Let’s take a close look at the Yamaha YDP 213. This is a good entry level home digital piano and good value for the money too. And speaking of good value for the money, you can find this digital piano for about $900, so it is not outrageously priced.
This 88 key digital piano has an attractive walnut cabinet finish that looks good in any home. You’ll particularly appreciate the fact that it comes with a stand that has 3 pedals built into it. So you don’t have to worry about a pedal sliding on the floor when playing.
Yamaha does a good job of simulating the feel of an acoustic piano. They use different types of keyboard action in their various models. For the Yamaha YDP213 they use the Graded Hammer Standard (GHS) piano action. This type of piano action emulates the feel of an acoustic grand piano by making the lower notes a little heavier than the higher notes.
The feel of a digital piano’s keyboard action is a subjective thing. But some players think the Yamaha GHS piano action is a little too light. Yamaha also uses Graded Hammer Effect on more expensive models, which offers a stiffer feeling piano action that more faithfully recreates the acoustic piano touch. This is one reason the Yamaha YDP213 is better for beginning and hobby piano players and not for professionals. But once again, this is a subjective thing, and you should try any keyboard out to reach your own conclusion.
You can expect good sound quality from this Yamaha digital piano. Yamaha samples the sounds of a real Yamaha acoustic grand piano. The YDP213 uses Advanced Wave Memory tone generation technology. And stereo sound sampling makes the sound even more realistic. That’s what is great about a big player in the digital piano market like Yamaha. They provide great sound quality on their digital pianos. As a beginner or advanced piano player this is very important. If sound quality is inferior the risk of not playing the digital piano is greater, and what good is the keyboard if it just collects dust?
As mentioned above, the YDP213 has 3 pedals built into its stand. It has the soft, sostenuto, and sustain pedal, just like an acoustic piano. One drawback with the pedals is that it doesn’t offer half-pedaling capability. However, this may not be important to a beginner or hobbyist piano player.
What else can you expect from this digital piano? The YDP 213 has 6 different tones, 64-note polyphony, metronome, two 6-watt amplifiers that push two 4-3/4″ speakers, reverb, chorus, MIDI in/out, and other features. Also, the YDP213 has a sliding key cover that will protect against dust and spills, a very important feature.
In conclusion, the YDP213 is a good entry level digital piano for a beginner player or a non-professional piano player. The keyboard action emulates the feel of an acoustic piano, which is important if you’re an accomplished pianist or just a beginner. But more expensive Yamaha models use different keyboard action technology that most players would say better recreates the acoustic feel. The YDP213 is definitely a good quality digital piano at a very affordable price.