Yamaha P90 Digital Piano Review

Overall Rating

Weighted keys, full size keyboard, extra sounds good quality (Rhodes piano great).

The 'hammer off' sound on piano is annoying on quiet passages. Editing process for effects, midi setup, etc., not intuitive or easy to use - I have to refer to the manual every time! Midi implementation isn't good, either, onboard sounds aren't triggered correctly/automatically so it's not a lot of use for a midi computer setup, and onboard sequencer doesn't output midi.

On/off button is a little small and awkward to reach, hidden among the leads on the left side, limits set up position if you want to avoid leads trailing across to mixing desk and plug socket.

Yamaha P90 Digital Piano - This keyboard is a joy to play, weighted to feel very like a real piano - but it hasn't got quite the perfect sampled piano sound I was hoping for!

There are two acoustic piano sounds onboard, as well as electric piano, church organ, jazz organ, strings, choir, upright bass, and electric bass. Each sound also has a variation. The electric piano sounds are very good and useable (the 'supertramp' piano sound is my favourite)! There is also clavichord, whose 'variation' is harpsichord, and vibes, variation nylon guitar. Quality of all sounds is very good, as you'd expect; the upright bass variation has a cymbal added, which is nice for jazzy walking basslines. The keyboard sounds can be layered in dual mode, or split. There are three sensitivities of 'touch' - hard, medium or soft, as well as fixed (to get a soft tone, set the touch to 'hard'!)

The keyboard comes with a good quality pedal and handy music stand that is removable. There is a 12-volt adaptor rather than straight 'kettle' power lead. It's matt black, with a rough finish (which means you can't dust it!) The keyboard is long and narrow, (7 octaves plus, 87 notes) and lighter than many (no onboard speakers.) It has 50 preset songs to demonstrate the different voices which means you can sit and be entertained for half an hour when you get it home! For connections it has midi in and out sockets, plus a 'to host' ouput for connecting directly to computer, (which I havn't used). The midi implementation is not good using the midi in/out connections - the correct sounds don't trigger automatically on playback so I don't recommend it for anyone wanting to use the onboard sounds together in midi arrangements. It's more geared for home or live performance.

There is an onboard metronome and two-track sequencer, but it doesn't output midi information - just a notepad really, more useful for practising than writing. (There's no way of altering the volume of each track independently on playback, or of loooping what you've recorded.) You can switch off one part (right or left hand) of the demo songs, though, and practise playing along with them, though, which could be useful.

There are phono outs as well as 1/4" jack outs, and two headphone outputs.

The only quick editing of sounds is via a 'brilliance' slider, all other editing, changing effects, etc., is a little tedious and requires remembering two button presses and meaningless numbers, so I find I have to have the manual next to me! This maybe a drawback for live playing.

All the leads come out of the left side of the keyboard, which limits placement of the keyboard if you want to avoid leads trailing across the room at home. The on/off button is too small, and not easy to feel - it's behind the output leads when you're sitting at the keyboard.

One gripe about the otherwise excellent piano sound. When I listened through good quality headphones, I noticed an extra 'note off' sample, supposedly the sound of hammers leaving the strings, but particularly on Piano 1 it's a bit scratchy for some slow, quiet passages. The Yamaha team seem to have gone one step too far with their efforts to create realism in the piano sound - I don't thing it adds anything. More appropriate for the clavichord than the piano sound! If only there was the option of turning this part off I'd be very happy! I find I'm returning to my synth piano sound again for the kind of slow and gentle music I like to play to relax me.

So for me, it's not quite the perfect digital piano I was hoping for. For most styles of playing, though, it's great!

Members' Comments oncreativejani's Review

• surendran on 15th Jun 2005

  shouldn't that be 88 and not 87 keys?