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Hi,

I've read as many posts as I could find on the p250. I've read at least one person thought that the additional sampling features of the p250 significantly improved the p250's piano sound over the p120.

I'm wondering, is there any significant difference in keyboard action between the two?

The yamaha warranty technician who fixed my p250 (not a major problem, just a loose screw causing a small buzz in one speaker) the other day said that the actions are all the same for the current yamaha digital pianos. You can read more about this on harmony-central.com and musicplayer.com bulletin boards.

The p250 and p120 actions are the same, but the p120 connects to the sound perfectly and the p250 connects to the sound kinda rough and not smoothly.

Regards,
p120Man

Regardless of what you read here, you should definitely try both if possible. I think the P250 uses similar samples as the P90 (they both came out about the same time), but give them a try with earphones.

I was content with the price tag of the P120, and got that.

BS.

Gotta love those objective contributions from p120boy

On Saturday I spent an hour with each (alternating) of the P250 and P120 at a local music store.

Although I am notoriously cheap, I'm purchasing the P250. I would've liked to try the P90, but I kinda fell in love with the P250's interface and was quickly (even though I've only played acoustic pianos before) getting into layering tracks, so maybe the added polyphony will come in handy.

I didn't like the P120's piano sound nearly as much. Sorry...

I'm not a great pianist, but the P250 sounded much better (though the Grand Piano 1 was far better than the Grand Piano 2).

I also played with the Roland FP-5, but I preferred the slightly heavier touch of the Yamahas.

I own a P250 (as well as a GranTouch 1 and a Clavinova). The P120man (aka p120dUdE) can find no flaws whatsoever with the P120. He is probably a teenager and I know for a fact (his own admission) that he has never made one cent in music. He has been banished from at least one forum http://www.musicplayer.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=18 and has also found himself in disagreement with Mike Martin - a top Yamaha guy in the US who also posts at the aforementioned forum. My point? Take his advice with a grain of salt.

I have played many hours on my P250, directly and also via my GranTouch midied up to it. The sound is not 'rough' and the interface between the keyboard and the actual sound leaves nothing IMO to be desired. I did find that I had to add reverb to almost all of the default settings. In this instance, the Roland RD700 has a better idea - a reverb knob that works globally. The electric piano sounds (Rhodes) are superior in the P250 compared to the P120. I have spent about 20 minutes playing the P120 and when it was introduced it probably was one of the best keyboards. It seems to have been marketed as a home piano and not a professional stage piano (my opinion).

Having said that, the P250 has an _excellent_ piano sample - possibly the best in a stage piano. (I read somewhere - I don't remember where, that the P250 has 22 megs dedicated to the GrandPiano 1 voice ... don't quote me on that.)

At any rate, I am a professional pianist (for what that's worth) and the P250 is worth the price. If you are looking for a piano for home use (student, a second keyboard to own), the P120 would be fine.

I do _not_ know for a fact that the action of both keyboards is the same. I have opened my P250 to take a look around ... and also tightened up just about every screw that was _not_ holding down a printed circuit. To open up the P250, crawl underneath and remove six or seven of the larger screws you see around the edge. (I opened up my P250 two or three times - it's a piece of cake to open. The lid will need to rest against a wall as it is hinged and I wouldn't trust the tension on the wires from the main board to the printed circuit boards on the lid in a 180 degree opening.)

The P250 has a 16 track sequencer and the P120 has two (I believe). The sequencer is not perfect - I've found one flaw in the OS and passed it on to Yamaha. The sequencer would be easier to work with using your computer instead of going through the P250 interface. I use the sequencer for just creating bass and drum lines to practice in a 'trio' setting. I simply play a bass line against a high hat on two and four.

If you have more questions you might find more action (no pun) in the forum I mentioned.

One more thing to pass on, this comes from Yamaha's web site ... And to give the P250 an even more richly detailed sound, note off samples, string resonance samples and sound board samples simulate the acoustic interaction between different notes. [end]

While that sounds like a great idea (and I suppose it is), if it were not mentioned I would never have been aware of it in actual playing. My GranTouch 1 does not have that feature and I never noticed its absence; had I not read the literature from Yamaha I would not have known of its existence. Icing on the cake, a selling point perhaps, but in actual playing, I rather doubt anyone would 'hear' it.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dave Horne:
The P250 has a 16 track sequencer and the P120 has two (I believe). /QUOTE]

If this area is a concern, it seems important to note that the P120 "sequencer" is pretty much only a practice recorder. All you can do with the recorded data is listen to it, because the P120 recorded data cannot be sent to the MIDI port. Page 29 of the P120 manual mentions this limitation. The P90 is the same, page 30.

I dont know about the P250, but its manual appears to describe a way to send the recorded data to the MIDI port.

Or one could externally record the original playing via MIDI.

Also, I think the p120 recorded data goes away when you turn it off. The p250 can store many songs in it's memory even when the power is off. I have around 50 in mine now and I think the memory is around 1/3 full.

You can transfer midi song files to and from the p250 using a computer.