Yamaha P80

no proplem

I hate the fact that I am paying much just for the keys while the sample memory for many of the sounds are filled with worse than toy quality sounds.

I read all the statements here and spent much times trying out the p80, but once I had it at home, I noticed many bad things about it.

no comment

no comment

1. some of the piano samples are really bad and annoying
2. the sustain is way tooooo short, which is strange since one only have to make it longer, doesnt need more sample memory in itself
3. the harpsicord is very bad
4. the other sounds are also bad, like a toy,,,it is a shame!
5. the special reverb for soundboard is cut directly once you release the sustain pedal, and it just sounds cut.
6. I sold mine...was a waste of money
7. but ...if one like it, that is good...for me, it was just a waste of time and money...

The YAMAHA P-80 is extremely easy to use. however, i would suggest that after your first hour or so playing, to start checking out the manual 'cause you will definitely need it sooner or later. this 'break' will also give your fingers/wrists/forearms a rest 'cause the action is quite heavy (unless of course you do most of your playing on a 'real' piano) and we don't want any of those naughty tendon type problems do we Wolfgang.

This heavier 'realist' action on a portable digital piano is to me, the best invention since the tea bag ! i do not own a real piano. i have had a Roland HP-1700 for 10 years which has a light action and there is nothing worse than sitting down at a 'real' piano and feeling like a beginner ... "goodbye mister chops". after 12 months on the P-80 i can now sit down at ANY piano and rattle off fluent 'psuedo' classical scales, arpeggios and flourishes that never fail to impress older folk. (i am a jazz player). having a compact portable keyboard in this price range with such a realistic action is a dream come true for me and, i'm sure, many other serious players. at the time of purchase it was between the Roland RD-150 (whose sounds i preferred) and the 'yammy'.
they were the same price .... $2000 here in australia.

O.K. This is where things get rather sad so pour yourself a stiff drink and read on. i have had ENORMOUS problems with MY P-80 from day one. in hindsight i should have ignored 'advice' and opinion and returned it immediately.
PROBLEM # 1. the thing sounds quite good through headphones (sennheiser hd-450) but i can't get a good sound through ANY amplifier/speaker combination and believe me i've tried a lot of gear in the last 12 months. my main keyboard rig (i play guitar also) is a YAMAHA EMX 68s stereo powered mixer with a pair of WHARFEDALE EVP-S10 speakers.
PROBLEM #2. there are six notes from G# (two octaves above middle C)up to the next C# that are very distorted or 'furry'.
PROBLEM #3. the midi transmit velocity is very weak and .... get this ... VARIES from patch to patch. only the 3 organ patches transmit a reasonably healthy midi velocity. (i purchased a ROLAND JV-2080 after having so much problems with the 'yammys' built in sounds and have other sound modules as well).
I have read with much interest ALL of the P-80 reviews below ... especially "ACE" 11.21.2001 and "STEVE T" 4.8.2003 and it seems that MY P-80 might be one very sick puppy.
however, i am hoping to rectify these problems and give a glowing report. if you have any suggestions (please don't say chuck it in the creek and get another one and please don't tell me how good yours is ... i've read ALL the reviews below), email me at murftone2002@yahoo.com.au
also, i've been a pro muso for 33 years .... yep, there i was age 16 with my les paul and piggyback fender tremolux helping the keyboard player lug in his B3 and leslie tone cabinet so we could thrill the audience with santana covers .... so don't say dumb things like check your leads etc.

Everyday when i switch on the P-80 i can rely on it to sound shithouse.

My retailer/dealer is a good guy and has been in the music business as long as i have and can play well. however he does not acknowledge problems #1 and #2 ... i did suggest that small monitors on the floor 8 feet away mite not be ideal test conditions but he was more interested in the midi transmit problem.
must admit dear reader that i was a little pleased and feeling less of a dickhead when he hooked up the P-80 to another keyboard and, after much button pushing and manual flicking said "HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM". i sat back and watched as my poor P-80 (laying on a bench with many cables connected to it) was being prodded and poked by the other salesmen and curious shoppers. it was like a scene from E.T.
the piano ended up at yamaha H.Q. here in melbourne. The top guy there rang me two days later and said that after testing for all the above problems he could find nothing wrong with it ! sounds a bit like the weapons of mass destruction saga (although i'd prefer to call my piano a 'weapon of jazz construction').
after all this stuffing around the piano is now out of warranty and,although the problems over the past 12 months have been duly noted, all correspondence was verbal .. either in person or over the telephone (remember those funny communication devices ?). if it was all emailed i could print out etc. a lesson for us all there my friends.
Harmony Central users ... please help me get this potentially brilliant digital piano up and running. i wish i'd stumbled on this site 6 months ago. it is excellent. regards, murftone.

if it were lost or stolen ? not a good time to ask me this question or ask for my autograph. just let me say this. every nite before i go to bed i carefully put the P-80 in the hallway, give it a gentle wipe with a soft rag (very dusty my place), carefully place the manual and the two power adaptors (good idea to have a spare) on the keys and LEAVE THE FRONT DOOR WIDE OPEN !

The basic use is very easy. Not too many options, so you cannot make a lot of mistakes.

However, there are some "special" settings like volume balance or individual pitch settings in split and layer modes (which I use occasionally) that are not easy to access since there is only a 3-digit LED display. Those "hidden" parameters are organised in "function menus" and of course, they are not self-explanatory.

The manual, however, is OK (which is not difficult to achieve since this is not a complex machine).

Polyphony is absolutely sufficient in my opinion.

Effects are OK for live use, but they are nothing fabulous when compared with a good FX processor. Effects are easy to apply, and the assignment is memorized individually for each voice. So are individual tuning and volume balance in split and layer modes. However, you cannot store these settings to a dedicated memory.

There is no expansion possibility. However, you might stick a baroque-type wallpaper with floral design to it :-)

MIDI functions are nothing more than rudimentary. You can select a channel, switch local on / off, and that's it. No great masterkeyboard since it does not provide aftertouch or any controllers other than the (non-graded) sustain pedal. There isn't a second ("soft") pedal (as in every grand piano).

The best thing is the portability (rather slim and only 17 kg).

A clear setback is the external power supply ("wall wart"). That one really sucks. Mine dropped once and was defunct thereafter (after I already had to fix a broken cable).

The sequencer cold not be designed any more bare-boned. Two tracks, a click, but no editing or rewinding and the like. Just play / stop (and record, of course). Nonetheless, you can record two different sound on the two tracks.

The piano samples are really OK. Nothing great when compared to a grand piano (in good condition), but often I'd prefer this one over a real piano provided at performance locations.


The dynamics are very good, and so is the alignment between action and sound engine.

Nonetheless, a (good) acoustic piano is still beyond reach for ANY digital simulation. In the P-80, the treble notes lack a bit of sustain and that shiny bell tone, and the overall sound is more "mellow". That's OK for some styles, but not so great for pop tunes where you will have difficulties with integrating the P-80 into the mix. It just doesn't have that "sparkle" you'd expect for an Elton-John-style production.

The other sounds are just little goodies, really nothing expensive. I often use the strings layered to piano, and that is rather good for comping musical tunes. Harpsichord and pipe organs are OK, jazz organ is ridiculous, The e-pianos are average while the Rhodes suffers a too distinctly different sound between soft and hard stroke sample.

The Action:
I think the touch of the P-80 is a bit too heavy, and the action swallows some of the energy. It doesn't run quite as smooth like a (properly regulated) real action. This makes playing unnecessarily difficult (try a very fast piece like the "Etincelles" of Moszkowski in comparison on a grand piano), and it holds the potential danger that not-so-sturdy persons (like I am) to get injuries or joint problems from extensive playing. The rather hard "bottom" (the key resting point when pressed down) adds to this risk. It requires a VERY hard stroke to get the loudest of three velocity layers. That is (for me) hardly possible with chords, but just with single notes.

The dynamic range is, as I said, very good, but I don't find the slope of the curve perfect. It's more easy to play soft or loud. On a real piano, the midrange sound levels are more accesible. That's of course my subjective point of view (as this whole review is).

Action lifetime:
Due to extensive playing for about three years now (including regular home practice, transport and many live performances), the keys of my unit tend to break. There is a little edge on the rear end of the key which simply cracks away after a certain time. So the key would stand slightly angled, and it would gets stuck (stays down) over time. You cannot really repair this (a probable fix with super glue showed not to be forever) but the respective key must be replaced in the end. And single keys are rather expensive (about 10 $ equivalent here in Germany).

Despite all of these restrictions, the key action (and the sounds) are really good for a less-then-1000-bucks instrument.

It is rather reliable, but when taken "on the road" frequently, it should not be carried in a soft bag. And there is the problem with the cracking keys (see above). I wonder if anyone but me encountered that problem. Please feel free to email me in that case. In general, I would say such an electronic instrument is not made forever since it is not really serviceable like a real piano where you can replace even the smallest part.

I never dealt with them because the unit basically worked, except for mechanical problems which would require a replacement -- I can do that myself.

If it was lost or stolen (or if a major repair of my worn-out unit should not pay anymore) I would check out Kurzweil's PC2 because of the lighter action, its highly integrative piano sounds (I recently heard it live in a concert and it sounded really good / realistic to me) and its masterkeyboard capabilites. The Kurzweil, however, is twice as expensive.

Anyway -- good value for the price.

Very simple - no problems with using this machine, easy to get your own personal settings back after some one other has used it. A few simple reverbs,easy to use + fix a little, I haven't faced any problems. And that simple fact that this one weights only 16.8 kgs (37 lbs) makes it easy to get to gigs and everywhere. Would tell you about the manual but didn't get onw eith

Polyphone is great,has been enough for me all the time never cutting off any notes. And once again must say,that keyboard action is fabulous! Probably one of the best I've ever tested. Way ahead of it's competitors at this price. Haven't really used the MIDI section at all,and well,this isn't really a MIDI-keyboard..not at least ment to be that way primarly I guess. 2-track sequencer,works fine,but not anything more.

Grand piano is fantastic,also classical piano. Other pianos are quite fine,but don't really know how reasonable is for example 'Rock Piano' or some voices which are not that excellent. I like the Rhodes sound of the variation of Electric Piano 2, but I am disappointed with Strings and Organ sounds, they should have concentrated more on those also. But Grand Piano is great.

Have never seen anything made by Yamaha fail - very reliable. No problems with this keyboard. It's very expressive, could be used without backup in some situations. But however isn't really used by itself.

Haven't used support..dunno about it.

Best keyboard for used as a electric piano at this price. Fantastic touch, very reliable. If you're looking for a MIDI-keyboard or keyboard with fine sequencer, forget this one. But if used primarly for piano sound, this is the one.

For basic sounds, as simple as it gets to produce sounds straight out of the box. The manual is fine. Changing split points is incredibly easy, as are: transposing, using the two-track recording function, metronome, changing presets, volume, etc. It is also extremely simple to tune the piano in microtones, which is often useful if you happen to be playing along with LPs etc.

I rate this a five, because of the presence of the recording function, transpose, etc. It is, to my ear, best employed as a digital piano, however.

Serious flaws in design include the lack of ability to easily switch between sound modules and internal voices (I use an AB box to switch between piano and my Voce organ module), and the inability of the P80 to send VERY basic MIDI program changes. I still use a Voce Micro-B2, and cannot access any of its sounds which are not accessible by its own rotary control knob.

Out of the box I only use the classical and grand piano presets, with the brilliance slider set to "Mellow." I have found that layering the Harpsichord and EP2 presets, when channeled through a distortion pedal and wah, creates a more-than-acceptable Clavinet substitute, especially when the rest of the band is playing at volume and can handle the dirty tone created by the distortion box. The upright bass preset is OK, and I often use it to record walking bass lines as an instant "Band in a box" type thing, to practice improvising over new changes. The ability to loop recorded tracks would have been nice.

However, if one discounts heavy effects processing or special, "fooling around" applications, I've not found the extra-piano voices to be useful at all, except for laughs.

I use a JBL Eon 15 G1 to reproduce the piano sounds, and also to amplify the organ module I use for tonewheel sounds. The powered monitor gives a great clean sound, throughout the entire dynamic range, for the pianos.

The action is superb. It's more difficult to play fast runs in jazz, blues, or obviously after the Hammond fashion, as opposed to on a good "compromise" keyboard such as the Kuzweil SP76 (or my old Wurlitzer 200A for that matter), it pays off in that one is able to properly inflect classical music, which would be impossible on a semi-weighted board. I admit it took me a while to be able to play full-on Albert Ammons, James Booker, Jerry Lee Lewis pieces at tempo on a quite stiff action, but I'm glad I learned how without giving up playing Brahms's Op. 118, or Schumann's Op. 76 on the very same keyboard. I think it's psychological valuable to see the music one plays as not essentially disparate, and to find in an instrument whose tonal variances are not commensurable to, e.g., that between a nylon- and a steel-stringed guitar, some sort of parity.

Bottom line: I don't need a better piano sound, or a better action, and I never will. And if you want to try my faux clav patch, go ahead and enjoy. But the only sound it does OK is piano. For solo, or playing at home, I use classical at mellowest slider point. To cut through a mix, you can mess around with the brilliance slider and try grand, or even jazz or rock. But it's strictly piano.

It's tough enough, I suppose. Its case is solid, maybe prone to scuffs if you're concerned about that, but I've not opened it up to see how it's built inside. I've taken it to many gigs, usually just encased in the soft-sided bag Yamaha recommends for its product. It hasn't failed yet, but it might. Who knows? NEVER place this on some crappy x-stand, if you're going to play hard. I have used a QuikLok Ws556 (unsure of the exact model number) to great success, as have a number of people I've talked to, some with the same P80 I've got. It's designed as a speaker stand/keyboard stand sort of thing. It supports up to 300 lbs. or so, costs around USD100, and won't fail (except in case where some chooch falls over onto the whole thing and spills it all, mos likely given the thin profile of the instrument.).

I was initially gravely disappointed at the way the P80 failed to make it when controlling even a simple Hammond organ module, but I've since learned a great deal about the world of pro gear. I would not part with the P80, simply because it offers, especially with the amplification I've provided for it, a choice instrument on which to practice and even perform and sort of music one might like to play on ACOUSTIC piano. It is quite light, although not enough to make me want to lug it around for casual jams or frequent rehearsals. I think if one is serious about the PIANO as an instrument, this unit can't be beat -- also, it's cheap, esp. these days. For me, I needed for casual gigging a shorter board with better vintage-keys voices, more suited for playing the simple, repetitive, sound-as-commodity music people pay to hear. But as a piano, P80's A-OK. BTW, I'm selling my Voce Micro B-II if anyone's interested -- won't bother Ebaying but if you contact me we could talk.

Very simple to use; it has 12 basic sounds/presets, each with its own
labeled button. Then there's a 'variation' button, which will give
each preset a minorly different sound. Buttons for various basic effects (reverb and chorus)
Sliders for volume and tone; pretty intuitive setup for the metronome
and two track recording.
All the hookups, power, pedal, go on the left side of the keyboard.
Simple.

Polyphony is more than I can play with my 10 fingers! It has midi.
But the main draw, for me, was the sounds and feel of the weighted keys.
All I can say is, using my AKG270 headphones, it's the closest I've
ever found to playing a real piano, and a great sounding one at that!
You can also adjust the sensitivity of the keys, which will be useful
for those of us who like to pound, and those of us who like to back
off.
I'm giving it a 10 based on what it is- a high quality, portable,
digital piano.
It you're wanting a digital work station, then this is not the keyboard
for you.

The piano sounds are fantastic. Electric pianos are great.
The organs are very good, though a little limited in their ability to
accurately reproduce all the nuances, given the nature of those
instruments. Strings and bass are adequate; not bad, not great.
I bought the keyboard because I felt it had both the best piano sounds,
and the best feel, of anything near its price range. I don't expect
to use the other sounds too much

I use it in my studio, so it doesn't get moved at all, so I can't
comment too much on its reliability as for a serious gigging instrument.
However, I currently use and have used a number of Yamaha instruments
and recording equipment (trumpets, drums, DSP Factory, etc...) and
I've never had any failures at all with any of them, so I'm pretty
confident this keyboard will hold up well, as long as I don't drop
it out the window.

Have never had to deal with them. The one time I emailed them,
regarding some incorrect information on their drums website, I
received a reply within a few hours.

If it were lost or stolen, I would immediately look for another one!
(Especially since it's being discontinued- hence the price I paid.)
I played a number of keyboards while looking to buy; the ones I most
seriously played and pondered over- the Roland RD150 and FP3, the
Korg SP200, and the Kurzweil PC2. I liked all these keyboards, but
none of them gave me the impression of playing a real piano like the
P80 did. Everyone's ear and feel are different, but for me, the P80
stood out above everything near its price range.

Very easy to use. plug it in, turn it on, set volume levels, and start ticklin' those ivories. Setting up the basics like changing the sounds, setting tempo, split/dual mode, adding reverb etc. can easily be done. Everything else can easily be found in the manual, and are only a few button pushes away. Ive never had a need to go into the function mode yet, but you can find things such as split/dual volumes (which sound is louder/quieter), tuning etc.

Although not full of features, it IS a digital piano, not a keyboard, everything you need is there (great sound, great action, ease of use). 88 fully [graded] weighted keys. I don't think polyphony is an issue with the p80, ive never heard a note drop out, even just mashing the keys TRYING to get drop out. It comes with chorus/reverb/symphonic/delay as built in effects, but I havent quite figured those out yet. Two track recorder, simple to use, for those times where you're laying in bed and have this really awesome tune pop in your head, and you just jump up, record it, and sleep easy. Midi is very simple, but its good enough for what I use it for. It has 2 headphones, R/L (L+R), RCA, and the midi for outputs, so you can hook it up to basically anything you can find.

It has 4 piano sounds (grand, classic, jazz, rock), 2 electric pianos, harpsichord, strings, 3 organs (church, pipe, jazz), and bass.

The piano sounds are excellent, I would have to say through a decent sound system, it sounds better than my upright, and the studio grand at my church.

The only other sounds I use in songs are the electric pianos (sometimes layered with piano), strings, and the jazz organ. The harpsichord and bass are fun to play with too, but not something I would be able to use in performances. I would consider the two organs (pipe / church) unusable (hence the 9 rating)

I take good care of it, and it takes care of me. I've never had a problem with it. I left it as 'no opinion' because it mostly stays at my house, cept on fridays and sundays when I play at the church, and its never been anywhere it could be punished by either people or the elements.

Never had to deal with them, and if things keep going the way they are, I shouldnt have to.

If this were lost or stolen, Id gather the money up ASAP and get a new one. For being under $900, it is fantastic.

I've been playing since December of 2001, so just under two years. Until I bought it in march of this year (2003) I had been using either the grand pianos at my location, or my Radio Shack MD-1160. Although the RS wasn't any good, I'm glad i had it to learn on. Having only 61 keys, and 8 note polyphony, It was bad. August of 2002 I decided that I needed to upgrade to 88/weighted keys. The Korg SP-200 was the first one that I saw. I believe I was attracted to it because of its simplistic design (no useless LEDs and confusing buttons to look at). Luckily I went home and did a little research and found the P80, as the SP-200 pales in comparison (in both sound, action and features). The only thing that the p80 is missing (which the korg had) is a wurly sound, I can get by with using soundfonts on my computer. I can spend hours at a time (usually late at night) just playing it, and not have to worry about waking everybody in my house up.

Software? For midi sequencing Cakewalk and for audio editing N-trak.
Presets sound better than most keyboards that I've tested.
It is rather cumbersome editing patches because the onboard screen does not display very much useful info. I wish the onboard display and control panels were setup with features like the Yamaha PSR 520 which was my first keyboard, but I did not buy the P80 for its synth features.
With the P80 you live or die by the manual, which I keep in a very safe place. You will definitely need the manual for setting the midi functions if you use midi.

The polyphony is fine except of course the number of voices to choose from are very limited.

THE ACTION IS WHERE IT IS AT! The action is really the reason that I bought this keyboard. My old Yamaha PSR 520 has good enough sounds for midi usage, but the P80 action is more similar to the grand piano that I used to mess with when I studied at the Conservatory of Music in Kansas City. I was NOT a piano major, but I do remember how tight the action on a real grand piano is. Also, my mom has a Yamaha upright that she has had for about 30 years that sounds and feels just like the P80. I love the action because I play smoother and steadier scale runs than on the PSR 520 or on the Roland RD 500.

The built in effects are limited to brighter/darker, reverb and touch sensitivity. To use the main effects is very easy -- dummy proof. This is a big plus because if my second keyboardist plays my keyboard, I'll have no problem getting it back to my preferred settings. The Roland RD500 that I've played onstage for the last year always gets set to some oddball setting by the other keyboardists.
As far as I know this keyboard has no expansion slots.
Keys send velocity to midi sequencer and foot pedal. I'm not aware of any other info that it sends.
Has a limited onboard sequencer that is easy to use. I believe that it is limited to one song on sequencer, which has to be deleted before recording another one.

Even though the built in effects and midi function are limited, I rated this category a 10 because the action is so good.

Music styles: good for classical, rock, and jazz. I don't think it has enough synth features for euro dance music.

Just as others have said, through headphones, the piano sounds will rival anything out there that I've heard. I too experienced some shrillness when directly patched into my home stereo system. I then patched into my Mackie mixing board and into a 600 watt Crown amp with 2 large concert-style speakers and found a lot different response. To get the best sound you have to use two 1/2 inch patch cables hard panned left and right on two separate channels. This optimizes the sound separation coming out in stereo. I also elevated the speakers about 3 feet off of the floor on speaker stands and got it up to 120-140 decibels to test for distortion. I could hear no distortion and the sound was very similar to what you get through the headphones. I believe it will voice very well for medium to large amplification settings.

Onboard effects are good, but limited.

It reacts very well to my playing, however the pedal does tend to cut off abruptly too often. I have two pedals that I've tried on it and get the same response. You can even make the low strings rattle when you pound it (which is pretty neat). The low end does get muddy if you don't watch it, but that is true to what a real piano will usually do.

Yes, I think you can depend on it. I did buy a nice Gator hard case with rollers for the road to protect my P80. I could always fall back on the old PSR520 standby, but it would be hard because it does not have full size 88 weighted keys like the P80.

I've only had the P80 for a couple months, but my PSR 520 is still going strong after about 7 years with minor midi connector problems due to too much plugging and unplugging.

Can't rate it for at least another year for reliability.

No support requests yet.

Yes, Id buy it again because of the superb action.
I've been playing for 11 years regularly.
Love the action, hate midi setup awkwardness.
Compared it to many other keyboards and could not find a more realistic feeling piano for the price.
Wish it had all the voices that the PSR 520 has and wish it had a more extensive onbaord control screen.
Definitely helps me make music.

Overall a good buy as long as you are looking for a realistic piano playing experience. Not the tool for a midi songwriter who needs lots of flexibility.

Very easy to use. Almost everything you need to use is connected straight to a button - no twiddling through menus. The manual does a good job of explaining everything, although you almost don't need it.

64 note polyphony, you have to work really hard to even tell there's a limit. Effects are easy to use, don't sound that great. I don't use them much. Has MIDI in / out, plus a "host" port to connect directly to a computer. No aftertouch. Sequencer ("recorder" is dead stupid, easy to use.

If you want to play a "real piano" for this price, this one is it.
The grand piano sounds great. Great response, lots of layers. The action is a bit heavy for those of who are used to electronic keyboards, but that's what it's for.
Sound depends a lot on speaker placement. With the internal speakers, the P120 and 200 sound good from the audience, but not so good from where you're playing. A lot of the "furniture" digitals aim the speakers at your legs, sound muddy to the player. You need to aim the speakers at your ears.
Strings and organ pretty good. Other acoustic pianos are good, I just don't use electric pianos and harpsichord.

Never seen anything made by Yamaha fail, ever.

However good they may be about building stuff, Yamaha doesn't "get" computers. Trying to find / download the computer driver for the host cable, had to look through several Web pages, finally got a bad description and a scary warning about the driver. Installed it anyway, works fine.

Definately a keeper. I'd buy another one right away. The Korg SP200 comes close, has lighter action, almost as good sound.

I bought this piano a few weeks ago and so far so good,I also bought a motif 6 now for more techno sounds ect.This piano is dead easy to use,great sounds and so far no problems with polyphony

Well this is a digital piano ,nothing more nothing less,has a great little sequencer though,I have not tried the MIDI functions yet.I had to get used to the keys as I found them a little heavy at first.

Very good sounds especially the Jazz piano and classic.On attack its not bad at all,I have been playing for 25 years now.

Robust,I have never giged with it so i canot comment here

n/a

I must admit,this is good value for what you pay,it is a hard piano to beat.I have been playing piano most of my life and have immigrated to a new country(my acoustic paino is still at home)so I bought the P80,and honestly I am satisfied with this product,and sometimes I forget I am actually playing a digital piano.I would buy it again if it were stolen.