Yamaha YDP-144 Digital Piano Review: Should You Buy It? – 2023

Yamaha is a household name in the field of pianos, be it digital or acoustic. It has released a number of piano series, even one of them competing with each other in terms of their features and specifications. We should admit that all the piano series from Yamaha are the best bet for their cost and a must-have instrument in every person’s home who is interested in Music. Let us discuss the features and the specifications of the flagship model of Yamaha, the YDP-144 here.

Best Specifications of the Yamaha YDP-144

Overall Editor Rating: 9.3/10

Features	Rating
Performance and sounds	9.4
Connectivity	9.3
Build Quality	9.1
Value for money	9.5

Yamaha YDP 144 Review: The First Look

The Yamaha YDP 144 model looks a lot more like its predecessor, the YDP 143, and has imported a number of specs from it. The overall looks seem the same and it comes with a completely fully weighed 88-key keyboard, good enough for home practice.

The piano is pretty heavy, about 38 kg, so forget about shifting it between rooms frequently. You may also not be able to get this out of your room to the stage, without assistance. It’s better to fix it at one fixed place in your room and practice there every time.

The piano comes partly assembled and you have to complete the rest by yourself, of course with some assistance and a screwdriver. You can get this piano in three different colors, rosewood, black and white.

There is a light matte finish over the keys to avoid slipping and there are pedals built into the body. You can enjoy a realistic playing experience as its damper pedal supports half-pedaling. Unlike other pianos, the YDP 144 has its controls assembled on its left and right sides and not at the top.

There are a limited number of controls, and thus it is mandatory that the pianist has to be proficient with a number of key combinations to access definite functions. There is no screen or special indications, just a volume knob and a few controls, which is classic of a budget piano.

But every time you change a setting, you get a confirmation sound. The piano has a sliding key cover and a music rest. Overall the piano has an excellent build quality and an excellent cabinet void of many controls.

Related Reading:- List of Best Yamaha Digital Pianos 2023

The Keys – Their Look and Feel

The keyboard is the soul of a digital piano. The YDP 144 features a full weighted 88-key keyboard with a glide cover. The keys function with a graded hammer action, which is ideal for that pianist who is looking to upgrade from an entry-level piano to a much-advanced instrument.

The keys of this piano don’t fail to emulate the original acoustic feel of a grand piano. The keys at the lower end feature a heavier touch, adding to the realistic feel of the piano keyboard. The keys feature four-grade touch sensitivity grading from soft to hard. The default setting at the piano’s keyboard is the ‘medium’ setting.

The keys are made of high-grade plastic and the black keys have a matte finish on them to avoid the fingers getting slipped off while playing. The keys lack synthetic ivory or ebony finish on their tops.

Check Out:- Best Digital Pianos Under $2000

How YDP-144 Sounds and its Effects

Though we can have a one-liner here stating that all of the pianos from Yamaha sound great, we need to note how distinct the Yamaha YDP144 sounds compared with the other pianos of this range.

Like the other flagship models of Yamaha, the YDP 144 has also exported its sound from the CFX concert grand piano and no doubt it features an expensive and unique tone. You will also love its brilliant and high-end resonant bass, which will help you at large when you plan to play at a concert.

Talking about the sound effects of this piano, the Yamaha YDP 144 comes with three inbuilt effects and four reverbs such as chamber reverb, club reverb, recital hall, and concert hall. The intelligent acoustic control technology of this piano ensures the pianist to modify the intensity or the effect of the sound, according to their preferences.

The YDP 144 features a 192-note polyphony, which is good enough to play a good number of songs with all types of notes. The piano comes with two 8W amplified speakers for an excellent stereo image.

Though the speakers face downward, the narrow speaker grills that are located right about the keys ensure that the sound from this piano comes from a different direction to create an excellent and immersive listening experience.

You can also watch this Youtube video to know how this piano sounds.

Yamaha YDP 144 Connectivity Features

As we mentioned before, there are minimal controls, and it is important that you have to memorize a number of control combinations. Some pianist also has their manuals by their side to use these controls efficiently. Alternatively, you can make use of the smart pianist app for iOS and Android, to play the piano with a graphical user interface.

Apart from this, there are two stereo jacks to connect with headphones. The USB to host port can be used to connect the piano with other devices. There is a jack to connect the thee pedal system to the piano cabinet.

The YDP 144 has a rare option of data transfer and playback. You can directly play the audio files from the hardware or the computer without requiring any external audio interface.

Inbuilt Songs and Playback Feature

This piano from Yamaha is featured with about 10 demo songs and more than fifty classical tunes. Also, the pianist can load up to 10 songs for playback. For those who wish to record their own songs, the two-track MIDI recorder comes in handy. You are also free to alter the individual notes of the songs once you load them on the piano. Changes could be pertaining to the volume, damper resonance, tempo, reverb, etc. You can connect with a smart device to save the songs as MIDI files too.

The Yamaha YDP 144 comes to play in two different modes, the layer mode, and the duo mode. In the layer mode or the dual-mode, the pianist can choose to play two different sounds of two different instruments at the same time. in this mode, no matter what key you press, two sounds are heard simultaneously.  You can definitely create a number of combinations with the combination of the piano+ string, which comes as a rescue for the otherwise limited number of sounds on the piano.

The Duo mode splits the keyboard into two small 44-keyed instruments and allows two people to play the instrument at the same time. This feature is taken advantage of during piano lessons when the teacher trains his pupil through a personal demonstration.

Other Features of Yamaha YDP144

The YDP 144 carries a number of functions that can also be directly monitored and controlled through the smart pianist app. Those features are,

Final Words

In a nutshell, we can credit the Yamaha YDP 144 as one of the best digital pianos in this series along with Yamaha YDP-184 & Yamaha YDP-164, except that it has some bad controls and satisfactory key action. But its CFX grand sounds come as a relief and its speakers help the sounds to resonate with the entire room. It is a worthy bet for its cost and is highly recommended for anybody who is wishing to upgrade from a basic piano to an upgraded one.

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