Music always soothes the mind and relaxes the body. Most people seeking inner harmony, resort to playing instruments. And piano ranks top in the list of stress-busting instruments for older adults. For young children, playing the piano helps in improving their concentration skills and mental ability, and gets them ready for an alternate career.
Having illustrated the benefits of playing the piano that triggers your positive side, we are here to review the most versatile and highly functional Yamaha YPG-535. Though it is a precursor of a number of modern-day keyboards, it still remains one of the best and the most popular 88 key pianos, for this price point.
It is one of Yamaha’s prestigious portable grand pianos that is packed with a number of specs and the capability to produce realistic sounds. Let us dive into the piano now and explore each of its parts diligently.
Table of Contents
- Yamaha YPG-535 Piano Review 2023
- Quick Opinion by Larry
- Pros & Cons of the Yamaha YPG-535
- The Overall Design of the Yamaha YPG 535
- The Keys
- The Sound effects
- Recording and Playback functionality
- Yamaha YPG535 Connectivity Features
- Different Play Modes of YPG-535
- Educational suite
- Accessories That Come with YPG 535
- Alternatives of Yamaha YPG-535
- The Final Verdict
Yamaha YPG-535 Piano Review 2023
| Features | Rating |
| Performance and sounds | 9.6 |
| Connectivity | 9.2 |
| Portability | 8.5 |
| Easy to Assemble | 9.6 |
| Build Quality | 9.3 |
| Value for money | 9.6 |
Quick Opinion by Larry
Totally worth every penny as the weighted keys feel very much like standard piano and of course it sounds great. The whole process of assembling the stand and attaching the keyboard is super easy, so overall a great deal for pianists.
| Number of Keys | 88 |
| Piano Sound | Pure CF Sound Engine |
| Weight | 37 lbs |
| Keyboard Type | Graded Soft Touch (GST) |
| USB Connectivity | Yes |
| Polyphony | 32 |
Pros & Cons of the Yamaha YPG-535
What’s Best in Yamaha YPG-535?
- A full range 88-keyed piano at an affordable price.
- It comes with a multi-functional monochrome display.
- Two-way speaker system with 6W amplifiers on both sides.
- More than 500 built-in sounds are a proud assortment of different instruments.
- Its sturdy and matching stand enhances the ambiance of the piano.
- The piano comes with a metronome, that is excellent to help with timekeeping and practicing the different musical rhythms.
- As the piano comes with 160 different accompanying music styles, you get the feel of playing amidst a full orchestra.
- The YES feature of the piano helps in learning different piano lessons.
What’s Lacking in Yamaha YPG-535?
- The 32- note polyphony feature of the piano is a major disadvantage as layering two sounds in dual-mode starts to run out of memory and the notes that were played earlier start to drop out.
- The Piano needs direct AC power to play and cannot play with battery power.
- Its keys are semi-weighted with no hammer action.
- Its sustain pedal is Flimsy.
Related: Best Budget Digital Pianos Under $500
The Overall Design of the Yamaha YPG 535
The first look of this piano portrays it as a highly attractive, stylish, and beautiful musical instrument with a matching stand. Though it has built-in speakers for a highly audible and realistic sound, it is still lightweight and easily portable. If you have very little space in your apartment to devote to a piano, then the Yamaha YPG 535 should be your ideal choice.
You can argue that there are a number of pianos that are attractive and compact compared with our YPG 535. We do agree with the point, but not all of them have the features and music quality of this 88-key piano. It measures 53.3” x 16.6” in dimension and weighs just about 24 lbs.
It’s well built, and attractive and its matching stand adds another 13 lbs of weight at the base but is capable of holding the piano very securely at the base. There is no question of the piano wiggling around with this stand-in position.
You can assemble the piano by yourself at your preferred location, and you will probably require a screwdriver and ten minutes of your time to fasten the stand to the piano. And make sure to assemble it near the electric source, as it can operate only on AC power. The piano has a comprehensive set of buttons at the control panel, that sometimes gives the impression of manipulating a complex jet plane. There are over 40 keys, each of them catering to a specific function of the YPG 535.
You can hit the portable grand setting to turn off all the other modes on the piano and watch your chords and music through its monochrome display. The piano looks pretty attractive in its Gold Champaign color with a black lining around the keys, perhaps one of a kind color combination that you won’t find in other Pianos.
Check out: List of Best Yamaha Digital Pianos 2023
The Keys
The Yamaha YPG 535 is an 88-keyed piano set that is soft to touch, gifting smooth functionality for its users. Though it belongs to the most affordable piano range from the Yamaha family, its graded soft-touch keys give the performer a grand feel with every touch. You get the feel of a professional performance every time you grade its keys.
The keys of this board are very much sensitive and you have to choose between three preset settings to mark your style. The keys are graded from left to right and the impact of your touch defines the volume of the sound that is emitted. Such features are seen only in high-end piano and is something we wish to brag about in our YPG 535 model.
The Sound effects
You will be amazed by the acoustic effects produced by this piano, which makes use of the AWM stereo sampling technology. You can trigger an appropriate acoustic piano sound by striking the right key at different volume levels. You will be amazed to know that this piano can actually emit more than 500 internal sounds to play, which include drum sounds, guitar sounds, accordions, saxophones, trumpets, choirs, etc.
Also, the Yamaha YPG 535 features the best two-way speaker system and divides the sound spectrum into two major parts. Thus the sounds are divided into two parts and are played with the corresponding speakers to create a clear treble and bass.
Have you heard of the term polyphony? Yes, it means many sounds, this piano is capable of producing 32 different notes at the same time. The speakers help with high-quality sounds in both high and low notes and the total output from its speakers is about 12W.
Also Read: List of Best Digital Pianos in the Market
Recording and Playback functionality
Sometimes we create the best music when no one is around to hear it. But when you play them with the YPG 535, you need not worry about this, for you can record the tunes and playback it later to your acquaintances and take praises in exchange. This piano has a six-track MIDI recorder. This means you can record up to five songs and can store them in the flash memory of the Piano. You can later on covert these recordings in a USB drive, after converting them into the SMF format.
Also, for budding musicians, the piano helps to record as many as six tracks and play all of them together as one song. Thus you can compose your song with complex recordings with different instruments, effects, and rhythms. Also, you can listen to the tracks that are recorded, while you are working on the other track. And you can choose to add notes, and effects, make corrections and alter the sound and tempo of an instrument after the recording is completed, all credits to the recording are made in MIDI format, and not as audio data.
Yamaha YPG535 Connectivity Features
This piano has about five ports on the rear panel of the piano to connect to different devices.
- Its Phone jack helps you to connect with a set of headphones and shuts down the sound from the speaker. This feature helps you to listen to songs without interrupting others.
- You can connect a USB drive to the piano directly to export MIDI files
- USB to host ports help in transferring MIDI data to the computer.
- There is a sustain pedal jack to connect the sustain pedal with a ¼” plug.
Different Play Modes of YPG-535
The quality and the number of play modes available with this piano make it a valuable addition for both beginners and professional piano players. This also makes sure that you will never get bored with the piano.
Its dual-mode feature allows you to later two different instruments, say guitar and piano when you press a key. Thus you can create innovative and complex sounds for your song. As it has more than 500 instrument sounds built in it, just think of the probabilities of instrument combinations you can achieve.
In split mode, you can literally split the keyboard into two parts and you can play two different instruments on both sides with your left and right hand.
Check out: Best Digital Pianos & Keyboards for Beginners
Educational suite
The Yamaha educational suite allows you to learn from more than 100 songs ( 30 internal songs and 70+ songs in the CD ROM). You can learn how each of these songs has been composed with the help of the performance assistance feature and lesson modes. Alternatively, you can also download songs in MIDI format from the internet and transfer them to the internal memory of the piano and use them as internal songs.
Accessories That Come with YPG 535
- Stand: The piano comes with a matching stand. You can, however, switch to the X-type stand, if you have to port it often.
- Bag: This gig bag helps in protecting the piano during transit and for outdoor performances. The piano comes in an Artiste series bag to fit the 88-key long piano perfectly.
- Headphones: Helps in listening to the minute keyboard notes clearly and in listening to music, without disturbing others.
- Digital controller app: This feature is exclusive to the iPhone, to help the performer make certain intrinsic alterations to the keyboard.
Alternatives of Yamaha YPG-535
Here are the top alternatives of YPG-535 available in the market with similar features and a price range of about $700 to $1500.
The Final Verdict
The Yamaha YPG 535 remains and will still remain one of the popular piano brands among piano lovers. Its specifications and special features are way too good for its price. It also serves as your personal assistant to teach you music lessons, so why wait, book to buy you YPG 535 today.
