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Yamaha P121 73 key


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Ha ha I'll answer my own question as I have just bought one.

 

- Transmits on both channels

- Channel can be changed, so Main = ch number, Split = Ch number +1

- both have independent volume control

- Smart Pianist app makes these adjustments a breeze and can be saved

 

Initial impressions:

- GHS action feels a lot better than the MOXF8 I used to own. The action is smooth and not too heavy or clunky. I think the keys have a better finish than the MOXF - less plastic feeling and less glossy. Caveat - I sold my MOXF 4 years ago so they might have improved the keybed.

- CF Piano is full and rich, sounds fab through the onboard speakers.

- 2 very good Harpsichords better than Nords offering IMHO

- Smart Pianist app is really good. Covers everything from tailoring the piano sound to adding songs from your library and then creating an editable chord chart. All settings, songs etc can be stored in a registration.

- iPad Audio! So I can now play Scarbee EPs from the Korg Module by just connecting a CCK and the audio comes out of the P121 internal speakers.

- Local off so I can drive 2 external units eg Module and Gemini, or use Smart Pianist to create combinations.

- 73 keys is perfect for me, the RD64 was just a bit limiting.

 

There's a lot more to this than just a cheap backup or rehearsal board. For a start its multimbral and seems to have a built in XG soundset TBC. It can also be switched to just receive on Main and Layer channels.

 

Hours of fun and it offers a lot for not much dosh (£429 in UK)

 

 

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The Gemini doesn't need an adapter as it includes both types of USB - so you can just use a standard USB cable into the type A socket. The Gemini is quite flexible as it also has 2 standard MIDI in sockets and a USB to host for connection to a computer. MIDI through would have been useful - but not a deal breaker.
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Huh, I forgot about this one. It's just as well, with no pitchbend, knobs or expression pedal support, it wouldn't make the best controller. But otherwise, loving the size/weight and quality features in a low priced board

Numa Piano X73 /// Kawai ES920 /// Casio CT-X5000 /// Yamaha EW425

Yamaha Melodica and Alto Recorder

QSC K8.2 // JBL Eon One Compact // Soundcore Motion Boom Plus 

Win10 laptop i7 8GB // iPad Pro 9.7" 32GB

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The Gemini doesn't need an adapter as it includes both types of USB - so you can just use a standard USB cable into the type A socket. The Gemini is quite flexible as it also has 2 standard MIDI in sockets and a USB to host for connection to a computer. MIDI through would have been useful - but not a deal breaker.

 

Sorry for repeating my question from earlier - does the Gemini have a protocol allowing this interaction that the Nord Stage 2 does not?

Yamaha P22 Upright / Nord Stage 2 SW73
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The Gemini doesn't need an adapter as it includes both types of USB - so you can just use a standard USB cable into the type A socket. The Gemini is quite flexible as it also has 2 standard MIDI in sockets and a USB to host for connection to a computer. MIDI through would have been useful - but not a deal breaker.

 

Sorry for repeating my question from earlier - does the Gemini have a protocol allowing this interaction that the Nord Stage 2 does not?

Nord Stage 2 does not allow you to directly connect a keyboard that lacks 5-pin MIDI connectors (i.e. has USB only). Almost no keyboard does. Korg Kronos is an exception.

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Had a chance over the weekend to check out the P121 at my favorite music store (quiet, lots of Yamaha and Roland). Sadly I seem to have misplaced my sheet of notes on the various boards, but here's what I noticed.

 

Keys: Honestly they felt cheap/low-quality and very plastic-ky. Not as nice as the MOXF GHS.

 

Internal Speakers: Same as above. Didn't sound that great, almost artificial. I'm sure the internal samples are good, I just don't care for how they melded the sounds with the rest of the keyboard.

 

Also, aside from the pianos, I notice that Yamaha seems to still be re-using the same old sounds as were in my CLP-130 from 2002. Strings, choirs, harpsichords, pipe organs, and electric pianos (the Rhodes might be a bit newer but the Wurlitzer, dx7, and bell synth are exactly the same). Electric organ's the same but without a rotor speed variation. Not that impressed honestly.

 

 

 

Definitely not for me. It's too bad as I've occasionally contemplated a smaller lightweight hammer-action board for small gigs.

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

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  • 6 months later...

I got me a P-121. I was looking for a reasonably lightweight, hammer action, 73-key keyboard to complement my Nord E5. I also wanted a lower board without much happening on top so that I could get the E5 very close to it. There aren"t many options, of course. At first I thought about getting just a controller to run the pianos on the E5 (which would have also saved me from getting a mixer). But then I realized that, if I"m schlepping around another board, it would be nice if it had some sounds of its own in case the E5 went down, and also enable me to use the E5 independently with splits or layers. Fortunately, when I tried out the P-121 in GC, the action felt quite nice -- and the board was pretty inexpensive to boot!

 

First, a few minor hardware quibbles: the P-121 uses a wall wart, it"s a little chubby, the included sustain pedal is not so good, the jacks in the back are recessed quite a bit and a little difficult to get to in some situations, and no 5-pin MIDI connectors. I initially thought the last one would be a show stopper, but with my new way of thinking, it"s not a problem.

 

Overall, I"m very happy with the keyboard. I like the action, especially for a board that"s only 22 lbs. I compared it to the PX-S1000 in GC (which, of course, had both boards at the same awkward height and angle). I found the action on both to be highly usable for my situation (blues and rock). Although, as others have also noted, with the PX-S1000 I found playing near the back of the keys (e.g., playing an EbM7 chord) to be a little awkward.

 

The 121 acoustic pianos sound very good, and the Rhodes is pretty good too. Fortunately, these are the voices I"ll be using most often. The Wurli has too much tremolo baked in for me. The B3 is not great, but I think would pass if necessary. The strings are good.

 

I can get the E5 very close (couple of inches) to the 121 and still be able to easily get my finger between them to switch settings. More importantly, though, connecting the 121 to my iPad and using the Smart Pianist app (free download) is even better. With the app I can change voices, make layers and splits, and save everything to call up in realtime. Unfortunately, though, even the app doesn"t provide much control over most sound parameters.

 

I think that ultimately I"ll take advantage of one of the board"s more interesting features: the 121 can send MIDI to the iPad and receive audio back. So, running the Korg Module should enable a much better sound palate that runs straight through the P-121. I think this combination will produce a great lower board.

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  • 3 months later...

I recently got a P-121 and just found this thread. This is a wonderful keyboard in it's own right, but also has a lot of features which simply are not well documented. Fortunately, Yamaha XG is very well documented, and the P-121 is an XG instrument.

 

I can confirm that works well as a controller for MainStage, including USB audio. Just turn off local control to disconnect the internal sound engine. I sold my standalone audio interface because now I don't need it!

 

If you need pitch bend or mod wheel, get a Korg MicroKey and daisy chain it (plug the Korg into the laptop and plug the P-121 into the Korg, which has 2-port USB hub).

 

If you need an expression pedal too, I can recommend the Logidy USB midi footswitch, which had an expression pedal jack (and 3 configurable footswitches, which are great for stepping through patches in MainStage). You can plug that into the Korg, or directly into the laptop.

 

Now the XG stuff:

 

The P-121 jazz organ has some tricks up its sleeve. First off you can toggle the rotary speaker speed with the left (una corda) pedal if you have Yamaha's triple pedal unit; this also toggles the rotor on the Vibraphone (this is all documented in the manual).

 

Unfortunately the Yamaha triple pedal only works with a permanent home setup. So I just wired up a cable. The triple pedal jack uses a standard 6 pin mini DIN cable. To activate the left pedal just requires shorting pins 4 and 5 (or 4 and 6, since pins 5 and 6 are internally connected). I can provide more details if necessary.

 

Even better, you can adjust any parameter for the rotary speaker by sending SysEx commands to the USB port (I use Midi Commander on Android). The midi reference for the P-515 has all the information.

 

As a simple example, tweeter acceleration (how long it takes to transition from slow to fast), can be modified (see table 4 in the P-515 midi reference for the available values). By default the jazz organ patch sets this value to 76. To set the acceleration to 50 (32hex), send this SysEx command:

 

F7 43 10 4C 03 01 20 32 F0

 

You can also increase or decrease the drive; higher values add some nice crunch to the sound.

 

I strongly suspect that you could use SysEx to do things like:

- turn off unwanted effects (e.g. tremolo on the Wurlitzer)

- add effects to any voice (e.g. chorus or phaser on the Rhodes.

 

All you need is to know what commands to use and have a way to send them.

 

 

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Just to further bludgeon the dead horse (who knows, maybe a manufacturer could read it! :D)...

 

no midi port, no sale. I'd be buying this not only as a home controller (usb) but as potentially a live controller to play sounds from my Nord (midi).

 

Same goes for the new casios. I see the lack of midi out, and it's off the list. Just an incredibly short-sighted move. Midi ports have been in gear since the early 80s, not like it takes any engineering and I doubt it costs very much. I guess I'm not the target audience, which sucks because I'd love a shorter controller with it's own sounds (for quick practice or as a backup if my Nord had issues). The hunt for the white whale that began with the RD-64 (hated the action) continues!

 

(and yes I'm being somewhat over-dramatic here...if I was dead-set on a shorter controller for my live rig I'd invest in some way to make it work. It's still annoying though!)

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Or use a Raspberry Pi. From what I can tell this does everything the Kenton can do, and a lot more.

Bottom line: with this, and a USB to midi adapter, you can effectively have standard midi ports.

 

DETAILS:

 

I had a Raspberry Pi 2 so I configured it as a USB MIDI host (instructions below).

 

Once the Pi is configured it runs in "read only" mode (so that you can just unplug from power when you are doing, instead of going through a formal "shutdown". It is, literally, plug and play:

1. Plug in the power to the Raspberry Pi. Give it a minute to finish booting.

2. Plug in your USB midi devices. The Raspberry Pi is configured to automatically recognizes USB MIDI devices.

3. Play

 

I plugged the P-121 into the Pi via USB, and then plugged each of the following USB MIDI devices into the Pi, one by one (ones I happen to have available):

 

1. Korg MicroKey controller. The keys, pitch bend, and mod wheel all controlled the P-121.

 

2. Yamaha CP88. Each keyboard controlled the other. So effectively you can connect MIDI instruments "USB to USB" - provided there is a USB MIDI host in between them.

 

3. ESI MidiMate eX. If you're not familiar, this is really nice USB to MIDI adaptor, with 2 braided cables ~6 feet long each with standard 5-pin MIDI plugs.

 

This is where it got interesting

 

Unlike most other such adaptors, the MidiMate somehow "autosenses" which plug is "MIDI in" and which plug is "MIDI out". They're just labeled "1" and "2". I plugged the MidiMate into the CP88, via its standard MIDI ports:

 

(a) when I plugged "1" into the CP88 midi in and "2" into the CP88 midi out, the P-121 controlled the CP88. Presumably this would also work with a Nord.

 

(b) when I plugged "2" into the CP88 midi in and "1" into the CP88 midi out, the CP88 controlled the P-121.

 

For the Raspberry Pi configuration I followed the instructions at https://neuma.studio/rpi-as-midi-host.html, except I used the corrected Ruby script at https://linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?t=19736. It took me about an hour to configure it from scratch.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 year later...

I have put more deails here

https://forums.musicplayer.com/topic/178876-gsi-vb3m-for-android/?do=findComment&comment=2911141
but the issue is:

 

- My Yamaha P121 transmits audio over USB, but when connecting and andoird device (I have made tests with 2 phones Samsung A52S 5G and Xiaomi Redmi 10S both running android 12), after some minutes (usually 5-10) audio stops

- I have tested VB3m and some other app (mini piano lite) but also issue happens even in simple music playing (spotify) via the phone and listening through piano's speakers

 

Note that I have adjusted screen on to 10 mins so nothing to do with this

 

I have no interruptions when connecting the piano with WIndows PC

 

Has anyone tested something similar with Yamaha P121 or any other Yamaha piano supporting USB Audio?
 

Yamaha P121
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