Tag Archives: Yamaha P-225

Random weekend thoughts

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A bunch of crazy thoughts after the long holiday weekend…

Yamaha P-S500 price drop

The Yamaha P-S500 is a baby Clavinova Smart Piano (CSP) in the P-series portable digital piano line. The P-S500 has a greatly simplified front panel: ten touch-sensitive control buttons and a 2 line by 16-character display. [Hey, the 1990s called and want their display back!] This user interface parsimony simplifies the overall appearance of the instrument and makes space for the streaming (falling) light display above the keybed. The P-S500 has the CFX piano, of course, and the rather nice Bösendorfer — both enhanced by VRM

Like its CSP brethren, You need the Yamaha Smart Pianist app in order to dig deeper. Once you get below the surface, you’ll find auto-accompaniment and a slew of secondary voices taken from Yamaha’s mid-range arranger keyboards. The S500 voices are roughly equivalent to the PSR-SX600 arranger. Some people trash arrangers, but many of the arranger voices are taken from Motif XF! These voices are much better and cover a wider range of sounds than the recycled string, synth pad, choir, bass and vibraphone in much of the digital piano line. [My only beef with the P-515.]

Why mention any of this? September 1 and new price lists are out. Initially, the P-S500 was offered at $2,000 (MAP). Presto chango, and the new MAP price is $1,600 USD, same as the P-515.

At the new price, I think it’s worth considering as an alternative to the P-515. Unfortunately, the S500 has only the GHS action, losing the rather wonderful, P-515 NWX action. You also give up 5-pin MIDI. Worth a look if these things aren’t important to ya.

Hey, Yamaha!

Wanna sell more P-S500s? Put them in Music & Arts retail stores where people can find them. I have yet to see an P-S500 in the flesh…

While you’re at it, rename the “Smart Pianist Specifications” PDF to something meaningful to a customer. I installed Smart Pianist on my iPad to see see its tricks. Without Smart Pianist being connected to a compatible keyboard, I didn’t get clue one about what it can do. Open “Smart Pianist Specifications,” however, and I see the Smart Pianist features supported by each of the compatible keyboards — quite helpful to a prospective customer who wants to know what Smart Pianist can do.

Yamaha, do real people actually test your keybeds? I can’t imagine inflicting the GHC (P-225) keyboard on beginners. Stop being so secretive and get these things into the hands of real customers! The GHC needs to be fixed, now, before production ramps up. Try before buy, folks, as GHC is not merely an improved GHS.

Finger drum pads

The Yamaha FGDP Finger Drum Pads have dropped (finally). Thanks go to all of the sleuths who uncovered the FGDP trademark and so forth. The FGDP-30 and and FGDP-50 will advertise for $199 USD (USA MAP) and $299, respectively.

Yamaha FGDP-30 and FGDP-50: Recognize that trademark logo?

Yamaha, since the Montage M doesn’t have drum pads, did you test the FGDP-30 and FGDP-50 with Montage M? 🙂

Presence, absence.

I’m not the only person to notice the absence of Montage M leak stories on MusicRadar, Gearnews, and a few of the other big-name Web sites. Yet, there were the FGDPs big as life on MusicRadar this morning.

My guess? They all have Montage M review units and are under NDA. Expect Montage M reviews when the news embargo is lifted on announcement day.

Copyright © 2023 Paul J. Drongowski

Yamaha P-225 review: It’s not for me

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One of the drawbacks of playing high-end instruments is that it is hard to go back to entry- and mid-tier keyboards. Therefore, I’m going to use the Yamaha DGX-670 as my reference point in this review. Comparing the new Yamaha P-225 against DGX-670 is both fair and informative. Both instruments feature the CFX grand, both have VRM Lite and both sell for $750 USD (MAP). I’m going to focus on acoustic piano, electric piano and, to some extent, basic secondary sounds.

The big question in everyone’s mind is the new Grade Hammer Compact (GHC) keybed which helps make the P-225 slim and (lighter) weight. The DGX-670 has the well-known Yamaha Graded Hammer Standard (GHS) keybed. The GHC keys have a solid feel even though they are plastic through and through. No texturing.

The DGX-670 GHS is enjoyable to play. The P-225 GHC is not. In one word, its “work.” GHC has a springy resistance that is felt immediately. The one and only up-side is the ability express dynamics with more ease than the DGX-670 GHS. You can get some relief by increasing the volume slider or, perhaps, by changing the touch response.

My hands are 72 years old and somewhat arthritic. My hands hurt after playing the P-225 for one hour. I spent an hour with the DGX last Saturday with no ill-effect at all; It was downright fun to play it. Not so, the P-225.

Organ, strings and pads are difficult to play on GHC. Forget smooth organ-like playing gestures — GHC makes you dig in. I question whether I would want GHC for MIDI control as legato gestures would be labored.

If you’re buying on-line, please do not assume that GHC is a clone of GHS with a similar touch. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Try before buy. Do not buy a GHC-based keyboard on speculation! (Same goes for the Yamaha P-145 as it, too, has the GHC action.)

The CFX grand is the 225’s featured piano. I preferred the mellower sounding Ballad Grand variation. The front-firing speaker system does not do the CFX sound any favors. The 225 AP sounds thinner than the DGX-670. The DGX, with its upward firing woofer and tweeter, sounds richer than the 225. If you want better sound, expect to add external monitors to your P-225.

The P-225’s electric pianos are typically Yamaha. They are decent enough and do not offend. The string sounds — also typically Yamaha — do offend me and need a serious update. The Synth Pad voice is pleasant and usable. The pipe organs are OK and, like the strings, are Yamaha perennials.

Frankly, I would take DGX-670 over P-225. The sound system is better and the available secondary voices are numerous, varied and quite good. The DGX secondary voices are taken from Yamaha’s arranger series. The P-225 secondary voices are very limited in comparison. The P-225 wins only on portability (size and weight).

If you need a light-weight slab piano, I recommend trying the deprecated P-125 wide-by-side with the P-225. The P-125 is a decent sounding instrument and you may be able to buy one at a reduced price. I suspect that retailers have P-125 inventory to sell through.

Wish I could be more positive, but the P-225 is not for me.

Copyright © 2023 Paul J. Drongowski