Piano and Synth Blog

Overview

The Yamaha P140 is a stylish, contemporary digital piano available in black or silver with wood finish top panels and subtle orange LED displays.

This 88-note keyboard features Yamaha’s Graded Hammer Effect keyboard for a very realistic emulation of an acoustic piano’s feel.

It comes with a selection of 14 sounds which include three acoustic pianos, three electric pianos, strings, choir, pipe and jazz organs, vibes, and bass. All use Yamaha’s AWM (Advanced Wave Memory) system for added realism.

The acoustic piano sounds are particularly rich, featuring Dynamic Stereo Sampling which features three separate layers of stereo samples, each set at a different velocity, Dynamic Stereo Sampling changes not only the volume, but also the harmonic structure of the notes depending on how hard you play the keyboard. A fourth sample layer recreates a piano’s unique sustain resonance whenever the damper pedal is pressed, while key-off samples add even the subtle sounds of felt dampers coming to rest on piano strings.

There are 50 pieces of piano music already built in ready to play, as well as a memory bank for up to 3 user recordings. Either hand part can be muted for practising.

The P140/P140S feature 64 note polyphony, 14 voices with 3 variations, 5 different reverb effects, Chorus, Phaser, Tremolo, and Rotary Speaker, 2×6W speakers, and comes with Music Rest, FC3 Foot Pedal, and AC Power Adapter. An optional matching slim keyboard stand is available.

Specifications

Keyboard: Graded Hammer Effect Keyboard, 88 keys
Tone Generator: AWM, 3-layer Dynamic Stereo Sampling, Key-Off Samples, Stereo Sustain Samples (open-string effect with sustain pedal)
Polyphony: Max. 64 notes
Voices: 14 distinct voices each with 3 tonal variations
Effects: 5 Different Reverbs, Chorus, Phaser, Tremolo, and Rotary Speaker
Performance Modes: Dual, Split
Pedal: Sustain Pedal (Can be used with half pedal effect),
AUX Pedal (Assignable to various functions)
Display: 7-segment, 3-digit LED
Recorder: 3 songs, 2 tracks, 11,000 notes with Flash ROM Storage
Demo Songs: 14 voice demo songs, 50 preset songs
Metronome: Tempo: 32-280, Beat: 0-15
Connectors: Dual Headphones, MIDI IN/OUT, AUX OUT, AUX Pedal
Amplifiers: 6W x 2
Speakers: 12 x 6 cm x 2
Dimensions: 1,334 x 351 x 140 mm (52-1/2″ x 13-13/16″ x 5-1/2″)
Weight: 17.8 kg (39.2 lbs)
Included Accessories: Music Rest, FC3 Foot Pedal, AC Power Adapter
Optional Accessory: Keyboard Stand (L-140/L-140S)

More Information

• Official Yamaha page
• Yamaha P120 and P140 comparison

Reviews

• Keyboard Magazine (PDF}
• Harmony Central User Reviews

Anna Barratt, the 27 year old (spoilt, immature) model ex-girlfriend of X Factor favourite Ben Mills decided that she needed to exact revenge on the singer after he allegedly cheated on her by hiding chunks of tuna fish under the keys of his piano. “And now finalist Ben, 26, cannot play a note without being hit by the pong of rotten fish.” reports the Sun newspaper.

I’m surprised if he can play a decent note at all, to be honest. Oily fish cannot be good for the wood, quite apart from the appalling smell that must be emanating from the instrument now.

If you have to take revenge over a cheating partner, why not go for something more easily repairable, such as clothing? Why take out your pathetic retaliation on a beautiful musical instrument?

You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Anna. Your £4,500 bill for damages might just cover restoring or replacing the piano.

“He’s a shallow, spineless gibbon.” said Anna. Yeah, that’s coming from a spoilt brat? Grow up Barratt.

Read

Elektron have announced their USB MDII interface that’s capable of increasing the original MIDI bandwidth by up to 10 times, which they claim will make MIDI timing more accurate. Though the interface is compatible with any standard MIDI equipment, it comes into its own for any gear that uses the new TurboMIDI standard developed by Elektron.

I’ve never used a MIDI setup big enough or needed something so precise that timing has been an issue, but I guess in larger setups lag can be a problem for synchronisation. Whether this product will help is another matter. They also claim that the increased bandwidth makes it good for doing MIDI sample dumps.

It features 1 MIDI in and 1 MIDI out. If TurboMIDI takes off, presumably we’ll see bigger interfaces in the future. This one’s available for €79.

Product Page

Here’s a cool little YouTube video showing just how quick and easy it is to create a loop with the classic Yamaha DX7.

(Via MatrixSynth)

The Miami Herald has extolled the talents of young jazz pianist Jamie Cullum as he “gives Miami’s new Carnival Center its first pop concert in a terrific show”

“Think a fresher Harry Connick Jr., but with a hipper hairdo and some actual flair. But to these pop-seasoned ears, Cullum is much closer to the second coming of a young Elton John or Songs in the Attic-era Billy Joel for the way he treats the piano as a prop — pounding it with rock ‘n’ roll fervor, playing atop it and under it, all the while coaxing sonorous tones from its keys.

There’s a bit of Joel, too, in Cullum’s elastic vocal phrasing on his original songs like These Are the Days, a tuneful pop number from his first album, Twentysomething. Monday night, he turned it into an audience participation number, calling on half of the hall to act as saxophones, the other half to become trumpets carrying a melodic phrase. You won’t see that in the jazz loft at the Van Dyke. Jazz is largely mired in the past. Cullum, lacing his original tunes with modern hip-hop, rock or even folk accents, feels more like the future.”

Read

BlogCritics.org has a basic book review of the doorstep-sized book “The Guide to MIDI Orchestration” by Paul Gilreath which is supposed to be so good that it’s become a school textbook as well. 703 pages of information about adding synth-generated orchestral and other authentic-sounding real-world instruments to electronic recordings, including acoustic placement.

Reports around the web that PJ Harvey is working on a new piano album. Though it’s not yet titled, we do know that it’ll be written entirely on the piano rather than the guitar. Release date? Sorry, don’t know. But hey, these little snippets are enough to keep us interested…

Here’s a nice recording of a young, big-haired Billy Joel singing The Entertainer and playing piano and MiniMoog (lush sound) from way back when the BBC broadcast The Old Grey Whistle Test. This is just class all round (except for the clothing fashion perhaps but we’ll forgive that)

(Via MatrixSynth)