Published June 28, 2018 by Nathan H.

Yamaha’s P-Series has been a leader in digital pianos for years. Earlier this year, the P-125 that replaced the P-115 was another step forward. Now they have released their flagship model, the Yamaha P-515 Digital Piano. With an impressive array of features and improvements over previous models, this addition to the line gives us a lot to talk about.

The most common question we get for digital pianos is, “Does it feel like a real piano?” While advancements have been made in the designs of plastic keys to make them feel more realistic, wooden keys are far less common but provide a much more accurate experience. The P-515 features newly designed wooden keys with synthetic ebony and ivory keytops, using specially dried wood that was specifically chosen to give you the same response and feel of an acoustic grand piano. This is Yamaha’s only digital piano under $1500.00 that has wooden keys, which makes this spectacular feature more affordable than ever.

Another large contributor to the feel of a piano is the damper pedals. Yamaha includes the FC4A sustain pedal in the box and you can also upgrade to the new LP-1 Triple Pedal Unit to partner with the optional matching furniture stand. The LP-1 was released along with the P-125 and is a large leap forward both for feel and visual aesthetic. Both of these options have half-damper pedal control which allows for continuously increasing amounts of sustain as the pedal is depressed.

Our senses work in mysterious ways, and piano players will tell you that the sound is of equal importance to the feel when replicating the experience of playing an acoustic piano. With that in mind for the P-515, Yamaha partners the realistic feel of the wooden keys with expressive Virtual Resonance Modeling (VRM) technology and samples from the world’s finest and most prominent concert grand pianos. These combine to give the player a very realistic experience.

Players have the option of using the built-in speaker system for smaller venues or they can utilize the ¼" aux line outputs to connect to an external system. The portable, sleek, and slim design makes it ideal to keep at home or take out to gigs. Putting on a great pair of headphones is always another great option to practice any time, day or night, while being surrounded by sound.

Yamaha takes the P-515 experience even further with Smart Pianist app compatibility for iOS devices. This app continues to impress with the Piano room portion. It allows you to create your own personal piano environment, easily select sounds, choose rooms, adjust the position of the lid, and more. Smart Pianist can even analyze songs in your iOS devices music library and display a chord chart. Then you can play along with recordings by your favorite artists. This feature truly makes it easy to have fun with your piano and continue learning.

Though Yamaha tells us that the P-515 isn’t due to ship until September 2018, we are confident that this model will be a worthwhile addition to a series that has been serving musicians for a long time. If you’d like to receive personal updates from one of our digital piano specialists, please contact us. We’d love to be your personal resource for new information or to set up a pre-order, securing your place in line.