Yamaha P71 88 Key Weighted Action Digital Piano + Sustain Pedal
Just a glance at the Yamaha P71 Digital Piano shows that it is geared towards the player who would like to progress to an acoustic piano in the future, or who doesn’t have the space required for an acoustic right now. This digital piano is well loved by those who play it, and is ideal for beginners and more advanced players alike, so let’s look at some of its features.
Sustain Pedal
In order to progress beyond beginner level, you will need a sustain pedal, but the Yamaha P71 includes this.
On an acoustic piano, the strings inside are normally ‘damped’ to clip the sound from each note short after the keys have been pressed. The damper pedal on an acoustic piano lifts the damper away from the strings, allowing the notes to continue until the strings naturally stop vibrating.
This effect is necessary to allow for sections of music to be played smoothly with a run together sound to the notes.
With a digital piano, the sustain pedal does the same job as the damper pedal on an acoustic. When pressed, notes will continue to ring out for longer, giving you the option to play more expressive music. There have been comments that the sustain pedal supplied, isn’t the best. One option is to read our article here on the best sustain pedals available.
Built In Metronome
The built in metronome will beat time for you to match any music you are playing. Choose from a range of tempos from 32 – 280 beats per minute. There’s no need to find or wind up a separate metronome.
88 Key Weighted Action Digital Piano
The Yamaha P71 has a full sized 88 key, 7 octave keyboard. Because of its clever design though, the whole instrument is much more compact than an acoustic instrument. The P71 measures 52 ¼” wide x 6 ⅛” high x 11 ½” deep and weighs just 25 lbs.
When it comes to playing, the P71 really does have an authentic acoustic piano feel. This is because of Yamaha’s fully weighted keys design. Combine this with their ‘Graded Hammer Standard’ system – which adjusts the keys weight from heavy at the low end to lighter at the high end – and you have a keyboard which ‘feels really close to real’ according to one happy owner.
If you intend to move on to an acoustic piano one day, or you will never have the space for one, this digital piano really is the right choice.
The P71 has 10 voices including a selection of Yamaha’s own best acoustic grand pianos. The Advanced Wave Memory sampling uses digital technology and left and right sound waveforms to reproduce the sounds in realistic stereo. Each key plays its own separate sample, not just the same pitch adjusted sound.
Owners of the P71 love its sound quality and volume range. If you want to practice silently, this piano includes a headphone port for your own headphones to attach. This model can play up to 64 keys at one time (64 key polyphony).
While this digital piano has less voices than the YPG-235, it still has plenty of clever features to allow you to stretch your creativity in performances. Dual mode invites you to play two sounds, for example, both piano and strings sounds together, adding a new dimension to your playing.
Hold down a single button and press the piano keys to change settings like voice, metronome tempo, and to play demos. This system gives the P71 a clean, uncluttered look and helps to keep things compact.
Finally, the included music rack will hold your sheet music or songbook steady in the perfect position while you play.
This is a great choice for beginners and more experienced players.
