Dark version of the Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata - 1st movement - Yamaha P155

[chessdude67]

Enjoyed this very much. Thumbs way up!

So, P-155 over the P95? Rookie, ready to start piano lessons. I want buy the best one for a beginner. I have someone who wants to sell me a 3 month old P-95 for $350.00 cash with a Pro stand? Any advice? Thanks,

Tim

[wizardgraphics]

@chessdude67 Thanks for your nice words. I appreciate it.

As for your question. You are looking at $350 vs $999 plus tax (unless you get the occasional 15% off deal that is BTW going on now online on some websites). That is a BIG price difference. IMHO does the big gap in your case justify the advantages of the P155 over the P95? Probably not. I had a couple of issues with the P95 I had that made me return it twice.........

[wizardgraphics]

@chessdude67 The first one had a key that was making a very noticeable and even loud mechanical click that made playing impossible without hearing and even feeling this click under my finger so I got it replaced. The second one had also a much less noticeable click on the very first key to the left. I was okay with that though. Then as I tried the P155, I appreciated the much better piano sound. Is it phenomenally better? Not that much really (you can hear both in my videos) but what I truly....

[wizardgraphics]

@chessdude67 But what I truly appreciated in the P155 were the following:

- The much much better keyed with the GH action vs the GHS in the P95.

- The 2 track recorder in the P155 for three on board user songs and 100 extra when you move these to USB.

- The USB stick functionality.

- The small display (yet small but useful for tempo, reverb and such).

- The split of the keyboard which is not possible in the P95. That is useful for playing Jazzy and blues tunes.

- Guitar sound.

- 2 Strings.

....

[wizardgraphics]

@chessdude67 On the other hand, the p155 has the following defects:

- Very expensive at $999. ($650 above your P95 offer that is almost 3x)

- Very heavy compared to the P95 which is not really light to start with.

- Although you can attach 2 pedals with the second one being programmable, you can't attach a classic piano three pedal unit like in the case with the P95.

- For the price, I would have appreciated some built in rhythms like in the Casio PX330 which is selling for around $650.........

[wizardgraphics]

@chessdude67 Final verdict:

For strictly learning and playing the Piano is the P95 a good choice?

For $350 >> Definitely yes.

Is the action (GHS) on the P95 acceptable?

A bit stiff but great really.

If I am worried about the action, is the action on the P155 really the best out there?

Although Yamaha's best (till P155 release), The keys are still plastic and they are not really like a real piano. Yamaha now released the Ivory like keys.......

[wizardgraphics]

@chessdude67

The best action I experienced so far are in Roland Pianos, they call that 'ivory feel' and it is really phenomenal although I didn't like the Piano sound sample itself.

At the end, you are the judge and I hope you enjoy the many hours you gonna spend learning the Piano as I did last year. It is really a great experience and a joy to have that skill in life.

[chessdude67]

@wizardgraphics WOW! Thank you for taking the time to help me with this. After reading through what you wrote, I'm going to take this deal for $350.00. If I stay with playing the piano for 6-9 months, I'll bump up to something very nice.

How long have you been playing? I'm very hard on my self, but I'm going to try very hard to enjoy the journey. :)

Thanks again for taking the time to help me. You're very kind.

Tim

[wizardgraphics]

@chessdude67 You are welcome, it is always my pleasure/passion to talk about music. I have always had a good musical ear and I always played by the ear as some would say. Until Jan of 2011 when I took on the task of teaching myself how to read music and play the Piano. I used some online available packages but really practice is the key. I dedicated myself to at least 15 minutes everyday and it paid off I guess! Enjoy your journey with music. You made the right choice about the P95 BTW.

[moretacos1]

What happened to your P95? Did you trade it in for the P155? Is the P155 the best DP with speakers?

[wizardgraphics]

@moretacos1 I returned The P95 and got a P155 instead. In my own experience, The P155 has a much better (4 layer) Piano sample that is more realistic and the Graded Hammer (GH) action is way better than the springy/clicky Graded Hammer Standard (GHS) action that is found in the P95. The P155 is a bit heavy and I do not think it is meant to be portable. It is very fast responding with an instant on experience. The 2 track recording ability is a nice feature. I like my P155 a lot

[deniz8000]

The score calls for "pianissimo" at the beginning of the piece. More attention, buddy!

[wizardgraphics]

@deniz8000 Thanks for the note. Sorry to disappoint you but I never read the sheet music for this piece. I just played it both by ear and I got help figuring the right notes from youcanplayit which is an awesome youtube channel. I know that I am a bit more heavy with this, it was just my dark interpretation of it rather than the usual original romantic version. Maybe I should label it improvised or dark! Thanks again, I appreciate it.

[MrBlackSiegfried]

It's a joke ? you're really serious ? OMG !!! you kill beethoven. Very bad, sorry.

[lovepiano69]

@MrBlackSiegfried I think, you need to first be able to make it better to be in a position to criticize someone's playing.

[wizardgraphics]

@lovepiano69 Thank you so much, I just saw this comment! That is so noble of you really. I highly appreciate it.

[MrBlackSiegfried]

Aucune émotion, c'est hallucinant ! c'est la première fois que j'entends cette sonate interprétée de cette façon. Vide. Dramatiquement vide.

Not emotion.

[wizardgraphics]

@MrBlackSiegfried Merci! I understand your comment and I thank you for your time to criticize my video. I appreciate it.

[magma9999]

I looked at your headphones, then looked at mine..and we have the same ! woot woot!

[wizardgraphics]

@magma9999 Cool, I have the Audio-Technica ATH-M30 model. I like these. Thanks for watching!

[magma9999]

@wizardgraphics And you play very well of course! A real musician like you are doesn't only play music, he feels it. sorry for bad english i've done the best i could XD

[AramisHornungMoraes]

Does P-95 sounds like it too? Or its because this video is HD?

[wizardgraphics]

@AramisHornungMoraes The P95 does not sound like a P155. The P155 has 4 layers of sound (with different touch strength I guess) like going Piano to forte. The P95 has only one layer of sampling so when you vary your dynamics you get more response and life form the P155 over the P95. If you do not think about the mechanism of how they differ from each other, you can just sense it. The real advantage over the P95 IMHO is the quality of the keypad. It is really good on the p155 vs Poor on the P95.

[HarmoniesContraires]

I like the way you play the bass. It's powerful. Many pianist, including me, play it softer and it's interesting to heard it differently.

[wizardgraphics]

@HarmoniesContraires Thank you so much for the complement, guess the harder the bass the more dark this piece become rather than romantic! Maybe it is just the way I view it. It is amazing how a slight change could change how you feel about a piece of music and that is why after 210 years the moonlight Sonata is still immortal. True genius. Thanks again, I remember your version and that was flawless, Also your other video the Schubert impromptu showed a very high skill level! Keep it up :-)

[profmedhatali]

Wow very nice congratulation

[wizardgraphics]

@profmedhatali Thanks a lot