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Published on 10/17/14 at 05:2310/17/2014
Specifications are complete, I will not overdo it. 10 sounds not editable, but mixable pairs. The midi in and out, a connection to a single sustain pedal, another to the full three pedals pedals called LP-5 which reproduces the usual three pedals any traditional piano, a real plus in my opinion. Two headphone outputs (one wonders why ... one would have been enough), and alas still no LINE OUT these pianos as those of the NP range (I also NP-30).
7/10
UTILIZATION
10/17/2014
Touch is a treat. Almost a real heavy feel. When I return to my home studio keyboard of a friend died, I thought I had the version 88 keys of the NP-30 and full stop. Nay! 12 keys again, this is true, but a much better feel and expressiveness.
The manual is comprehensive (it seems to be a constant, Yamaha), and indispensable to go pick the necessary key combinations to access all settings of the beast. It is not impossible for me to do with the P-85 that I did with the NP-30, ie publish a tip on AF as a pdf to download and print on transparent glue on the keyboard itself, so as to have everything in view. This lack of original silkscreen is still regrettable from the brand with the tuning forks.
9/10 (largely thanks to heavy touch)
SOUNDS
10/17/2014
Again, surprise. The samples are not the ones I know about the NP-30. In both devices, it has (if only for acoustic and electric pianos) 8 different sounds ... I come to wonder if I will insist on the resale of the NP-30, given the interest of these two machines similar dimensions.
I find the sounds of acoustic piano P-85 richer and denser than those of the NP-30, which provides more open sound, clearer and stopovers.
The sonosrités electric pianos are much better on the P-85: We also assayed expression with greater ease, we get to influence the proportion of saturation of Rhodes when the notes and chords on plate, and this in so much more efficient than the NP-30 seems more on / off.
Harpsichords are funny, but far less successful than those that come out of my expander GEM RP-X (with damper noise and clatter of jacks).
Both organs are less cartoonish than the NP-30, but one must have the utilté (it could be my case).
The web of strings is less sour than the NP-30, more grainy in some way, especially in the lower register (where the sound violncelles and basses, for example).
The xylophone is easy to qualify, where the NP-30 is readily dull rumbles with bass that saturate to crush the mids and highs.
All these sounds in a mix are perfect illusion, and that's what I expected.
The heavy touch brings real added value to the instrument. The interpretation wins; I who started the organ keyboard with a 2 keyboards, and therefore am not a pure pianist, I realize that. That encourages them to calibrate their game, aiming thereby to improve.
The counterpart of this touch here is that it is less usable as master keyboard, for example for use with synth sounds or Hammond. The inertia of the keys is a drag, it's also why I wonder if the NP-30, proportionately lighter in touch, will really leave the home studio.
8/10
OVERALL OPINION
10/17/2014
I've had a month. There is a big choice in this emotional part since it was after the death of a friend that I decided to retrieve the piano. But these feelings do not blind my judgment as a musician, and I maintain that the P-85 is a major choice for those who want good renditions of piano sounds or electric pianos and a really true contact with the instrument departure. I could verify that the course which was the act of placing the NP-30 to a real upright piano was pretty steep, where the P-85 passing in the same upright piano seems a natural progression.
Its overall width is the same as the NP-30 but an octave higher (a real fail, from this point of view, the NP-30, I already wrote in the opinion that I asked on this model).
It has an extension in the form of optional triple pedal crank; I just bought it and it still outperforms more quality games that can be drawn from the piano, where the poor little sustain pedal is no longer illusion.
In stand-alone, without connecting it to an external system, quality amplification is not excellent, but already much better than the NP-30 (another fail Yamaha), so it does not feel like brakes to practice domestic volume.
Because this is an opportunity, I will not comment on the price they were selling the new piano at the time, but let's now around 300 € to 400 € for a model in excellent condition, it's still a great choice. The P-85 was the age, yes, but still a very good reference to which I always will turn if it's for the same budget.
8/10
Specifications are complete, I will not overdo it. 10 sounds not editable, but mixable pairs. The midi in and out, a connection to a single sustain pedal, another to the full three pedals pedals called LP-5 which reproduces the usual three pedals any traditional piano, a real plus in my opinion. Two headphone outputs (one wonders why ... one would have been enough), and alas still no LINE OUT these pianos as those of the NP range (I also NP-30).
7/10
UTILIZATION
10/17/2014
Touch is a treat. Almost a real heavy feel. When I return to my home studio keyboard of a friend died, I thought I had the version 88 keys of the NP-30 and full stop. Nay! 12 keys again, this is true, but a much better feel and expressiveness.
The manual is comprehensive (it seems to be a constant, Yamaha), and indispensable to go pick the necessary key combinations to access all settings of the beast. It is not impossible for me to do with the P-85 that I did with the NP-30, ie publish a tip on AF as a pdf to download and print on transparent glue on the keyboard itself, so as to have everything in view. This lack of original silkscreen is still regrettable from the brand with the tuning forks.
9/10 (largely thanks to heavy touch)
SOUNDS
10/17/2014
Again, surprise. The samples are not the ones I know about the NP-30. In both devices, it has (if only for acoustic and electric pianos) 8 different sounds ... I come to wonder if I will insist on the resale of the NP-30, given the interest of these two machines similar dimensions.
I find the sounds of acoustic piano P-85 richer and denser than those of the NP-30, which provides more open sound, clearer and stopovers.
The sonosrités electric pianos are much better on the P-85: We also assayed expression with greater ease, we get to influence the proportion of saturation of Rhodes when the notes and chords on plate, and this in so much more efficient than the NP-30 seems more on / off.
Harpsichords are funny, but far less successful than those that come out of my expander GEM RP-X (with damper noise and clatter of jacks).
Both organs are less cartoonish than the NP-30, but one must have the utilté (it could be my case).
The web of strings is less sour than the NP-30, more grainy in some way, especially in the lower register (where the sound violncelles and basses, for example).
The xylophone is easy to qualify, where the NP-30 is readily dull rumbles with bass that saturate to crush the mids and highs.
All these sounds in a mix are perfect illusion, and that's what I expected.
The heavy touch brings real added value to the instrument. The interpretation wins; I who started the organ keyboard with a 2 keyboards, and therefore am not a pure pianist, I realize that. That encourages them to calibrate their game, aiming thereby to improve.
The counterpart of this touch here is that it is less usable as master keyboard, for example for use with synth sounds or Hammond. The inertia of the keys is a drag, it's also why I wonder if the NP-30, proportionately lighter in touch, will really leave the home studio.
8/10
OVERALL OPINION
10/17/2014
I've had a month. There is a big choice in this emotional part since it was after the death of a friend that I decided to retrieve the piano. But these feelings do not blind my judgment as a musician, and I maintain that the P-85 is a major choice for those who want good renditions of piano sounds or electric pianos and a really true contact with the instrument departure. I could verify that the course which was the act of placing the NP-30 to a real upright piano was pretty steep, where the P-85 passing in the same upright piano seems a natural progression.
Its overall width is the same as the NP-30 but an octave higher (a real fail, from this point of view, the NP-30, I already wrote in the opinion that I asked on this model).
It has an extension in the form of optional triple pedal crank; I just bought it and it still outperforms more quality games that can be drawn from the piano, where the poor little sustain pedal is no longer illusion.
In stand-alone, without connecting it to an external system, quality amplification is not excellent, but already much better than the NP-30 (another fail Yamaha), so it does not feel like brakes to practice domestic volume.
Because this is an opportunity, I will not comment on the price they were selling the new piano at the time, but let's now around 300 € to 400 € for a model in excellent condition, it's still a great choice. The P-85 was the age, yes, but still a very good reference to which I always will turn if it's for the same budget.
8/10