Congratulations! …and thank you for purchasing the

Yamaha P-150. The P-150 is a high-performance

electronic piano with full-scale, weighted action

keyboard, a selection of high quality piano and other

useful instrument voices, and versatile performance

and other advanced features which make it ideal for

professional stage and studio applications, as well as

for home entertainment and music study use. The P-

150’s main features include:

■High quality AWM piano and other sounds
The P-150 features a selection of twelve high quality instrument
voices generated by Yamaha’s patented AWM (Advanced Wave
Memory) sound generation technology. There are several piano
sounds—including a concert grand piano, with full-bodied bass
tones and reverberating high notes, that accurately captures the
natural characteristics of a real grand piano—plus various
electric pianos, vibes, organ combinations, strings and electric
and upright bass. With a maximum simultaneous “polyphonic”
note output of 32 notes, the P-150 delivers uncompromising
performance capabilities.
■Organ combination editing
The P-150 comes equipped with two preset organ voices, plus
organ combination editing features which let you create your
own organ sounds and store them in Performances for instant
recall. The organ combination editing features give you precise
control over flute footages as well as attack settings.
■Digital signal processing
The P-150 has a built-in digital signal processor that lets you
apply stereo reverb, chorus, symphonic and tremolo effects to
the voices, and lets you tailor the quality of the voices to suit
your needs with an internal equalizer, as well as a three-band
graphic equalizer on the upper panel.
■Touch-sensitive keyboard with velocityscaling
The P-150’s full-range 88-key, weighted action piano keyboard
incorporates Yamaha’s unique Action Effect II keyboard
technology, which gives it the genuine feel and response of a
real piano keyboard. You can even adjust the keyboard’s
sensitivity level, or velocity scaling, to suit your playing style, for
both internal tone generator and MIDI message transmission.
■Dual and Split voice modes
The P-150’s Dual and Split modes let you play two voices at
once, a “main” voice and a “sub” voice, either by layering the two
voices of your choice (Dual mode) or by assigning a different
voice to each end of the keyboard (Split mode). In Split mode,
the key transposition values can be set independently for both
main and sub voices.
■ One-touch Performance recall
The P-150 features a Performance Play mode that lets you store
up to 24 Performances, or configurations of all voice, MIDI and
other parameter settings, for recall at the touch of a button. This
lets you instantly change your sound and entire setup as you
play, or between songs in a live set. The P-150 is set at the
factory with 24 Preset Performances, but you can overwrite them
and store User Performances which you create yourself. The P-
150 features extensive editing and storing capabilities.
■ Master keyboard features
The P-150 offers many of the control features standard in a MIDI
master keyboard, including velocity sensitivity, pitch bend and
modulation wheels, an assignable CS (continuous slider),
program change send and receive capabilities, MIDI transpose
and merge functions, and bulk dumping and multitimbral
capabilities. Plus, the P-150 gives you the option of connecting a
foot controller (FC) that can be assigned MIDI and other
functions in the same manner as the CS. With its powerful MIDI
capabilities, the P-150 can easily feature at the heart of an
expanded MIDI system.

1

How to Use this Manual

This owner’s manual is organized and designed to help you get set
up and begin enjoying the P-150 as quickly as possible, as well as
to easily locate and learn about any feature you need.
The GETTING STARTEDsection briefly but thoroughly explains the
proper procedure for setting up the instrument, listening to the on-
board Demo songs, and exploring the basic voices.
The VOICE PLAY MODE, PERFORMANCE PLAY MODEand EDIT
MODEsections include explanations of each feature and step-by-
step details about how to access and manipulate the many
parameters.
An APPENDIXprovides Voice and Performance lists and other
technical information, including descriptions of error messages and
a troubleshooting guide, plus MIDI specifications and other MIDI
related information.
Finally, an alphabetical INDEXlets you quickly reference the page
number of any feature you want to locate.

Special Symbols

Throughout this manual two special symbols are used to connote
additional information.
Indicates an important cautionary note for the feature being
described.
Indicates a supplementary explanation for the feature being
described.