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

Product Information

Please note that this extended warranty is currently only available on products sold within the UK, EU or EEA, and is subject to the terms and conditions as detailed on the extended warranty certificate provided. However, the Gear4music extended warranty scheme provides an enhanced service, and is designed to offer a higher level of protection than many 'free' warranties offered by some retailers and manufacturers. While the PSR-E363 is reactive to dynamic changes (say, fortissimo to pianissimo), you can clearly hear that the same audio file is being played for most ranges, with volume being the only thing changing.

From afar, the NP-32 can pass off as a more premium digital piano. The body itself, while compact, does feature a clean front panel that doesn’t have too many buttons or printed text. The base piano sound is important here. It surpasses my expectations. Ultimately, that’s the biggest part of why I consider the NP-32 a great beginner keyboard.

More Features

This is a missed opportunity, but most people today directly record their songs using the USB to Host connection, which we’ll cover in a bit.

This seems trivial, but the company’s own YDP-series tends to use button-key combos that are less user-friendly than the alternative. From the beautiful, rich tones sampled from a Yamaha concert grand piano, to a sweet electric piano and other great-sounding Voices that are fun to play. The NP-12 features a “Piano-Style keyboard”, it is amazingly natural and expressive, and you can take it anywhere to play. Yamaha Flowkey The PSR-E353 by Yamaha is around the same price as the NP-12, but it has some differences. The first and most distinguishable characteristic is its number of voices, songs, and its play-along feature. The PSR-E353 has a few hundred voice and sound options, ranging from ones similar to that of the NP-12’s, all the way to drums, synthesizers, and sound effects. 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. Unfortunately, you can only save 1 single recording at any time, and there’s also no way to export the song as a MIDI file either.The NP-32 is also quite bare-bones when it comes to connectivity options, but all the essentials are here. If an item can not be repaired, a similar alternative product or cash discount (as defined in this policy) will be offered Collection and delivery costs are included for the first 2 years in the event of an item becoming faulty Headphones come in very handy when you want to practice in private, focusing solely on your playing and not disturbing others nearby.

The same goes for the volume knob. It’s smooth plastic, but the actual turning of it barely gives any resistance, which means it’s difficult to make precise volume changes. These are non-issues for most beginners, as the keys and sounds are of top importance.The NP-32 (NP-12) comes with 4 different algorithms, including a small room, a small hall, a large concert hall, and a recital stage. These can thenbe modified in depth to change how intense the effect gets. Because of the extra power needed, the NP-32 takes 18W instead of the NP-12’s standard 8W (regarding power consumption). However, all three keyboards are battery powered in addition to the power supply option. But because of the NP-12’s lower wattage consumption, its battery life is the longest of the three at 16 hours, versus 8 hours for the NP-32 and 6 hours for the NP-11. However, on the NP-32, the effect is so subtle that I’m sometimes convinced it’s not even there. I believe there are a bit of software-side velocity modifications yet testing the USB MIDI functionality didn’t show that either.

With all that said, the keyboard does offer enough sonic flexibility with the choice of six reverbs, allowing you to recreate the sound of three different concert halls, a cathedral and a small room with an option to adjust their depth. You can also easily customise the damper resonance when using a sustain pedal which will affect how long the notes will ring when sustained. Very neat. The Electric Piano sounds (there are two of them) here are both very well done. The first sound is a blend between a Rhodes, a Mk I, and a Wurlitzer. For those of you who don’t know, think of it as a vintage, warm electric piano sound heard in 60s and 70s music. Both instruments feature a piano-style, touch sensitive keyboard which is perfect for achieving the right expression and emotion in your musical piece. Dual Mode allows you to play two sounds simultaneously with each keypress and allows you to get richer sounds with minimal effort. Thanks to the high quality sound, these instruments are very enjoyable to play and are suitable for musicians of all levels.

Online demos show off the superb velocity sensitivity of the NP-32, but I personally needed to pay extra attention to nail down my dynamics. You should get an instant answer on whether your application has been successful, though in some rare cases Klarna or V12 may need to look at the application in more detail. Finally, let’s talk about the ‘ Graded Soft Touch’ featured on the NP-32. Theoretically, a graded keyboard means the keys at lower registers are heavier, but the higher registers are lighter. The Yamaha NP-15 also features a metronome and the choice of three different tunings - 414.8 Hz, 440.0 Hz, and 466.8 Hz. However, the metronome doesn't allow you to select specific tempos, so you will have to dial it in by ear.