NP12 61-Key Lightweight Portable Keyboard, Black (Power Adapter Sold Separately)

I am a professional pianist and was looking for something cheap-ish to keep at my boyfriend's house to teach my virtual music students with. I have an expensive hammered Roland at home but didn't want to travel with something so heavy and risk damaging it with moving it around so much. Plus I hardly need to do more than show quick examples of technique or double check my students are playing the right notes while teaching. This keyboard is perfect for the purpose of limited accompaniment for voice students and does the job for playing examples of complex classical pieces for my students to hear and learn from. It doesn't feel great on the keys but I am able to get a surprisingly broad scope of dynamics out of it. The sound quality is not terrible and it has decent volume. If you're a beginner who is self teaching and don't want to take music further than just playing for yourself in your bedroom, I think this piano is excellent. It is extremely light weight, somewhat mimmiks the feel of a real piano, and you'll be able to play and do most things you can do on a regular piano, just at lower quality. If you intend on using this to advance your skills, I might advise you slightly invest in one of yamahas other keyboards, like a P115 or better. I definitely wouldn't bring this keyboard to a gig, but I'm really happy with the price and quality in terms of the purposes I'm using it for.

Although the keyboard isn't weighted, it is my humble opinion that this is the closest to weighted a piano can get without actually being so. It is ten times better than those traditional spring-loaded midis. For the traveling pianist, this is great. Keep in mind that the keys aren't full size--they are just slightly narrower, which takes a little while to get used to. But that's a small price to pay for the sound quality(which is amazing). It's portable, it feels decent, and it sounds great. A powerful combo. The only issue is the price. At 200 dollars, it is approaching prices that you can buy a CDP-120 for used. It is still significantly cheaper, but I would prefer a slightly lower price. I actually managed to nab a used one off Amazon for about 129 dollars--I got super lucky with timing. If you manage to grab it for that price, it's a steal. It's good for beginners that don't want to spend too much before diving into the hobby. Some professional pianists may be put off by the action, but again--keep in mind all the benefits. It sounds great and is super portable. You aren't going to get a piano that is this portable and feels this good at any other price point.

My daughter began learning in October how to play the piano. We looked for a secondhand or used keyboard but then were told by her pianist grandfather to look into a digital piano. I am so glad we researched and landed on the Yamaha NP12. This product produces a rich authentic sound. It does not have all of the bells and whistles of a keyboard, however it has a wonderful pure piano sound, perfect for a new player. I like that it has a number of keys and that the keys are weighted similarly to an actual piano. This product does not come with a cord or any other accessories, so if you need anything else, including the power cord be sure to order separately. My little girl loves that she can record her music and play it back. Since she’s a beginner the family loves being able to plug headphones in and allow her to practice quietly. I highly recommend this product if you have a little one learning piano but do not have the space or money for a piano. I’ve added a video of my little playing twinkle twinkle little star about three weeks into lessons. As you can see pressing down the keys is a bit difficult. However; now that she’s more advanced she easily moves from the digital piano to an actual piano. The keys are the same size, spaced the same and weighted making it a great first piano.

I'm not a professional, can't even read or write sheet music. I can, however play pretty much anything in the key of C and that's why I need a transposing piano. When I think about the mechanics of playing the piano I'll always be jealous of those who can read but I still kind of find it amazing that I automatically know where the keys are and can sit down and play most songs I hear. So, I wanted a piano with decent sound, without all the accompaniment just to play and work out some emotions or stress. Something therapeutic. I've had this piano for about six months now and I've grown to really like it. Great size, alkaline batteries last a good while in it. I really wish it had a guitar sound because I'd gladly trade in the pipe organ sound that I never use. At first I found the transpose and reverb features confusing because I was used to the separate buttons for both on Yamaha keyboards I've owned in the past. I used some masking tape and marked off the keys where the transpose starts and the reverb up & down keys. Done. Now when the mood strikes me or I hear a song I haven't heard in a while I grab my Yamaha NP-12 61 key electronic piano and kind of just drift away in the music and learning new chords as I go. I've connected it to my iPad and tried out some of the apps for it in order to get more voices but it's kind of a pain to do all that, I wasn't crazy about most of the apps and I don't want to spend money having to upgrade them. I wish there was a way to just download more voices. I'd gladly peck at the keys to find them since there's no display. I've always owned Yamaha keyboards and this is a shining example as to why. I would recommend the Yamaha NP-12 to anyone.

This is an especially nice small, portable beginner's piano for the price. Recognize, of course, that it has 61 keys, not the full 88 keys, and that it has touch sensitive keys that play loudly or softly depending on how you press them, but not full weighted keys that feel like an acoustic piano. Having said that, the keyboard is similar enough to an acoustic piano's to play easily, and it voices (grand piano, organ, harpsicord, etc.) are good enough to enjoy. It's volume is not very loud, but that can be a benefit when others live in the house during practice time. It is nice looking and doesn't have a lot of distracting extra bells and whistles like drums and accompaniment. I'm very pleased with it for my grandchildren to learn on. Be aware it requires a separate AC adapter if you don't put batteries in it, and the headphone jack is 1/4" so you need an adapter if you use earbuds.

If you are going to use this keyboard without the power supply (which is oddly not included), then buy really good AA batteries. I tried using the Duracell regular gold/black AA batteries (it takes 6), and the keyboard kept shutting down after about one minute. It was fine when the power supply was used, so I suspected the batteries were the issue. I switched to using Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA (found on Amazon), and that problem seems to be gone now. So if you are playing away, and the power goes off, try more powerful batteries. For the price, this is a nice portable keyboard. I bought it so I could have something to practice on while on long vacations. (I have a Yamaha DGX-660 at home, which is well worth the extra money if you are looking for a better piano experience.) Note that if you are in the same boat, the NP12 keys are a little narrower than the DGX660 (and I suspect other full-size pianos as well). The measurement for ALL the keys on the NP12 (five octaves including C at both ends) is 32.5" exactly. On the DGX660, the same number of keys measures 33.25", so that's an extra .75" over the 61 keys. For vacation playing, it's not going to be an issue, but if you are ONLY playing this keyboard and then need to play in front of an audience on a real piano, you will want to practice on that piano for a while beforehand I would think. Might not be an issue if your child is an elementary stage, but something to think about if they are progressing. Speaking of keys, I also found the black keys a little too thin for my liking, and too rounded. I feel like my fingers are likely to slip down the sides. On the other hand, the keyboard itself is pretty nice compared to the others I played at a local music store. Some of them had large gaps between octaves, and one had a distinct "spring" sound when pressed (like an old bed!). So I encourage you to visit a local store to feel the different keys. Prices are often the same as on Amazon too. The voices are quite good though, even if the speakers seem a little underpowered for the size. I like the Strings in particular. Note that you can press the Demo button and then press each instrument button to hear a different song played using that voice. However, since I can plug this in to my laptop over MIDI, I can always play virtual keyboards on my Mac and bypass the NP12 sounds. * Update 10/2017: I added Pianoteq Stage virtual piano software on Mac which comes with a Steinway and Kawai modelled pianos. With headphones on (the built-in speakers can't do it justice), the sound is incredible! I couldn't stop playing!

This arrived very quickly. Now, as for the sound, I really love the sound of this piano, it reminds me of the Yamaha P155 I had as far as sound goes. When you're playing in the "sweet spot" of the piano, you get really luscious chords that are delightful to play. The only thing this keyboard is missing is the graded hammer standard (GHS) that my P155 had - so it doesn't FEEL like playing a real acoustic piano, but for the price, if you're finding yourself with limited funds and are just aching to have something, this definitely fits the bill. Again, if you're looking for an acoustic SOUND, this will not disappoint. It's got excellent sound. I should also mention that it also plays dynamically, so that if you hit the keys hard, you get a loud sharper sound and if you caress the keys you get a very quiet soft note. So that's another plus, you can play those dynamics on this board. Also, the volume is pretty good on this piano, too, and it doesn't sound tinny or electronic or anything. I'd definitely recommend this one to a friend. Oh, and it does have an earphone jack, too, albeit one of those bigger jacks, not the kind of headphones you'd use with your cell phone (I can't wait to get some headphones with that kind of jack, too, because I'll bet it sounds even better plugged in!). If you're a beginner, just learning, don't hesitate, this will give you good service until you advance and save for a higher-level digital from Yamaha - it also has a built-in metronome and a music stand that comes with it, so it's good for practice. I swear by Yamaha keyboards now, everyone I've had has been nice.

As in all my purchases on Amazon I read the reviews, look at the ratings and try to make an informed decision. While it is true some people have had issues with there Yamaha keyboard I cannot be happier with mine. Every thing worked out of the box, it was packaged well, and the price was right for what I got. The keys act like regular piano keys as in when you press the key gently it makes a soft sound while hitting the key harder gives you a louder sound. What I like about it most and why I bought it is because it is clean and without a million buttons. Most of the keyboards out there have a thousand tones and options. I just want to play the piano not launch the space shuttle. This one only has 10 different tone options which is more than enough for me. Things to keep in mind 1. It can run on 6 AA batteries but you will want to buy the power cord which is sold separately. 2. If you want to practice with headphones you will also need to buy a headphone jack adapter as seen in attached picture. 3. I got the 61 key because I travel and want to be able to take it with me but if you want it just for home then go for the full size, which I think is 70 something keys.