Yamaha P95 & Yamaha P85 – Sound And Portability Rolled Into One

The Yamaha P95 is a solid digital piano and would be suitable for many in the market wishing to purchase a digital piano. Targeted toward the amateur to mid level professional, the P95 is a good overall digital piano suited for both beginners and more advanced players alike. The Yamaha P95 is in fact, the updated model of the Yamaha P85, with the main differences being a higher sound quality and some different voices. The P95 offers an upgrade in sound quality and offers better speakers compared to the P85.

Both pianos in the series feature the Graded Hammer Standard key touch offered by Yamaha. Full weighted hammer action keys are available and feature a graded response. A graded response is necessary in order to simulate the feel of a real piano. Hammers at the low end of an acoustic piano are bigger at the low end than at the high end, because the strings are thicker at the low end. This gives the keys at the low end much more weight and require more force to be pressed. Yamaha's graded hammer standard approximates this phenomenon by providing grater resistance to notes at the bottom end of the piano compared to those at the top end.

The Yamaha P95 is a full size digital piano with full 88 keys, so that any piece in a pianist's repertoire can be played. Although having the full 88 keys, and having a fully weighted action, the piano only weighs a manageable 25 pounds.
4 different velocity layers have also been included on every note. Each note on the piano has been sampled 4 times, at different volume levels. Based on how hard a key is struck, a different sample is played back to accurately simulate what would happen on an acoustic piano. The velocity at which each sample is played, can also be altered in the settings of the piano. In this way, players with different technique can get the sound out of the piano that is right for them.

Both the P85 and the P95 offer 10 voices. However the actual voices between the two are slightly different. The P85 offers the following sounds - 2 types of grand, 2 types of electric piano, 2 pipe organs, 2 harpsichords, strings and vibes. Yamaha's newer offering, the P95 offers a slightly different set. The P95 offerings include: 2 grands, 2 electric pianos, a pipe organ, a jazz organ, harpsichord strings, choir and a vibraphone. The addition of the choir and jazz organ sounds being the most notable difference in the new model.

Also included with the piano are 50 demo songs. Each voice has included demo songs, but the far majority of them feature the grand piano voice. Great names such as Chopin, Bach, Mozart and Beethoven are featured in the variety of demo pieces included.
4 reverb effects and a chorus effect are included with configurable settings. Also included is a dual mode which allows the layering of two sounds together. Two headphone ports are also included, which -although not designed for - can be used with an external powered amp. A midi port for input into midi workstations is included along with a standard 1/4 inch jack to plug in a sustain pedal.

Overall, the Yamaha P-95 and Yamaha P-85 contain all the features that the casual pianist would want whilst being portable enough to take anywhere. The sound quality, touch response and overall look of the piano make it a good contender with other digital pianos in its price range.

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