Is Yamaha's P-Series still competitive? Yamaha P-45 vs. Donner DEP-20

The P-series of Yamaha's digital pianos, the P45, P125, and P515, have been around for quite some time now, and some people believe that it's time for Yamaha to roll out an upgrade. While I personally think the P125 and P515 wouldn't need to be changed very much to stay relevant for many years to come, what about Yamaha's cheapest fully weighted digital piano the P45? How does it compare to an instrument that is vastly cheaper than it? Let's find out.

[@Alan_Chapman]

One tip with Yamaha keyboards and using reverse polarity pedals. If you press the pedal and keep it held down while powering up most Yamaha keyboards it will cause the piano to register the pedal operation in reverse. So you don’t actually require the polarity switch to get a pedal to work with them.

[@jemuzu0944]

You are the best piano reviewer I have ever seen on youtube, epic. Thank you

[@ThePianoforever]

Thank you so much!

[@ahareally]

Without a slight doubt :) Such in-depth expertise and genuine presentation - very very rare.

[@dominirican7403]

P45 has been overpriced for 5 years already And my god never seen someone fat shame a piano before 🤣. Love it

[@ThePianoforever]

Hahaha if you ever see one in person you'll see what I mean! 😁😂

[@miker1645]

I've been learning on the yamaha ez-220 since last year, I ordered the dep 20, for my second year of playing. Good reviews, thanks pal.

[@JohannaA.5013]

That's why I love my P-45! A very better sound! I know I'll have to own an Acoustic one, one day. But it's what I can have for now.

[@gabz4497]

Another excellent review, thanks! :)

[@jeffb1886]

I've had the P45 for about 2 months. (Used, "like new" for about the same price as a new DEP20). I considered the Donner but couldn't find one in-store to test myself. Thanks for this video. You confirmed my suspicions about Donner build quality, key slop, poorer quality tone (vs the P45). Sure its cheaper but "you get what you pay for". I'm very happy with my decision and I suspect the P45 will retain more of its value over time should I ever decide to sell. Oh, and having the Quick Op Guide (a diagram showing all key switches) printed off and handy makes finding the right one a non-problem. I've memorized the 2 or 3 that I use. The rest I don't. Just my 2c worth.

[@NunoRomeo]

Great review.

[@jose.bandeira]

Watching your videos is becoming a habit. Well done! That said: I see the p45 as a nice practice piano, with very few things distracting from its main function. I do have one against a wall, and sometimes i sit at it and just play for a while. So, what you see as drawbacks can be strengths if seen from a different angle. Tbh, if you use its more esoteric functions for some time, you end up memorizing the keys, but for me the fact that they aren’t even labeled prevents me from getting distracted. If I could have only one piano, however, the p45 wouldn’t be it. Thanks again for your reviews.

[@ThePianoforever]

That is a fair point, I can see where you're coming from. Sometimes instruments with loads of features on display can become distracting for practice, I have experienced this myself.

[@rikspector]

Thank you James, For the review and your wonderful playing. It reminds me of the story about the man visiting New York for a musical performance. He sees a hippie guy standing near him and asks ,"How do I get to Carnegie Hall/" The reply ,"Practice, Man, Practice". You've done the practice:) Cheers, Rik Spector

[@tiagoramalhais5493]

My P45 was a present so I can't complain, but I played others in the same price range and still like the P45's sounds and action better

[@somerandomguyonyoutube8335]

Great video.

[@ThePianoforever]

Thank you!

[@johnweller1423]

That was awesome and the DX sound with the Music Box was / is impressive 😎 it’s a party 🎉 for the ears 👂😁

[@ThePianoforever]

It's probably my favorite sound in the instrument lol. A lot of fun.

[@brendanvkiely]

Would love to hear your review of the Alesis Prestige :)

[@johnkardel9098]

Good morning. I have a question about the Donner DEP-20. I recently purchased the Donner and I like it. My question is what triple pedal set would work for with it?

I could bing watch your videos ... all day (and night) long. Just love what you are doing (and how you are doing it). When a student of mine is looking for a (new) digital piano, I always direct them to your channel. I have a KORG SV2 88S (best one out there, if you ask me), a P45, P115, an older Roland RD-170 ... and a couple of acoustic pianos. I would not dare to call myself an expert, but I really love your videos and although I, like everybody else, have my own opinion on all of these instruments, it's really nice to watch your videos; honest, expertly and (something I really dig) not-endorsed. I am eyeballing a KORG B2 (I love KORG) .. and it will probably happen rather soon ... and when it does, I hope one day you'll do a video on it. If not ... I even might :-) Thanks for all the inspirational videos! Keep it up.

[@jfan4reva]

Reaches across the P45 with right hand and explains how the function key on the Yamaha is on the far left, while having to press keys on the far right. (Amused left-handed noises.) The lack of front side headphone jacks may be due to Yamaha sharing the basic casing mold with other models that do have them, but not wanting to go to the expense of adding a 'daughter board' to route the headphone output to the front, or not wanting to modify the molds to eliminate the cutout for the P-45 only. Min changes = min cost. When you make things in lots of 10,000, these things matter.

[@ThePianoforever]

I agree about the daughter board situation!

[@alexl5198]

James, can you upload a review of the M-Audio Hammer 88 soon please? And what are your thoughts on the Casio GP400 vs Gp510 too?

[@NOEL861Ramin]

Love your reviews. Could you do a Review of the Donner DDP80? Because it is very unique in some way. Best greetings from Germany

[@dgunde13gunderson78]

hey there, you're awesome dude. never even heard of Donner, except in Gold Rush cannabalism CA. just got a p45 for about $100. 2 keys are needing repair. yeah. plug externals in with no problem. excpt thru the single back headphone jack. 1/4" little bit old school rather than standard mono/stereo outs. loved your review of the $50 37 key yamaha. just gotta get one. sell it to my students? Kind regards, Happy NY. Douglas viola, guitar, piano, organ etc SD CA

[@johnh78]

When shopping for a keyboard I ended up going w one that you haven’t reviewed yet (YC73), but your channel has been hugely entertaining and has taught me a lot on what to look for as far as piano or keyboard quality. Great channel James!

[@JG-jz6lt]

Can the P45 split sounds? You say it can in the video but I’ve heard others say it can’t.

[@julianchris8131]

Excellent demonstration as always. It's amazing how you're always able to find a little quirk or a flaw that nobody else can notice. I burst out laughter at 14:27. Some might call it nitpicking, but I believe that companies paying close attention to the tiniest detail is what makes their products beyond 'just being good'. With that being said, Donner's is only $350. So there's that. It's always about what you get for your money. Slightly different approach than 'you get what you pay for'. For $350, that one looks like a decent digital piano according to your review. Personally, I wouldn't by an instrument that cheap, but it's still nice to know that there's a product for different people with different budget! I have a love and hate relationship with Yamaha. I appreciate their exceptional quality control along with their high quality stuff. Good on the paper, good in person, straight up delivering us what they promise us to offer. I also play the classical guitar, and I can tell you even their guitars are awesome! Well, the tone they want their instruments to have can be huge hit or miss. And it's usually a miss for me. But still. I have to give them credit for the effort they put into their work. It's like, they're not my first choice but I'm glad they are there(I own one digital piano and one classical guitar from them). And it's unrelated to this particular video but I wanted to ask you this for a while. Would you do a performance video again? I occasionally check your other channel but there isn't much of you playing(I liked that guitar guy tho! can't remember the name). I understand that you play the same piece so we can have a sense of how each digital piano performs and sounds different but I wish I could listen to your other performance as well!

[@ThePianoforever]

I can't speak for Yamaha's guitars but I can say the tone of their pianos has changed a bit over the years, always improving. As for performance videos, I will work on that once I get back to the studio. I have several people who i would like to record if they have the time, and am working on several famous, lovely classical pieces for solo piano too. Glad you enjoy my content! 😊👍

[@alterego4767]

Hi James, thank you for the great video. May I ask, do you know if you will be reviewing the Roland FP-60x and FP-90x at some point? I would love to see you do reviews of these pianos as well. Thank you.

[@JuanSewDLKS]

Same here

[@ThePianoforever]

I have visited some piano and keyboard dealers lately who stock Roland and other brands and they are physically incapable of receiving new products. This means that a) I could not get one on a timely basis either, and b) it is unlikely I will find one around to review in a store. They are expensive instruments and I do not plan on purchasing one any time soon.

[@raphaelivanfernandez7994]

Can you have a review some Yamaha Electones ??? ( EL - series ) 🥺👉👈

[@jemuzu0944]

I have the Yamaha P45 and my dream is to have the yamaha p515

[@ThePianoforever]

The P515 is really good!

[@burpo]

I just love my Yamaha P-125.

[@lordofweed]

great 🙂👍

[@JazzTigan]

Please do review casio ctx700, just piano sound. Thank you

[@radiorexandy]

James, The Yamaha is eminently listenable; the Donnor made my ears tired. What good is "value" if the instrument is practically unlistenable? I think even a novice pianist would soon outgrow the Donner. I do hope, however, that Yamaha is looking ahead and can see the Donner in its rear view mirror. Nice review.

[@superyamchama5659]

Now the question is which one should I buy? What do you recommend?

[@yeahuri4724]

Bro, you need to check out the Nu-x NPK10.

[@eredm.6001]

Do you want to review/compare the Thomann DP-28 Plus in time?

[@ThePianoforever]

I might, but I'm not sure the video would be interesting to the masses since I don't think Thomann has much brand recognition in the world of digital piano manufacturing. I have low expectations for that instrument if I'm being honest.

[@tiagoramalhais5493]

I believe Thomann branded digital pianos are in fact Medeli models

[@pianojoe6880]

I love the P-45! It lasted me years.

[@ThePianoforever]

Fantastic! Long before I made digital piano videos I had an old P80 that was super reliable and actually sounded nice for an old instrument. Yamaha makes reliable stuff most of the time, I hope that never changes.

[@MostEasterlySteve]

On the main acoustic piano voice the Yamaha is in mono, Donner is in stereo. Difficult to make a fair comparison therefore.

[@ThePianoforever]

Both instruments were recorded using the exact same setup so... 🤔

[@charliecahaly8697]

James I really enjoy your demonstration the knowledge you have and technique. I recently ordered the donor 20 which you demonstrated along with the P 45 Yamaha. During that demonstration I heard incredible mid range bass and clear highs from the speaker amplification system you were using. Would you please get back to me with the amplification system the speaker system that you use probably for most of your demonstrations it sounds great. My name is Charlie and again thank you for all of the information that you go through to teachers us.

[@Astronomater]

I am very happy with the yamaha with the exception of the lack of midi jacks.

[@jeffb1886]

??? I have the P45 and output it to my PC and a DAW thru the USB port (same as a printer cable).

[@yudeo9782]

The Donner sounds more clear. Is it just me?

[@Lance-AnimeonPiano]

You can turn off the Annoying clicking sound on the yamaha p45 by toggling the Grand Piano Function and the C7 key

[@ThePianoforever]

Thanks!

[@ikenopiano]

What is the name of the piece at 22:37?

[@n3ko105]

Please don't forget about Casiotone ct s1

[@ThePianoforever]

It is not forgotten! 😁 I just have to order one, last time I tried it was physically impossible.

[@eredm.6001]

thx

[@ThePianoforever]

No problem!

[@emericklamontagne3652]

Wonder if Casio will always be one step ahead of Donner.

[@montyboon4127]

When ever i hear your intro i always think you introduce yourself as "James pavel Chakras"

[@hankguichelaar]

James, I sent you a question about a digital grand piano by email a couple of weeks ago. Both directly to the address you list and also through the email page of your Milan Studios website. Have not heard back but since you evaluate so many keyboards, I am still interested in your opinion. Let me know.

[@ThePianoforever]

The email hosting server was down for a while but it's live again now!

[@hankguichelaar]

@@ThePianoforever I'll resubmit my question!

[@MERCEDES-BENZS600GUARD_V12]

How are you able to record the Yamaha ?🎹🎶

[@ThePianoforever]

Through the headphone jack. Not ideal but it's the only way to record this one.

[@MERCEDES-BENZS600GUARD_V12]

@@ThePianoforever oh ok thanks Love your videos👍🎹🎶

[@jeffb1886]

??? I have the P45 and output it to my PC and a DAW thru the USB port (same as a printer cable). Play, record, save, etc.

[@MERCEDES-BENZS600GUARD_V12]

@@jeffb1886 can the same be done with the Kawai ES110? And through a laptop?🎹🎶

[@coolboygaming8430]

I was lucky I got the yamaha cheaper than the donner 😃

[@coolboygaming8430]

@Ultra Legendary Master the yamaha was on sale and got it for 320 long ago and the donner was 350 then and similar now.

[@jules153]

Yamaha need to supply with a better pepal for sure!

[@DickKincheloe]

:)

[@fishnmusicn]

Oh my goodness that Donner sounds like crap! Clear choice love the Yamaha even with it's faults. The sound is very important. I couldn't live with crappy sound and cheap quality like that! I have a simple Yamaha PSR E373 that sounds better. And a Yamaha MOXF6 that is a pleasure to work with. I love extra features but if the sound is crappy hey what's the point!

[@jemuzu0944]

1st!

[@ThePianoforever]

You are, in fact, first. 😁