Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Yamaha 515-P... sounds bad or it's just me???

(sorry for the double thread, I've just seen this digital piano section and I think it's more suitable for my post)

Hi everyone!
Today I've just bought my first digital piano: Yamaha 515P.
I am a self taught keyboard player from Italy, and my previous keyboard was a Yamaha PSR S900.

Unfortunately, I couldn't be able to try Yamaha 515P before buying it because none of the stores in my region had it.
So, I've watched tons of videos and reviews online, and finally decided to buy it online.

It arrived today, and it's superb from every point of view, but... I find the general sound to be really muffled! I mean, it's not limpid, vivid, it's like very dark and hollow... I really can't understand if it's normal or not.
If I compare the sound to what I heard from every video online (even amateur videos), I can notice a huge difference.

I also tried to register a wav example and I notice this huge difference even in the recording.
I can't understand how the simple grand piano sound of my Yamaha Psr S900 can sound a lot more vivid and limpid than all the pianos in Yamaha 515-P!

I am really confused guys, so I definitely need your expert opinions... please help!

Here I'm posting some examples that may be useful for you:

AUDIO:
PSR S900:
515P:

VIDEO:
PSR S900:
515P:

None of those explanations or comparisons or opinions from others matters.

If you don't like it .... that's it send it back.

Some ideas:

(a) If you still have the PSR-S900, make a recording _of your own playing_, and compare it to the P-515.

. .. You don't know what processing was applied, to a recording
. . . on YouTube, to "improve" the sound of the piano.

(b) The PSR-S900 has a "synth action"; the P-515 has a "weighted action". They are quite different, to play:

. . . If you don't have any experience playing a weighted action (e.g.,
. . . an acoustic piano), you can't judge the
. . . sound of the P-515 until you adjust _your playing_ to the new action.

(c) Try setting the P-515 "Touch" (inside the "Piano Room") to "Soft1" or
"Soft2":

. . . Is it better, that way?

If so, you will probably have to adjust your playing to get a good sound out of the weighted action of the P-515.

(d) If you're using the "default" piano sound of the P-515, you may have to adjust Reverb and EQ settings, to get the sound of the PSR-S900.

(e) What "volume" setting are you using on the P-515 ? If you're playing it at lower volume than the PSR-S900, it will not sound as good:

. . . Set the volume up to about 3/4 of "full volume".

THanks --

The P-515's claim to fame is its binaural CFX sound when listening through the headphones. Have you tried listening to it through a good pair of headphones?

If yes and it sounds good through the headphones, you're probably just not happy with its speaker system compared to your PSR-S900.

Based on your demos, the 515 sounds so much better than the 900 it’s not even close

The PSR-S900 has been in production for 14 years. There has been a lot of progress in digital piano sound, in that time. Now, digital pianos are closer to acoustic pianos, than they were 14 years ago.

Maybe what happened is that your ears have gotten used to the sound of the PSR-S900, and that's what your brain expects. So you are hearing the sound of the P-515 as "worse" than the S900, when it's really _different_.

Hello Riccardo92, welcome!

To be honest, I find the sound of the p515 better in the videos. I don't know how long you have owned the PSR S900. My own experience is that with new instruments you have to get used to the sound first, as long as you only have one instrument available in direct comparison and have had it in use for a longer period of time. I am sure that with further use, the love for the P515 will grow. Good luck and many enjoyable hours with the P515.

Kind regards, MBiG

The PSR-900 is what Clavinovas sounded like in the 90's and what entry level PSR keyboards sound like today.

Some people like "that Yamaha sound".

(I'm talking about the piano sound.)

This.

The PSR has a derivation of the old Yamaha 'Power Grand' sound. Extremely direct and articulate and cuts through better than any other Digital Piano sound. But unsophisticated and very basic by today's standards. The P515 is far far superior. But that doesn't mean to say every single person would prefer it if they were used to the old Yamaha sound.

First of all, thanks for your reply.
a) I've already tried and the difference is huge!
b) that's true, but I still think the difference is too big regardless to my confidence with the weighted keys!
c) I tried... it goes slightly better but the sound is still a lot "muffled" if compared to S900...
d) I tried to remove reverb because it seems to make the sound even darker... but as you can hear, it's still a lot muffled. I've also tried to adjust a lot more options, but I didn't find anything which could make the sound vivid and light. Adjusting brightness to the max makes the sound a bit more vivid but also less realistic... so I'm afraid it's not a solution. Maybe there's still more EQ options that I didn't found in the settings???
e) I've tried both with 3/4 and maximum volume... but nothing changes

Yes, I've tried also with headphones, but nothing changes! The sound is still better in S900, even with headphones!!

Since the forum doesn't allow me to reply directly to all of you in a short time, I'll make a single reply.

First of all, thanks for all of your replies.
I'm a bit reassured from your comments, they make me think that maybe it's just my ears that need to be in confidence with this new sound after 14 years of a different piano sound. I'm happy to see in a lot of your comments that you find the 515P sound much better, this makes me think that it's just me.
I never bought a €1500 worth instrument online and of course I know it was a bit risky... but seriously, I've searched it in over 20 shops in my Region and didn't found, so I was a bit tired. And also, last Saturday I had a serious scooter accident so I needed something to put a smile on my mouth ahaha! And so I decided not to wait anymore and buy it online...

Or maybe I need to adjust some other options to make the sound better? I've tried to adjust brightness, lid position, reverb, etc... every setting in the "piano room" section. But nothing makes the sound vivid as I'd want. Does anyone of you own this piano? Do you know some other settings that I may adjust in order to make the sound more vivid?

Look at this for example, it's just me or the sound is way more vivid and bright than in my video/audio examples? (except that the guy is more and more talented than me, of course, ahahaha!)

One more thing, the P515 has a lot of old sounds in a semi-hidden library that is accessible by pressing function+others this will put at your disposal some old piano samples that you may like. It is worth checking it.

Oh, thanks a lot! I didn't know about this... I will definitely give a check!

I thought they both sounded good. I did like the PSR too.

I had some work to putin before I got the P515 sounding how I loked it. There's a load of ways to do this. Hope i goes well for you.

I don’t have the p515 but could give some general suggestions

Select the bright grand piano voice

In the piano room set the lid to fully open and brilliance to max

Also you should try turning virtual resonance modeling VRM to off

I thought the suggestion to try the general midi piano voices was a good one. I believe the above settings don’t apply to the general midi GM2 pianos.

Good luck!

Hello,

I don't own a P-515, but I have its predecessor, and the sound is fantastic IMO. It's a CF sample, not a CFX like on the P-515. But that should be fantastic too. Different models of Yamaha DPs use different speaker positions. If any speakers are pointing at soft surfaces, that could make a huge difference. Some pianos for example, require a hard surface beneath them - not carpet. Mine has good speakers which point in good directions for home studio use, but I still hook the piano up to my studio monitors too, for a fuller, richer sound.

The P-515 has the latest version of the CFX sample, and to any Yamaha fan, this should be the best sample on any digital piano in the world. Listen to the Youtube video with Stu at Merriam Pianos reviewing/demonstrating the VSL Synchron library with the CFX sound. I nearly fell of my seat. You should at least be able to determine that the problem is not the CFX piano that your piano main patch is sampled from.

Someone suggested that you may have PSR-S900 ears, and this may be true. Take it kindly. I think you need a control for your tests - that is to say a third instrument. Take some time out with one or two nice acoustic pianos, to give your ears another perspective. And the comment about correct technique for a weighted action may be important too. You may have lost or never have acquired that groping action with the fingers. I see how cutting the reverb would make things worse. You've got a four band equaliser. Try augmenting the upper mids or increasing the string resonance and sustain pedal levels. And hook up to some great monitors.

Good luck.

So you do own a P515 and had the same issue as mine? And worked it out by adjusting voices in a certain way?

Thank you so much for your detailed reply and suggestions! I will try everything.
About the surface, it's standing on a wooden desk which is about 3-4cm thick.
About the speakers, I am just using the built-in speakers of the keyboard... do you think I should buy separate speakers instead of using the built-in ones?

You just like synthetic piano sounds more. Then look for them in the section "Electric pianos" etc.