YAMAHA NP-12 Piaggero - Slimline Home Keyboard for Hobbyists and Beginners, in Black

Product Information

It’s smooth plastic, but the actual turning of it barely gives any resistance, which means it’s difficult to make precise volume changes. It’s no surprise then that the NP-12 is the successor to the popular NP-11, and that it debuts alongside other keyboards in the series like the NP-32. Sadly, Split Mode is not included, though without a dedicated bass voice, I guess it’s understandable. For those of you who don’t know, think of it as a vintage, warm electric piano sound heard in 60s and 70s music.

The keys themselves are also 1 mm narrower than real pianos, possibly another step taken to reduce the overall width of the keyboard. The sound was sampled from a piano with a bright, transparent tone, a spacious treble, and an overall solid sonic feel. As with most budget selections, you’ll need to investigate an upgrade in the future, but the NP-32 is a solid choice for nailing down the basics. Check out our MIDI Connection Guide to learn how to connect the piano to different devices and what you can do once connected. This sleek little keyboard feels robust and sturdy enough to be carried around without fear of it being easily damaged.

For one thing, it helps reduce the top-to-bottom width, and they also avoid the unnecessary options that might be overwhelming for beginners. I’m more used to the weighted keys of fully-fledged digital pianos, but I still found the flatbed keys on the PSR-E363 usable. You can easily fit it in your carry-on luggage or backpack, so you can enjoy piano performances anywhere. This is quite disappointing, especially considering the high-quality samples on the NP-line of keyboards. Ex Demo / Open Box products are sold with the full manufacturer's warranty and are usually supplied with the factory accessories and packaging.

The lack of basses (and a split mode) means you don’t get to practice playing different sounds on the left and right hand. Being in love with music for as far as he can remember, Lucas started this blog as the “ go-to”place for the most accurate and detailed information about the world of music. Despite being unweighted, Yamaha does include velocity sensitivity, and it is responsive, like with the PSR-E363. The NP-32 is also quite bare-bones when it comes to connectivity options, but all the essentials are here. Otherwise, the NP-12 performs just as well as the NP-32, if not a little better because of its portability.The play-along feature allows the user to play along to various song styles, beats, and tempos, and can even follow along on the small LCD screen that shows the player which notes to hit. There are two types of organ sounds: the first is a kind of smaller, reed organ sound, while the second sounds more “churchy,” almost like a pipe organ.

While the 61-key keyboard isn’t ideal for every advanced player, the 64-note polyphony produces wonderful sound replication that won’t disappoint. The NP-12 features a “Piano-Style keyboard”, it is amazingly natural and expressive, and you can take it anywhere to play. At the end of your contract when you've made your final payment, the instrument or equipment is all yours.When you reach the polyphony cap, the piano starts to drop the earliest played notes to free up memory for new notes, which in turn affects the quality and fullness of the sound. Since the NP-32 doesn’t include TRS stereo outputs, these are the outputs you’ll use to connect the NP-32 to external speakers. The NP-12 is designed with the modern player in mind, giving you the ability to connect to an iOS device via the USB port (and lightning camera adaptor).

Both models can be used with AA batteries, the Roland Go Piano has an average battery life of 6 hours, while the Yamaha NP12 has a maximum battery life of 16 hours. Because of the extra power needed, the NP-32 takes 18W instead of the NP-12’s standard 8W (regarding power consumption).Connecting via optional extras the Apple Camera Connection Kit or Yamaha's Bluetooth wireless connector. As you might have gathered from our past reviews, we’re combing through our ‘ Top 5’ lists, particularly recent ones focused on the budget end of the spectrum. Because it’s light enough to be carried in one hand and works on battery power, you can take it anywhere you want, and setup is a breeze. So if you're a complete beginner or looking for a functional keyboard that easily transportable, then we believe this key action will be more than serviceable.