Yamaha P-85 Contemporary Digital Piano

Yamaha P-85 Contemporary Digital Piano

Date: 2010.07.06 | Category: Uncategorized | Tags: Contemporary,Digital,Piano,Yamaha
Yamaha P-85 Contemporary Digital Piano
- Extensive Voice Selection and Dual Voice Function – The versatile P-85 also gives you a variety of other high-quality instrument Voices.
- Record Your Performance – You can capture your own playing with the song recording feature, then play it back for studying or accompaniment.
- Expressive Half-pedal Control – Features a half-pedal effect that gives you greater acoustic-like expressive control over the sound
- Matching Stand (optional) – The optional L-85 & L-85S stands provide stability and optimum sound projection for the instrument.
- Three-pedal Pedal Unit (optional) – The optional LP-5 Pedal Unit gives you three pedals for the same kind of comprehensive sustain
- There’s even a built-in metronome for practicing and recording in perfect time.
Includes Yamaha P85 88 Key GHS Black Contemporary Digital Piano Owners Manual Quick Operation Guide AC Power Adapter Pedal FC5 Music Rest.

Rating: (out of 10 reviews)

List Price: $ 899.00

Price: $ 469.00

5 Responses to “Yamaha P-85 Contemporary Digital Piano”

Chris Cormier 10/07/06 09:07

Review by Chris Cormier for Yamaha P-85 Contemporary Digital Piano
Rating:
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, Rolands P250, Korgs P250, Roland RD700s, and Yamaha 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. 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.
Tritone 10/07/06 10:02

Review by Tritone for Yamaha P-85 Contemporary Digital Piano
Rating:
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.
Martin Doege 10/07/06 10:17

Review by Martin Doege for Yamaha P-85 Contemporary Digital Piano
Rating:
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…
Zoe Nest 10/07/06 10:24

Review by Zoe Nest for Yamaha P-85 Contemporary Digital Piano
Rating:
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.
Robert Ruddy 10/07/06 10:26

Review by Robert Ruddy for Yamaha P-85 Contemporary Digital Piano
Rating:
The good:

This piano looks and sounds beautiful! It has a nice slim, sleek design and is a lightweight at 26 pounds! I got what I wanted which is great piano sounds. I use the Piano 1 and Piano 2 sounds exclusively. The 64-note polyphony is fine for my needs and is an improvement over the P-60 and P-70 DPs from Yamaha. I like the feel of this keyboard, not as heavy as the Casio PX-320 (not a complaint by the way) but very much like an acoustic piano. Although I rarely use the feature, you can layer two sounds. I layer the grand piano sound with strings. It is also nice to be able to record a song in memory and play it back. Being able to hear yourself play is a valuable self-improvement tool. For what you are getting you can’t beat the price! Casio might be slightly cheaper but I opted for Yamaha because of the name and service reputation.

The not so good:

The on-board speakers leave a lot to be desired. Using headphones, the sound quality of the piano is amazing. I am considering purchasing a pair of quality speakers (Bose, Logitech or Panasonic) to hopefully bring out the beautiful sound of this instrument. The pedal supplied (FC-5) is the cheapest one Yamaha makes. I recommend the FC-4 sustain pedal which looks like a real piano pedal.

Due to the speaker design, which emits sound out of the top and the bottom of the piano you really do need the L85 stand, which I have ordered. Forget trying to balance it on an X-stand. Like two other reviewers have already said, it would have been nice to have stage outs. That being said, I can live with having to use the headphone outputs as my stage outs.

Recommendation:

This is great digital piano for those who are simply looking for good piano sounds in a lightweight case.