# Switching to a Yamaha P-121 Keyboard

The keyboard is a bit of an awkward instrument to travel with. It's quite large, to the point that you have to give up at least one seat in a typical car. What makes this especially frustrating is that I don't actually use the whole 88 keys:

[![](https://www.jefftk.com/keyboard-portions-partial.png)](https://www.jefftk.com/keyboard-portions-partial-big.png)

The very lowest notes tend to be boomy, while the higher notes are just not very useful in playing the [kind of music I play](https://www.kingfisherband.com/). I use a bit over five octaves (B0-D6, 31-1175 Hz).

At the same time I've been wanting to have a separate keyboard for taking to gigs. The ideal, really, would be to have an entire duplicate rig, which would halve the amount of setup and teardown involved, since I would only need to set up and pack away at gigs. This is enough extra effort and expense, however, that for now I'm just duplicating the keyboard (and stand).

I decided to get a Yamaha P-121:

[![](https://www.jefftk.com/p121-vs-p85.jpg)](https://www.jefftk.com/p121-vs-p85-big.jpg)

It is the discontinued 73-key version of the P-125, which is the ~[current version](https://www.jefftk.com/p/yamaha-p-series-overview) of my P-85. \[1\] Which made it a bit hard to find one, but there was one new-in-box shipping from Japan on eBay. I was a bit nervous, but it worked out fine.

The P-121 turns out to be very close to what I want: sounds and action very similar to my preferences, Yamaha's build quality and reliability, better condition than my P-85. The main downside is they didn't pick exactly the right keys to drop:

[![](https://www.jefftk.com/keyboard-portions-121.png)](https://www.jefftk.com/keyboard-portions-121-big.png)

After telling it to transpose down an octave I still do have all the keys I need, but the keys below B0 are really pretty useless while I might very occasionally use keys higher than E6 if I had them.

I strongly considered telling it to transpose down a fourth and lying to myself about what key I'm playing in. In some ways this isn't too different from [teaching myself to play trumpet in standard pitch](https://www.jefftk.com/p/concert-pitch-trumpet-fingerings), but I think it would be likely enough to cause trouble when playing other people's pianos that I shouldn't.

This is not an especially careful packing job, but it's really nice being able to put all my gear in back without folding down any seats:

[![](https://www.jefftk.com/p121-in-car.jpg)](https://www.jefftk.com/p121-in-car-big.jpg)

I put a lot of stuff on my keyboard, and I need a way to keep it all from falling off. Because this keyboard is narrower, though, not everything fit. I made a holder for the computer keyboard I use for buttons:

[![](https://www.jefftk.com/p121-keyboard-holder.jpg)](https://www.jefftk.com/p121-keyboard-holder-big.jpg)

[![](https://www.jefftk.com/p121-keyboard-holder-in-place.jpg)](https://www.jefftk.com/p121-keyboard-holder-in-place-big.jpg)

[![](https://www.jefftk.com/p121-keyboard-holder-holding-keyboard.jpg)](https://www.jefftk.com/p121-keyboard-holder-holding-keyboard-big.jpg)

[![](https://www.jefftk.com/p121-keyboard-holder-side-view.jpg)](https://www.jefftk.com/p121-keyboard-holder-side-view-big.jpg)

Everything else just velcros on:

[![](https://www.jefftk.com/p121-keyboard-holding-stuff.jpg)](https://www.jefftk.com/p121-keyboard-holding-stuff-big.jpg)

The box on the left is a box I made a few months ago that combines my [custom switch box](https://www.jefftk.com/p/custom-audio-switch-box) and my [embedded whistle synth](https://www.jefftk.com/p/embedded-whistle-synth).

Here are the current p121 settings I use:

*   Piano + lowest F: transpose down one octave
*   Piano + third lowest E: disable reverb
*   Metronome + rhythm + highest D: internal speakers off
*   Metronome + rhythm + lowest A: disable automatic power off

For a case, I ordered a [cheap 76-key fabric case](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BHL5VQ7Z) on Amazon. It's a bit floppy because it's designed for a fatter keyboard, but there are velcro straps inside that hold it securely. I did have to tie a pair of knots in each strap to keep it from flopping around.

[![](https://www.jefftk.com/keyboard-with-velcro-in-case.jpg)](https://www.jefftk.com/keyboard-with-velcro-in-case-big.jpg)

[![](https://www.jefftk.com/keyboard-in-case.jpg)](https://www.jefftk.com/keyboard-in-case-big.jpg)

  
\[1\] Technically, the P-125a is the current version, but all the "a" means is that they removed USB audio support.

*Comment via: [facebook](https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/pfbid03dtkKj218tcM53QwSgM6SVKJrrFvxaBLBXeL8vpZjT6RZ3z4j6U2JiVPcgAfytN7l), [mastodon](https://mastodon.mit.edu/@jefftk/113235432331368520)*