Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Finally I Bought A P155

Well after much reading, searching, comparing, and playing I came to a decision and bought the Yamaha P155 from a local dealer. It was a used unit that was in good shape for a decent price. (details in the prices paid thread).

I also bought the custom Yamaha stand and it looks nice and makes the piano very solid (unlike the x-stand which rocked and rolled while I was testing it!). And, I bought a pair of Sennheiser headphones which are probably considered 'entry level' but were leagues ahead of my existing ones.

It came with a 90 day store warranty but I updated that to 1 year for a minimal fee.

First impressions: Well I spent most of last night tweaking the few parameters that you can and was very pleased with the sound. Nothing indepth just some simple tweaks which are enough so you don't get bored with one sound. My favorite part of this piano was the action though. It just feels so solid compared to everything else I've tried. It has just enough extras onboard that you can split the keyboard with 2 sounds or layer two sounds. It also has a built in song recorder and a metronome. The interface is so simple it is like a players dream. Even my 7 year old quickly figured out how to go from sound to sound, record himself and get playback. (I wonder if this will up his practice time!) The custom yamaha stand was expensive ($200) but it looks nicer than the metal stand and the piano is solid on there. I was hoping it would put the piano at a lower height though. I found that it is a couple of inches higher than my acoustic piano and so is too high for me. I will have to try a higher bench. I really hope I can get everything to the right playing height because it can get tiring fast. I hope I don't have to go to a metal stand. But I'll try another taller bench first.

For it's main purpose of a night time secondary practice piano I think this will fit the bill just right. Just for fun we will hook up the piano to our Ipad and laptop to try some of the software pianos and also fiddling with Garage Band and other similar types of software. Anybody's experience with any of this would be much appreciated. (not technical details per se but what software do you use, etc.)

So for now the search is over. I will likely be spending less time here as I do much 'foruming' after the kids go to bed. But now I can do more practicing! Yeah!

Congratulations! Sounds like you're going to thoroughly enjoy the P155. Good luck in your musical endeavors to both you and your son.

Glad you are loving it. P155 is a great piano to start in the DP world. Great price, and pretty simple. It sort of just works.

If you are interested in software pianos, I'd suggest starting out with either Garritan Basic, Vintage D, or Galaxy Steinway. Those are the cheap, good, well-rounded pianos that are available. They all have a great sound. Garritan Basic is technically behind the two others but it's also cheaper and a lot of people like it. If you aren't as worried about money and want the best, look to Ivory II (or their Italian or American Grand) or maybe the full Galaxy suite.

You can start off with software pianos by playing the PianoTeq or Pianissimo demos. Just remember that the different in sound quality between my first recommendations and them is large in my experience, so don't be turned off of software pianos if you are not initially impressed.

Thanks voxpops and gvfarns.

Gvfarns - you summed it up nicely the P155 just works. Nothing too exciting but everything about it just works nice and simple and sometimes that is a good thing! I thought I would start with those that offer demos and take it from there. I find I am not too picky in the sounds as long as I can tweak them a little bit (but I'm sure the more I play the more picky I will become!). I'll be interested to hear how they sound to the Yamaha piano sounds.

Congratulations, ZoeCalgary. I know you've been agonizing over this for a while now. I'm glad you found one you liked AND at a good price!

Congrats on your new piano, Zoe. I’m looking forward to listen to it in ABF

Congrats!

The P155 is a very nice instrument - possibly one of the best within this price range.

Best of luck with your practising!

Cheers,
James
x

Congrats! I'm still waiting to get my P-155, hoping some nice online deal will pop up somewhere, no luck so far.

I'm glad you found one for cheap.

Congratulations Zoe! The P155 is a nice and simple quality digital piano. You can do serious practicing on it. Enjoy!

PS. If you find the leisure, try and play some of the alternative tunings some time, e.g. tuning 6 or 7, with suitable base key for the literature you are playing. I would love it if I could retune my acoustic as easily as the P155!

Congrats! I've actually been shopping around and I was leaning towards the P155 - so I'm pleased you've had a good experience with the instrument. Hopefully I'll get one myself.

Also, Gvfarns makes some very solid recommendations.

Hi and thanks for the good wishes everybody! Today I played on both the acoustic and digital. They each feel very different but good in their own way.

I have been having fun layering and splitting my keyboard and using 2 different voices. (this to me is one of the big benefits of digitals exploring all they can do). Also I was working on dynamics for one piece and then got the idea to use a sound on the Dp that changes when you play harder so then I could be sure I was indeed changing from p to mf to forte. I always think I am changing dynamics but recordings and my teacher know better! So I could really tell how much speed/force I need to come into the keys to really change the dynamics. Then I switched back to the acoustic and low and behold there was some dynamics!

Having the digital will prove to be very interesting. I'm so glad I finally got something. I think I was driving myself crazy! But then again I was probably already there! LOL

Ps I didn't get the chance to try any software pianos yet!

Congratulations on your purchase. I have been leaning towards either the p155 or Kawai MP6 to use as a midi controller for my software piano (Garritan basic which I also recommend). I love the heavier feel of the p155 action. Happy practicing...

Hi providence, as many here will know the MP6 was my next favorite piano ( well at least on paper) I never got to try one and local dealers here were asking $2600 for it. Actually the main Kawai dealer has yet to give me a price!! Anyway in the end I was too Frustrated with local dealers and too worried about doing a large purchase like this from the Internet. I got a good price so that was a bonus! The CN33 I tried has the same action as the MP6 and it was nice and smooth. I liked it Alot but it was out of price range. The p155 is a different action. I don't know if it's heavy but it feels really solid and that's why I like it. Many dp's I tried had looser keys with more side to side play and I found it annoying. I am curious to try the software pianos it would be interesting to compare those to the various sounds in the dp's I've tried as well as the P155. Good luck in your decision

Congrats, Zoe! I got a P155 last month, same stand as you got, also for use as a secondary practice instrument. I agree that it just "felt" better than the other brands in the same price range. I still prefer my acoustic overall, but the P155 is exactly what I wanted for practice purposes. No more excuses for not practicing because "it's too late and the neighbours are trying to sleep"!

Thanks to all who posted recommendations for software pianos. I hope to investigate some of the demos in the coming months.

Pat in Regina.

I think I am going to pull the trigger also on the P155 after reading so many positive reviews on this forum. I have become used to playing software pianos so I would really only use the P155 for the action which I like very much. I understand what you mean about the solid feel. I think that with a very good pair of headphones and using Ivory II or Galaxy Vintage D with the P155 action you should be very happy (Not to take away from the internal sounds of the p155 which I like also). I am happy you like it and it helps me also make my purchase with more confidence.
Enjoy.......

Congratulations Zoe! That is a nice piano and easily the best in its price range. I hope you find a solution to the height problem.

Zoe, have you considered getting a bench with adjustable height? I got one because the bench for my acoustic is about an inch too low for comfort. If it hadn't been so expensive (I think I paid about $340, which is a lot for me), I'd have got another one for the P155, as I'm getting tired of lugging it up and down the stairs depending on which piano I want to play.

Thumper49- hi yes I have thought about an adjustable bench but wonder if it will put my whole body out of alignment? I have noticed my acoustic is lower than other ones I've tried I think so maybe I am just lucky about my acoustic. The keys and bench seem just right. I may try a different stand though if I can find one that goes low enough and isn't wobbly.

How are you enjoying your dp? I was trying to make sure the USB was working and it seems I have to save first to one of the on board song 1-3 and then save that to USB stick. Is this right? I thought I should be able to save directly to USB but that did not seem to work. I have read the manual and couldn't find anything about this. Any thoughts?

Maurus - hi and thanks. What special tunings would I use for what? I really like is the Barouque pieces and the Classical style pieces. So for instance what tunings should I use for these pieces I am learning?

- Fantasia in E Minor (Telemann)
- Minuet in D Minor (JS Bach)

- Sonatina in B Flat Major (Wesley)
- Sonatina in G Major (Clementi)

- the Wild Horseman (R Schumann)

Zoe, you're way ahead of me. I haven't done anything with the USB as I haven't felt the urge to record myself and then save the results to depress myself with at a later date. Although if I want to experiment with software pianos, I had better get busy and learn my way around those computer connections.

As I noted before, I still prefer my cheap econo-box acoustic, but I'm really liking the dp for late-night practice and technical exercises. And it's also just plain fun to get some idea of what those baroque pieces sound like on a harpsichord, or church organ, or whatever. It also comforts me to know that when the day comes when I have to move to an apartment with even more shared walls than I have in my townhouse, I will be able to play without anybody knowing I'm doing it. Although when that time comes, I'll probably upgrade to a top-of-the-line dp. I wonder what wonders will be available 20 years from now!