Yamaha PF1000 Digital Piano

YAMAHA PF1000 Details ^top

INCLUDES A YAMAHA BENCH

FEATURES

• Superb 88-key Graded Hammer Effect keyboard

• Dynamic Stereo Sampling for genuine piano sound

• Stereo Sustain samples and Key-off samples for added realism

• Huge selection of high-quality voices (308 panel + 480 XG + 16 drum kits)

• 259 professionally arranged accompaniment styles

• Large LCD with graphical user interface

• Max. 96-note polyphony

• PC interface (TO HOST) for computer connection

• 6 blocks of digital effects (Reverb, Chorus, DSP)

• Score/lyrics display function and video out jack

• 16-track sequencer

• Built-in two-way stereo speakers (30W x 2)

• Custom 3-foot pedal with half pedal effect

• Built-in floppy disk drive

Keyboard stand and music rest included.

In Touch with Piano Reality

Although loaded with advanced music performance functions, the PF1000 is the first and foremost a fine digital piano. Carefully crafted to emulate the expressive touch and warm sound of an acoustic piano in every way, the PF1000 uses three layers of stereo piano samples, each set at a different velocity. What this means in real terms is that when you touch the keys lightly, you'll hear a soft, delicate piano sound. And as you play harder, the sound not only becomes louder, but also richer with more harmonic overtones, just like on a real piano.

For even more realism, the PF1000 features Stereo Sustain samples to recreate the resonance of the strings and soundboard when the damper pedal is pressed, and Key-off samples to simulate the subtle sound that piano keys make when released. To trigger these samples with genuine piano expression, the PF1000 is equipped with Yamaha's acclaimed Graded Hammer Effect keyboard. Specially designed so that the keys in the lower registers have a heavier touch than those in the top, this state-of-the-art keyboard provides exceptional piano action that accurately responds to the subtlest dynamics of your playing.

The PF1000 also includes a custom three-foot pedal to reproduce the damper, sostenuto and soft pedal effects of a traditional piano.

Bringing You the Joy of Music--in Style

Come, sit down at the keys of the new PF1000. Pull up the bench. Put your foot on the pedals...and take yourself for a musical joyride! Whether you're a beginner, an accomplished player or anything in between, the PF1000 offers a powerful ensemble of features to satisfy any musical taste. With its exceptionally realistic sound and authentic hammer action, it makes a wonderful piano for practicing alone or entertaining guests--day or night. And with its huge selection of expressive voices and professionally arranged music styles, it's also a great performance and composition keyboard for anyone with an interest in music. Plus its karaoke functions and extensive collection of built-in demo songs make it an unparalleled entertainment system for whenever you have company. All these musical features in a chic, elegantly designed digital instrument that perfectly harmonizes with any room decor. After all, if you're going to have fun, why not have it in style?

The Beautiful Sounds of Music

The PF1000 provides a huge selection of over 800 digitally sampled instruments of unparalleled sound quality. In addition to superb piano voices, it offers a complete range of orchestral, ethnic and contemporary voices, many of which feature long sample waves to capture the natural sustain and character of the original instruments. These include newly added "Natural!," Sweet!," Cool!," and "Live!" voices.

"Natural!" voices--pianos, electric pianos, harpsichords and other keyboard instruments--have their own stereo-sampled waveforms, including Dynamic Samples, Sustain Samples and Key-off Samples, for truly expressive performance capability. "Sweet!" voices accurately emulate the natural tone and vibrato of acoustic instruments such as brass and woodwinds. "Cool!" voices realistically reproduce the dynamic textures and subtle nuances of electric instruments. And "Live!" voices are stereo sampled with natural room ambience to ensure maximum realism and expression.

Let Me Entertain You

Packed with amazing performance and arrangement functions, the PF1000 is your one-stop entertainment station. It provides nearly 260 accompaniment styles covering all musical genres, each of which has three intros and endings, four variations, four fill-ins and one break, so you'll never run out of musical possibilities. And if you want to try composing your own original songs, the built-in music sequencer lets you record up to 16 tracks of instrument parts.

Want to play a song but don't know which settings would be best for it? Simply search the PF1000's enormous Music Finder database--the most appropriate voice, style, effects and tempo settings will be automatically called up according to the song you select. And even if you don't play the piano, you can still have fun singing along with your favorite songs using the PF1000's karaoke features. Just plug in a microphone, pop in a karaoke disk and sing away. You can even connect the PF1000 to your TV so your friends and family can sing along to the lyrics on the screen.

The PF1000 is also compatible with a variety of popular MIDI song file formats, including Standard MIDI Files (format 0 and 1), XG and XF, as well as Yamaha's own Style File Format, so you'll be able to enjoy the wide selection of songs and music styles available from Yamaha and third party companies.

Sophistication Made Simple

Despite its advanced performance features, the PF1000 is remarkably easy to use. A handy Help function offers clear on-screen guidance on using various keyboard functions--in one of six different languages! Navigating from function to function is easy too, thanks to a Direct Access feature that lets you jump instantly to a desired display simply by pressing a related button. One Touch Setting buttons are ready to assist you in playing along with the built-in accompaniment styles by automatically calling up an appropriate selection of voices and effects to match the music style you select. Plus the PF1000's intuitive Style Creator function makes it easy to create your own custom styles for auto accompaniment use, either by editing an existing style or by recording all the parts from scratch.

And if you ever feel that your favorite piano voice could use a little more reverb, or that the symphony strings you're playing need a slower attack, simply press the Sound Creator button and you'll be able to change any of the parameters to your liking. You can then store your newly created voice in User memory for future recall.

For further convenience, Registration Memory lets you save your favorite keyboard setups for instant recall at any time. There's even a Piano button that instantly reconfigures the PF1000 for optimum piano performance...because even with all these incredible features at your fingertips, there will be times when you just want to sit down and play the piano.

Assembly Required

YAMAHA PF1000 Specs ^top

YAMAHA PF1000 Hear this Product ^top

Audio (Requires MP3 Player: Winamp or Apple Quicktime)

PF500 MP3
PF500 2 MP3

Review of YAMAHA PF1000

RATING:

Sound Quality	10
Features	10
Ease Of Use	8
Value	10
Reliability	10
Overall	10

Instrument purchased 11 03 Quality: The stylish rich woodgrain furniture top panel blends with the lower black cabinet and rugged black steel stand, suitable for most home decors. The fit and finish is excellent and durable. The bench is moderately comfortable and durable. At 90 lbs. the unit stays put with vigorous playing. One of the pads on the pedal came unglued while used on wood floor. Shouldn't be an issue on carpet. Features: The best features are the infinite combinations of instruments, rhythms and accompaniments that provide an endless challenge to create music. The ability to 'split' the keyboard and change where the split occurs was a high priority since I play bass in many songs with my left hand. I can also 'chord' with my left which allows the 'style' (pop rock, pop ballads, sing jazz, etc) to accompany the main instrument (choice of eight+) and the 'layer' instrument (choice of same eight+). The programmable 3-pedal controller allows to me stop start the rhythm, end with a fade or being able to sequence through eight different instrument settings for one song. Saving the instrument setups in the registration memory makes it easy to go from song to song, eliminating tweaking between songs. Songs (MIDI data) can be saved in memory or diskette. The diskette saves MIDI data files only, not the actual sounds. The registration setups can also be stored on diskette. The diskette can be plugged into a 3 1 2 floppy drive on a computer and the sound card will produce the sound from the MIDI 'instruction' data. The ability to use headphones is an added feature. Output jacks can be attached to a recording device to record the 'real' sounds. Ease of use: The learning curve for me was quite steep to get to the point I could enjoy many benefits of this keyboard. I play by ear and I knew what I wanted songs to sound like. I spent about 6 months really developing a comfortable skill level. The manual was very helpful but I had to learn by doing. Choosing the right 'style' for a song was a real challenge to emulate a familiar song. The weighted keys are marvelous! Unlike an organ which has no 'feel' other than 'off on', the touch-sensitive keys allow the most delicate arpeggios to heavy rock roll. Value: I was apprehensive about the price when I bought the unit. It's a durable and attractive instrument. Since I've learned how to play it, I really enjoy playing it! It's worth more than I paid. It turned out to be a perfect match for my music skill. Sound: T

-A Yamaha PF1000 review
-06/30/06

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