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Yamaha p515 just came out , but it has same action and sound as clp645, so I was curious as to what people think, p515 vs fp90?

Thanks,
Jitin

I thought for a minute you were going to tell us . . . . . Oh, well. Maybe we could change the subject and talk about the Korg G1 instead, nobody ever talks about that good looking little beast . . . .

P515
1) 20 Watts down on the FP90
2) Same tired Yamaha sound system: hybrid sampling with resonance modelling... Yawn
3) Fp90 has same action as LX17 (PHA50) ; P515 has NWX... Still a mile from the Kawai 's RH3

Still waiting for an exciting Yamaha digital... One that actually out competes at some level.

Wait a minute..

I have had the Yamaha CP4 (NWX action) and the Roland RD2000 (PH50 action).

Both fabulous actions. Better (to me) is the PH50. Why? Lighter action so less fatiguing. Try them and figure it out for yourself.

NWX is very good also but heavier action. You will get tired faster. Unless you are an intermediate or advanced player with trained finger/hand/arm muscles. Otherwise I guarantee you will get tired.

Also, not a million miles from Kawai RH3... I also have had the MP7SE and I ended up with the ES110. Why? The ES110 action is lighter. You may have guessed by now I am no advanced player.

I like lighter (weighted of course) actions.

Specs aren't everything. I think the Yamaha sounds really lovely. For me it is light years nicer than the Roland. Warm, woody piano tones that the sterile sine-wavey Roland can't possibly match. Put some decent headphones on, turn the volume up and listen to the piano patches on this demo and tell me it isn't a musically satisfying sound...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA0kMixwCfM

I think the CP4 has the "NW" action, without escapement simulation. But I'm not sure if there's anything else that differs between NW and NWX?



I hear this a lot as well. People who are A/B'ing DPs frequently report liking the Yamaha tone, especially the CFX. I think folks who are dedicated to VSTs probably have a lot of issues with any manufacturer's built-in sounds.

Watts alone doesn't tell you which goes louder, since they're going into different speakers. The Roland FP2 and FP4 were a lot louder than some competitive models that had the same or more power.

The thing that no one commented on is which is better sound, I seen lot of videos on fp90, and sometimes I think the new Roland sound sucks , then some videos I’m not so sure, I actually kinda like it, especially when in a video they changed parameters in piano technician,

I can’t quite remember nwx action , I tried it long time ago but does either action have that initial resistance like graded hammer? I don’t like that

I just wanted to say that I actually really dislike the RHIII. It's really bouncy and louder than the others, when I tested it on multiple models of each. So I prefer the PHA-50. They honestly sound really simialr overall, but the Kawai is bouncy. I haven't tried the NWX but wooden keys for only $1500 USD is pretty exciting.



edit: Also, OP, it didn't actually "just come out" - as far as I can find it comes out in September. It was just unveiled

I've heard a few videos on this model. It's not unimpressive; I noticed the dynamic response has been seriously improved. Good thing too, but I hope you can modify that if need be, like you can on Pianoteq. Otherwise it's (IMO) overkill.

The Roland PHA-50 is (in my opinion) the best DP action available at the moment. It's the closest in feel to my acoustic grand. I haven't played the plastic Kawais, only the wooden ones.

Could someone please comment on sound comparison?

That’s hard to do. The Roland isn’t sampled, so the sound engines are fundamentally different. Some people prefer the Roland to samples while others can’t stand it.

From the reviews and youtube videos that I've seen so far, the FP-90 has better (if not by much) action and larger speakers. It also weighs a bit more 48lbs P515 vs 52lbs FP-90. But the P515 is like $1899 CAD and the FP-90 is $2699 CAD. That's a difference of about $800 CAD. In the US its $1499USD vs 1899USD so difference is 400USD. I think yamaha intentionally wanted to build something that in the same category/class as the FP-90 but at a lower cost.

And I think that they will very likely mightily succeed. From what I've seen so far, if the price differential was only a couple of hundred dollars, I'd definitely opt for the FP-90. But at a price differential of $800 CAD I'd go for the Yamaha.

how would anyone know from reviews or vids that the fp90 has a better action?
i haven’t seen a vid or review that stated this!?
no doubt some people may prefer the pha50 action of the fp90...that doesn’t mean it’s better.
but i haven’t even seen that....

Perhaps there's a comparison somewhere of the FP90 action to that of the P645, which supposedly has the same NWX action?

I tried both the CLP-645 which has the same NWX action as the P515 and the action on the FP-90. They're both good, but the FP-90 action was a tad bit lighter. Oh well I guess we'll find out for sure soon enough.

so lighter means better?
what will we find out “for sure soon enough”?
some people are going to prefer the yamaha nwx action....and some people are going prefer the roland pha50 action.
one is not better than the other.

+1

It's always interesting to be involved in action discussions. So much of it is subjective. I can't count how many times I've heard "Yamaha actions tend to be heavy." Or "Roland actions are heavy." "Yamaha has lighter actions than Kawai/Roland." "Roland actions are lighter and better for epianos/organs." It all depends on what the poster has experienced, and what their benchmark is (there are a lot of acoustic pianos that are light, heavy, and in between).

But NWX and PHA-50 are both premium digital piano actions and they will each have their fans.

Lighter is better if you want to play fast yes. Lighert action also means that you can play longer before your hands get tired. But some do like a heavier action. The Steinways tend to have a lighter action.

The P515 will be released in about a week. When it is released, I'll go test it at a Piano store. I test drove the FP-90 and the CLP-645 (same action as the P515- NWX) in the past. But plan to try both the P515 and FP90 actions next to each other at the store.

One is most likely better than the other...maybe not by much. They both are in the same category of portable digtal pianos i.e. ES-8, P515, FP-90 e.t.c. But one will likely be better. If that wasn't the case we'd all just go buy cheap casio keyboards and call it a day.