Yamaha ARIUS YDP-145 Digital Piano - Classic and Elegant Home Piano for Beginners and Hobbyists, in Black

Product Information

For customers in outlying areas of the country, the price of the Extended Warranty may be marginally higher, due to the potential for higher collection and redelivery transport costs. The new onboard technology corrects the sound balance according to the volume, ensuring a more natural sound is generated that’s gentle on your ears. This is also teamed up with their Stereophonic Optimizer– a truly amazing piece of technology. The 88-key, graded hammer-action keyboard perfectly captures the expression and control of a real grand piano, where the action shifts from heavier to lighter as you move up the keyboard. Modern features such as the Stereophonic Optimizer and Intelligent Acoustic Control allow for a perfect balance and sound at all volumes and whilst using headphones, whilst an external device connection allows you to expand the features of the piano using your smart device. We really like the YDP-S35 and what it does for its price, but we wish the piano had a better key action and better internal speaker system for more realistic piano sound reproduction. The organs are also decent, with the jazz organ feeling particularly rich thanks to its simulated rotary speaker. It’s just a shame that you can’t tweak the rotary speed.

The GH3 action takes that a step further and allows you to feel the weight of the key when it’s pressed a second time, before completely releasing the key. This means the repetition rate is much greater, so more demanding classical pieces can be played with ease.The Yamaha YDP145 digital piano replaced the massively popular YDP144 and they have made some great improvements to the sound, feel and features. The YDP145 has a nice responsive 88 key weighted graded hammer action that absorbs the player into the piano. You have 10 sounds to choose from and you can dual sounds together too! Available in different finished (all with a pull out key cover) it makes a lovely piece of furniture. Its compact size and value for money price point make it a great choice for many people. Highly respected by teachers and recommended all over the world, this piano is considered excellent for any one wishing to learn the piano or accomplished pianists too. I think this piano is great value and plays well. The optimum down-weight measurement on middle C of a good piano should be approx 50 to 60 grams and up to as high as approx 75 grams of force that it takes to push down the key. A key touch of about 90 grams is just way to stiff and just not comfortable to play at all, especially when playing softer and quieter passages in your music. The physical key action is sturdy and relatively quiet, but it’s just much too heavy. For that reason alone I do not recommend this YDP-S55 model. As you can guess from the smaller dimensions and weight, the YDP-S35 is more compact, though not by much. If the YDP-145’s design is analogous to a concert grand, the YDP-S35 instead feels more similar to an upright piano. The YDP-145 comes with a minimal set of connectivity options, but the essentials are there for those who need them. Traditionally, when you wear headphones, the sound can become overwhelming during long sessions, meaning you need to take off your headphones.

The YDP-145 has a range of useful features, including 128-note polyphony, dual mode, 50 internal songs, and a metronome for practice. It also has a USB port that enables MIDI recording, making it easier for players to create and share their music. Unlike the YDP-145, the YDP-S35 focuses instead on achieving a slim profile. This is once again, the same fundamental design of the prior YDP-S34. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Success

The Yamaha YDP-145’s touch response is a result of the Graded Hammer Standard (GHS) keyboard action, which emulates the feel of an acoustic piano. The keyboard features heavier touch in the low end and lighter touch in the high end, just like a grand piano. This realistic touch response provides players with an immersive experience that closely mimics playing on a traditional acoustic piano. In terms of sonic profile, I’d describe the CFX grand preset as being quite ‘airy’. Unlike the instruments from competing products, Yamaha’s instruments tend to use natural recordings with a sense of space courtesy of some room mics. It sounds great, even if you disengage the reverb effects. The default CFX grand preset, which was previously only available on Yamaha’s high-end Clavinova digital pianos, manages to capture the balanced bass and silky smooth highs of the original, nailing the original’s ability to fit into any genre, be it classical or contemporary. Here atMusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing, creating and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music gear related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our guides. In an acoustic piano, the way the cabinet, soundboard and strings resonate together when you play makes up a huge part of the behaviour and character of the instrument's sound. Virtual Resonance Modelling technology (VRM) is Yamaha's system for modelling this behaviour in their digital pianos, and as you'd expect, they've got it down to a very fine art indeed.

The CFX engine’s namesake comes from Yamaha’s CFX concert grand, specifically the 9’ CFX, which is well known for its clean and flexible sound.As a result, the Yamaha Smart Pianist App is a valuable addition to the Yamaha digital piano owners’ arsenal of tools, as it enhances the functionality and versatility of the instrument in general. Pros and Cons of the Yamaha YDP-145 The YDP-145 and the YDP-S35 both come with Yamaha’s Graded Hammer Standard ( GHS) key action, which is the same action found on their predecessors. Finally, there is the pedal port, which is where the soft/sostenuto/damper pedal setup gets connected.

The effect simply limits the maximum output volume to a predefined threshold, which will protect from ear damage due to overly loud amplitudes. One of the standout features of the Yamaha YDP-145 digital piano is its exceptional sound quality. It produces a rich and authentic sound that replicates the tonal qualities of a real acoustic piano. The instrument’s sound is well-balanced, with clear bass and treble response that is sure to impress even the most discerning pianists. Please note we are unable to offer 100% guarantee of next working day delivery. 99% of deliveries are made within that time, but there are situations where items may experience a delay. We are unable to offer compensation should this be the case. Dual mode is what we normally refer to as ‘Layer mode’, which allows users to layer two sounds such that they are triggered simultaneously on each keypress. With an 88-key piano action, the GHS (Graded Hammer Standard) keyboard reproduces the touch of an acoustic piano, from a naturally heavy feel in the lower key to a lighter touch in the upper octaves. The GHS keyboard provides a grand piano-style response and feel, allowing rapid note repetition and authentic expressive control. Moreover, there’s a half-damper feature that authentically replicates the damper action on a grand piano, providing rich expressive variation.Personally, I didn’t touch this setting during my playtest, as I struggled to hear any differences when this effect was turned on and off. Purists might want to turn this off.