Yamaha PLG150-PF

THIS ENTIRE REVIEW IS BASED SOLELY UPON MY EXPERIENCE WITH THIS BOARD IN AN S80, I HAVE NOT HAD ANY EXPERIENCE USING THE PLG150-PF WITH ANY OTHER KEYBOARD OR MODULE OR SYSTEM.

Ease of use...well, this has two parts...As soon as you get the board installed and figure out how to select voices and edit them it's a piece of cake...but actually instatlling the board itself and figuring out how to use it was for me personally very difficult...the installation is counterinuitive due to how Yamaha set it up, and nowhere in any of the documentation that I found anywhere did it tell me that the default Utility settings are different from that of the S80's for certain things, i.e. Reverb Send, etc. Once you spend a few hours with it though it's a breeze...

128 acoustic and electric piano patches and a few clavs, an additional 64 voices polyphony, and many built in effects.

See my overall rating.

Never heard of a PLG150 card failing!

Never had to deal with them.

I absolutely love the sounds on this board. They are my all time favorite sounding and playing acoustic piano and EP sounds...What I really like is that a few of the APs are in stretch tuning, and with an S80 and this board you can use 3 pedals simultaneously for soft sostenuto and sustain just like a real piano.

Easy to use with the interface of the host-synth (in my case a CS6x) or via the "easy editor" for XG-Works (which lacks many features though).

64 polyphony and nice effects. The reason to get this board is to increase the the power of your host-synth by adding polyphony and saving effect resources for other sounds in performance mode.

First of all: Don't get this board for classical piano voices. They are really disappointing! Even the preset grand in my CS6x sounds better. (Rather get a PLG 150-AP, a Kurzweil Micro Piano or some Roland module with a piano card).

I think the electric pianos (Clav, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, DX) sound pretty good (and that's the main reason I got the board for).

Who should be using this board? I got it for my CS6x, because it lacks piano samples (having the same synth engine as the S80, it doesn't have as many PF-elements in its ROM). I would call this board an S80-upgrade for the CS6x/r. Don't get it if you already own a S80, S90 or Motif (they have the same and better piano-sounds stored in their ROM).

One also shouldn't forget that one can make some fine sounds by editing the presets, that the board gives you extra polyphony for sequencing and that is saves you effect-resources for playing other sounds live (if you play more then one voice in performance-mode or if you layer different sounds).

I gig with it and therefore depend on it. The thing probably won't even be damaged if you drop the host-synth.

OK. But Yamaha, please make a more sophisticated software editor for it!

All in all it is ok, for what I use it for (mostly the E-Pianos for playing in a indie rock band). It's probably not that good for solo piano players...

Easy to use with the editor software or via the interface of the host-synth. The Funcions of the "Yamaha Easy-Editor" for XG-Works are very limited though.

64 polyphony and some nice onboard effects. Is good to save effect- and polyphony-resources using it in performance mode.

Classical piano sounds are very poor. Even the preset-grand in my CS6x is better. Do not get this board if you are looking for a good classical piano. Try the PLG 150-AP, a Kurzweil Micro Piano or some Roland module (which apparantely have very good pianos in them). With some editing you can make some nice pianos yourself. It is also useful to stack elements with piano sounds from the host-synth.

I personally like the electric pianos (Rhodes and Wurlitzer). I got the board mostly for these voices and to save effect resources of my CS6x. Ediding will bring enhance the sonic abilities.

Getting this board only makes sense if you own a host-synth or module like the CS6x/r, which is layed out for elecronic music and doesn't have many piano samples in it. Don't get the board if you have a S80, S90 or Motif. You will waste your money, cause they have equal or better piano sounds in their rom.

I gig with it and it doesn't seem to cause any problems.

They have a quite useful power-user-guide on the web. But please Yamaha, make an expert-editor for this board!

I dont know, if i would get a replacement. But as a plugin board it saves rackspace. The electric pianos are quite useful for the music I play (something like coldplay, muse, death cab for cutie...). Playing rock music of course also doesn't need the perfect classical concert grand. With editing you'll get some nice sounds out of the board, if you have the knowledge and the time.

10/5. Easy to install in my S80. Hard to program and use.

I've been using my S80 as my "Piano/Rhodes portion of my keyboard rig for years now and really dig the S80's "Herb Rhodes" and piano action for performing jazz and classic rock.

I plan on trying to figure out how to modify the 150's sounds through using my PC but not looking forward to it as Yamaha is notorious for having the most unfriendly manuals in the world.

Some of the piano sounds are nice. I use number 6 for jazz work. There is a nice rhodes patch called "Tea" that is great if you are looking for a replacement to the S80's "Herb Rhodes". Yamaha in their infinite wisdom left this patch off of the keyboards released after the S80.

To be honest the clav sounds do not compare to the ones on Roland "Keys of the 60's & 70'S" which I use on my XP-30.

This really is not a great enhancement to my S80, I still use it every gig. I'm planning on getting a Roland XV-5080 abd MIDI-ing it to my S80 for better piano sounds with their SRX piano card.

I already mentioned a couple of sounds and that's all that is really good on this card. There are some nice DX and CP samples if you need to cover any 80's songs. "FullTine" sounds just like the old DX-7 INT 09 patch and would be great for Chicago's "Hard Habit to Break"

No Problems yet.

I used to work for a music store so I cheat and call Yamaha's regional rep to help me out, so I get great customer service, but I don't know what everyone else has to put up with.

I also got this card, (and my S80) for free buy selling a bunch of them at the music store I worked for in KC. So aside from $237 in property taxes for my S80, I didn't pay S#!@ for it.

If this got destroyed, I would not miss it. I find that the "Dark Piano" patch comes close to the softer , jazz piano sound I need. (don't forget to reprogram the filters on this patch as Yamaha dropped the ball and only ngot the bottom half of the keyboard to respond to filter changes).

Well, I guess it's easy enough to use....

It's got effects, half decent polyphony and ok midi support

Oh dear, here we go.

Seriosuly, what the hell were Yamaha thinking off?
The sounds are AWFUL, the effects are AWFUL and overall it's just AWFUL.

I've played piano professionaly for many years, and have used a variety of both real and electronic pianos. I was really looking forward to this board. I currently use a large sampled library, but I wanted sometime a little easier to use/carry around.

Maybe it's the fashion of today, but I really thought cheap bontempi/casio quality sounds left us last millenium. Obviously not :P

To be fair, the board DOES have some 1/2 decent sounds, just not the pianos which I bought it for.

Very dissapointing.

Yamaha stuff usually lasts, no problems there.

I got rid of it, and have ended midiing to a Fanton X6 for my main piano tone. Not perfect, but light years ahead of the Yamaha board.

i am using cubase,,,
the presets sound so bad that a person who earns very less can go into depression for buying this piece of c@#p.
there should b no use o editing patches,,a person buys this for piano samples,
the manual is easy

it has built in effects,,,but why would u need that,,u have bought a piano expansion board,,u need real good piano samples

this is a real piece of s@#t,,,real piano players dont ever thonk of buying this piece od c@#p,,u r gonna waste ur money,,
i am a classical pianist,,and i bought the yamaha es8,,i thought the piano preset was not appealing,,so i got the expansion card,,and now i am sad ,,the patches in this card really sound like a cheap casio keyboard,,,yamaha u have made a piece of s@#t,,i hope the next card the plg-150ap should b good,,otherwise i am gettin a roland sound module with a piano expansion card,,,that thing is really awesome,,roland has the best piano sound on an electronic keyboard known to man

about relaibility ,,i dont know its jst been 3 days i had it,,and want to return it ,,,,people please dont buy it,,,its a real waste of money,,,this sounds really really bad

customer support was good when i bought it,,,now as i dont like it and want to return it,,,i dont know what the scene is gonna b.

if it was stolen,,,i would b happy,i would definitely get a motif rack ,,investing some more money.
i am a clasical pianist i have been playin since the age of 10,rt now i have a yamaha motif es8,,
i hate everything about it,,
the costomer support was bad at this point,,they would not let me put the card in my keyboard and chk..
i wish it had some good piano samples as it is a piano card,,
it dosent help me at all in any way,,,for my music i need reall good piano tones,,,

Easy to install. Just plug it in and reboot the ES.

Poly is 64 voices or 32 in stereo.
Effects are very weak.
It supports MIDI control via remote keyboard/sequencer.
Very WEAK AWFUL SOUNDS that are similar to those of a cheap Best Buy Casio keyboard... only not as good.

This product should be removed from the market. It sounds absolutely awful. Don't waste your money unless you are composing a music number that sounds like a Commodore SID chip on valium.

It will never break... which is a shame because it sounds better not being used.

The return policy is a joke at Yamaha. You buy it, you keep it. The local dealer will charge a fee to return it. If it was broken or DOA, they will replace it free.

If it were stolen, I'd send a 'get well' card to the theif.
I played it for 5 minutes and then reboxed it.. but Yamaha won't accept the return w/o a fee.
It sounds awful.
Better off getting a few CDs w/ samples and a CDROM drive.
A new Piano board is coming out called the PLG-PF150... it is supposed to be better. It won't be worse.

Very easy to install in a MOTIF ES8.
Difficult navigation of parameters.
Presets sound AWFUL!! The piano is better in a Casio electone than in this board. The ES8 piano is much better.

64 poly - Good.
Effects - Grainy and cheap behringer sounding.
2 boards = 128 voice poly
Midi capability = acceptable
no onboard sequencer.

The absolute WORST sounding acoustic piano ever.
OK electric pianos.
OK clavs.
Feel is average.
Envelopes are too long... resulting in grainy sounds.

I don't know --- I sold my card the day after I bought it.

Yamaha is a great company... but this board SUCKS!

Junk... get the analog or XG card --- they actually have better pianos!?!?!?

Presets sound useable mostly for layer rather than solo. Try patch #6-8 for solo work. The "Power Grand" is recycled even for the Motif/S-90. Editing is not needed. Manual is basic and simple it's fine.

Think of this board as 64 voice add on to the host keyboard. Simple tweeking on the PLG150-PF board (not just the host) is useful.

Mostly 2 layer/or velocity swithing.
Sounds good for Pop R&B or Rock,
Not so good for Classical or Jazz styles.
Rhodes, DX/FM, Wurly, Clavinet are all good.

I owned for around 2 years and is perfect.

Not good.

Some of the reviewers give very low points in this category. But I would like to remind the readers that this card holds the Yamaha P-150 sample! Just like the P50M Module. Copied from the stats:
P-150 : 8.7 (6 responses)
P50-M : 7.3 (9 responses)
P50M : 8.0 (3 responses)
PLG150-PF : 7.3 (6 responses)
So why these differences? It could not be the main piano Sample itself. But the keyboard the sample is in, or played with. Food for thought.