Yamaha NP Pianos – Good Practice Pianos without the Bells & Whistles

Yamaha NP Piaggero Pianos: If you are looking for a good practice piano, and don’t want to buy a keyboard, then this can be a very good alternative. Yamaha has several series of keyboards ad digital pianos. The NP series keyboards have good piano sounds, simplistic layout, fewer features (focus is on playing the piano) and is packaged in a lightweight, compact design. More importantly, they are cheaper. However, if you’re looking for a piano with excellent piano sounds and authentic piano touch, you should consider the more expensive P-series pianos. However, for beginners and those who’re looking for a cheaper piano to practice, the NP series pianos are a good option. Skip to this [easyazon_link identifier=”B01CFOABAW” locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″]best-selling Yamaha NP piano on Amazon[/easyazon_link].

Top Yamaha NP Pianos

Yamaha NP32 76-Key Keyboard

76-Key Graded Soft Touch (GST) keyboard action. Controller App for iOS for easy navigation and configuration.
USB to Host port. 64-note polyphony, song recorder function.
Dimensions: Width 1,244mm (49″),Height 105mm (4-1/8″),Depth 259mm (10-3/16″)

• [easyazon_link identifier=”B01CFOABFW” locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]See PRICE[/easyazon_link]

Yamaha NP-12

61 touch sensitive keys. controller App for iOS for easy navigation and configuration. USB to Host port (allows connection with variety of apps on computer or mobile device). 64-note polyphony, song recorder function. Dimensions: 14.1 x 46.9 x 7.7 in.

• [easyazon_link identifier=”B01CFOABFW” locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]See PRICE[/easyazon_link]

Also Read: Yamaha P Pianos: Another excellent series of pianos with select features.

Yamaha NP-V80 76-key Piaggero Keyboard

76 keys with Graded Soft Touch action. Lightweight and portable, combined with Yamaha’s popular piano touch & sound. 32-note Polyphony, 500 voices including several Sweet, Cool and Live Voices. Features an intelligent Arpeggiator. Dimensions: 11 x 13 x 51.2 inches

• [easyazon_link identifier=”B003O2S9QS” locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]See PRICE[/easyazon_link]

Useful Accessories for Yamaha NP Keyboards

• Yamaha YBNP76 76-Key Keyboard Bag
  [easyazon_link identifier=”B0067NYO4M” locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]Yamaha YBNP76 Keyboard Bag[/easyazon_link]for 76-Key Piaggero NP Series keyboards. Perfectly fits Yamaha NPV60, NPV80, NP30 and NP31. Use it to protect your keyboard, it also has space to carry useful accessories.
• Yamaha L3C Attachable Keyboard Stand
  [easyazon_link identifier=”B000YID5OG” locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]Yamaha L3C stand[/easyazon_link] works well with various keyboard models, including Piaggero (NP series) pianos.
• Yamaha Survival Kit
  Check out the [easyazon_link identifier=”B0047JP1D6″ locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]Yamaha survival kit[/easyazon_link] for good bundled packages with useful accessories.

Yamaha Piaggero NP12 61-Key Compact Keyboard

Don’t want any of those hundreds of voices and styles? This is a good option in that case, if you just want 61 keys for piano practicing. Again, you don’t get real weighted keys but these are good for practicing. You get Easy access panel with dedicated buttons for each Voice (10 voices). 32-note polyphony is sufficient for any pianist to play and sustain notes naturally. Read more…

Yamaha Piaggero NP32 76-Key Portable Keyboard

This is similar to the NP11 that we talked above, but this one comes with 76 keys so you can play a larger variety of songs. This does not come with the several built-in styles and voices, but has just electric piano, organ, harpsichord, strings and the vibraphone sounds. Read more here

Yamaha NP Pianos: Guide

You may have already read this a few times on this site, that though there are many who enjoy the various built-in styles and hundreds of voices that are usually found of music keyboards, there are many who would just want a quality product with good piano sounds and a very good keyboard touch.

Though it is more of a personal choice, there are many reasons why people don’t want the extras. It’s quite possible that you already own a real piano and would like to own another keyboard, more as a supplementary practice tool to complement your acoustic piano. In that case a piano focused keyboard is more apt.

There are many students who either live in a small apartment or dorm room or would prefer a board more for practicing rather than using it for fun. And if you have a defined budget then you would want that to be spent on decent spend sound quality and keys, rather than tons of rhythms and voices.

Lightweight and portability are other factors that most look for from a practical point of view. It is very important to have a board that could easily be dumped into the back of a car and easily be removed as well.

So if you can identify with these things and have an interest in classical music, like more of orchestral sounds and okay to live without the built-in accompaniments then the Yamaha NP Piaggero series offers a good range of products.

Compared to the Other Series

The NP series has lower priced products (price wise and quality wise) compared to the P series, which offers more expensive pianos, though both the series do not come with built-in accompaniments.

If you are willing to stretch your budget, then you should even consider the yamaha p series pianos which have much better keyboard touch, more like a real piano.

Some of the products in the NP series can be compared to the YPG series (arranger keyboards) provided you are okay to own one with the built-in styles and several voices. However, compared to the YPG series, the piaggero pianos offer excellent piano, electric piano, string and organ sounds, in case you are thinking of buying one from that series.

Features of the Piaggero Pianos

These come with 76 piano styles keys with graded soft touch for smooth, natural response, although not exactly like real pianos. They are not weighted like the higher end Yamaha pianos. But they are also not as light like the keys on an organ. They are touch sensitive, but again not quite as good as the high end keyboards.

For every voice, there is a demo song and you also have a built-in metronome. Though, these come with limited voices, with the dual-function you can play two sounds together, such as piano and strings and come up with unique combination of sounds.

And not all the products are without accompaniments, there is one model that does come with built-in styles and provides you a single-finger accompaniment feature.

Overall, you get modern high tech sound quality and playability, with a nice mix of organ sounds, something like the older sounding stuff of yesteryear. So you do get lots of variety.

Piano Keys: Are the Keys Real Piano Like?

If you are expecting the keys to be like a real piano, or anything like a top end digital piano, then you could be disappointed here. In that sense it is more like a decent entry level keyboard. This product also has a tad bit narrow and smaller keys compared to the ones on an acoustic.

The keys are marginally shorter than conventional keys, which may not make a difference to many beginners and intermediate players. However, for serious pianists, the difference could be noticeable when playing. So if you are considering it for really serious piano playing, then you may have to look elsewhere.

However, compared to electronic keyboards, the spring mechanism on the keys makes them far more realistic. So it really depends on what you are after.

If you really care about the feel of the keys, then you will have to go for a higher-end product or probably get an acoustic piano. Most prefer weighted keys, but then these are not bad if you a limited budget. The keys are not weighted, but are of varied resistance which is much better than the plastic keys.

There are many who just need a basic no-frills keyboard to learn music, or just need another keyboard to play the sequences of notes to build on what they have in their mind. In that case does it really make sense to spend several times the cost of these boards on an 88-key keyboard with hammer-action keys? Probably not!

Also, the 76 keys that these boards offer are enough to play most kinds of music, including some classical songs. The keys are marginally shorter than conventional piano keys, but it really won’t hamper with the playing, unless you are a pro. So you might still want to check these out.

For Beginners

Definitely recommended for the beginner; the keys are not as stiff as a real piano and it has 76 keys which is good enough for learning the piano. Considering the price it is really not a bad option. If you have a very tight budget then you may go in for the Yamaha NP12 (comes with 61 keys) but if you don’t mind spending around 300 bucks then the Yamaha NP32 is a good option.

As mentioned, you may also look at some of the lower end YPG series keyboards (even they have 76 key models) and see whether they suit your needs. They are more of arranger keyboards with all hundreds of voices and styles. If you are focused more on playing the piano and like classical music, more of orchestral sounds, then probably you may not like the ypg keyboards that come with so many features. In that case it makes sense to put your money on a quality product just for the piano sounds. However, if you wish you had accompaniments in this series also, then you should check out the Yamaha NP-V80 which do have some good accompaniment patterns and arpeggios.

Just check if you are getting an AC adapter, and preferably a sustain pedal since you will be playing the piano style. A keyboard stand will come in handy but, if you wish, you can even keep it on top of a table.

For Experienced Players

These are quality musical instruments that are also light, stylish, and easy to carry. That means you can definitely have one of these in your arsenal, considering that these don’t cost much.

Some of the Yamaha NP pianos just have the headphones output so you will need a cable hat goes from the headphones output to the Amplifier. You can plug in a standard 1/4″ instrument cable into the headphone jack and plug the other end into the amp. If you used a stereo cable you could get both channels. You can even ask the sound guy to provide you with 2 DI boxes. You can use an insert cable to split the headphone out into 2 mono tracks, which he can pan full left / full right.

Lot of performing musicians, who travel a lot, working in remote camps prefer to choose portability and simplicity, and that means the issue of keys is really not big deal to them considering they have to travel a lot. If you are one of them then considering the price of these pianos, you could easily be tempted to buy one of these. You could easily carry it in just about any car and it’s much easier to carry to events.

Use Amps for Much Better Sound

Overall, the sounds are quite good but you can make the sound amazing if you run them past a good amplifier.

The on-board speakers are no bad but you could find the sounds to be thin, lacking bass and some midrange. However since these boards useful much better sound samples, they can be made to sound much better by using external amps or if you run it past a stereo system.

You will be surprised to hear the sound quality if you do that. So if you are going to use this for a gig or for an audience, consider the equipment you are going to use for the sound output. With a better amplifier or a sound system, the beautiful sampling will really come through.

Even if you don’t intend to take it out, you can still make it to sound awesome by connecting it to a stereo system.

Related Products

More Yamaha digital pianos
Yamaha Keyboards
Yamaha NP32 Piano
Yamaha NP30 Digital piano with superb sound and graded hammer action. Perfect for someone who wants to learn the piano!

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KeytarHQ Editorial Team

KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.