Yamaha Portable Grand Pianos Reviews

A review of Yamaha portable grand pianos.

The following is a review of Yamaha portable keyboards, the DGX220, DGX520 and DGX620, otherwise known as YPG225, YPG525 and YPG625, respectively.

It was submitted by Robert, a very dear visitor to Yamaha-Keyboard-Guide.com. (Thank you Robert.) I found his comments very useful.

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Robert writes: Hi Mantius,

I'd like to thank you for your site. It's well organized, user friendly, and for the most part very accurate.

I play semi-professionally, as well as being a one man band for my Church. Like you, I began to play keyboard using Yamaha keyboards from the outset. I've been playing for over 26 years and had other makes, Casio, Kawai, Roland, etc. along the way, but have come back to Yamaha. I bought a Yamaha DGX 300 several years ago because I wanted more keys, and recently decided to go for a full sized keyboard. Because I have a weak left hand, like the DGX configuration and just plain liked the color scheme, I bought the YPG 525.

Yamaha portable grand pianos

The issue I'd like to address is regarding these, Yamaha's latest additions to their Portable Grand Pianos. I don't think I need to do a full review on them because you've done quite well, but only to have you add some comments to the excellent reviews you have already done.

These models that I'm talking about are the DGX220/YPG225, DGX520/YPG525, and DGX620/YPG625. In the first place, the YPG designation is not to replace the DGX, but merely to distinguish the difference between mass market retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City, COSTCO, etc. (DGX), and specific Musical Instrument dealers such as Guitar Center, and Musician's Friend (YPG). There is absolutely no difference between the DGX and YPG designation for these models other than the name.

Yamaha portable grand pianos

It is unfortunate that Yamaha chose to delete the Live! Piano from the DGX220/YPG225 models. This has, for those interested, become a very important loss and may determine whether a person will buy a 76 key keyboard from Yamaha or not. I know that when I had my DGX 300 this was a very important consideration for me when I bought it.

All of the DGX/YPG models use styles that have 2 Intros, 2 Fills, and 2 Endings. This may seem to be a problem for some who like the four variations on some of the PSRs and both the TYROS and TYROS 2, but I play well enough that I haven't been too inconvenienced and desperately wanted the portability and full sized keyboard of the YPG 525.

These models, the DGX220/YPG225, DGX520/YPG525, and DGX620/YPG625 have USB connectivity to a computer or other peripherals. For some reason, Yamaha has deleted the MIDI ports altogether on these models. However, for those who need to go with MIDI rather than USB there is an adapter available from Yamaha, the UX16 USB MIDI Interface. It provides a MIDI in and MIDI out and operates off the USB port. Unfortunately, if you use this, then you also need to have a USB splitter to be able to use a memory stick with your keyboard.

There are some issues to be addressed with using a memory stick but I won't take time to go into them here.

Review of Yamaha portable grand pianos

Anyway, I don't know about the DGX220/YPG225, but Yamaha opted to remove the battery compartment on the DGX520/YPG525. I have seen the ads for the DGX 620/YPG625 and it does include these.

A couple of the problems that Yamaha should address is that they should have larger speakers on board for use in a larger venue without having need of external amplification. Also, when you do choose to plug your keyboard into an amplifier, you can't use the onboard speakers as monitors when doing it.

You can only save one of the styles loaded from USB to the keyboard registration at a time, so that is a little bit inconvenient.

Overall, would I buy a YPG525 again? You bet! I love the feel of the machine, and the features it has. For the five Yammie keyboards I've owned in the past I've enjoyed them all, outgrown those in the past, and never had an equipment failure with any of them. My only regret is that Yamaha hasn't made a full sized keyboard with all of the features of the TYROS 2. I know that the PSR 9000 Pro comes close, but in this case, close is not close enough. I want all 88 keys.

Keep up the good work.

Rob

Mantius wrote:

Hi Robert,

Thanks very much for your comments. I'm always looking for comments like these especially from experienced players like yourself. What you've written is very useful and am going to add it to the site here: Yamaha Portable Grand Pianos. If there's anything at all you may want to add, do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,
Mantius.

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