I play classical, blues and jazz-style. I use the P90 with a Roland KC-60 keyboard amp and/or Sennheiser headphones. I play for myself at home, but hope in time to form an informal group or band. The sound quality (by far the best with the earphones) is more than adequate for the first grand piano voice. For the second grand piano voice, sharper and best suited for pop or blues, there is a problem that other reviewers have reported, a ringing when a tone is sustained that sounds more electronic than real. I am not terribly bothered by this, but it is a deficit. The ability to half-pedal is a nice extra, though it might have been nice to provide a second pedal jack for an extra "soft" or "sustenuto" (sustain one note at a time) pedal. But I can't say this bothers me very much. The other voices don't concern me nearly as much; they are fun but, for me, not serious musically. People who want many voices, drum machine effects and so forth should buy a keyboard and not even consider a P90, which is primarily an electronic piano. One extra voice I do use regularly is acoustic base with a "split" keyboard so that I can play a "walking bass" along with piano blues. Now and then the jazz organ voice is nice for me. The others--church organ, , guitar, choir, etc.--are for me just toys. Honestly, what kind of serious music are you going to play with a sampled choir singing "ah" or a buzzy-sounding synthetic piano?

Includes sustain pedal, music stand. As others have noted, it is a deficit that it does not have a built-in MIDI interface. The "to host" port for hooking up directly to a PC without a MIDI interface is a less-than-honest feature, because Yamaha has discontinued the special cable required. I only use a computer hookup for composing piano music (writing to a score with the piano keyboard), so for me the purchase of a $40 "UNO" interface, which is little more than a MIDI cable set with a plastic bulge, solved the issue. It plugs into my laptop's USB port, and that is that. Depending on your point of view, it may or may not be a deficit that the P90 has no onboard speakers. You need to buy another model for that. You can record your performance on one or two tracks, which can be useful for evaluating your performance or for creating a four-handed piece by playing and recording along with yourself on the second track. But working the play-record buttons can be tricky; it takes getting used to. It might have been nice to include a stand; one should be aware that if you do not have a keyboard stand you need to shell out more money (sixty bucks or so for a basic stage stand). This instrument does not allow the addition of more voices via a disk or other method. I couldn't care less, but some people would and should be aware of this.

I agree with the other reviewers who feel that the P90 is built like a tank. It seems very solid. I've only played it about a month, but I play every day and as of yet it has not crossed my mind to worry about breakage. I'm not a pro but will be taking the instrument various places, and with a gig bag I am sure that it would be a great road instrument, which is what it is designed for.

This piano is great for its price. If you are willing to live with its deficits, none of which for me are very onerous, it is a bargain.

Handsome looking, but since I am used to the look of the beautiful Steinway Model M I had to give up due to a move, I can't say I "lust" after its looks! Maybe it's my age (52). A younger guy's hormones might respond more, I suppose. It annoys me that the Yamaha logo is painted on in giant letters. I am tempted to paint over it, or ask Yamaha for a fee for serving as a billboard for them.

Amateur pianist and composer, conga and African drum player with music theory training.

Classical, blues, jazz (as best I can) and, on occasion, a little Latin.

Piano sound quality is superb. Other instruments are also of high sound quality.

Doesn't have very instruments, but the feel and sound of the piano make up for that. There also needs to be more pedal inputs.

Not hard to use at all, very straightforward.

It's built like a tank like must upper end Yamahas. I've only had it for three months but I know it will last a long time. I owned a lot of yamaha equipment over the years and have never had a problem.

For what you get in that price range is excellent compared to other manufactures

I have never had to deal with customer support.

It is a sleek black and looks good with my K2661.

Active Musician

Rock/Contemporary Christian

I replaced a Roland RD-600 with the P90. The main grand piano sound is very expressive - when you play lightly the sound is very dulcet - medium is pleasant enough but there is always a higher level. I used to strain my hands sometimes trying to drive the RD-600 more (get another level of intensity) on the P90 this is not a problem. String resonance and half pedalling work very well (IMO). My other piano is a Steinway A - and I find the P90 very inspiring to play. Love the harpsichord as well.

Keyboard body is solid enough - could use non-slip surface on the bottom to hold it on a stand better.

seems to be ok so far. Some people complain about the wall wart power supply - that line seems a bit flimsy.

Very happy with the value.

no input yet.

slab pianos just aren't very sexy....

Jazz

Grand Piano 1 and EP 2 (classic Rhodes) are outstanding. The rest is mediocre - who'd be stupid enough to play "guitar" on an electric piano?!?!

Straight-forward & easy to use - push buttons! No gimmicks, no sound editing, just a great grand piano sound. Suits me just fine!

Solid except for the flimsy plastic partition holder.

Unless you buy a trailer & hire a tuner for the "real thing": there is simply no better sounding grand piano rompler at such a good price on the market today (Roland, Korg, Ketron, Kawaii et all) - period.

Not required - yet?

Got it already

Classical & Jazz / Fusion

The sound quality is good for Grand Piano1 the GP2 and most of the voices are mono samples. The feeling of the keys is quite good but still not as good as a real hammered piano. I bought it because of the portability, to play I use a real piano. This piano is very good as a digital piano, it has a good piano sound, usefull features like transpose, reording, etc. For now I use it with a good pair of Senhneiser headphones. Some voices are quite poor in presence and realism.

The minimum for a product like this is given in the package. The sustain pedal is one of the best I ever seen.

It look heavy, but it isn't. Solid construction, well built, no mistakes here.

I think it is a fair price for an item like this.

So far I never needed any assistance.

Well, I assume it is not the most atractive I've seen. A low profile instrument, you wan't look crazy? buy a big synth. This is a piano, only needs to have all the 88 keys, pedal and real sound. The rest is marketing.

classic

i never felt better playing an electric piano and feeling very close of the real thing. it responce and attack is awesome

well im just interested in the piano sound and the 1st piano with the variation on it produces a slight muted sound ,thats siuts so much my liking

till now i have no remarks its stands well on the stand and average weight to carry around.... the case is too much expensive to buy but i ended up getting one too as it site very safe into it

well the price is ok . as i just want to real life like piano at a reasonable cost

none till now

i got it and am happy ............... i tried thje great rd700 roland which is an amazing indtrument .but not the piano .sorry roland . for piano sound yamaha is for me

pro jazz and pop musician

jazz pop and recording

The sounds are great, esp. the pianos, the B-3, the Fender Rhodes (though a couple more Rhodes sounds would've been good), the Wurlie, the harpsichord, vibes--all excellent. (Clavi is OK.) The problem for me is, ironically, one of the things that attracted me in the first place--the action. I liked the grand piano-like action at first, but playing long gigs, my hands get weary and achy and I find myself wanting a lighter action. Also, after just a bit over a year, I'm already having problems with a couple of sticky/temperamental keys. I'm wanting to find a keyboard with sounds just as strong, but with a lighter, yet still responsive action.

I wish they'd lose the crappy EP sounds and just give us more Rhodes & Wurlie sounds.

Well made, but a few probs with the action.

active musician

funky jazz

In this weird and akward look, don't be fooled, lies the strenght of a good and respectable piano concert. Keys are weighted and more on the lower end, lovely! Plays well by its own speakers if in a moderate room, but need external P.A. to potentialize its power. In this price range, speakers sound too much middle oriented for sound comes under the board. In a table sound much better. Pity it doesn't come with sliders or screen to view things internally. Possibly could be out of tune if the manual is not well understood. Incredibly weighs in the lower end, almost a lighter keyboard. But for the price is totally worthwhile! The voices are welcome additions, as the reverb control and 64-poliphony.

Good pedal is a must, screen and Midi 2 usual sliders would be useful, 128-note poliphony would be interesting, more sounds would be a good choice.

Dangerous to modify tune or other parameters in live action if owner's manual is not well read. Great sounds, piano is simply fantastic. Again, lack of screen disturb sometimes.

Sturdy, keys strong to resist to the player, good weight to carry around, including gigs. Good central main keyboard.

Yes, this product is worthwhile in price in comparison to others.

No experiences with company, hasn't brake till the moment, a new addiction at the moment.

Akward and stetically weird, unlike other products, need a refurbish in look from factory, maybe. Practically is a well addition to my existing setup.

Active Keyboardist, Choir regent, organist, arranger

Alternative, Instrumental, Jazz, Latin, Classical

I bought this to upgrade one of my two p80's. Mistake! It isn't as good. Whoever sampled this must have a tin ear for not hearing the dampened, tinny sounds in the octave above middle C. Shame on you, Yamaha; unless you did it on purpose for some reason; in which case, shame on you! Reading some of the comments below has given me an idea of how to ameliorate the problem. Thanks ZZounds! This low rating is only in comparison to what the p90 might have been.

Well, I bought this to use what turns out to be a defective feature (the main piano sound)so 95% of the time its feature set is irrelevant. It does have a nice "choir" setting that I've use for Christmas music. P80's have other accessory sounds. The best things are that it's cheap,light weight and has a decent feel to the key action (but not as good as a Roland RD-700, my main squeeze).

Mechanically, these are wonderful things but Yamaha needs to do better at utilizing a few musicians to listen to its products before releasing them. Engineers are NO GOOD at this!! These instruments will keep doing what they do for a long time.

Not as good as a p80 because of the digital sample. Or perhaps it is a perfect sample of a defective piano.

When contacted, Yamaha didn't acknowledge my inquiry, but what could they do? It would probably be cheaper for them to junk the whole thing. It they resample and do a new circuit board, I'm willing to buy one (I'm an electonics tech as well a musician).

I give it a 2 because of the choir sample.

performing musician. I play solo 4 times per week.

pop, jazz, classical

"Yamaha graded hammer" is the best system, the same experimented on P200 and others.

active musician

rock - pop

Spending some time playing on P90 I had to realise some marginally harsher overtones. The B0-A0-Gis0 tones of No1. (GrandPiano) sound are like a Casio Toypiano or worse and the tones H2-C3-Cis3, H4-C4-Cis4, E4-F4-Fis4 Forte and Mezzoforte Samples (PP samples not) have an obnoxious metallic ringing soundeffect. It sounds like a double timbre. This effect is apparently audible and embarassing on earphone, and most noticeable while playing sustained and loud with tone set to bright, but it can also be heard if set to mellow.

Built like a tank.

The annoying thing is that I lost interest in playing the piano with No.1 Grandpiano. In every other way it is a great instrument, the other sounds, the action of keyboard are excellent, but I buyed it for the sound of Grandpiano.

The Serviceman of Yamaha acknowledges receipt of this problem, because I believed this is a failure, but he declared, holding with salesman, this is a Yamaha-feature, and demonstrated, this effects are the same on P120, CLP-130, what are true. Yamaha support -global or local- didn't respond to my emails to eliminate this problem or to advise something.

Yamaha? - No, thanks

Classical, Jazz, Funky

Amazingly people hear different things but my bottom line is this. I am a song writing musician by trade and I gig about 3 times a week. I've done studio works with some of the bigger names in the industry. I use a P90 in studio and always on gigs. I make my living in music. After live gigs people always comment on the rich sounding piano. Don't buy the crap about this not being used by pro musicians. There is a long list of people using the P90 on stage live.

It's a stage piano not a workstation. As a stage piano it delivers.

No secret Yamaha has a great track record. Important distinction here, not my opinion, a fact. All the people blowing smoke out their a$$ about unreliability, newsflash. Companies keep track of returns, defects, and reconditioned units. Yamaha ranks #1 according to Anderson-Hunter affiliated with ASCAP.

Worth every penny.

Never had to deal with them. Web support is outstanding for information and assistance.

This is a great digital piano for both studio and live gigs. Has true poplyphony capability which others can't claim. For what it is, you can't go wrong.

Pro Musician

rock, country, hip pop, easy listening and jazz

For the people who complain about the ringing on the upper keys and such... have any of you ever played a real piano? This is what real pianos sound like, sorry to break it to you. This thing sounds JUST like a grand piano, in every way... maybe you're used to playing digital instruments too much... but real pianos have that same ringing in the upper notes (they are not damped like the other keys). Also, the grand piano sounds incredible in stereo... and not nearly as good in mono, so keep that in mind. The other sounds are just... eh... I'd expect more for this price, but the grand piano 1 sound is amazing. The rhodes sound is usable, but could use work, organs are kinda decent, and the rest of the sounds I really don't like.

The included sustain pedal is top notch. My only minor complaint, is all the inputs/outputs are on the side instead of the back. But, this really isn't a big deal, and is better in some ways if you're playing on stage. The two track recording is pretty useful, glad it's there. The weighted keys are among the best I have ever felt on a digital piano.

Like all yamaha products, the quality is excellent.

Personally, for the quality of piano sounds you get, with the great feel, I think it is an excellent value... you just can't get a better digital piano in this price range.

I think it's pretty sexy, I love my P90 to death.

Current hobbyist, former musician

Classical, Jazz, Rock

For the people who complain about the ringing on the upper keys and such... have any of you ever played a real piano? This is what real pianos sound like, sorry to break it to you. This thing sounds JUST like a grand piano, in every way... maybe you're used to playing digital instruments too much... but real pianos have that same ringing in the upper notes (they are not damped like the other keys). Also, the grand piano sounds incredible in stereo... and not nearly as good in mono, so keep that in mind. The other sounds are just... eh... I'd expect more for this price, but the grand piano 1 sound is amazing. The rhodes sound is usable, but could use work, organs are kinda decent, and the rest of the sounds I really don't like.

The included sustain pedal is top notch. My only minor complaint, is all the inputs/outputs are on the side instead of the back. But, this really isn't a big deal, and is better in some ways if you're playing on stage. The two track recording is pretty useful, glad it's there. The weighted keys are among the best I have ever felt on a digital piano.

Like all yamaha products, the quality is excellent.

Personally, for the quality of piano sounds you get, with the great feel, I think it is an excellent value... you just can't get a better digital piano in this price range.

I think it's pretty sexy, I love my P90 to death.

Current hobbyist, former musician

Classical, Jazz, Rock

For the people who complain about the ringing on the upper keys and such... have any of you ever played a real piano? This is what real pianos sound like, sorry to break it to you. This thing sounds JUST like a grand piano, in every way... maybe you're used to playing digital instruments too much... but real pianos have that same ringing in the upper notes (they are not damped like the other keys). Also, the grand piano sounds incredible in stereo... and not nearly as good in mono, so keep that in mind. The other sounds are just... eh... I'd expect more for this price, but the grand piano 1 sound is amazing. The rhodes sound is usable, but could use work, organs are kinda decent, and the rest of the sounds I really don't like.

The included sustain pedal is top notch. My only minor complaint, is all the inputs/outputs are on the side instead of the back. But, this really isn't a big deal, and is better in some ways if you're playing on stage. The two track recording is pretty useful, glad it's there. The weighted keys are among the best I have ever felt on a digital piano.

Like all yamaha products, the quality is excellent.

Personally, for the quality of piano sounds you get, with the great feel, I think it is an excellent value... you just can't get a better digital piano in this price range.

I think it's pretty sexy, I love my P90 to death.

Current hobbyist, former musician

Classical, Jazz, Rock