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Thanks Bidibulle,
Seems we´re in just the same situation; you´re defining exactly everything that pulls me towards the P155 and that holds me back from actually purchasing it. I guess that if the P140 and the P155 were around for the same price, the P155 would win (mainly due to it´s connectivity and improved speakers). But where I am, the P140 (if you can find it) is just little over 2/3 the price of the P155. In addition, it seems that the P155 is a fair bit more expensive over here than in the US.

Also, I´m still wondering if the P140 and P155 have the same quality in their line-out. That would make it an even closer race to me.

Hi,
Well, finally I've ordered a P-140

The P-155 is probably better, but the P-140 is cheaper in France (900 euros vs 1350 euros for the P-155), it features more interesting sounds for me (GP1, GP3 and Piano+string. I will never use the string2 or the church organ2 of the P-155 and the other sounds I'll use like Jazz Organ or Epiano are exactly the same), and I don't use midi or usb stuff (I just plug and play).
With headphones (senheisser 555), the sound is great on both P-155 and P-140 and I'm not a good enough pianist to tell the difference between 4 layers samples and 3 layers samples.

If the sound of the little integrated speakers of the P-140 is really too cheesy in my room, I will buy monitoring speakers and then the sound will be better than p-140 or P-155 integrated speakers.

The difference of price between the 2 DP was really too great (450 euros, about 600 dollars). You're pretty lucky in the USA to have such low prices on the P-155 (here in France you can't find it under 1350 euros (about 1850 dollars): it's pretty expensive and you have to think twice before signing the check.

Are the samples the same length in the P-155? I remember playing a P-140 in a store and clearly hearing the loop come in when sustaining notes. The looping was done well--no clicks or sudden changes in volume--but I could hear the sound stop evolving and go dead a little too soon for slow pieces.

Bidibulle, congrats. I´m in the Netherlands where prices are about the same (a tad higher even, actually). I think for 450 euros price-difference it should possible to find pretty decent external speakers (or almost .

(This kindof makes it sound like if turned into a P155 adversary, but that´s definitely not the case.)

Hi Jake. I´m not sure what you mean with the loop thing. Could you explain? It sounds interesting, and I don´t remember having read anything about it before.

Pieper,

I just meant that the samples in the P-140 seemed fairly brief, looping soon after the attack. I was wondering if the samples in the P155 were longer.

I would love to hear more about this as well. I am interested in this piano, but have yet to drive the 45 minutes to go try one.

I play alot of slow music with alot of sustain in them, and when I've tried even higher end models I've heard odd decays. I didn't know enough to understand what was going on, but perhaps it's this loop thing. It loops and loops, and then putzes out.

Maybe even if someone could explain how sustain works on a digital piano would be helpful!

Thanks for the post, toyboy (hehe, funny nick). Now that you put it like this, I remember when I played in a band that something similar happened on my old keyboard back then, and it annoyed the heck out of our bass-player. Anyways I´ll put a separate post about this on Pianoworld, but hopefully someone will tell in this thread how the P155 performs in this respect. And maybe also of the P140, to make a comparison. So if you make that 45 min. drive, by all means...
cheers.

I finally got my first go on a P155 the other day and I loved it. The sound is to my liking and the feel was perfect for me.

So I'm off to sort my cash out and will be buying one in the next few weeks.

Toyboy, I started a new thread with your question about the technicalities of decay during sustain.
You can find it here.

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1232359.html#Post1232359

Cool, Gerry. Please drop a post if you care after playing it for a while. Would be great.

thx.

In case anyone is interested I just ordered the P155 today from Musician's Friend at a very good price as they are selling Yamaha products now at 20% off their already discounted price. I felt it was too good to pass up and the price helped me decide to get this keyboard. I would suggest phoning them to place your order.

I've had a P80 for many years (I think about 12) which I used regularly several times a month for gigs and it has been an absolutely reliable workhorse. I bought a Roland RD300GX and was not happy with it so I sold it for about the same price I just paid for the P155. (I did include a soft bag with the RD300GX that cost me $140). I thought I gave the buyer of the Roland a good price as I did loose some money on it and it was in like new, hardly used condition. I would think that some people might prefer the Roland, but I ended up liking my old P80 better, hence my decision to sell the Roland and go for the P155.

I have not tried the P155 as our local dealer does not have it in stock, but I do like the P140 and the cp33 having tested both these models. I had a difficult time deciding between the P155 and the cp33, but it appears that the P155 has made some technological advances in the sound sampling over the cp33 and P140. I always run stereo and so I am not interested in mono samples which apparantly was used on one of the P140 and perhaps cp33 piano sounds that is missing from the P155. There are some things that the cp33 and P140 have that is not on the P155, but I went for the latest sampling technology and the price was good. I'm hoping I will not look back this time as I did on the rd300gx. I guess I'll see!

Piano 1 on the P155 is a stereo grand piano sample, piano 2 seems to be mono (see previous post in this thread by Max Mindfield). But in any case, many people seem to really like the Piano 1 sample, and you can set it to mellow or bright (in several steps), so you´ll have some variation.

If you got it at a double discount, you´ll have a great stagepiano for the price. It´s good already without the discount, judging from what other owners think of it.
The P80 seems to be almost legendary, but of course technology advanced since then. I´m curious if the P155 will become equally liked (of course its concept is more that of the P120, with the builtin speakers).

I just got my P155 and it is great! I thought I was happy with my P80, but now I am totally spoiled. The P155 is very responsive and this is a clear advance over the P80. I couldn't be any happier and I'm ready to take it with me and leave the P80 at home. Now can anyone recommend a gig bag for it? I want something durable with good padding that doesn't add too much weight so I can transport it in my car. It appears that the bag recommended by Yamaha for the P140 will probably be too small. The Yamaha bag I've been using for the P80 is also too small. I would appreciate any suggestions.

For those of you who have the P155, how did you record via USB? I'm kind of new at this, but basically there are two ways to connect to your computer, USB and MIDI. I don't have the MIDI cables right now, so I tried to connect my USB flash drive to it. I couldn't figure out how to record a song or transfer a recorded song to the flash drive. I also tried with my external hard-drive, but the only option given to me was to format it, and I don't want to do that.

Well, the P155 user manual gives you a great step-by-step protocol how to record to a USB drive. Basically, its not a .wav file but a midi file that you can even open in Winamp using its standard MIDI sounds (forgot the file extension, sorry). So this file contains only MIDI information of your recording, but not the actual sound.

Alternatively, you can do the same once you buy USB-MIDI and hook it up to a software (line any DAW) and record the MIDI info. If you want to record the sound - the easiest way is to connect your P155 outputs with Line In on your soundcard (for instance, using 2 1/4" M mono - 1/8 M stereo Y cable)and record in any software including standard Windows tools. If you search this forum you can find lots of threads devoted to this question.

Yea, and again - don`t ignore your P155 user manual. Lots of thigs are described nicely there. Good luck!

Guys, I thank you all so much for your input and explanations; especially Max, who was extremely helpful and left a lot of useful info, but of course also everyone else. After a lot of comparisons, thinking, rethinking, visiting the local store about four times, and spending several hours there, I finally managed to make up my mind. To me (personally) the P155 would be the best available solution as a portable instrument that simulates the action of an acoustic piano. I was not deeply impressed by the piano samples, although the first one was definitely OK to my taste. I first thought the sample sounded a bit thin, but in the store they were so kind to let me play the P155 over the speakers of the CLP340, and that made a lot of difference (it wasn´t thin at all then). This also allowed me to make a direct comparison between the P155 and the CLP340, and I have to say that I still liked the sample in the 340 a bit better (but that´s personal, of course). I felt that the first sample of the 340 still had a bit more "body". I don´t know how else to put it. ..Maybe a bit mellower..

In the end however, I realised that I don´t really need a portable piano at this moment. All I need is a decent instrument to be able to practice at home, with an acceptable piano sound. Also, in the Netherlands (where I live), the P155 is quite expensive (around 1400 euros). So in the end (this may come as a surprise), I decided for the CLP320, which I could get at a discount (1150 euros). It´s really a basic model, but I liked the heavy keyboard action - surprisingly, even though both the P155 and CLP320 supposedly have the same Graded Hammer action, I felt that the 320 was a bit heavier (which is what I prefer). Also I won´t have to buy a separate stand, or dust-cover. I don´t find the piano sample in the 320 as good as the P155, which of course is no surprise. The speakers in the 320 on the other hand are just a tad heavier.

Anyways, I hope you guys don´t feel offended that I went in another direction after all.
I realised after all your reviews and explanations and my own testing that no DP is perfect (not even higher end models like the 340 and 370). I think they´re good for practicing (or even performing), but I´ll play the acoustic whenever I get the chance. The CLP320 will serve my purposes and came at a price that I felt comfortable with to spend at this time.

I still hope that people who playe(d) the P155 will leave their experiences in this thread though for anyone who is interested, although I think that many aspects have been covered already.

Just the same, thanks again!

offtopic update.
I got second thoughts and the vendor allowed me to change the order from CLP320 to CLP370.

What is with that metallic reverb sound on Piano #2?

pieper, that`s great that you`ve made a decision! CLP370 is a great piano. I just wonder what in particular (besides NW) made your choice of CLP370 and not, say, 340? There`s SUCH a great distance between CLP320 and 370..