Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Yamaha Arius YDP - 141

Yamaha Arius YDP - 141

Does anyone have any experience with this DP? I'm buying it for a friend, and don't play personally, so I have no experience what so ever! She hasn't played for a few years now, and had an upright piano before from what I can remember.. Just want to get the best thing for around £500-600 and heard lots of good things about Yamaha..


Any advice would be greatly appreciated..

Anyone?

Hi jackd and welcome to the forum.

It's very important to know the level of playing your friend is at. The usual advice is for the person using the piano to try it first hand, because the keyboard action is the single most critical thing in a digital piano. After you pass this criterion you move on to how it sounds, features etc.
But in your case this (the testing beforehand) might not be possible.
The YDP141 is a good entry level DP, with the well known build quality of Yamaha. Being entry level, it has the GHS keyboard action, which many people find too "light", and others find just right. You run the risk of your friend not liking/not "connecting" with this action's feel. It's really hit or miss, but as I said, maybe if she is fairly advanced, she will like a heavier feel (more like her upright). In this case the YDP 161 seems to be the next step, but out of your budget I'm afraid.

Don't buy it!

Until or unless your friend auditions it and approves it first.

If it's a gift take her to a store instead, as a surprise, that stocks a few entry level DP's in your price range. Casio (PX130/330), Yamaha (DGX640), maybe Korg, but be prepared to go over budget.

Jackd

Do not do it at all. I understand tha you want to surprise your friend. But choosing a piano and even a dp is very personal.

She has to play, feel and hear the instrument before buying.

I understand your enthusiasm, but this is very personal.

Best regards
Johan B

I tried this model out (along with the P-155, CLP-320 and others) but didn't get it and ended up getting the CLP-320 (YDP-161 is the same I think) since I wanted slightly 'heavier' keyboard action. However, she's really the one that would know which ones feel best. Not to say the 141 felt bad or anything (only felt marginally different to me), but it's definitely personal...

The single most important feature of a digital piano is the quality of it's key action. Yamaha makes only a few difference actions and puts them in quite a few different pianos. The YDP141 uses their "GHS" key action which is used in all their entry level pianos. Unless you know that this person actually prefers GHS it might be best to move up to a piano that uses Yamaha's "GH" or better keys.

In the Yamaha line most people, but not all prefer the more expensive GH keys to the cheaper GHS. There are a few exceptions but mostly this is true. But between brands, Roland, Kawai, Yamaha is is all opinion and there is no clear winner.

Sorry but it's not easy to buy a digital piano. Most people spend a long time reading and trying the various different models.

Thanks for your advice all. I understand this is a very personal thing. I would say she's more of a beginner, she hasn't played in over 6/7 years now, so we're going back quite a long time.

I do remember she liked the action of the Korg SP170 from when we looked at some about 6 months ago. Maybe this would be my best choice then?

Oh and yes - this is a surprise, so I will have to do my best!

There are three pianos in that class that always seem to recommended, the Casio PX130, Korg SP170 and the Yamaha P95. Neather is "best". The Arius141 you were looking at seems to be like the P95 but with a built-in stand, better speakers and so on.