Alesis NanoPiano

Very simply to use. It's just a plug and play module. You plug it in and it's on (no power button). You select the midi channel that your device/controller is sending on and the NanoPiano receives the midi on that channel. from there you can select your group and program from the dials, or from the controller/sequencer you can select bank and program. There are 256 patches. No performance mode since it is not multitimbral.

64 note polyphony. Has an effects button which for the most part is reverb. No expasions capabilities. Not much in the way of features. just 256 patches.

I think the strings and the EP's and even a few of the organs are very expressive and very useable. I bought this mainly to free up my two other 64 note synths for sequencing. This is the unit I play with along. The acoustic grand piano on this unt is really too bright for most of my work but isn't bad in a very up-beat mix or in pop. But definately not to my liking for a solo. In fact for soloing I wouldn't even use the acoustic piano's in this module. The dark pianos sound much better to me than the acoustic grand sounds and again I would opt for a piano from my Roland's session board. But I really like the rhodes sounds in this unit. There's 3 that are very good. I prefer the soft rhodes. There is also a "No Quarter" rhodes, which isn't bad but is not exactly like John Paul Jone's. I think Jones actually played a Rhodes studio 73 through some effect that I can't think of right now. ... Anyway, I dig the rhodes sounds in this and that has made me satisfied that I bought the thing. I also really do like the organ sounds and the strings. I actually think the unit has a lot of very excellent sounds but the acoustic grand just isn't all that.

I've had it only a few days so I'll have to wait and see.

Again, I've only had the unit a few days and I've yet to call Alesis. I hope I never have to of course

I would buy it again especially for the price. I bought it for a specific use and it's doing a good job of that. I've been playing on and off for nearly 20 years. I have a Roland JV1010 and an Roland XP-50 and a FATAR SL880 controller.

Presets are a piece of cake. Otherwise it's all MIDI editing which is a major pain in the hiney.

Lots of sounds, 64 voice polyphonic, decent on-board effects, simple dials for changing patches, volume, and effects. Decent demo program of a Chopin waltz is useful for comparing differetn piano sounds. No sequencing; not multi-timbral

Really good, bright, stereo piano, but REALLY bright. Dark pianos are pretty bright as well. EQ helps, but, hey, for a hundred bucks, this thing sounds as good as anything else out there other than the real thing. In my opinion it blows the micro piano out of the water. Electric pianos are OK; organs are pretty nice and the leslie effect can be controlled by your controller's mod wheel. Cool. Actually quite nice strings; synth and vox settings are mediocre. Lead synth settings are kind of fun. Piano effects and special effects settings are unuseable.

Not sure. Seems quirky. Sometimes it starts sounding like gibberish, but shutting down and restarting seems to cure the glitch.

Not much at Alesis on this unit any more. Quite a bit of documentation out there though if you search the net.

If lost or stolen I'd probably shop around a bit. It's a good unit, and the main stero piano will just blast through the mix. But I'm trying to record some "serious" pieces and -- well -- silly me for thinking any sampled instrument will cut it. You just can't get a real piano sound from a piece of plastic and ceramic...

EASY. This is the first MIDI thing I've used. I connected it to a Technics P30 digital piano and amp and had it running instantly, played with it for an hour before unsealing the instructions (this isn't the recommended procedure!). Couldn't be easier. If you are a complete MIDI dolt like me: you'll want to have or buy 2 regular 1/4" cables and 1 MIDI cable. That's all you need for an easy-to-use live rig.

No expansion or computer programming capability (well, there is but not much, and it's obviously not what this is intended for and it wouldn't be good at it).

I personally like the various keyboard sounds and keyboard combinations (layered, etc.) a lot. Definitely better than my Technics' built-ins, but they aren't great and there are only three anyhow. The other sounds are irrelevant to me: techno-synth noise for the most part, in my opinion. Depends what you want and like, I guess.

Probably good. Simple as dirt.

I think I overpaid a little but I didn't want to shop around. These were $400 units in 1997-98. Certainly not state of the art now (Jan 2002) but a great deal if you don't need or want state of the art.

I gave this one a 7 because there is no ON/OFF switch on the unit.

64 voices. Effects are easy to use.

I really do think that the sounds are the most realistic ones I ever heard.(That is: if you are used to play classical piano-pieces just like me). Only the lower notes have way too much bass and it is not possible to adjust it. Only the piano and organ sounds are good. But they are also the best ones at the market today. And believe me, I know what I am talking about after playng for more then 25 years!!!!

Own it for 3 years, and have no problems with it jet.

I live in Europe and I have been playing for 29 years.
I only use it as a sound module for my Kurzweil RG 200 because I think that the RG 200 sounds like the sounds were sampled in a tin can. I only use my RG 200 as a master keyboard and amplifier for my NANO piano. I had an ROLAND P-55 but Roland sounds to much "mass production"-like.
If it was stolen and had the spare money, I would buy a new one.

Truly Plug -N- Play

64 note Polyphony awesome, Beats my D-20.
Great effects.
Very Impressive

Love that Acoustic Piano

Have Lugged it around for 2 Months in a bookbag, No Problems

Great E-mail support!

Bought it Brand new on Ebay for 70 Bucks- For that price might just by another.

The unit is extremely simple to use. Just plug it in and select whatever sound, program and effect you want from the knobs in the front.

The module ought to have a on/off switch in the front! The unit doesn't have several features, but it's got most of the features you need for a piano module. Wouldn't say it's anything special, but OK...

I've read several articles and reviews considering this piano module. I've heard tons of good things about it, but I think it was a big diappointment!

The acoustic piano sounds which are to be the "module's strong suit", doesn't really impress me at all!! From about the C3 and brighter notes, the module sounds like a combination of piano/acoustic guitar and a sitar. I've tried to turn the knobs on this module several times to find the good sounds, but it seems to me they aren't there!

DISAPPOINTED!!! :(

Some of the other sounds seem to be useful, but I guess it cannot be more than maybe 20-30 of the 256 presets. :(

I don't know about this module. So many people find it really useful. Maybe I don't have the comon opinion considering good and bad piano sounds? Maybe it's my master keyboard (korg sp-100) that doesn't work well with the module.

My experiences with the module so far are really bad. Even though it's easy to use, the sounds aren't useable at all. I would never buy it again, but spend my money on something else. I bought it second hand and therefor I'll keep it.......

Very easy to use. Just plug the power and there you go.

Almost everything is there right on the front panel.
The only thing that is missing is the Power ON/OFF button
and a transpose knob. I don't know if there's something
wrong with my NanoPiano, but the backgroundnoise is way
to high. Even my old Roland MT-32 had lower noise than this.

I bought it mainly to get better Piano-sound, but I soon found out
that the 7 Mb pianosample was more or less unuseable. My homemade
20 Mb Roland RD-600 GrandPiano-samplefont (used with my SoundBlaster
Live card), sound MUCH better than the NanoPiano. Though some of the
bass-sounds are good, as well as for a few synth-patches.

I'm really dissapointed by this Alesis crap. I was searching for a
Yamaha grandmodule m-50, but they were soldout. If you're searching
for good grandpianosound, don't buy this. Go for the Yamaha instead,
or save some money and get a Roland RD-100 or Yamaha P-80.

Unit is very straight forward as others have suggested in this review.

I believe the polyphony was 64note. It seemed like there was an ever so small lag in responce time when I hit a key on my controller keyboard (Yamaha) and the module would sound. But nothing I could not live with.

This is the module's strong suit. The SOUNDS. I bought the unit specifically to augment the patches I had on my yamaha keyboard. The acoustic piano sounds were the BIG reason for the purchase. Very realistic acoustic sounds.

I do play live, and use the module to record in my home studio ( usually layering the nano with my other keyboard). The fact that the Nano changes programs whenever I change the settings on my Yamaha is a bit disconcerting though. It would be nice to be able to defeat the program change feature manually. No crashes as mentioned by a few in this review area.

haven't dealt with the alesis folks yet.

I think this unit is a terrific value!. I would replace it if lost or stolen!

it provides some very lush patch sounds which are inspiring for the song writting process. I was originally going to purchase the Kurzweil piano module, but this ( the Nano) seems to have more useful sounds.

Just to clarify, there IS a rotary speaker effect for the organ patches.
It is activated (and the speed of the leslie controlled) by the modulation
wheel on your controller.

This thing could not be more easy to use. Just plug it in and start playing. No on/off switch. Can't edit and store the presets. the manual is very straight forward. Not realy much to know beyond turning the knobs in this module.

64 voice polyphony, so you will not run out of voices. The Action is good, great velocity responce, but no aftertouch. Try the Rock Rhodes to realy hear this feature, I think it's very good. Only has one built in and adjustable effect that comes with each preset. Try the piano reverb effect. Wish it had a rotary speaker effect for the organ patches. No expansion in this baby, it's all there, lots of presets in 8Mb of memory. For the money, It sure does it for me.

The sounds are great; pianos, strings, etc.. the truestereo piano is very realistic, but don't play it mono. The organs are good, but lacking somehow, I wish it had a real B3 and lezlie patch. The Eps are great too. When I first tried all the presets, I got the impression that there were too much and I would end using only some of them, but after playing them againg I changed my mind, there are a lot of good patches there.

I'll have to use it more to comment here.

Nope. I'll make a comment after my first try to the alesis guys.
I think they're good.

Great piece of equipment, very good price, portable, a lot of good stuff inside, etc.. If it was stolen I would by it again. It is a very good deal if you have a not so expensive controller. This should do it for any piano player in a budget ( Like me ).