Yamaha pianos always hold great value, and they do not depreciate like mobile phones or cars do. Someone is always looking to buy a digital piano, which makes this a good investment if you are worried about selling it in the future. Summary 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. MASTER TUNING. The central tuning of the middle A can be modified from 414.8 Hz – 466.8Hz in 0.2 Hz increments. The default is 440 Hz. The keys are certainly not the same as a keyboard (which are thin and extremely light), and I would say they are kind of in between a keyboard and a digital piano. Straight-off the bat, this is something that stood out to me and in my opinion makes the NP-12 a fine choice for beginners seeking a quality digital piano that isn’t too difficult to come to grips with. The interface is easy to learn, even for first-time players, and there’s no risk of getting overwhelmed by countless buttons, sliders, and knobs.

For example, when you depress the sustain pedal, the earliest played notes continue to sound while you’re adding new ones and the piano needs more memory to keep all the notes sounding. 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. One thing to appreciate about the NP-12 is how unintimidating it appears for new players. Unlike many digital pianos, there are only 10 buttons found on the unit, which makes it so much easier to get used to playing.

With that said, I do believe that the sluggish keys hurt the NP-32 / NP-12 in this regard. I’m more used to the weighted keys of fully-fledged digital pianos, but I still found the flatbed keys on the PSR-E363 usable. This keyboard comes with a standard 12V power adapter, but can also run on 6 AA batteries. I always prefer to plug pianos and keyboards into the wall, but the battery option is always a nice bonus. The NP-12 features 61 keys, making it considerably smaller than a standard piano - which typically has 88. It may have fewer notes, but Yamaha hasn't compromised on the size of those individual keys. The full-size, waterfall-fronted keys are perfect for novice piano players getting used to the instrument while feeling familiar to experienced pianists. The distinct styling of the keys gives the NP-12 a piano look, helping it stand out from the other home keyboards in the Yamaha catalogue. The keys themselves are also 1 mm narrower than real pianos, possibly another step taken to reduce the overall width of the keyboard. This is ultimately negligible, and I didn’t notice this too much during the test.

The Yamaha NP-12 is a 61-key digital piano that brings a great balance of performance and affordability. While it may not be ideal for advanced players looking to play classical music, there is plenty here to like for beginners and session musicians that need a reliable digital piano to use on the go. The NP-32 is a little more expensive since it is a 76-key keyboard, while the other two are only 61-keys. If you’re the kind of player that needs closer to a full 88-key range, you’re going to have to spend a little more to get the extra keys. With 76 graded soft-touch keys, the NP-32 is the perfect option if you are looking for a larger keyboard with an improved key action. Polyphony is a measure of how many notes you can play simultaneously without cutting off earlier notes. As such, if you play 65 notes around the same time, the 1 st note you played will stop abruptly.

Manuals

One more thing you might have noticed is the existence of ‘ Graded Soft Touch’ on the NP-32. This might lead you to believe it’s a weighted keybed. This is false, and we’ll talk more about this once we reach the Keyboard section of the review. 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.