Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Piano sound of the Yamaha P95

Hi,

I'm trying to re-learn myself how to play piano after not playing for almost 17 years. I got a Yamaha P95 around a week ago and have been playing it almost daily. I like the touch of the piano (although some more expensive ones felt even better in the shop). However now that I'm playing it at home I've noticed something in the piano sounds that I don't like.

It sounds as if there are strings playing in the background of at least the grand piano sounds. They are only audible when I play really silently or hold the piano keys down so that the sound dies away, but I can still clearly hear them. The strings are not as loud as when you purposefully overlay them on the piano sounds. The last time I checked inside a grand piano it did not have violin players inside it. I've tried to play with different settings but have not been able to find an issue with them. Most of the time I cannot hear them, but it still bothers me whenever I hear them.

Is this just the sound of the Yamaha P95 or is my particular piano somehow defective? I have to admit that being a digital piano I find it hard to believe that such a defect would exist. Can anyone else who owns the same kind of piano hear the same kind of sound?

-Pauli

There are many known shortcomings of onboard digital piano sounds. The P95 is fairly close to the entry level of these things, and in fact apparently only has a single sampled layer, which means it has been modified using some algorithm that changes its timbre with velocity. I can easily imagine that this algorithm would generate artifacts after you sustain a note for a long time. In general, long sustains are one of the things digital pianos get wrong most frequently. I can't speak to the particular problem because I don't own one, but to me, what I read here doesn't sound like anything outside the norm for this class of piano.

By the way, you could run a line from your headphone jack or something into the line-in port on your computer and actually give us an example of what it sounds like if you really want a diagnosis.

If you are picky about your sounds (I am), you can look into the possibility of connecting your DP to a computer and running a software piano as well. These sound wonderful after you go through the hassle of setting them up.

Hi,

here is the link to my post here (Sept. 2010) about the very same issue on my P85. You can even check the audio files and compare the sound.

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1520096/1.html

It came out this is enough common in P85s. Almost impossible to hear by speakers, but very easy to hear playing keys one by one, with headphones.
Don't know really if this is a "common issue" or a characteristic of those pianos. Initially I thought to take my DP to Yamaha assistance, but still I didn't.

A.

Hi,

First of all, thank you for your answers.

I tried to record the sound from my piano using a computer. Because of line noise (or some other source of noise) the "strings" on the background are not as audible as they are when I'm using headphones. But I still think you can hear them. You can listen to the sample here, if you want.

I tried out the same things as achat described (and had recorded) in the other thread and found out that my piano seems to behave the same. If I put the volume to zero, I can still here the "strings" when pressing the keys. When I raise the volume of the piano the volume of the "strings" does not actually increase but stays more or less same. So, if I maximize the volume, the actual piano sound is so loud that it masks the "strings" altogether.

I guess I am also picky about my sounds, so I bought yesterday a MIDI to USB cable for attaching the piano to a computer. I tried it with the Pianoteq Play trial version and it seemed to work nice. Are there any specific software pianos (preferably for Mac OS X) that you would suggest?

-Pauli

Yes, I'd recommend Galaxy Vintage D. It's all the rage right now and not too expensive. I use it almost exclusively. The regular Galaxy II package is pretty good (or perhaps just get the steinway or bosendorfer aka Vienna Grand).

Ivory II (and Ivory Italian Grand II) is probably even better but it costs a lot and you have to get an iLok.

Unfortunately I am not sure I hear what you are describing (partly because it is recorded at very low volume). The kinds of noises that I do hear sound typical for inexpensive digital pianos. Well, especially when reverb is turned on. Was yours?