Yamaha P250

I tend to stick to the presets, and I'd be happy with an instrument with as few frills as possible, with all the development effort put into the preset sounds. Transposing is more fiddly than on the P200. You can change the organ drawbars in the tiny display, but it is not much fun.

I thought I might use the sequencer but I never have. I thought I might use those hundreds of extra synth sounds, but I never did.
All I want is piano, electric piano, bass and organ, and once a month, I'll try some of the other presets.

I like the built-in speakers and the heavy solid construction. You feel more like you're playing a proper instrument. You get used to the weight.

You can rest your music flat on it, which is really great (they moved that button on the P200 out of the way!).

I really like the feel of the keyboard. It makes you want to play it. It's quite a heavy action, but I think that has its advantages -you have a more controlled playing, and it gives a confident feel.

I'm happy with the main piano sound - It's realistic enough for me, but I haven't made any detailed comparisons. It sounds excellent on recordings. It can sound rather harsh through my Roland KC500, and I am looking to get a better / bigger amp. I quite fancy that Hammond-Suzuki Leslie 21 setup.

The electric piano sounds on this, and on the P200 are excellent.

The organ sounds are fine for occasional use, but I would love to see more easy-to-use organ settings, controls and options.

My old P200 is absolutely faultless after 4 years of gigging. My P250 has a line of pixels in the display which fade out occasionally, but you can still read it. Otherwise, it is also faultless. I guess I am a bit of a Yamaha fan.

N/A

Personally I think it is good value, and I would buy their latest P-Series stage piano again. I just really like the overall package - the feel of the keyboard, the sound quality, the large solid construction, the reliable make.

Easy to use

Straight forward, no messing about - simplicity is good!

Excellent claviatur!!!!!

Here is what to do:
Buy the Clavia Nord Electro Rack and run it midi with your P-250. You then have absolutely excellent electric pianos, amazing B-3, and of course the P-250 Grand1 piano and synth section/pads.

I dislike the bit like kloink, kloink sound in the upper parts of the claviatur of the Yamaha acoustic pianos, particularly valid for the grand2 sound. On low tones, it's very nice. I also run Native Instruments Akoustik piano.
Well, then you got it!!!

Else I got a Yamaha grand in my living room. No electronics beats that one.

Yamaha never let you down, quality to the bitter end!!

Never needed any. Even my 20 year old DX-7 still works.

I would like a better pedal that does not make noice, but hey, that's fixed by utilising the small metallic like yamaha switch. Works perfectly in complete silence.

By the way, what is the difference from the P-300?? Anyone knows?

I use Logic Audio Platinum, Reason, Cubase SX as midi-applications.
The loads of preset sounds are awesome, especially the piano and electric piano sounds are mindblowing. This means they actually SOUND true and REAL!
I have studied on Steinways and Yamaha U1, U3, and C3 piano's. I am very familiar with Ibach piano's as well. When you need true, living piano sounds at your gig.. this IS your baby.
(Unless your hobby is to carry along a concert grand piano, or a fender rhodes, or any other piano for that matter)
Yamaha did an excellent job implementing those robust and crystal clean thoroughly sounding speakers. I am not lying and this is not a joke!; You truly believe you hear the selected piano type as if you're playing the real thing! Now THIS IS the real thing for sure! At first glance and impression this instrument to me was already legendary.. That's just the reason why I use this piano in the classroom and during performances.
The patch editor is easy to use, but it's not to be advised editing during performance! The piano itself really makes up for it though. Who needs a patch editor anyway? Well to be honest, I do..
The effects sound really credible; When I select the 3rd electr. piano for instance,I use the 'amp simulator'. Now I can start playing 'What I'd say'like Ray..WoooHoo!
By the way; Ray would wanna have one of these for sure!

The P250 has a 128-tone polyphony. It has an outstanding piano-action; you can play or study your classical as well as your jazz pieces at professional level without having to worry about your touche. It feels and it acts just like a proper professional piano would. So if you are a(becoming)professional PIANO player.. You NEED this! Especially when you lack room, and you have annoyed neighbours and you need a piano at gigs; This piano earns your money back, and delivers a 'live-feel' experience at a gig!
This piano does what you want it to do; It delivers tremendous sounds and feel. It has enough memory to fit several songs to record with the built-in sequencer (16 channels). It's ok when you need to arrange a song on the spot. There are probably more user friendly sequencers in several workstations or synths or even stagepianos like the RD700SX. Personally I like midi-audio sequencer programms better anyway, when composing or arranging. Nevertheless the sounds this baby delivers give you goosebumps. It delivers all midi capabilities I can think of. I wouldn't want to play synthy stuff on a PIANO anyway..I do like to record or sequence pianoparts to make scores..
Cuz that is what the P250 is; a PIANO.. One that makes you believe someone has been listening to your prayers..someone Japanese!!

This piano works well for rockers, jazz-cats, classical mozarts, bachs and beethovens. (where have they gone by the way??)

Since a year I have been using this piano in daily teaching practice.
There have never been any problems. It is built like an aircraft-carrier although this one wouldn't float. In fact it would drop and make it's way to the core of the earth! In other words; it is quite heavy. At the other hand it's that much more steady when playing it! This thing won't shake under your fingers, even when playing some of Little Richard-style, or Jerry Lee Lewis boogie woogie!

Untill now, I haven't had any problems. But I am confident with Yamaha instruments equipment. It hasn't ever failed me. I also own a Yamaha U3 at my home..

To be honest, this piano is worth it's every dime. You'd be an idiot if you pay full price at any circumstance. Always negotiate, even when you buy a pack of frozen hamburgers or a new toothbrush..
I love this instrument, period! It's weight (32.5 kg) can be overcome when there is anyone with arms and legs around you who could be of any support. Unless you have a personality disorder (no offence) this should not be of any problem, dig? When you don't need any speakers you'd might choose for another digital stagepiano.. But you are mistaking..you DO need speakers..especially when you hear and FEEL these P250 speakers!

Nothing is upgradable in the P250. It is a musical instrument first and a synthesizer and MIDI controller second. Synth capabilities are very limited and I haven't used them in any meaningful way. I use software synthesizers on my computer systems and do not intend to untilize the P250 synth capabilites. Therefore most of the above questions are irrelenvant with regards to this instrument. The manual is not bad. It does not provide many details, but offers good basic information. Overall, the instrument is easy to use, in my personal opinion.

128 notes of polyphony is a great feature! Has a complete set of Yamaha's proprietary MIDI XG with tons of sound effects of all kinds. Has no expansions capabilities at all. The grand piano sound and feel is the very best on the market, exceptionally realistic (I've tried about a dozen other keyboards too). An on-board 16-track sequencer is nice, but quite limited for professional use. No 64-bit drivers available yet. Must buy a 64-bit PC Interface, such as those available from M-Audio, to use it with the 64-bit computer systems and the new 64-bit Cakewalk Sonar 5, for state-of-the art music oproduction.

The best grand piano sound and touch of all competing brands. Great organs, chorus, guitar, digital pianos, less satisfactory strings. I think it works well for all kinds of music, but I use it mostly for Classical and sometimes for some Jazz and Pop. Onboard effects seem to be great, but I haven't used them a lot. It's very responsive, dynamic, sensitive instrument, the best velocity response and aftertouch I've ever seen on any digital keyboards.

It seems very solid, sturdy, weel-built. So far I haven't used it for a gig, but I would trust it and would use no backup, should I go on a gig.

Quite lousy. No toll-free number. Yamaha web sites hide their contact information, to assure you dont' bother them. They responded to my e-mail after 11 (eleven) days only, and their response to my question regarding the present or future compatibility with 64-bit computer systems was very careless and unsatisfactory.

Being a professionally trained classical pianist with a college degree in music, I really appreciate its grand piano sound and touch, which is second to none. This may not be important if you are looking for such features like sound expansion boards (check the Roland digital pianos and synths), or storage capacity (check the new Alesis Fusion HD). I personally would replace my P250.

Ok: big buttons: but the screen: please why won't they lears from ROLAND: the RD-series screens are so much better

Keyboard action: this is where I turn around and buy a ROLAND RD 700SX. The keyboard action is limited: let me explain: When hitting a GRAND PIANO keyboard: you only have to hit it down for 2 mm in roder to preduce a sound: the hammer action proceeds its movement to produce the sound by hitting the strings. ROLAND gives you this feature; true hammer action: you only have to barely hit the keys: as long as your velocity is fast enough to get the hammers to proceed in the upward direction. With YAMAHA: ooh my; every key needs to toutch the bodemboard in order to produce a sound (try it your self!!!): I am a professional player: this was (for me) the reason to buy an other instrument instead of this one...(I hear this a lot by the way,,,)

Very good: but The ROLAND 700SX has piano samples for each seperate key: amazing! and you get more; much much more...

Ask your salesman: it tends to crack (really) when you pick it up in a diagonal way; still; its a YAMAHA: so its a very good manufactured instrument, the former models still sell on the market(!)

Ok in europe

Its a piano: and the keyboard action (read above) is nothing compared to the real ting.

Its a piano: an ROLAND has given more attention to their piano samples...(RD-700SX)

Its stil a very fine instrument: I choose another: thats all,,,

This board is designed for gigging...even if you had never laid eyes on it before, you could walk onto a stage, sit down, and play the thing, change sounds, and tweak the eq with the 5 band EQ sliders. The menus are simple and the LED is nice and bright. Setting up does require two people to get the beast up on the stand, as it weighs over 70 lbs. I've got an ATA case with caster wheels on it so it comes in at 115 lbs. By the way, beware if you plan to fly to gigs. I had to take a smaller board on an international flight because Northwest Airlines, like most airlines, won't accept checked items weighing over 100lbs. Also, just about any 88 key board may exceed the dimension limits and incur an extra fee, but anything over 100 lbs is a no go for checked bags. You might be able to have a superlight case built, but it would have to weigh under 27 lbs and you would still be paying two fees: overweight (over 70) and oversize. If you are familiar with keyboards, you won't really need the manual as it is easy to figure out what is going on.

At 128 polyphony, you would need four hands to run out of voices. The effects seem nice and clean, but I haven't tried editing them yet. No expansion :(. Nice touch and the weight of the keys feels like the C series yamaha acoustics. Really reminds me of the C3. The 5 band EQ on the board is handy. So far I haven't figured out how to boost the volume of the bass when splitting the keyboard. If it can't do this that would be a major ommission. The onboard speakers are great...I think a good deal of the board's weight comes from the keys and the magnets on the speakers (big ones obviously). The thing is built like a tank, but I advise not placing anything on top of it without a towel or something to prevent scuffs. The music stand attaches in the back and is so far back that it is not that useful in real life scenarios. This was a major screw up in my opinion. I use charts a lot on gigs. You will need to get a table top music stand and place it on the P250 (there is plenty of room).

The acoustic is the best I've ever tried. I had a P120 before and this is even better...by far. Really sounds and feels like a Yamaha acoustic. The speakers ad nice vibration, and you can use the speakers while also running into the house PA. The volume knob is nice and easy to reach and adjust. The electic pianos are ok but a bit of a disappointment. The DX sounds are great, but the Fender sounds left me feeling like I couln't dig in properly for the sound I wanted. It's too bad you can't expand by adding cards or something. The XG sounds are handy, and there are quite a few bread and butter sounds, but also plenty of usesless stuff like submarine and airplane effects (maybe somebody uses them...). The organs suck...get a Roland organ with the drawbars.

So far so good. No need for a backup...but get a good ATA case.

Yamaha is reachable. I needed a voltage converter once and they told me what to get.

Probably the best stage piano out on the market. The acoustic piano is super excellent. That is why I bought it. The electric pianos are ok but not great and the organs suck. Built like a tank. Wish I knew how to make the bass loader when you spit...it might not be possible. It is heavy...this is a big boy but it is awesome on the gig for piano sounds...

This is more like a "player's instrument", so pretty simple to use. Tweaking is simple too, despite it's small led screen. You only need the manual for MIDI Controlling. (or tweaking patches if you're newbie at it)

Grand Piano 1 sounds realistic, Grand Piano 2 is good for people looking for a dry piano sound. Electric Pianos are very impressive, containing classic Rhodes sound, as well as some vintage and DX Eps.
Most presets are statisfying, and you'll probably find what you're looking for in XG sounds. I wish there were some more organ and synth patches, but this is not an Motif ES!

Polyphony is 128 notes, ensuring you won't run out of notes. Keyboard action is same as a "grand piano" (-you'll feel a little heavy if you're used to uprights), quite impressive.. I think this monster is the nearest electronic instrument to an acoustic piano.
It has some built-in effects like Phaser, Auto-Wah, Delay(which you can't control delay time), Rotary, and of course Chorus and Reverb. Again, this is not a Motif, but still good.
No Expansion.. Get a secondary board (like a motif :) ) and expand it.
It has a 16-channel sequencer. Use a workstation or computer for composing, this baby just collects some ideas coming thruogh your fingers.

Grands, EPs, Vibraphones are outstanding. Strings, Organs, Choirs are OK. In Xg sounds, you'll find a lot of good patches, but Brasses didn't impress me at all.
Very ideal for Jazz. In a quartet, you'll sound cool with it. Good for classical music, too.

If you're not going to depend on a 32.5 kgs instrument, what're you going to depend on ?

Back-up is not necessary, but if you want some more sounds, it's best to use it with a sound module or secondary synth ( did i mention that Motif ES is a good ane for that?)

Didn't use the customer service at all.. hope i won't need them :)

A burglar won't steal it.. He'll prefer your laptop, TV, someting ligter. price/performance ratio is 1 for this product. If you're looking for a piano with some more sounds, this is it.

It?s a very easy of use instrument. You only have to read the owner?s manual if you want to use the controller functions, just to know how to connect and the sounds organization. It also is very simple to edit patches and to control the sustain sampling depth, key off sampling depth, and the string resonance sampling depth. The manual is very complete, and easily understood.

The poliphony is great, You have 128 notes poliphony. And on the contrary as someone said, the action is great, and if he has ever played a grand piano, he must know that the sound is produced when the key hit the bottom, and is ready to hit again when it?s been released at least at the half of the key. That?s half key playing and for example it?s useful to play the beggining of Beethoven?s Sonate known as Waldstein. It also has an onboard 16 tracks sequencer, very flexible to use, and it allows you to change the sound you have used to play a track without playing that again and just pushing one button.

The Grand Piano 1 is excellent, if you edit the 3 layered sampling depths (sustain, string resonance and key off) you can make it more realistic too. The rest of the panel voices are quite pretty, for example the electric pianos, that are the most realistic i have ever heard. The onboard effects are very useful and the pitch and modulation bends are very useful too. It has a graded hammer action, and it is more realistic than the GH3 Yamaha?s action. It doesn?t have aftertouch. If you need it S series has got it.

Very Reliable.

I haven?t have problems. Im not thinking of having it. But Customer support of Yamaha is very helpful. I have called them in two opportunities and they answer quickly and helped me to solution my C3 hammer problems.

It is the best piano available. I?ve tried RD700SX (very expressiveness sounds but not a great action as this one), Korg SP500, Kurzweil PC88, and this was the best option. I?ve been playing since I was three years old, and now I?m 19, and I had two Clavinovas, a Roland Fp8, and now this, and obviously an acoustic (C3). I love the depth that the sound has. It?s very realistic and with the onboard speakers that also sound great, you?ll feel that you?re playing a Yammy Grand, believe me, I?ve got one and it?s like that.

Now, Go to a shop and purchase this, You?ll never repent!

There's no other electronic piano easier to use than this one. For example: You can pre-select XG sounds along with your original Grand in order to create great performance settings for live playing and more.

The polyphony is the best around for a board like this, 128-note polyphony, Come on! Very few others can challenge it. The effects are just right, and the sequencer is good enough for capturing creative moments. Not for orchestrating master pieces on the spot like a Korg Triton or a Yamaha Motif, but it's great for composing.

I own both a P-250 and a P-60. I like the P-60 sounds better just because the P-250 sounds a little bit too bright despite editing the sound. Both pianos sound equal after recorded. If you want more expression, go for the P-250. If you want a more realistic sound produced by an electronic piano, go for the P-60. In conclusion both of these two combined would make the best ever electronic piano.

No complaints.

The best!

This is not ONE OF THE BEST pianos. This IS THE BEST electronic piano.

KEYBOARD ACTION: -----!IMPORTANT!-----

-- -- -- -- -- -- --!!!!!!!--- --- -- -- --- -- --
As you hit the keys of a normal grand/piano (or any ROLAND RD)you only have to hit the keys down by 2mm in order to produce a sound... With Yamaha each key has to hit the BOTTOM (all the way) before it produces any sound(??). To me: this puts me back into the 80's...
I play classical- & Jazz music (for 12 years now), I cannot affort to 'miss any keys/notes' because of Yamaha's catastrofic design on basics like this... Any pianoplayer will notice it in his/her playing: the ammount of keys that you don't totally puch down to its full extent is huge... If you take your playing seriously; this might be a reason not to buy this stagepiano...

This is a very impressive machine; the thing i like most is the fact that you can feel what you are playing because of the build in speakers... I own a ROLAND RD-700; no speakers there...

I own a Roland, But I really wanted this instrument because of the internal speakers; your fingers Feel the vrbration of your music: I love this part...

As I mentioned: the keyboardaction is totally outdated.. try is: you'll notice this big (BIG) mistake in its design...
I'm not telling you not to buy the P-250... It's all very personal...
I got myself a Roland RD-700sx (in shipping now...) instead of the Yamaha...

I bought it yesterday so... But whatever consern the reasone I bouhgt it (that is instead of a good piano that I cant afford) 10 is the rate.

The rate goes for the piano sounds and over all feeling. I prefer the grand 2 wich I find a little wider. The reason I am constributing to this forum is to say with my poor english that to my ears the feeling and the sound is so close to the real thing that I find it hard to believe. I don't care actually for any other feature exept the piano sound and feeling, and I find it GREAT. The speakers is a great plus cause you actually feel the vibrations to you fingers. How more realistic can it be ? Go ahead and give it a try folks, I truly beleieve that it worth every dime. I beleive that those on board speakers is a mast if you go for realistic feeling and thats why I choose it over the new Roland, and I beleive that I done perfectly right.

Playing it: This piano is very easy to use. All the instrument sounds are right there.

Tweaking with the sounds: The manual is fairly good at explaining how to edit the voices. However, even after having it a few years, there are many things left for me to learn.

Recording/editing: Recording mult-tracks is so simple, it's wonderful.

The manual is completely self-contained. It dicusses everything from A-Z. Some of it goes over my head, but for others, it may be straightforward.

Some of the features are:
-45 panel voices
-Extra: 480 voices + 12 drum kits
-Pitchbend wheel
-16 tracks, 150,000 notes, max. 224 song storage capacity

A few other features worth mentioning:
-Quantize function (this function snaps everything to the nearest beat, you can also swing the beats)
-tempo change (without pitch change)

*Note: It takes a long time to sift through the 480 voices, since they are all on only *1* button. So if you are recording or gigging, and you want to switch quickly, forget about it. However, there might be a shortcut button, but I haven't found that yet on my own and might need to consult the manual.

This is the exact reason I bought the P250. I played it once in the store, and immediately fell in love with the piano sound, the tone, and the feel. The keys are nicely weighted and sensitive. This piano also records AMAZINGLY well. Such a strong, professional sound - no complaints whatsoever.

There are also literally hundreds of other sounds too - almost every world instrument you can think of (sitar, glass percussion, etc.), and sound effects. It also has drumkits. Some of the drumkit sounds, as with most synthesized drum sounds, sound cheesy. But the P250 is relatively closer to the real thing than some others. I particularly like the conga sounds. The strings are alright too - which I know many musicians look for. I wouldn't use the guitar or bass sounds in a recording as a replacement for the real thing!

I've used this piano live on stage, and it does the job. I've also used it in a church, with no amplification except its own speakers. The sound travelled perfectly.

I've had it for 2-3 years now and it's still running perfectly.

The one drawback for me is the weight. It's HEAVY! Weighs in at about 72lbs of dead weight. So if I need to bring my piano somewhere, I am stranded unless there is a second person there to help me. Being a small asian female, a few of my male friends attempt to do the macho thing and try to carry it themselves, but each one of them has nearly popped a blood vessel or had an aneurism.

But the quality is in its weight...and that in itself makes it worth it for me.

n/a

Basically, if someone spilt a pint of beer on my keyboard I would need therapy (or perhaps they would). If someone was strong enough to steal the piano and make a run for it, I would definitely replace it.

I use this piano for all my recordings and live playing. I wish it was easier to switch back and forth from the extra voices/instrument sounds. I also wish I could get some mad electrogod effects and loop them with the touch of a button. But that's not the purpose of this keyboard.

For anyone who wishes they had a grand piano, but wants something of good sound quality that they can bring wherever they go (with the help of one other person), this is the instrument to buy.

Great investment! I'm happy :)

Everything is pretty straight foreward, it al speaks for itself, didnt use the manual so far

polyphony 128, great for virtuos scales with sustain :)
effect are nice, (you cant adjust delay speeds, but...so what)
It has no expansion capabilities but again, where do you need that for?
it's a great midi controller, but what do you need to control?
I like usin a smaller device for that
You can record song fairly easy with the build in song composer/recorder

I's just.....amazing
I was looking for a cheap stagepiano, well.....what should I say
I went to the garden and ate from the forbidden fruit.
Couldnt put it back, it had to be mine!!
Yamaha didn't even came close with the other P's, maybe I'm not beeing objective, but i just could play the p250 without goosepimpels in my neck
That didnt happen with other stagepiano (the rolands, the other yamaha p-series, kurzweil, casio, kawai)
No aftertouch, dont mind about that either
The feel is great

no problems yet
Would you use it on a gig without a backup?, good idea maybe i'm gonna carry around another stagepiano so I can break my back,...twice
No I think it will hold

dunno?

hmmm....stolen?
If somebody is strong enough to carry it out of my house, he will probably fall of the stairs after he goes out my frontdoor, but if he survives this enormous beast will get the best of his back and he wont even make it out of my street or to his van (a car is not sufficiant)
I dont have money to buy a new one though
oh, ive been playing al my live (started on an organ:)

The preset sounds, particularly the pianos, are the best in this category. The other presets are variable, but there are many ways to tweak the sounds with editing, once you get the hang of it. The manual can help here. There are also endless possibilities for varying the sounds through split and dual modes and editing each of the voices through equalization, gain, effects, etc. Lots of fun. I give it an 8 instead of a higher number for one reason only--if part of use is getting it from one place to another, and you'll be amplifying the sound separately from another source, choose another keyboard. This one weighs more than 70 lbs, and after a long evening it feels like 100--it is heavy...

I'll leave the subtleties of polyphony to the experts, but 128 is more than enough for the type of playing I do--blues, rock, jazz, country, etc. Don't know how it would handle multiple arpeggios in classical music, but I suspect it would be better than any other digital out there. Great effects for a piano.

This is the best part of the instrument. It does indeed react to whatever you want it to do.

SO far, very reliable. Has stood up to lots of travel.

This is a great keyboard. I don't use it for MIDI, so cannont comment on this aspect. But it has lots of features, plays beautifully and the company gives you infinite tweaking capabilities for each voice. Its just too damn heavy...

The voice selection is quite simple and very easy, except that for XG voice. However, I don't use much the XG. Sequencer is not easy to use. It's fine for fast record of your performance or idea. But not at all for a complicate song with more than 2 tracks. The record edit is difficult to use too.

Voice edit is ok, although you can not edit only simple parameters like chorus, effect, octave.

However, P250 is designed to be a piano. I think that it is easy to use from that aspect.

Polyphony 128 is very good. It works very well with a long-and-fast phrase with sustain pedal down. Keyboard action is heavy but good.

Piano 1 is very reallistic. I like the piano 2 too. It is useful for pop music. The strings is very good. Electric pianos is impressive.
Keybaord reaction responses very well with feeling.

I used to play CVP202, Korg Triton with ROM expansion. Piano on P250 is the best. Even the most recent model Electone ELS-01C with 4-leyer piano, P250 sounds better. I think, it is comparable to acoustic piano at the same price, or perhaps sounds better.

Heavy but Ok, since I use it at home.

It is one of the best electricpiano since I have played.

The P-250 is a very easy to use stage piano, the direct available preset sounds will cover most of the sounds you need on a live gig. The eq section contains five direct available sliders and has a very musical response. I just love the keyboard action, once you're playing a live gig, nothing stands in the way to just fly over the keys!

The built in effects are easy to use, change and can be switched on and off by a simple push on a button. I am not too familiar yet with the midi capabilities.
I find the sequencer hard too use, if you want to use more than two parts.

Besides the great keyboard action, the onboard sounds are amazing. I makes you want to play for ever! It reacts wonderfully to my playing, it has the best acoustic piano sample I have ever played. I own a very good Yamaha acoustic upright piano, which sounds more open of course, but the P-250 is really awesome.
I also own a Fender Rhodes Mark I 73, which I really love. But the P-250 does a great job with thee sounds on stage too. Very steady sound

No trouble what so ever

No problems, good support if I have questions

I would replace it immediately, if it were stolen.
I have owned a Yamaha KX-88 and a P-80.
I still own a voce microB module, an Alesis nano Bass module and a Roland U-110 and a Roland Alfa Juno 2, Hammond XB-1 and a Motion Sound Leslie (Pro 3T and a Lo-Pro: great sounding!), Yamaha P-250, Yamaha S30, a Fender Rhodes Mark I, and two acoustic pianos (one of which is a Yamaha upright).

I love everything about the P-250, only minor thing is the weight, but it's still leighter than my Rhodes.

Very easy to use, the onboard lcd is much nicer than the lower models leds and clearly tells you what you are doing with the voices/layers/splits. The lit buttons are also nice, it's too bad they don't all have them (esp volume).

I haven't run out of polyphony, but I don't do much past layering sounds. The action is great, graded, very like my grand.

This was the best sounding digital piano that I've played, so I bought it. I would've liked something cheaper, but just couldn't stand the thought of listening to anything else. Argh.

That's why it's rated as 10 - not as a comparison to a real piano, though it's way better than any mediocre acoustics.

Haven't had it for a long time.
The pedal is squeaking a bit, which is irritating.

Nothing yet

I love the sound and the action. It's freaking heavy and expensive, though. I don't think I could afford to buy it again - I'd better insure it.

I don't gig, though, so the weight isn't an issue really.

I just came back from the local Yamaha dealer,
jumped in to see what is the Kuuzweil SP76 is all about as I sound someone who sells it and wanted to check it out. After I realized that instrument really sucks (the worst piano sounds I've ever heard)
I went to try the Yamah CLP series. Well, they were excellent instruments with really good and realistic piano sounds and action.

But I was looking for more. I went to try the huge P-250 ....

The P-250 is absolutely the BEST ELECTRIC PIANO EVER MADE !!!

It's just amazing !!!

It has the best action I ever played on an electric keyboard, ever. Your hands are going to fly over it. It responds so well to the expression you make and feel you apply to it. As responsive as my Fender stratocaster :))

The P-250 has got the BEST PIANO SOUNDS ever put into an electric piano !!! Truely amazing. The collection of piano sounds is endless,
while EVERY SINGLE SOUND stands for it's own !!! Patch them together and you just can't stop playing it !!! You must try this one.

It has an endless combination of sounds, while each patch has a few variation (i.e take the Clav. patch and play it phased, tremoloed.... )

It also has an entire XG bank with wonderful patches which you can patch together with the other patches, making endless combinations of amazing piano sounds while the keyboard so well responds on just any of these sounds. I didn't investigate more than that becasue just patching up was satisfying enough for me !!

I don't know but as long as I know Yamaha they make the most reliable keyboards in the industry.

N/A

This is the best electric piano out there. Period.

It's very easy to use for making sounds - haven't used the sequencer, but just getting sounds going is easy. Just turn it on and start playing. Editing is simple although the manual helps with the fine points. The manual is not particularly great but it gets the job done. Presets mostly sound pretty good but some better than others. The piano sounds, organ, electric piano, and synth, choir, and effects sounds are all nice. The guitar sounds are bad.

other reviews have gone into all this, but basically the polyphony is great, the keyboard action is great - it makes you want to keep playing. The built in effects are limited but decent. No expansion capabilities so what you see is what you get. The best feature is the great piano of course, which I would rate highly. Otherwise the board is intentionally a bit feature-poor, but I kind of like that - it gets the job done without being overcomplex.

The instrument sounds have been discussed, but I just want to talk about the synth sounds. The p250 has the XG sounds built in, which is 480 voices in addition to the other presets (there are like 30 besides the XG sounds). The XG voices are all accessed from the XG button, and then you can scroll through them - there are a ton of workhouse sounds there, and it seems that you can get most of what you would ever need pretty painlessly, including sound effects, analog synthy sounds and on and on. I was partly drawn to the p250 because it is a good piano that can also make a lot of wacky and trippy sounds when it needs to.

If you are demoing the p250 in a store, be aware that the instrument is not set up very well out of box. The pitch wheel is set to just 1 step up or down, but in "other settings", which is a global setting button on the far right, you can reset the pitch wheel up to 1 octave up and down (or any number of steps less). You can also set the touch here or set the keyboard to a fixed amount of touch for synth and organ technique where you don't want the velocity sense on the keys.

the modulation wheel is also not set to do anything on any of the presets, so again it won't seem like these controls do much in the store. You have to edit whichever voice you are playing with to assign the modulation wheel to tremolo, brightness, harmonic content or other options. Then the modulation wheel becomes quite effective. The effects are not really incredibly tweakable, but with the various tools at hand and the pitch and modulation wheels you can get a sound when you need it, it seems like. You can save 32 custom sounds, I believe, which is not that great but again adds to the flexibility of the board.

it is very solid

- no comment

Paid $1995 but they threw in some accessories like a stand and bench and stuff. The p250 comes with one sustain pedal and a music stand that goes on top. You can hook up pedals for sustain, soft, and sustenuto, as well as an expression pedal. You can connect it to your computer via USB. It has nice onboard speakers that sound quite nice.

The P250 is a great board to play on, it has wonderful feel and a lot of the sounds are just gorgeous. There is enough depth and flexibility there to get the gamut of keyboard sounds out of it, which makes it perfect for performance. The tweaking and programming does not go super-deep but the options that are available give you a reasonable palette to work with. The modulation and pitch wheels (*once you set them up right) along with the pedals add a lot of function to the board helping it rise above the digital piano realm. That's why I was mainly drawn to this Yamaha, it's a great piano, electric piano, and organ that you can play all day and night, but it also has enough flexibility to cover other sounds that the P90 and P120 cannot. The onboard speakers are no good for performance but they are great for practicing, they give it the presence of a real piano and nice stereo separation for the stereo effects.

Very Simple keyboard. Turn it on select your sound and play.
Haven't messed with the software much. I use this for a good solid piano sound. I use a Roland XV 2020 for syth sounds connected to the MIDI cable.

Keyboard action is OUTSTANDING. The speakers give it a nice vib feel, similar to a real piano.
MIDI is nice, it has a great on off switch on the front panel to cut of the communication if you use an external synth like I do.

This is the most realistic Digital piano I've played that is portable. The Clavanova's are nice, but who can move them.
This thing is nice and expressive. I'm a jazz / worship pianist and it fits perfect into what I do.

Had it just under a year, it's used on the road with a worship band and have had zero problems with it. I always keep an extra keyboard around for big concerts, but on small gigs it's by itself.

Never used it.

Would get another, possibly one now for a backup!
Wish it had a synth built in and was lighter.

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!