Yamaha YPG Portable Grand Line Introduced
Replacing Yamaha’s older DGX line of portable keyboards is its new YPG line. In particular, three new keyboards from this new line have been announced – the YPG-225, YPG-525, and YPG-625.
Those who are familiar with Yamaha digital keyboards will know most of the features these new offerings have, but one particular feature Yamaha has been keen to highlight is its push-button “ultra-realistic” Portable Grand function. Presumably, this function will allow you to switch into a particular grand piano sound set with just a push of a button (yes, even I want to know what’s so special about this).
Anyway, let’s get to some of the specifics. The YPG-225 is the lowest-end of the three models, with only 76 keys, and is the updated version of the Yamaha DGX-203. It also contains far less features compared to its older brothers, such as the 88-key YPG-525 which comes with hgh resolution Live! Grand Piano stereo samples and a (relatively) large LCD display for lyrics and scores.
On the highest end of the scale is the YPG-625 – Yamaha’s first 88-key Graded Hammer System weighted action portable keyboard. Previously, Yamaha’s Graded Hammer System could only be found on its acoustic pianos.
Overall, besides the YPG-625, I do not see much improvement being brought to the table with this new line. If you already own a solid portable keyboard, there’s really no reason to rush to your nearest vendor for a Yamaha YPG.
September 23rd, 2006 at 1:10 am
Just bought the ypg 625, and very happy with it so far. Action feels great, sounds ok; only drawback is the 32 polyphony but haven’t had an issue with it yet when playing just the stereo voice (which I understand reduces polyphony down to 16).
December 2nd, 2006 at 5:40 am
Yamaha’s website lists 96 note polyphony.