Yamaha have recently released the all-new Arius range of digital pianos. Building on the success of the YDP140 and YDP160, Yamaha have decided to extend the Arius range to include three models, the YDP141, YDP161 and the YDP181. These are not available in the UK as yet, but are being launched fully at the Musikmesse expo in Frankfurt in a week, so we're sure retailers will have stock soon after.
The Arius YDP140 represented exceptional value for money and the word on the street is that Yamaha will ensure the YDP141 is also good value for money. In fact there is a rumour that the YDP141 is of better quality than the Clavinova CLP 320. We'll have to wait to pass judgment on that, but on paper it does look very nice and offers beginners and the more experienced players a lot for the money, if it is pricing similarly to the YDP140.
There is a gradual improvement of features as you go up the range so the Yamaha Arius YDP141 has AVM level 1 stereo sampling for the piano sounds where as the YDP181 has AVM level 3 stereo sampling. Also as you go up the range there are more sounds included and the speakers wattage increases as well.
The pedals are all the same on each model and have damper with half pedal effect, Sostenuto and Soft to allow for full expression.
You'll also find that the keyboard includes a very handy feature allowing players to change the sensitivity between hard, medium, soft and fixed. This is a great feature as most players will play in a different way. The keyboard improves from Graded Hammer Standard up to Graded Hammer.
Another point worth mentioning is the polyphony which is 64 note on the YDP141 and 161s, where as the 181 has 128 note polyphony which if you're a more experienced player will be necessary for more complicated pieces.
All in all the Arius range is aimed the home piano market and are affordable with some lovely features and sounds.
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