Yamaha U1 SH3 Silent upright piano

Introducing the Yamaha U1 SH3 Silent Upright Piano

A perennial favourite among discerning pianists, the U1 offers outstanding musical performance, defining the standards by which other upright pianos are measured.

While 121cm tall and the same size as the b3 and P121 models, the U1 is crafted in Hamamatsu Japan at the same factory as the CX Series grand pianos.

Fitted with the Yamaha's new SH3 Silent system, the U1 SH3 allows the piano to not only be played acoustically, but also with headphones making it completely silent to everyone but the pianist. With refined features including virtual resonance modelling, binaural sampling on Yamaha CFX and Bosendorfer Imperial concert grand piano sounds, Grand Expression Modelling technology and a better key movement detection system than ever before, the sound and feel is so authentic you will forget you are even wearing headphones!

Additional benefits of the SH3 system include a built in record facility, USB audio recording, MIDI connectivity for use as a controller or for connecting a sound module, 20 rhythm accompaniments and compatibility with apps including Smart Pianist.

Practice in complete silence!

Activate the silent mode and a rail moves between the hammers and the strings to 'switch off' the acoustic piano. Yamaha's highly sophisticated non-contact sensor technology captures the precise movement of each key, a cleverly designed alagorithm precisely simulates the movements of the hammers as they strike the strings, accurately recreating the acoustic piano performance exactly as the pianist intended. The beautiful sound of the Yamaha CFX and Bosendorfer Imperial concert grands is delivered through your headphones.

SH3 Silent system

Select from a pallet of 25 high quality instrument voices to suit your musical genre. SH3 also features 20 rhythm styles, a metronome, 2 track record facility, USB and Bluetooth connectivity, all of which can be controlled via the sleek and intuitive control panel or by the Smart Pianist app. A bank of 480 XG voices are included for MIDI file playback, while the piano also benefits from MIDI IN/OUT ports enabling it to be used as a controller keyboard.

Binaural Sampling

Both main concert grand piano sounds in SH3 have been captured from the perspective of the pianist to create a truly spacial and immersive sound. The piano sounds like it is in front of you rather than in your ears, which also reduces fatigue and enables you to practice for longer!

Impressive modelling technologies

Virtual Resonance Modelling technology reproduces the resonance produced by the frame, rim and strings of an acoustic piano and brings the sound of both the fabulous Yamaha CFX and Bosendorfer Imperial concert grand piano to life. Newly developed Grand Expression Modelling authentically recreates the variations in tone produced by the internal components of the piano, the subtle differences in the movement of the hammers and dampers according to the pianists touch. It cleverly detects the acceleration and force of the keystrokes to constantly adjust the tonal output, giving the pianist the same control over the subtle nuances of the piano sound as they would in acoustic mode.

Download the Smart Pianist app

Smart Pianist connects your iOS or Android device to the piano, either via USB or via the optional UD-WL01 wireless LAN adaptor to remotely control the instrument's sounds, control the record facility and metronome and even display music notation on screen. The app will also scan your iTunes library and produce a basic score so you can learn to play your favourite songs!

Installation at the Yamaha factory

Unlike most silent systems, Yamaha's SC3 and SH3 Silent systems are installed during the manufacturing process. Yamaha piano actions are designed to accomodate Silent systems, so you can be sure of the highest quality performance and reliability. Nothing has been compromised!