Yamaha Piaggero NP31 76-Key Lightweight Compact Portable Keyboard

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List Price: $399.00
Sale Price: $279.99
Today's Bonus: 30% Off

• New ECO energy saving feature - Energy Conservation Optimized means saving energy by powering down after 30 minutes of inactivity
• Easy access panel - Dedicated buttons for each Voice
• 10 Voices - Change the sound of the instrument by playing electric piano, organ, harpsichord, strings or vibraphone
• 32-note polyphony - With Yamaha's Dynamic Voice Allocation, 32-notes is all a pianist needs to play and sustain notes naturally
• Opperates on 6 AA batteries - No electrical outlet required

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Saw the negative comments made toward one reviewer above and that convinced me to get one. I am annoyed by purist snobs. I had been looking for a portable keyboard just to practice with and for my church youth choir to use. I have played on several very beautiful grand pianos over the years in the Boston area. Keyboard arrived today and I give it high marks for portability and appearance. The tone is superb, BUT the on-board speakers do not do it justice. Very thin sounding, lacking bass and some midrange. So, I played it through my Peavey keyboard amp, closed my eyes (had the amp facing away from me, slightly in front of the keyboard), and you could not convince me that I was not sitting back at a grand piano. Bottom line: before you judge any digital sound product, consider the equipment you are using for output. Any digital keyboard will sound better with better equipment if the samples it has are good. In this case a $150 keyboard amp allows for the beautiful sampling to come through. I am sure when I patch it through our new church sound system, either directly or by miking the amp it will be amazing.

So, does this sound like a real grand piano? Not out of the box. But it does with a decent keyboard amp or good headphones. I recommend the Peavey KB1 for at home, but not less than the KB2 for performance or larger spaces. Very rich sound, and of course then the responsiveness is enhanced as well. I did see someone comment on other keyboards of this type that their fingers can stick to the plastic keys. Easy solution for this: furniture polish on the keys. Just wipe it down once or twice and the keys will feel and play much better without sticking to you. Plus it makes the keyboard smell nice, like lemons.

The keys are not weighted, but rather are of varied resistance. I prefer weighted keys, but these are not bad. Close enough to be much, much better than non-resistive keys.

I would highly recommend this product for those looking for a very realistic piano sound but are willing to use at least a basic keyboard amp or high quality headphones to get that sound. It is much more enjoyable to play with a small amp. I personally do not think you get good speakers on these keyboards until you get close to the thousand dollar range, so another $150 bucks for a KB1 (or a used keyboard amp for probably less than $100 at a local music store) is not too bad. I'd say this sounds better with a cheap amp than ones costing more than twice as much with just speakers.

As always, whenever you can, go to your local music store and try out different keyboards and keyboard-amp combinations.

Addendum: we just used this keyboard and the small Peavey amp for our church talent show in a hall that seats 400, with about 250 in attendance. I had to turn the amp and keyboard down to half because it projected so well. There was no need to connect it to the PA system. This was an impressive test and judging by the applause after the various piano acts, people were pleased. I stood in various places during the show, and the piano was crystal clear with some nice bottom. I could see that a larger space would need a larger amp to get more of the bottom out, but here it is fine.

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Here's what I need:

-A lightweight keyboard that I can carry 7 blocks on my way to church.

-Something that doesn't have "marshmallow" keys that just pop back up when you press them.

-Something that will sound ok hooked up to a cheap sound system.

-Bass notes to fill out the sound.

-Target price of $300

Here's what I really want:

-Weighted, full-sized keys (these are neither, though they have some resistance).

-A rich, full-bodied acoustic sound (get real, this is a keyboard)

-The closest I could possibly get to a piano in keyboard form without spending all of my savings (I'm a recent college grad, cut me a break).

I realized what I needed would trump what I wanted, since my budget was so low.

So, I read a lot of reviews last night and decided to purchase this from Guitar Center today. My sales guy was helpful and got me a $30 discount.

Pros:

-It is lightweight, although carrying it 7 blocks will still be a challenge for little ol' me.

-Has a decent feel to the keys. It's better than some cheaper yamaha's I've played where you just keep hitting wrong notes because the keys are so tiny and flimsy.

-The touch-sensitivity (quiet when pressed lighter, louder when pressed harder) is nicer than I've experienced in some other keyboards. I've played others where this feature was a nightmare when you are used to playing on an acoustic piano.

-I read in other reviews that this product does well hooked up to a sound system. Our church's sound system is not great, so I'm not sure what to expect. I'll try to update after Sunday.

-Guitar center's 30-day return policy.

-Battery powered (AA), which I think is pretty cool.

Cons:

-The plastic has a pretty fragile (read: cheap) feel to it, and that makes me nervous when I think about transporting it.

-Doesn't come with the AC adapter, which I think is a money-hungry business move. Apparently it doesn't work with the same adapter as some of the older Yamaha's that I have.

-I don't really care about the extra sounds it offers besides Grand Piano/Electric Piano, but I wish that since there are only 5 (plus a variation of each, so really, 10), that they would have traded the harpsichord for more electric piano sounds.

-It doesn't fit in the case I was planning to use (although that doesn't apply to you guys...)

-I'm not thrilled about the "auto-off" feature, and I wish it could be disabled. I would like the keyboard to stay on the setting I've put it on while I play at church. We play one song and then the second set of songs is 45 minutes later, meaning I'll have to turn it back on and make sure it's set to whatever sound/variation I would like to use.

-The power button is tricky. It's hard to tell how long to hold it to turn it on/off

Overall, if you have to go cheap and still want a decent feel/sound, this is the way to go.

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I absolutely love this keyboard. I've had it for about a week now, and it is so much better than my old one. I am not a musician who plays out or anything. I'm just a novice who enjoys learning songs, so this piano is perfect for me. I have played on many real pianos, and this is a very satisfying substitute. I highly reccomend it!

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The only thing that I do not like it is beacuse the batteries discharge very quickly, and when they do, the piano still works but the speakers sound like the speakers don't work fine. After send it to warranty they told us everything was ok, in the meanwhile we recived the AC Power Adapter and since then everything is perfect.

We move around a lot and our last place did not have room for a traditional piano. We sold our old piano and I got myself this as a replacement. I love, love it! With our old upright, we were always spending upwards of $200 to have it tuned all the time. With this, I don't have to worry about it, I can play anytime and it's in tune everytime. I love how it plays louder if you press the keys harder. Perfect size and portability for sound.