I knew it would we the Yamaha (P150-P200). I tried a lot of EPianos and, believe me, this is the best. I own a Hammond B3 (bought in Cincinatti, Ohio), Kurzweil K2500 (with piano-board), WS-AD and several other Korg and Roland synths. You can not use the P200 for anything but only the piano sounds and it is just the best I've ever heard. (relative to its price of course).

The presets are great. To edit, you must read the manual, not hard, but not intuitive. I haven't to edit anything yet.

64-note polyphony (32-note in stereo). Built in reverb, chorus, tremolo. Great MIDI, and great MIDI control. can easily edit all MIDI feature from the front panel. Again, not intuitive, but not dificult.

If you're looking for a piano sound, this is it. The strings are nice, the organ is great and very editable. Electric pianos (and Rhodes) sound like the real thing. If you're really going to pound ou the bass, get a set of expansion speakers or P.A.

This is the gig machine. ALways come s through.

There are several pianos on the market that sound like an acoustic piano. This one also feels like a real piano. The feel blows away the Alesis, the Korg, anything. People who say they can hear the difference are actually referring to (whether they know it or not) is what they feel in the sound. Through the keyboard, through the air, through the floor. The speakers on this board take care of a lot of it, but if it's not enough, get a set of extensions, the sounds are there.

The P200 is very easy to use - just plug it in and start to play. The user's manual leaves something to be desired, but the basic functions are fairly easy to navigate.

One thing which is irritating is when I reach across the piano to turn the sheet music, I sometimes accidently change the voice, and next thing I know I'm playing strings instead of piano.

The keyboard action is great - I tried many digital pianos, and this one is as close to an acoustic piano as I could find, including some pianos at a much higher price.

The P200 has 64 note polyphony - more than most users will ever need.

There are 12 sounds, including organ, strings, bass, and several piano voices.

The primary piano is quite good - sounds very similar to an acoustic piano, which is what I was looking for. The other voices are less intresting to me, although the bass is kind of fun.

I've only had for a short time, so its unclear, but Yamahas are generally pretty reliable.

Not great to bring to a gig, because it weighs 66 pounds and is quite awkward to drag around.

N/A

Overall, I am very pleased with the piano. It is definitely worth the price. I compared with all the digital pianos on the market, with most of my focus on Roland and Korg, and this was the best one by far.