Pls advice..Yamaha P90 or P120? (Digital Piano)

[buck]

Hi,

I just been for my grade 5 practical. 

I just started working. The thing is, I have been  finding it harder to practice in the day.  And usually at night (anywhere between 8pm-11pm) I cannot play without disturbing my folks at home and neighbours.

Been comtemplating getting a digital piano for night practice to complement my acoustic piano.  I saw a couple of Yamaha (P60/P90/P120) and Casio (Privia 100/300/400/500).  Tried Casio  but the touch response is really no good.  Yamaha seems a lot better.

P60 doesn't have 1/2 pedal, no metronome, tone generator is slightly older, less advanced.

So it's down to P90 and P120.  Frankly, I think P90 has stiffer touch and resembles my upright more.  The P120 seems softer.  I am not sure when the salesman told me this is close to a grand piano (Is this correct?).  Prices below (I live in Singapore):

P60 - S$1,785.00 (US$1,074)
P90 - S$2,094.75 (US$1,260)
P120 - S$2,514.75 (US$1,513)

Now really torned between the two.  Which one is a better one to get?

Pls advice.  Thanks!

[Floristan]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only difference between the P90 and the P120 are the external speakers in the P120 (I could be wrong!)  If you never plan on using external speakers, or plan to hook up your own anyway, the P90 would be the way to go.  The P120's external speakers are pretty poor quality, IMO.  I always use headphones.

I didn't notice a difference in the touch between the two.  Yamaha claims all these P series have the same graduated weight touch.  Being digital and electronic, it would surprise me greatly if there werre noticeable differences in a component the manufacturer claims is the same.

The P series keyboards are very good.  I like the half-pedaling feature a lot, which is one of the reasons I went with the P120.

[buck]

Hi Floristan,

Thank you for your reply.

The P90 also has 1/2 pedaling and (Yamaha's much touted) AWM dynamic stereo sampling.

Just wondering if there are any differences in these two feature as compared to the P120.  Esp. for the tone generator.  I once heard P120 has mostly stereo samples while P90 is mono samples.

Is that true?  Anyone help pls.. Thanks!

[fliszt]

tried a kawai? sounds great and respons is great and more polyphonic ( 96 on my MP4 ). But there isnt much difference between the P90 and P120. Just play and listen and then choose the one you like.

good luck

[leahcim]

Just wondering if there are any differences in these two feature as compared to the P120.  Esp. for the tone generator.  I once heard P120 has mostly stereo samples while P90 is mono samples.

They are the same bar a couple of things

Obviously one has speakers and the other doesn't The speakers on the P120 aren't bad for practice, and you'd probably have to pay more than the difference between the two to get significantly better amp/speakers, but both sound better through good headphones.

The action is the same [are you sure that you didn't have the hard / medium / soft button switched differently when you compared them? That obviously doesn't affect the physical aspects, but it does make a difference to how the action feels when you're playing]

The variation on the Grand Piano 1 voice on the P90 is a more mellow piano, whereas it's a brighter piano on the P120 - I quite liked it, especially since Yamaha pianos don't really need making more bright. [www.purgatorycreek.com has a sample of both in the shootout]

BTW, the P60 can do the 1/2 pedalling, but you need to buy the pedal because it comes with a flat switch pedal - but if your budget allows get the P90 or P120, they sound significantly better.

Your choice, but if I had a real piano to play loud, I'd save the money on the speakers and get the P90.

[jeremyjchilds]

What kind of piano do you have...

A lot of newer pianos can have aftermarket midi-systems put into them, for my piano (Seiler primus) it would have been (guessing here) 2K more. This is great because there is absolutely no comparison to an acoustic action...

I didn;t go with it because I already have a P60 that I controll my small TRITON (unweighted) with.

If you want portability, of course, go with the electronic, just make sure you still practice on the acoustic a lot.

[buck]

My acoustic piano is the Yamaha M108T.

I have a slight preference for P90, the touching feels more like my acoustic one.

Trouble is, they are out of stock for this model.  Guess I will have to wait, and have more time to consider in the meantime.

[JPRitchie]

Hi Buck,
      The price for the P120 is definitely too high by at least a couple of hundred dollars. In 1 min. I found a better price at zzounds.com, that's near what I paid for mine from a local Guitar Center (despite the name !).
      I don't know myself, but two things to check: 1)is the MIDI implementation the same? Most keyboards don't implement the full range of commands. 2) are there audio-out jacks ? These are needed for good recordings.
Regards,
Jim Ritchie
P.S. Also check polyphony - if you run multiple MIDI tracks simultaneously this might be limiting.
jpr

[gilad]

My acoustic piano is the Yamaha M108T.

I have a slight preference for P90, the touching feels more like my acoustic one.

Trouble is, they are out of stock for this model.  Guess I will have to wait, and have more time to consider in the meantime.

i totally also thought the p120 had a softer touch than the p90. it swayed me to get a p90 but i then got a clavinova but that is of no significance. the p90 is a nice keyboard and it costs less.

DONT buy in a hurry!
wait for what you want , or else you'll always wonder if you made the right decision.

[raffyplayspiano]

i bought a P120 for the same reason, and one of the kids i teach has a P90.  sure enough, i find the p90 stiffer...maybe too stiff for my tastes.  but if thats what you want, then you should get that one.  Good luck!

raffy

[beach]

I have a P120 and I like it.  It does have audio out jacks and it's so easy to record to a computer using the microphone jack...just make sure you turn off the boost on the advanced microphone properties or you'll get some bad distortion.  I think the P120 feels great and sounds great.  I also have an acoustic...now I don't like to play the digital much, but it's great for silent practice.  Gook luck.

[buck]

DONT buy in a hurry!
wait for what you want , or else you'll always wonder if you made the right decision.

Yeah, I know what you mean.  In fact, I played on both P90 and P120 for 30mins to 1hr.  Also went to 3 stores already.

What made me confused is the different info offered by the sales pple there.  Three different stores, 3 different versions of the specs.

Would prefer P90/P120 over P60 because of the sequencer (absent on P60).  Might be useful for playback purposes.  Yup, I also just found out that ALL P60/P90/P120/P250 can do 1/2 pedalling.  But must have the FC-4 pedal for best effects (another 50 bucks..) for P60 since not included.

I think P120 might cost more in where I live.  Still have to wait for stocks of P90 to come in before buying.

Meantime been trying to get home early to adjust my practice schedule.

[leahcim]

What made me confused is the different info offered by the sales pple there.  Three different stores, 3 different versions of the specs.

www.yamahasynth.com www.yamahaclavinova.com - have specs &c for all of them [although I've noticed mistakes] The user manuals are there too, which are probably more definitive.

I've got the P60 - but here in the UK the price difference with the discounted p90/p120 today makes it look relatively expensive - unless your budget is really stretched [plus there's the YDP113, which, afaict, is the old CLP110 and is exactly the same as the P60 w.r.t features / sound, has a metronome, a wooden stand, bigger amp/speakers and I think a better pedal, yet it's is usually priced cheaper than the P60, I guess it's not portable, but I bet most P60s spend their lives in one place anyway]

I went out last weekend to try the p90/p120 to see if it was worth selling the P60 and getting the P90 - the sound was certainly much better, and like you I like the idea of being able to record / playback - but the thing that stopped me was wondering whether, as they've fairly recently upgraded all the clavinovas with newer models, when (or if) they'll do the same to the P-series stage pianos I don't know how that has worked in the past....

[buck]

I went out last weekend to try the p90/p120 to see if it was worth selling the P60 and getting the P90 - the sound was certainly much better, and like you I like the idea of being able to record / playback - but the thing that stopped me was wondering whether, as they've fairly recently upgraded all the clavinovas with newer models, when (or if) they'll do the same to the P-series stage pianos I don't know how that has worked in the past....

I've got two versions of their sales brochure.. haha   One is more detailed than the other.

I'm not considering clavinovas, or whatever that they called it.  Seems too expensive for a digital piano, at that price I would rather buy an acoustic one, which then comes back to the point that what i really needed is a digital one for night practice.  Will still need my acoustic for practising the touching.

I think it would be safe to say that there are too minute differences to upgrade from P60 to either a P90 or P120.  Unless you really can hear the difference (P60 uses linear stereo sampling while P90/120 uses Dynamic Stereo Sampling?).

Would be better to save the $$.. IMO

[frederic.lu]

Hi Floristan,

Thank you for your reply.

The P90 also has 1/2 pedaling and (Yamaha's much touted) AWM dynamic stereo sampling.

Just wondering if there are any differences in these two feature as compared to the P120.  Esp. for the tone generator.  I once heard P120 has mostly stereo samples while P90 is mono samples.

Is that true?  Anyone help pls.. Thanks!

I don't think P-120 had 1/2 pedaling. I have tried P-120,P-130, P-150 & P-170. Only P-150 and P-170 have 1/2 pedaling.
Finally, I got P-150, since 1/2 pedaling is important to me.

[klavier920]

This is so useful information for me. U see, I'm heading off to grad school, and can't really afford a grand piano, let alone move it when I'm done with my degree. Here's a question for all you piano performance majors: Do you suggest for me to get a digital one, and practice on that once in a while when I'm too lazy to go to the campus, or is it worth it to go to school to practice on a real one, even if it's a dingy upright? I have a car, but I think I'm not gonna live close to campus. U know, cheaper rent!

[leahcim]

I have tried P-120,P-130, P-150 & P-170. Only P-150 and P-170 have 1/2 pedaling.

I think you're confusing the stage pianos [p120 etc] that were discussed with the furniture clavinovas [clp-120 et al] ?

Do you suggest for me to get a digital one, and practice on that once in a while when I'm too lazy to go to the campus

If you search there are threads discussing the digital v acoustic question.

A different way to look at it - what digital can you buy that'll make the drive less attractive [or imperative]? Everyone might give a different subjective answer, but a trip to a few stores to play a few should give you your answer.

I'm not a piano major, but if I could drive somewhere to play an acoustic I'd probably outlive the host's welcome with my presence before I reached apathy for the journey.

But having a piano [digital or acoustic] within walking distance of the bed, kettle and computer that you can play whenever you want sounds ideal just from a pragmatic pov.