Yamaha P250

I bought this product to get out of juggling around in software, latency settings, parameter tweakings etc. I wanted to spend more time with the music than with the technology - for a change. Not that I do not like it, I do, too much. I can easily spend hours with Lounge Lizard II, "tubeing" the sound through vintage warmer and routing it through an amplifier modeller to get that Fender Twin Reverb sound. This time I wanted simply the best stage piano I could find, with acoustic and electric pianos. The synth sounds I did not consider.

The manual is not the best I have seen - on the other hand I am not sure you need it. The handling of this piece of equipment is very straightforward. Unless you want to add some built-in XG effects only available throgh system exclusive messages (MSB and LSB).

Just press the on/off switch and the Grand 1 or the Electric piano buttons and play! The presets are great. Quite "dry" acoustic pianos - the quality stands out for itself and does not need to hide beyond a massive reverb. Mellow or bright - they are great. The electric presets Rhodes/Wurlitzer/DX are also great sounding. More about them below!

128 tones polyphony i s more than enough aven when layering. The built in effects are good - not very tweakable though. If you are used to "get that perfect tremolo by adjusting the depth a little bit" - it can be a little frustrating. But do not get me wrong - it sounds very good in any case.

The grand pianos are really, really good. I have compared with pretty much all competitors. Of course it is to a certain extent a matter of taste. I have always, prior to this, ranked Roland higher than Yamaha for the piano sounds (e.g.RD700). The mellow, warm tone is very musical. Though it was lacking some sustain, I think. From this point I have changed my mind. The Grands in P250 are warm and melodic, yet open and bright but not hard and spiky. What is maybe even more important is that it is very musical, playable - the tones blend together surprisingly well and realistic. The response to the keyboard is great. I think it rivals out the RD700, the Yamaha S90, KORGs and many of the huge sampled pianos I have tried. Why? Because of the realistic tone and beacause of the good response. And I like the keyboard action very much. Also there are no abvious audible velocity switches in the grand pianos, that you actually could experience even with huge sampled pianos. Simply the best acoustic pianos I have found.

What about the electric and synth pianos? The FM-pianos (DX) are excellent. Could not be better. The Wurlys? Excellent with great response, tremolo and amp-simulation. Finally, the Rhodes? Somewhat different. The Phaser Rhodes is one of my favourite Rhodes of all time (then I compare with softsynths as the Lounge Lizard, EVP73, Sampletank II, SuperQuartet). Stunning for that Stelly Dan Babylon Sisters sound. Thanks Yamaha! The chorus Rhodes has a good sticky click-sound but could use some more character. This could be tweaked, to a certain extent. But the velocity switching is a bit to emphasized to be perfect. It is a good Rhodes sound, but not THE best. Adding a flanger, detune and an amp-simulation makes it better - I think. Regarding the panning Rhodes I do not like even the real stuff. Makes me dizzy. I am missing a good, deep tremolo Rhodes.

Even though I would have liked a larger Rhodes library I have to give this category a ten. It is a great instrument in all aspects. though i mostly use Grand piano 1 and 2 with mellow variations and the phaser rhodes. And it kicks you-know-what!

Besides the presets I really think the layering possibilities are impressive. At least if you are into those fusion sounds. (Think Yellowjackets, David Foster, MichaelMcDonald, Christopher Cross: a grand plus a DX or bell-like synth piano.)

Seems good so far.

No experience.

The best stage piano I could find. I am really happy with it.

I use this unit mainly for piano and some others sounds, I do not use the secuencer, because i have an external PC based secuencer. So the ease of use is in the way of changing sounds, layering, spliting, editing the voices... for that is very quite simple. The process of asigning sounds to tracks in order to get the right sounds for the secuencer is a little dificult but you get used to do it after a few minutes...
The presets sounds are very useful and is very easy to layer and split new ones...
The manual is clear, but can be more easy to read, there are somethings you have to look for in order to find what you need.
In conclusion is easy of use, and, like any piece of technology, it have its own metodology to do certain things, so we must read the manual.

Well, here is where the P250 begin to shine.
First, the polyphony: 128 voices, so we do not have to worry of cutted sounds. Although i agree 64 voices are enough for playing piano, it is not the same when secuencing: 128 voices is great for complex secuencing passages including sustained piano tracks and layered sounds... great!
The effectas are very powerful and add presence to the sounds.
There are no expansion boards, what is something dissapointing.
The onboard secuencer (16 tracks) looks ok, but i use and external secuencer... The display is 24x2 lcd, is great for performing, but secuencing can be difficult for people used to larger displays, not to say on pc...
Well, the board is the most enchanting board used... the keys feels the same like an real acoustic grand piano... lovely! People used to unweighted, or semiweighted can suffer a little pain at the begining, but eventualy used to the board. Is great as piano... in fact, we must think in the P250 like an Electronic Piano, not like secuencer or sound board... (althoug it is the last two thing too...!)
It haves USB, Serial, and MIDI interface.

Well, this is the main thing on the P250... The piano... in fact, the flagship sound when the unit is powered on is the "Grand Piano 1", which is the best (on my opinion) sound in the P250. Is a very, very, realistic grand piano sound, even with the string resonance, stereo sampled, touch sense, dinamyc sampled and keo off sample... so is one of the best sounds in a digital piano ever...
The other "main" sounds are Electric Pianos (great but no impressive), DX Pianos, Strings, Organs (great organs!) Strings (good) Choirs (ok) Synth Pad(ok) Guitar, Bass and the XG Sound Module (480 sounds, some are wonderful, others are so so, others are ok...)
The sounds piano are the best, including its variatiions, so it is the reason i bought this unit, i do not care the other sounds (but there are, mostly, very good)
I have a karma, an 01Wfd and a DX7s, so in pads, electronic, leads sounds i use the karma, the 01w is used for brasses and strings, and the DX7 for some EPianos and synth sounds... So the P250 is used, of course, for the piano sounds (and some other, but as support).
The onboard speakers sounds terrific! It adds vibration to the playing creating the ilusion of a real piano... thera a re 30wx2 so there are very powerfull... This is good, because you do not need to start up all the gear, the mixer, etc... in order to simple play the piano... you jus turn of the P250 and start playing... great!

Well i have 3 months with this unit and i have no complaint...
But we know what quality Yamaha puts on its products... so we can only expect it works forever.
Is constructed like a thank, with a little rugged metal, the buttons seems and feels hihg quality, the sliders and volume know feels weel constructed.
I own a DX7, and it is working perfectly (after almost 20 years!... of course i keep it clean and i service the DX7 with regularity)
So we can expect olny the best in reliability with the P250.
It feels top quality.

Never used.

Well, haha, if stolen i would cry for days, and after recovering my shock and sadness, i would go for another one.
I im playing since a had 5 years old but in organs and syntes, the first time a touched and played a piano (when i begin piano lessons) i felt in love with the piano... and i never had one!... So this is like a dream to me made true: great sound, great feeling, great inspiration! I can pass hours playing... some i didn't with the syntes...
I would like it have expansion board, for future sounds, but i understadn that it is not the principal use aimed to this unit.

I chose this unit for:
1. Its sound (the most beautiful and inspiring acustic piano)
2. The felling (graduated Hammer action, like the real piano)
3. Yamaha's reputation and history for High Quality.
4. 128 voices polyponhy, and many onboard sounds.
5. It looks great!

This instrument will bring you a new inspiration and will let you develop your skils and talent, something is not always possible with synthesizers.

The most valuable inversion done.
I recommend it with no doubt.

Plug in mains, switch on and play the best sampled accoustic grand piano I've heard yet. Editing presets seems as easy as any top of the range electronic piano. Manual is OK managed to find my way around everything I need.

128 note polyphony. The piano action is graduated weighted. I would say medium weight setting is very slightly heavier than a Steinway model K which I have played side by side although there are three "weight" settings. Loads of built in effects are easy to tweak and save to presets. Not aware of any expansion options for this piano but I keep dragging and dropping midi files into memory and havn't run out of space yet. I think there is 1.5Mb of flash memory available for this. The utility software I loaded on a laptop shows the contents of the flash memory in a browser type window. You can lift GM files you have created using the internal seqencer for editing on the laptop then drop files back into memory for playback. The laptop plugs into the USB socket. I've not tried to edit files using the internal sequencer. It looks fiddly.

The reason I chose this piano. I compared Kurzwiel, Roland, Korg and other Yamahas and this stands out far. This is a musicians instrument. I see some comments on newsgroups that the stereo piano samples mono mix badly for PA but I've not noticed this on mine using the L/mono output. (The XG bank has a mono piano which is fairly usable).

Don't take a spare with me. So far so good!
But its heavy!! You will need a case with wheels on one end like a Gator case otherwise you and it are both going to get damaged lugging it about. You won't get it out the case and onto a stand without help.

No experience.

I would buy this again despite the weight. Its really a fantastic instrument suitable for any professional from rock to clasical.
You could spend less on a say P90 stage paino if all you need is an "ironingboard" for the occasional gig down the pub but if you do composing, arranging as well as performance this is the one.

Fairly in-depth control over a variety of sound parameters, especially for a piano based controller. The layout of editing options is far from intutitive - at least for me, as in some other Yamaha products I've owned across the years. Availability of user definable "shortcuts" would be a welcome feature. Yet, Yamaha remains one of my favorite musical intrument makers.

Polyphony is 128. More than enough for me.Action is wonderful. I also own the Yamaha P200 which feels great at 64 for most styles I play in. Unlike the P200, the P250 has a internal sequencer. Since I'm a Cubase user I only use this to record quick, newly found original ideas before they're lost from memory (the memory between my ears that is). Effects are standard and usuable and more editable than the P200.

Here it is. This is the only board that posseses both the sound quality and expressiveness that really inspires me as a pianist (along with it's cousin P200 which is almost identical in sound and touch) . I am able to get past it's digital nature and really worship. I have a pretty nice Kawai acoustic grand piano sitting 25 feet away and hardly ever touch it.

Never thought I'd purchase another keyboard with built in speakers...but, not only do it's speakers sound great, they impart a subtle vibration back to the fingers that resonate with what's being played - making this board actually feel acoustic in nature (unlike, say to my Kurzweil K2500, which is beloved for other reasons).
One complaint I've had with the P250 is the absence of a few EPiano sounds that I've come to really like on the P200 which mix nicely with the acoustic piano sounds which are identical on both P200 and P250.
The inclusion of the added sound bank in the P250 is helpful (have to use my Korg NX5Rs for this purpose with the P200).

So far so good. I've owned the P250 for about 8 months and the P200 for a few years. I've always been appreciative of how Yamaha makes a product.

I've had one "design problem" with the P250. It's MIDI outs won't drive a custom MIDI rack of mine which contains 3 Korg NX5R modules and a Digitech Volal harmonizer.It does drive the modules individually, but not when they are chained together. This is the only board (including my other Yamaha P200)that requires some type of MIDI box (splitter, etc)to boost the MIDI out signal enough to drive these other boxes. After a half dozen Emails to Yamaha (along with reminding them that I've owned almost every Keyboard and studio product that they've ever made since my first CS80 - and that the P200 works fine with these other modules)a reasonable problem evaluation/resolution was offered. I was told that the P250 uses different MIDI circuitry than the P200 (based on 3.3volt as opposed to other boards which use 5 volt - and apparently at a higher current rating)and Yamaha offered to have me bring it to a dealer to be modified or fixed. I've gotten used to using the external MIDI box with it for now and may not bother lugging it down there. But they DID respond and came through with a fix. I remain a Yamaha Suport fan.

I studied, tried, and even purchased it's competitors and I have yet to see it's match. I've been playing as a professional and as a Music Minister for over thirty years and could probably have bought a house with the finances poured into keyboard and studio equipment over the years - and this keyboard is closer to the Steinway or other really nice Grand I have yet to afford. Lastly, I'm always happy to have a friend who knows the "joy" of having a keyboard player addicted to heavy instruments nearby to help lift this beast. Seventy five pounds plus the flight case can be a pain to move regularly. I guess you get what you pay for (in $ and sweat)....MAY I SUGGEST HELIUM COMPARMENTS IN THE P300?

Well, if you just want to play it, seems to be just fine... having some trouble getting the midi to transfer over to my computer (usb 2.0 on winxp)... the manual seems pretty adequate. This sucker sounds very nice - presets sound fantastic.

Polyphony is amazing at 128 voices - keyboard action is the best of all the keyboards I tested - which was the yamaha p120, the roland fp5, fp3 and 200. Sounds fantastic, feels AMAZING. I could say that you might miss sound variety... but the sounds that are here are FANTASTIC... for me, this is what I wanted in a keyboard, one that felt and played like a grand piano... with the speakers on high for instance, the feel is uncanny

phew... sounds AMAZING - velocity is fantastic and this is a very ACOUSTIC digital instrument. The sounds that are here are just of the highest quality.

This thing is a tank.

never used so far

Oh, I'm in love with this thing. Sounds and plays like the real thing. It's heavy so less than easy to carry round for gigs. But if you're not planning on moving it round, then don't worry bout it. If you're looking for something that sounds, feels and plays like an actual piano this is it. If you're looking for more synthesizer and manipulation options, some other sounds could be a better option, but if you're looking for a pro level super real PIANO, can't go better than this one, I think. I'm sure I'll get the midi working out soon.

I just looked araound for a substitue for my beloved P80 stage-piano. First I looked to the S90, but piano voices were dull and muddy. Now I turned to the brand new P250, which is a great board.
It's very easy to use, the manual is very easy to understand and you get no problems in any kind of using the board.

Polyphony is 128, so you can play a sequenzer through it with many XG-voices and even play to this performance with a normal voice.
The keyboards action is really superb, if you are a pianist. For Synth- or Organplayers it my be a little too tight.
Effects are great, everything you need from Tremolo, Phaser, to 5 different reverb types, 3 chorus types and much more.
You can control any midi-instrument, there is a pitch bend and a modulation wheel.
And you get a 16-track sequenzer onboard, which is very easy to use.

All the 45 voices are superb, especialy Grandpiano1, mellow piano1, the Rhodes and wurlitzer and the strings and synth pads. Forget the organs. If you like organ sounds get a Roland VK! (I have got the VK-7 which is a great hammond-substitute.) But you have also the 480 XG voices and 12 Drum-Kits. So you can play all your midifiles or a Composersoftware like Band-in-a-box through the P250. Effects are working very well, I especialy like the Rhodes Phaser-piano. 2 oneway speakers are inbuilt, but I use it with 2 twoway monitor speakers.

If you gig a lot the 32,5 Kg will be too heavy, I think. But I use it in my studio only and there it is great.

No problems.

I think I won`t find a better stagepiano in the near future. I compared it to nearly every board, which is on the market now: Rolands RD700, Korgs SP500, Yamahas S90, my old P80, Clavinova CLP 150, PF500, but in the end the P250 was the best I could buy.
The variety of sounds is ideal, not too much, but enough to be creative with. Its worth every Euro!

Just saw this synth in the singapore music store. Brand new! Its not even on the web sites. Its an upgraded P200, maybe Yamaha finally decided to listen to us and put some usefull things the p-series. Each of use! Its aimed at a general all round stage-piano, but its huge. Plays very easy, lighter 88key weighted action then the S90 next to it!

Not sure of polyphony. Its got two mode, one normal and one for performance. You can store mutliple performance patched with different layer or mixes! Even has a slider volume so change the mix live. Its got 100's of sounds. Has full GM capability, not sure what line this is from, but it sounds very good. Has some great drum backing and a decent sequences on it (finallY more than two tracks)!. Has a largish two line display with each keys to change the patch mix. Has pitch-bend and Mod and even a 'child-lock' on the keypad.

Sounds great through keypads! The phaser-Clav is a must hear!

Dont know, jsut tried it in the shop!

ditto

Hmm, I've been searching for a good gigging stage-piano/midi controller for a while! This looks like it has the good, but its a huge beast, bigger than the p200. Does any one have the inside on Yamaha to say if they are going to update the P80 with this keypad/features! It would be a dream come true! Otherwise its an RL150 or 700 for me!