Review of the Yamaha Piaggero NP-30 Digital Piano

Yamaha NP-30 keyboard

Yamaha

This is quite possibly the lightest 76-key keyboard I’ve encountered. At 12 pounds, it’s great for travel and is really easy to store. It’s also one of the few electric pianos I’ve seen that can be powered by AA batteries (which lasted a lot longer than expected — over the course of two days, I logged about 10 hours in battery mode).

But as soon as you feel the keys, you’ll understand why this model is so light. Yamaha advertises this keyboard as being semi-weighted, which, I came to realize, meant not-weighted-at-all (see Keys & Action below).

To sum things up, this is more of a portable keyboard than a digital piano. If you’re in search of an inexpensive beginner instrument, or a keyboard to take on road trips, this would get the job done; if you’re looking for a keyboard with the feel close to that of an acoustic piano, I would not recommend this model.

Features

  • Keys: 76
  • Polyphony: 32-note
  • Touch Sensitivity: 3 velocity settings; may be turned off
  • Reverb/Chorus: 4 reverb settings; no chorus
  • Metronome: Yes; from 32-280 BPM
  • Available Colors: Black

Pros

  • Extremely lightweight at 12 pounds!
  • Can be powered with six AA batteries (not included)
  • May be dual-layered (see Keys & Action below)
  • Half-pedal effect supported with optional FC3 pedal (see Accessories below)

Cons

  • AC power adapter not included (see Accessories)
  • No sustain pedal included (but it does have pedal input)
  • Keys slightly smaller than genuine piano keys
  • Keys are quite light to the touch (to be expected at 12 pounds)

Keys and 'Action'

The keys were a disappointment, simply because this model was advertised as a digital piano. In my opinion, this is really more of a portable keyboard, but without the large voice and song libraries customarily found on one.

The keyboard has a very amateurish feel: light, plastic-y, slippery, and small. The accidentals are more rounded-off than normal, and in between them, the naturals are difficult to depress, so certain chords are nearly impossible to play.

Transposition from -6 to +6.

Voices and Touch-Sensitivity

There are 10 voices, and for a portable keyboard, the grand piano tones are quite pleasant! As for the rest: they aren’t the most impressive sounds on a Yamaha instrument (the strings and harpsichords, in particular, sounded phony and electronic); but you do have the option of connecting the keyboard to a computer, so you can take advantage of the hundreds of genuine-sounding voices included with most music editing programs.

Dual-layering is supported, so you can use two different voices on one key at the same time (however, it should be noted that polyphony becomes limited to 16-note when playing in dual-mode). An excellent feature is that the volume of each layered voice may be controlled separately.

Available tones are:

  • 2 Grand pianos; one full, one bright
  • 2 Electric pianos; one versatile, one brighter and dynamically sensitive
  • 2 Organs; both pipe, one with coupler
  • 2 Harpsichords; one with two choirs (no touch-sensitivity on harpsichords)
  • Strings
  • Vibraphone

Touch-sensitivity may be adjusted with three preset velocity curves or can be switched off.​​​

Preset Songs and Recording

The NP-30 contains 10 preset songs, and 10 abridged demo songs to preview each of the 10 voices.

There are no recording capabilities on-board; however, since this instrument may be connected to a computer, recording may be achieved with proper music editing software.

Keyboard Speakers and Quality

The 6W speakers leave something to be desired, and I found the voices actually sounded more genuine when using headphones or external speakers. For a portable piano, the speakers are sufficient for home use (simple desktop computer speakers tend to stay around 6W); but since this product was advertised as a digital piano, I had higher expectations.

Included Accessories

Package includes:

  • Matching, removable sheet music rest

Optional accessories:

  • AC power adapter. Yamaha recommends this model be used with the PA-5D adapter models to avoid instrument damage.
  • Any X-style keyboard stand
  • Sustain pedal with half-pedal support; or, foot switch style pedal.

Back Panel

  • Headphones/OUT
  • MIDI in/out
  • Damper pedal input, 1/4"