Alesis NanoPiano

Just four buttons. How much easier can it get?
I haven't played with patch editing software
to do more involved stuff yet, but it is on my list of things to-do.
The manual is concise and to the point; very easy to read.

This unit has everything you'd expect from a small and simple module.
I bought it as a main piano module for home use, and it delivers more
than most dedicated digital pianos will. I wish, though, that more than one
effect per sound patch were accessible through its four buttons.

This is one half of our home piano and it truly delivers. The stereo grand is
at least as good as all the other piano sounds we tried, i.e. Kurzweil, Roland fp,
various Yamaha, Korg. It has more punch than the Kurzweil and is a bit more
metallic than a Yamaha, which makes its work well in a mix.
The organ sounds are also excellent, as well as the E-pianos. Synths and
other sounds are good enough, in fact, I consider them really nice
considering the unit's main purpose and selling features.
The expressiveness is very good, especially for the main piano sounds.

Look sturdy enough and has never failed in the four months we had it.
it is only getting home use so far, but I wouldn't be afraid to take it onstage.

Never had to email or call them.

I bought the NanoPiano as a bundle with the Studiologic 990 controller, VFP25 pedal
and stand for $799. This probably works out to $100-150 for the NanoPiano,
which I consider an incredible value. Despite the size it is not a toy, it's a real
professional instrument. I would definitely buy it again.
As mentioned before, I bought it as part of a home piano setup. Anything else that
compares favorably would have cost me twice as much or more.
There is no comparable piano sound anywhere near its price range.
One thing I'd like is more pedal inputs. Just one is good enough for most purposes,
but at least a second one would be great.

As simple as can be. For basic use, select the MIDI channel (turn the knob), select the program category (turn the knob), select the desired program in that category (turn the knob). Make sure the volume is up (turn the knob), and that the overall effects level is where you want it, if you want f/x at all (yup...turn the knob). Additional (though limited) program selection, effects twiddling, etc is possible with MIDI. Manual suffices for such a simple module.

64-voice polyphony nominal, 16-voice minimum depending upon the preset chosen and how many voices the particular preset requires. i experienced no lack of polyphony in my use. Effects are okay, but I much prefer using outboard units instead.

The acoustic pianos are "pretty" good, if a bit midrangey on the ones that people are most likely to use, IMO. The low notes on the Grand are very good, the highs are good, the middle range quite edgy/grainy. Definitely need to employ some outboard EQ to round out the timbre a bit, I feel. The attack (at least with my controller) is not nearly as touch-sensitive as it should be. Perhaps a weighted controller would bring out more touch/timbre sensitivity?? The vast majority of the sounds other than a few acoustic pianos and a couple organs and basses are really lame and/or unusable. If you're gonna buy this unit, buy it because you like the grand piano sound(s). All that being said, I liked the piano sounds better than those in the Kurzweil MicroPiano and the E-mu Proformance 1+, both of which I bought and then returned. Try 'em all out and see which one *you* like - it's a really subjective thing.

Now for "the rest of the story". I owned a NanoPiano that worked perfectly, and then later sold it. Then, later on, I bought another NanoPiano - not because I was so in love with it, but rather because it was better than the other modules I tried in the acoustic piano department, IMO. I got the second unit, opened the box, plugged it in, and played it for about 20 minutes. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was a muted "pop" and the output of the module disappeared. The MIDI present light still flashed and the power light still shone. I unplugged the wall wart, plugged it back in, and everything returned to normal. I began playing again. Several minutes later, the same thing happened again, except this time there was some output, but it was musical garbage that didn't correspond to what I was playing and was barely audible. Unplugged/replugged the wall wart again and all went back to normal again. Started playing - few minutes later, same thing happens again, at which point I repackaged the module and called for an RA# to return the thing as defective. I note that Mathias says below that a similar thing happened to him. Having owned a NanoPiano that was made in a previous year that worked flawlessly, and this one (like Mathias') that was purchased in '99 (and mine was made in '99, as well), I can only guess that "something" must be structurally wrong with some (if not all?) of these more recently-manufactured units. Still trying to decide if I want the dealer to give me a replacement unit or a refund, due to this apparent lack of quality control. My first Nano rated a "10" in reliability, this second one a "0". Therefore, I'll average my reliability rating to a "5".

Never dealt with 'em. Didn't see the point, as I was returning the second unit as defective.

The first unit worked perfectly, and had piano sounds that weren't perfect, but better subjectively to me than the Kurz or the E-mu. (BTW, even if the E-mu had *had* what I considered a good piano sound, I couldn't have lived with it due to its sample being so out of tune.) If you get a NanoPiano that won't crash (be sure to play the actual unit for at least a half-hour when you get it to be sure - specifically units made in '99, I feel), then it deserves an overall rating of say, "8". If you get a bad one, obviously the overall rating would be "0". Don't let me scare you off from what "could" be a very good acoustic piano module for you - just be sure you didn't get a production lemon!

Just a quick note. I feel like I must speak out, given my rather unsatisfactory experience with the NanoPiano.

Polyphony, at 64, is more than adequate, especially considering that you can only use one program at a time. It does accept MIDI program changes, however.
The built in effects are adequate, though not inspiring. It is aftertouch sensitive, which is a plus. Many of the presets also are controller aware. No expansion at all.

Here we get to the meat of the matter. The first unit I received would crash within minutes. I don't even feel like I was "stressing" the unit at all. No program changes, nothing. Just garbage, after a few minutes. I had it exchanged (bless Guitar Center's wonderful customer support) and the second unit seemed OK, but after a couple hours, same thing. I regretfully returned it. That piano sound was sure nice...
I'm especially disappointed, after the good experience that I've had with my QS6.

Alesis never answered my e-mail, but their phone tech support was helpful.

everything is on the front- effects dial,sound dial, category dial
manual lists sounds, but you really don't need it. a monkey could figure out this unit while eating a banana at the same time! In fact, I play rhe unit when I am very drunk sometimes and can still operate it

64 note, effects are built in, really the best feature about it is it's lack of features which just allows you to focus in and play. it doesn't even have a on off switch!!!!!

I have other piano modules which have better acoustic sounds in my opinion, but a $300 this is too versatile to pass up. The organs are decent especially when used with external effects. Acoustic pianos are nice, but the middle range is where I found my other ones fared better. I really like the Rhodes sounds on this, as I play a bit of Steely Dan. Also, the No Quarter sound was really realistic of the zep song But my opinion, is from someone who likes a darker piano sound as a result of not growing up playing a bright grand piano. I certainly believe the phrasing is quite superb though

I would worry about the size and it being fragile, but it is a very unique and cleverly designed product that seems to hold up. I was using one at a gig, and really was satisfied with how it could just sit on the keyboard without taking up space

I have not dealt with them on this product, but everytime I email them I get an informative response from one of the people, who can answer the very technical questions I ask them.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd beat the crap out of whoever took it . Seriously, it is a fun unit to own and the sounds cut through well when playing with others. I don't enjoy it as much for solo piano work, but having the no quarter and rhodes sounds compensates for that. 256 sounds for this price is a great deal, I won some money at the track and decided to put most of it towards this unit: i wasn't planning on getting it, but seeing how I could get something, I found this to be a worthwile investment

The Alesis NanoPiano 64 voice stereo piano module is a very simple module to use. It's a 1/3 rack space unit with just 5 knobs: Volume, Effect (controls the level of one of the active effects), channel (sets which MIDI channel is active), Category (sets the type of sound), and Program (sets which program in the category is active). There are also LEDs on the front to show the status of power and MIDI. The back panel only has 1/4" stereo outputs,MIDI in, MIDI out/thru and the a/c adapter jack. The manual says that the programs are editable via a computer editor program, though I havn't found one yet to work with. There is no battery backed memory though, so any editing you do will be erased when the power is turned off. The manual is well writen and clear. The program charts are very handy.

The unit has 64 voices which transletes to 32 note polyphony in many programs since the stereo pianos actually are 2 samples, left and right. There are 16 categories of sounds such as "acoustic piano", "electric piano", "chromatic", "organ", "strings" and "synth pad" just to name a few. Each category contains 16 programs for a total of 256 programs. The programs are accessable by the front panel or by MIDI program change commands. The effects section uses the same processor as the Quadraverb 2 and includes such effects as reverb,delay,rotary speaker, chorus, flanger, and distortion. The module is monotimbral with is kind of a drag since there's a lot of useful programs that would work well in sequences. MIDI continuous controllers can be used to change some parameters in each program for instance envelope attack or release, filter cutoff, or portamento rate. The mod wheel also performs different fuctions from program to program. In most organ patches it changes the Leslie speed, in synths it controls the LFO, and it controls the brightness of many of the piano patches.

The main attraction of this module is the 7 Meg stereo sample of the Bosendorfer grand piano. The remaining 1 Meg of samples include harpsichords, clavinets, strings, organs, electric pianos, and synth pads and leads. Most of the sounds are very good while some are boring or useless. The acoustic paino samples are very realistic. I have a Roland P-55 to compare it with and while the NanoPiano is much fuller sounding and more consistent along the keyboard, I find the Roland to have better velocity response. The Nano's pianos are quite bright sounding, even the so called dark grands have a fairly sharp attack. The sounds reminds me of Elton John's Yamaha that he's been using lately. I wish they had included a softer rounder sounding piano sample for slower more quiet playing. I still will use my Roland for this kind of sound and have even found that layering the Roland and the Nano yield some nice sounds. One other thing I don't quite like is the effects settings on many of the patches. Whenever you change programs the effects for that program return to their preset value regardless of the setting of the effects knob. I would have preferred the effect knob to be a master knob. Sometimes I don't want any reverb and some of the programs have too much reverb preset into them so every time I change programs I have to adjust the effects knob which is a bit of a hassle. Other than the pianos some sounds that I really like a lot are the harpsichords, the pipe organs, the synth leads and strings.

I have not had it long enough to make a fair comment here. It does have a one year warranty however.

Alesis has a web site with manuals which helped me decide to buy the NanoPiano. Alesis has online product support which responded quickly to some questions I had. Their URL is www.alesis.com.

I originally bought the Alesis NanoSynth because it had more sounds and programability but ended up exchanging it for the NanoPiano. The NanoSynth turned out to be quite difficult and inconvenient to program even with the editing software and the pianos as well as several of the acoustic sounds just plain sucked. It has 5 banks of 128 programs each but 4 of the banks just sound like GM banks with a few changes to each program to make them sound a little differnt. The NanoPiano is much simpler to use and eventhough it has less programs, the types that I wanted the most are better than the NanoSynth's. I would buy it again just because the piano is excellent and there are lot of sounds for not too much money.

Manual? NO! It's just like a getting started folder. It does not let you come deep into the "not so basic" features. Very easy to handle! Its a 1/3 rack size module and just 5 knobs will do all the job. A power switch would be good. Some really interesting stuff could be done if the manual would let you know how to. There's even a "limited computer editting" feature.

Great polyphony: 64 notes! Better than any other piano module I've heard of. Very good internal effects, but controlling them requires a good MIDI controller because they are not editable from the unit's controls. Recieves in just on MIDI chanel at a time wich is a shame because most of the sounds could be worked out by spliting (some keys in some piano programs sound to harsh and could be replaced by ones from another program).

The pianos are very good! The same found in the QS8. I've heard people say they are too harsh, not realistic, too bright. I really love them. I have a Roland p-55 and Kurzweil Micropiano and the Nano sounds much more realistic then the Roland and though it's not as close to a real piano as the Kurzweil, it sounds more even along the hole keyboard and the variety of sounds excells. The EPs are not so good, but still very usable. Organs are Ok, Basses are Ok and everything else is poor (strings, leads, synths). A total of 256 sounds, but many of them are pianos, EPs and layerd/splited variations.

Not sure. Bought it just a week ago! The lack of ON/OFF switch is frightening. I don't like looking at that power led one all the time. Because it is very, very portable it feels perfect for gigs and specially for the road.

Never used it by phone or dealer contact, but I have sent them a mail with questions the manual wouldn't answer and ... no answer up to now.

500 bucks in BRAZIL is a low price to pay for this kind of equipment. As the unit becomes more common in the stores and among players, the price should go down. Anyway, I'd buy it again for the same price. I may even buy another one for spliting/layering sounds. I have a problem with Roland pianos: I think they sound like ROLAND pianos, not like Steinways, Yamahas, etc... the Kurzweil is the closest I ever got to the real thing, but the Alesis NanoPiano is about as close and it's pleasant to play.