Yamaha P515

[Jazz+]

What"s the opinion on this model?

[Mark_OA]

It's a great instrument, great action and ditto piano sound. I was going back and forth between it and the MP11SE and went for the latter, because the key action was more to my taste. Your student won't regret using the P515.

[Mighty Motif Max]

I'm not sure what the equivalent Kawai model would be...

 

I've played the P515 for about fifteen minutes in a quiet music store using the built-in speakers. I'm not a fan of the NWX action, as I feel it's a little slow and soft. Soundwise it was very good for pianos, not very good for anything else (mostly recycled Yamaha clavinova sounds from twenty years ago). A Kawai ES8 is more expensive, but would be my suggestion. That has a much better action, comparable pianos, and I think a slightly-better assortment of other sounds.

 

FYI that action is also on the CP88, and they feel almost identical.

[drawback]

I had the same experience and feelings about it as MMM above. The pianos are superb bearing in mind a Yamaha is a Yamaha is a Yamaha so that's the sound you're gonna get, and they keep getting better at that, IMO. Everything else sounds the same as years ago. Nice sounding speakers, action is less flubby than the CP4 (but still too heavy for my taste).

[Nathanael_I]

My thoughts in a different thread are here.

 

I own a P515, which is on my composing desk as the main keyboard. The Nord Grand (and its Kawai action) is my preference, but is in the live rig. It is not as good a form-factor for my desk. I do, strangely, also like the built in speakers. Sometimes, when some other sound is up in the DAW, I just raise the fader on the speakers, and I can play piano quickly.

 

The only thing I haven't mentioned elsewhere in other threads is that the edges of the P515 keys are sharper than the Kawai or my RX-7 acoustic grand. The Nord Grand are rounded over and smooth like butter. The P515 are "crisp". I don't prefer that. The P515 is heavily damped, and much quieter than the Nord Grand, but this makes the action feel heavier and sluggish. Both are capable of expressive, nuanced playing. I do prefer the Nord Grand. I do not like Fatar actions if that is helpful to know my biases. I can be happy on either the Kawai or Yamaha actions. I prefer to play other samples with either than what is inside. The P515 sample is better than any of the Nord samples. The sampling has real pianissimo samples. The Nord piano library pianos start at mp and don't have pp or p samples. This may or may not matter. Playing the Synchron Steinway with the surround speakers on and everything at acoustic volume level is quite satisfying. Not selling the RX-7. But its the samples and amplification that keep the slab pianos from much greater success. The raw keyboard mechanisms on these triple sensor keyboards are quite good.

[Mark Schmieder]

The P515 supports triple pedals, and the CP4 and CP88 don't, correct?

[pianomike]

I have the P 515 , The action to me seems light , fast and easy to play , The CFX Grand sound is nice clean and precise but I find the sound of the notes are not as rich and detailed as my RD 2000 Stage Grand V piano sound . It is easier to play than the RD 2000 . My Kawai MP 11 has a more proper piano action and fuller sound . The P515 is a great piano just different in some ways than my Kawai ,which is my favorite and the Roland which you have to work at harder to get a more detailed sound ,but you will get a nicer sound from the Roland when you do , just my opinion .

[pawelsz]

It's strange reading when one person desribes same NWX action as light and fast, the other person as sluggish and heavy For me it is: fast (very good repetition for such design), heavy but soft and very responsive when combined with internal sound module The only flaw, there are better actions for pianissimo or piano pianissimo playing. NWX has something like initial friction/resistance which you have to overcome to push key down. It is noticeable for the lightest key presses only. I use this action with Soft 1 touch curve, works well for me.

 

Just my two cents

[16251]

INWX has something like initial friction/resistance which you have to overcome to push key down. It is noticeable for the lightest key presses only.

 

Totally agree.

 

[Charleston]

Is there internal EQ on the P515? If so, has anyone used it to tame the brightness?

 

[pianomike]

If there is any eq it would be in the function setting , it has some type of standard eq which you can turn on and off but when I looked I could not find a real eq section , to take away the brightness I have to lower the lid which in turn takes away some of depth of the sound , not sure if a mixer would help , wished they would of added regular eq .

[Mark Schmieder]

So this is a pretty new model, from November 2019, which explains why I was so oblivious to its ramped-up feature set compared to previous models designed for stage, as I wasn't really paying much heed to new portables for the past few years due to thinking I'd need to go to console models to get adequate sound and keybed action.

 

I spent a lot of time researching this model tonight, watching tutorials, and listening to audio/video demos, and intend to go to the Walnut Creek Yamaha dealer ASAP to refamiliarize myself with NWX action, as this keyboard now appears to be my most likely candidate as something not too heavy but nevertheless realistic, for occasional gigs, home jam sessions, and composing and practicing.

 

It is quite likely that I will have a Steinway Grand in the house at some point in the not-too-distant future, but a lot of that depends on whether my father's arthritis is too far advanced for him to play anymore, now that my mother has died (a couple of weeks ago). The Mason & Hamlin deservedly goes to my younger sister, who is a far better pianist than I'll ever be. I'm not going to presume any time frame at this point, but it simply means that I would not be wise to spend $5K or more on a console digital grand; especially as such DP's aren't portable or practical for gigs either.

 

The price of the P-515 is shockingly low, all things considered, even once adding the stand, tri-pedals, etc. I would normally expect such a DP to cost at least $2500.

[pawelsz]

In case somebody wonders how P-515 looks also from the bottom, here are some pretty fine photos, from every side.

 

https://reverb.com/item/18280019-yamaha-p-515b-digital-piano-88-key-natural-wood-x-action-keyboard-digital-piano

 

Looks like MDF particle board but with black coating, not bare. I can say that build quality is very good, no strange sounds when lifting this thing up.

[ElmerJFudd]

The P-515 plays, sounds and feels excellent. If you don't need the portability of a CP-88 or CP4, this is one to look at.

 

As far as MDF - Yamaha Motifs and S90 series models used this design. They are heavy, built like tanks and will last a very long time - as we see from the number of variations still in circulation.

[Jazz+]

My student has a 515 and it's good, but I still prefer my ES110 (26 lbs. only $660). For me, the action is easier to play on the ES110, I feel rigidity in the 515 action that would wear me out on gigs, let alone moving the heavy thing. And the ES110 piano is somehow more natural to my ears, especially its "Studio Grand 2" for trumpet-like single-note jazz blowing, it has a flowing piano tone without that over emphasized initial attack. The hidden clean tone vintage Rhodes Suitcase is good too. I carefully side by side compared the ES110 with the FP30, P125, and PX-S3000. In my judgement the ES110 won for jazz.

[Al Quinn]

My P515 doesn’t recognize the USB flash drive I bought (i.e., it’s on the P515 compatibility list). Has anyone had success using a USB flash drive with the P515 and, if so, which flash drive are you using?

[pawelsz]

3 hours ago, Al Quinn said:

My P515 doesn’t recognize the USB flash drive I bought (i.e., it’s on the P515 compatibility list). Has anyone had success using a USB flash drive with the P515 and, if so, which flash drive are you using?

 

Yes, little Goodram 8 GB. What is the size of your pendrive? Have you formatted it? 

[Al Quinn]

Thanks! My USB drive is 32 GB. I formatted it with my MacBook because the P515 doesn’t recognize it. I’ll try to buy the same drive you have.

[EVC]

1 hour ago, Al Quinn said:

Thanks! My USB drive is 32 GB. I formatted it with my MacBook because the P515 doesn’t recognize it. I’ll try to buy the same drive you have.

What file system have you formated it to? DPs expect the file system in the USB drive to be FAT32.

[Al Quinn]

I formatted the USB flash drive FAT32 using my MacBook (since the P-515 doesn’t recognize it).

[pinkfloydcramer]

I just about can't quit playing my YC88, so I guess it's the right one for me- pretty sure I would be happy with a P515. I also tried out the Kawai ES920 and thought the action was too light and even felt slightly cheap after the YC88. But it would definitely work. 

 

I was shocked today, to be able to play an Electro HP for the 1st time- and actually liked it. I had the lowest of expectations.

[EVC]

6 hours ago, Al Quinn said:

I formatted the USB flash drive FAT32 using my MacBook (since the P-515 doesn’t recognize it).

OK, another thing that occurs to me is the flash is a knockoff. I was going to suggest you to use h2testw to verify the integrity of the flash, but it is for Windows. I had my Kawai ES8 almost bricked when updating it with a knockoff flash (hwtestw reported the real capacity of the drive to be much lower than the one claimed). Other thing that occurrs to me is some firmware issue in the flash that stops it from working; I experienced that too a while ago, with two Sandisk drives that did not play nice with these small BT/USB/microSD speakers; the flashes were authentic and hwtestw reported they were OK and in fact I am still using them; their capacity is 8GB and they are USB 2.x compliant; ironically, a USB3.0 32GB Sandisk stick worked fine with the same speakers.

[pawelsz]

18 hours ago, Al Quinn said:

Thanks! My USB drive is 32 GB. I formatted it with my MacBook because the P515 doesn’t recognize it. I’ll try to buy the same drive you have.

 

32 GB is max size for SDHC cards (64GB are SDXC), 8 GB cards are also only SDHC. I believe USB sticks are same kind of memory in different form. So 32 GB should work just fine. Maybe I am wrong. 

My 8 GB stick also has FAT32 file system. 

[zephonic]

So I just got a P515B for my home studio, and I keep a 1/4" adapter plugged into headphone output 2 to kill the on-board speakers (I know this can be done in the menu, but I'm lazy and this is faster).

Now I wanna play with headphones, and I notice that if both headphone outputs are connected they collapse to mono? Is that by design, or just a production flaw on my model?

 

My first impression is that the CFX sounds and plays absolutely glorious on cans, but I'm not as impressed by how it sounds on speakers, both the on-board and my Genelecs.

 

Also, the Bösendorfer sounds less dynamic and rich, not at all like how I've experienced the real thing.

 

I do like the feel of the action, best of any DP I've played, right up there with the CP1.

[CyberGene]

5 minutes ago, zephonic said:

My first impression is that the CFX sounds absolutely and plays absolutely glorious on cans, but I'm not as impressed by how it sounds on speakers, both the on-board and my Genelecs.

When headphones are connected, the piano automatically switches to a binaural sample-set of CFX optimized for headphones. However these samples may sound really off when played on speakers. Make sure you don’t have any headphones plugged in when playing through speakers. Or, there’s a configuration setting that will make the piano always use the regular stereo samples even when headphones are plugged in. 

[zephonic]

Thanks, but does it also switch to mono when two headphones are connected or is that not supposed to happen?

 

edit:

I notice the difference on the speakers now, with or without the headphones plugged in. Odd, not sure which sounds I prefer.

[pawelsz]

6 hours ago, zephonic said:

Thanks, but does it also switch to mono when two headphones are connected or is that not supposed to happen?

 

edit:

I notice the difference on the speakers now, with or without the headphones plugged in. Odd, not sure which sounds I prefer.

 

I have the binaural sound effect switched off in menu. You can do this too, so you shouldn't get sound on line-outs affected by binaural effect while still be able to mute speakers with adapter.

 

[zephonic]

3 hours ago, pawelsz said:

 

I have the binaural sound effect switched off in menu. You can do this too, so you shouldn't get sound on line-outs affected by binaural effect while still be able to mute speakers with adapter.

 

 

Thanks, I saw that, but I like it with the cans. For now I have just switched off the speakers in the menu rather than with the 1/4" adapter.

 

But my original question still is, does anybody else notice the headphone outputs collapse to mono when two of them are connected or is it just mine?

 

[pawelsz]

13 minutes ago, zephonic said:

 

Thanks, I saw that, but I like it with the cans. For now I have just switched off the speakers in the menu rather than with the 1/4" adapter.

 

But my original question still is, does anybody else notice the headphone outputs collapse to mono when two of them are connected or is it just mine?

 

 

No collapsing to mono if properly inserted adapter into one socket and headphones into second socket. 

 

I managed to get mono sound from headphones by slightly pulling out the adapter from one socket while still listening in headphones from the other socket. So check your adapter/try different one or the pins in your socket have incorrect location (too deep). 

[zephonic]

OK, turns out to be the wrong adapter plug, my bad 

 

 

I thought I ordered 1/4"TRS to 3.5mm, turns out I bought 1/4"TRS to TS.

 

Still don't understand how that would affect the other headphone output, though. That doesn't seem right, but it works just fine with the correct adapter plug, so whatever.