Overview of the Yamaha YDP S34

Everyone loves a digital keyboard that carries high-quality classic sounds from grand pianos. Unfortunately, getting these sounds at an affordable price is the biggest problem. The Yamaha YDP S-34 is a continuation of Yamaha’s attempt at providing some of the best grand piano sounds in an affordable unit. This keyboard is designed with some of the best classic sounds that we all love. These sounds have been enhanced further using a few technological gadgets to come up with magical voices.

Something else we really loved about this keyboard is its entire construction. Yamaha was keen to deliver not just a great keyboard in terms of performance, but one that will also add some beauty into your home or studio. The Yamaha YDP S-34 has a sleek designing with amazing aesthetics that you’ll love from the word go.

In this review, we will be digging deep into what this new addition in the Arius series has to offer. Here is what you should expect from this from this instrument.

First Impressions

With the YDP S34, Yamaha has shown that a digital keyboard shouldn’t just be about delivering the basic functions of voices, ports and so on. They have designed this keyboard in a very simple manner yet it still managed to come out extremely elegant. With this keyboard, there are no lots of details and other stylish things to draw attention from what matters the most; actual performance. Even the manufacturer’s logo has been maintained in an inconspicuous manner. There are only two parts of the keyboard with Yamaha’s logo; one on the lid branded with a reasonably small font and another one on the left side which is a bit bigger. The rest of the visible fonts are all finished in black veneer covered with wood texture.

The keyboards appearances ooze elegance and you’ll be able to get this instrument in three different colors; white, white ash, and my favorite black walnut. The keyboard looks stunning in all of these colors but there is something unique about the black walnut. It doesn’t just look executive but it’ll also blend into your home décor more effortlessly compared to the other two colors. This is just me though and color is a highly subjective matter so you might find the other two more appealing.

Click the image for best price on Yamaha YDP-S34 Arius:

How does the YDP S34 play?

Opening the keyboard’s lid introduces you to 88-keys; black matt and white glossy keys. At the end of the keys is a red felt strip that keeps dust off the interior of the keyboard. The Yamaha YDP  34 keys feature graded hammer standard tech that is supposed to improve the feel and response of the keys. We have to admit that graded hammer 3 is a more popular and effective tech which we would have loved to see here. The good news is that the GHS used in its place doesn’t perform so bad either. The keyboard plays softly and we also found the agility of the rebound reasonable. The response and softness from this GHS keyboard deliver an authentic experience that will be very useful especially for low-level pianists who are still perfecting their skills.

Accessing basic functions of the keyboard has also been made extra easy thanks to a few buttons and knobs around the panel. You can access the voices of the piano through the “Voice/Piano” button. The “+/-” will then allow you to move from one sound to another. Adjusting the volume is pretty easy thanks to the volume knob which is fitted with a slight resistance to help you in selecting your volume more accurately. There is also a “Metronome” button from which you can activate click tracks whose tempo you can increase or reduce using the “+/-” buttons. In summary, all the main functions that are used frequently can now be accessed through simple shortcuts which even beginners will be able to master in no time.

There is then a manual which gives you access to the more sophisticated shortcuts that you need to activate functions such as controlling the inbuilt reverbs, creating a split sound, adjusting the touch sensitivity, and commanding the Intelligent Acoustic Control. You can also use a few shortcut tricks found on the manual to access the Dual Mode that lets you layer two distinct sounds and the Duo Playing function that divides the piano into two sections.

Check here for Price & Reviews on Amazon

Sound

The Yamaha YDP S34 houses the sounds of the great CFX Concert Grand Piano. Remember that this was the instrument that was used by the winner of the 2010 International Chopin Competition. The CFX is an amazing instrument whose remarkable sounds were finely recorded and enhanced before they were programmed into the S-34. There are also sounds from the Mellow Grand which are also quite impressive. Some people even claimed that the sounds were softer and their quality came out more naturally especially when using the keyboard with the built-in speakers which aren’t very powerful. The keyboard is also equipped with sounds from other instruments like the Stage E Piano, Pop grand, Pipe Organ, Harpsichord, DX E Piano, Vibraphone, Strings, and Jazz Organ. As you can see, even experienced pianists will have sufficient sounds to perform with.

You will also be getting 192-note polyphony that you can use to layer two voices to make a new unique sound. The keyboard also comes with 10 inbuilt sounds and 50 demo songs that beginners can practice with.

Connectivity

The YDP S-34 is quite generous when it comes to connectivity options. The presence of quite a number of ports increases the keyboard’s versatility significantly. With a USB socket, for instance, you can connect the keyboard to your computer allowing you to save your sounds digitally or to add a few sounds into the keyboard. Crucial to note that the S-34 software is compatible with both Mac and Windows PC and hence you’ll never have to worry about compatibility issues.

There is also a pedal jack near the power jack socket. You’ll also get a headphone output which is placed in a hard-to-reach spot. Given the rather weak nature of the built-in speaker, you are going to be using this headphone output quite a lot which makes its weird location even more problematic.

The Yamaha YDP S34 can also be controlled using a free smartphone app that is available for both Android and iOS devices. The “Smart Pianist” application allows you to control different functions of the keyboard more conveniently. Unfortunately, the size of the gadget’s screen determines whether or not you have full control of the keyboard with this app. With an iPad or tablet this shouldn’t be a problem but if you are using a smartphone you might not gain complete access to the piano’s functions.

Yamaha YDP S34 Specs

• Dimensions: Width 1353mm; Height 792mm; depth 296mm
• Weight: 35.9kg
• 88 GHS keyboard
• Touch Sensitivity: Fixed, soft, medium and hard
• Supports three pedals (soft, sostenuto and damper)
• Folding key cover style
• 192-note polyphony
• 10 voices
• Four reverbs
• 10 demo songs
• 50 preset piano songs
• Data Capacity 100kb per song (11,000 notes)
• Supports recording of two tracks or 1 song
• Comes with Intelligent Acoustic Control, Damper Resonance, and Stereophonic Optimizer
• Dual/Layers and Duo functions
• Metronome capability
• Tempo range: 5 – 280
• Transpose: -6 – 0 – +6
• Tuning: 414.8 – 440.0 – 466.8 Hz
• Two standard stereo headphone jacks
• USB to Host connectivity
• Two 8W amplifiers
• Two 12cm speakers

The keyboard also comes with an AC Adaptor (PA-150B), SubZero SZ-H100 stereo headphones and a songbook containing 50 classical music.

Cons

Unfortunately, the YDP S-34 also has a few shortcomings that we saw fit to highlight. The biggest which we have already pointed out is the weak speakers. It’s rather sad that Yamaha didn’t fit this keyboard with speakers powerful enough to do justice to the incredible sounds of the CFX. The bass especially is so poor and could easily ruin your whole performance. Thankfully, using headphones produces much better sounds.

Additionally, you will notice that there is no audio input and metronome also doesn’t have a supporting display.

Conclusion on the Yamaha S 34

The Yamaha YDP S 34 comes with a few challenges that we can’t just brush off. Fortunately, looking at the other things that this keyboard has to offer is convincing enough for us to give this keyboard a decent rating. It has a sleek designing and a good number of features that we are not used to seeing in keyboards within its price range. Therefore, if we are talking value for money the YDP S-34 is definitely a good option. Both beginners and advanced pianists will find this keyboard very interesting to use.

Check here for Price & Reviews on Amazon