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Today's Bonus:
- Extensive Voice Selection and Dual Voice Function - The versatile P-85 also gives you a variety of other high-quality instrument Voices, including electric pianos, organs, strings and harpsichord plus a Dual Voice feature for playing two Voices at once.
- Record Your Performance - You can capture your own playing with the song recording feature, then play it back for studying or accompaniment. There's even a built-in metronome for practicing and recording in perfect time.
- Expressive Half-pedal Control - Features a half-pedal effect that gives you greater acoustic-like expressive control over the sound (with optional FC3 Foot Controller or LP-5 Pedal Unit).
- Matching Stand (optional) - The optional L-85 & L-85S stands provide stability and optimum sound projection for the instrument -- as well as a stylish appearance with matching finish.
- Three-pedal Pedal Unit (optional) - The optional LP-5 Pedal Unit gives you three pedals for the same kind of comprehensive sustain, sostenuto and soft control found on grand pianos
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When a master controller keyboard started to go flaky on me, I started looking for a replacement, and since I didn't REALLY need anything but a basic piano at this point (already having other keyboards that can serve this purpose), the focus was going to be on having 88 weighted keys, but being lightweight and portable. In the start of the 90s, stage pianos that remotely sounded like the real thing were becoming affordable, though hideously bulky and heavy. Let's just say they wouldn't fit in my car so easily, which leaves you reliant on the rest of the band for your transportation. End of the 90s, Korg was selling their 88 key Trinity keyboards, one of which I had the pleasure to lug around in my car for 10 years (it just barely fit!) but ultimately wore out because I couldn't get a case or even bag for it it was just too big. It still works but gets unpredictable when I move it, so I had to make the call, and buy a replacement.
I checked out some of the lower end piano models, Korg's P250, Roland RD700s, and Yamaha's P85 not only sounded much better, but was jaw-droppingly cheap. I find Roland's sound sweet but a bit muddy or saturated, the action was not bad. Korg's P250 sounds nice but I find their samples are compressed too much and the decay sounds unnaturally fast. Yamaha hit the sweet spot with their piano samples, granted there's only two sets of samples for piano, but they both sound absolutely brilliant (especially considering the cost of the keyboard). The expressiveness you get out of this instrument is amazing very careful attention to detail. (Compared to the 'honking' piano on the Korg Triton.) The key action is a bit heavier, I can see that I'll be doing scales for a month before I have the strength to really play that thing. That's ok, I'm still waiting for the stand anyways... Which brings me to :
(1) To incorporate built-in speakers, the bottom is not flat, it's basically a 'V'. It will not sit really stably in ANYTHING but the stand made for it. Handstands and other acrobatics are right out. So you basically are forced to buy the stand which sells for extra. Give me a break.
(2) There are no stage outs on this piano (if you want to use this piano in a band and hook it up to an amp and/or mixing board), you have to use the headphone jacks (!) VERY odd omission, instead of offering both analog and digital outs, Yamaha actually regresses and doesn't even have stage outs. Anyways, you have to get a cord that goes from stereo 1/4" (RTS) to two 1"4 jacks (very common cord BTW, your music store will have it), you can't just use a standard 1/4" jack because aspects of the piano signal are heavily panned and you get a weird phasey sound if you try to just take one side of the signal. And since it sticks out the front, you need a 1"4 right angle adapter to keep it out of harms way.
Apart from that, the piano sounds very crisp and convincing, some nice onboard effects to enhance this. But basically it's just a piano, not a workstation. Use it for one instrument at a time (you can layer the instruments but I couldn't find a single combination that sounded better than the individual instruments).
There are other sounds built into this, besides piano. There are two electric piano patches the first is a Fender Rhodes sound, with a DX-ey tinge to it, sounds beautifully full, if a bit tine-y. The second patch, kind of a Wurlitzer or (I guess) Yamaha CP type patch, is almost worth the price of the keyboard itself. Sounds very like Supertramp's keyboard sound, very expressive to play.
The organs are the worst of the samples. Honestly they couldn't find better organ patches than this, at least after the very high standard they established with the pianos? These sound like a circus calliope (E. Organ 1) and a bad Soundblaster pipe organ patch (E. Organ 2)! They are absolutely terrible, but if you really really need a calliope or pipe organ sound and not one of your instruments does that sound, you might use it.
The strings patch isn't bad, isn't noteworthy either. Definitely usable. I would have liked to be able to apply an (onboard) phaser effect to it for instance.
There are two harpsichord patches that are fairly high quality, better than the Korg Trinity's, anyways. Layering them sounds cheesy, but onboard compression might have helped. Workstations have me so spoiled...
The vibes patch is pretty good too, clear and bell-like. 'Tis purty.
All in all, this keyboard is an absolute steal at this price, once again the bar is raised in terms of quality and portability. You get bang-for-the-buck with this! It fits in the trunk of my car, just barely. Don't even have to put the back seats down! It loses 1/2 a star for the stand issue, the lack of even a proper set of analog outs, and the wretched organ samples.
Buy Yamaha P85 Digital Stage Piano (Black) Now
Pros:
1) Sounds like a Yamaha Grand Piano.
2) Touch/feels like a Yamaha Grand Piano
3) Considering the sound and the touch the price is unbelievable.
Cons:
1) It has 2 built-in speakers which leave a LOT to be desired. The guy at the music store handed me a pair of Yamaha headphones the difference in the sound quality was incredible.
2) He also recommended a Z stand for it which sells for 49 bucks. It is more stable that the standard X stand.
3) It comes with a really cheap sustain pedal. Amazon is showing a good option in the "Customers who bought this item also bought" M-Audio SP-2 US65010 $25 pedal.
4) And finally, I'm with the reviewer that said, "Where are my stage outs?" especially when you consider the quality of the onboard speakers.
I gave it 5 stars anyway, between the 2 of us it should get 4 1/2 stars.
Read Best Reviews of Yamaha P85 Digital Stage Piano (Black) Here
The Yamaha P-85 is well-designed digital piano with the full 88 keys at a price point that is hard to beat. 10 different voices are included, which can also be layered in many different ways (e.g., octave-shifted). The grand piano voices and the first electric organ are in stereo (and there are two stereo headphone jacks at the front of the device) and sound absolutely amazing. Multisampling is used, and the samples are blended expertly, so there isn't that jarring effect where suddenly a completely different sample is played when you hit a key a little harder, as I noticed on the Casio PX-320. Polyphony on the P-85 is sufficient that dropped notes should not be noticeable. Reverb can be added to the voices to simulate small rooms (or concert halls), and there is a built-in very basic MIDI recorder.
The P-85 looks very stylish and has a solid, well-made overall feel to it. Although the keys are weighted, the instrument is remarkably slim and lightweight. In fact, the instrument looks serious enough (in the black version) that many of the higher-priced Yamahas and Casios seem pretty toy-like next to it, with their little LCD screens and all.
I think the included sustain pedal is mainly a friendly gesture by Yamaha towards parents: You don't want a Christmas morning to go sour because Santa forgot to buy a pedal! In this regard Yamaha is much smarter than Casio, where some digital keyboards don't even include a power adaptor. Third party gear such as the M-Audio SP-2 Pedal goes very well with the Yamaha.
All in all, the Yamaha P-85 looks and sounds great, is a joy to play, and has all the basics for piano playing covered, as well as some advanced features like voice layering. The quality, convenience (headphone jacks, easy recordings), and price of the P-85 make it pretty hard to fathom why anyone would bother with the hassle of a real grand or upright piano anymore. But I suppose the flower vase has to go somewhere...
Want Yamaha P85 Digital Stage Piano (Black) Discount?
I purchased the P85 to learn the piano after stopping for 15 years. I picked the P85 because it was affordable, it would fit in an apartment with limited space, and it was the best sounding digital piano for the price. I've had the chance to try this piano against an upright acoustic and a grand piano, and while there are differences, it isn't difficult to transfer skills between them.
[+] good [-] bad [*] different than acoustic piano
THE SOUND
[+] Piano voices sound realistic. Each note is beautifully distinctive, and never goes out of tune
[+] Better with headphones. The richness of the notes is even better when listening through a good set of headphones
[-] Other voices are worthless. The recordings for the other instrument choices sound toy-like compared to the high quality of the piano recordings. It feels like you are playing with MIDIs when you use the other voices.
[-] Speakers lack power. The speakers are not good enough to reproduce the sounds of the original recordings.
[*] Max volume is softer than an acoustic piano. It is easy to get into the habit of hammering the P85 keys because the digital records will still sound good, and it never gets too loud. But when switching to an acoustic, the same banging will sound ugly.
[*] The sustain is shorter when holding the pedal. Since the digital notes don't interact with each other, you can continuously hold the pedal, and each new note you play can still be heard clearly. For acoustic pianos, the sustain is longer and the new notes jumble together with the previous notes creating a muddled wall of noise.
THE FEEL
[+] The keys have a nice weight to them which transfers almost exactly to the skills needed for an acoustic piano
[+] The size of the keys also transfers nicely to an acoustic piano
[-] The pedal is too small to use. Fortunately, better petals are available, and not expensive.
[*] The keys of the P85 were heavier than the upright acoustic I used, and similar to the grand piano. You will get stronger fingers playing the p85. I found I could play the upright better after spending some time with the P85, but that it took longer to transition back to the p85 after a few weeks with the acoustic.
THE FEATURES
[+] Ready to go. You can turn on the piano and start playing within a few seconds. There is no need to fiddle with setting as everything is optimally set as defaults.
[-] The metronome is one of the most annoying features of this piano. There is a left and right button which changes the speed of the metronome, but each time you press it, it seems to double the speed. So it is always too fast or too slow. And it has an extra bell that signifies the start of a bar in 4/4 time. In order to change the time signature or get a more precise speed, you need to hold down the metronome button and press a specific note on the keyboard. Which requires having the manual on you at all times. An extra button to control the time signature, and easier control over the metronome speed would have been ideal.
THE SETUP
[+] Lightweight. It is easy to pick up and move, and the small profile makes it less awkward to carry.
[+] Stable. It sits firmly on a z-stand, and I've never had a problem with it shifting while playing.
OVERALL
The P85 makes piano playing addictive because it sounds so good, but can lead to bad habits with how loud to play, and how long to hold the pedal. However the fundamentals of how to play transfer very well from the P85 to an acoustic piano. You can also play at any time of day or night without bothering others because of the headphones option. The P85 is a joy to play, and I highly recommend it.
This keyboard is a very good deal for the price!
Pros:
The touch is almost like a real piano. They feel like the keys on a piano and respond quickly when pressed. However, you can still slightly feel the mechanicalness when you carefully push down and observe. Most people won't notice though, so this is not a problem at all.
The sound is great overall! The sampled sound of the keyboard sounds real, too.
The keyboard easily connected via MIDI to my Mac (Leopard) and works smoothly with Garageband, which I use to compose.
The 50 preset songs (Liebestraum, Moonlight Sonata, Pathetique, Maple Leaf Rag, etc.) are also nice to listen to. They are some of the best interpreted pieces I have ever heard! It's like having a free CD that you can listen to!
The keyboard is pretty flexible, as you can change the amount of reverb/echo, change the touch sensitivity, and transpose what you play into another key. I use some of these features often they are really handy!
The model has all the basic features you probably need. A built in metronome, and a recording feature are included.
Cons:
Only ten instrument voices. I don't mind this but people who need more voices should consider another model.
The bass is a bit heavy compared to the treble. It may seem a bit louder and more noticeable than an actual acoustic piano.
The general sustain is a bit too short, both with and without pedal. I have the optional three-pedal unit, but the sustain is still too short. After awhile, I didn't notice, but once you sit in front of a real acoustic piano, you'll know the difference.
Overall, this is one of the best pianos you get get for the price. Once you have a good pair of speakers or earphones, this keyboard will sound very nice. However, if you are considering this as your primary instrument, I'd recommend an actual acoustic piano to this.
