Alesis NanoPiano

You don't need a manual for this one, but as other have said the knobs are a bit fiddley.

Horrible horrible. I've played 1MB piano samples that walk all over this module.

I sold it one month after I bought it. I purchased it as a backup for my VSTi setup and perhaps as a quickie jam tool. I can't imagine enjoying playing or listening to it.

Very simple, just plug power supply, choose instrument and play. The only limit is that it does not remember the state of the "effect". No editing of patches.

64 notes poly. Built in effects for every patch (piano: reverb; organs: modulation/leslie etc.). Midi In/Out. It lacks a power on switch: you have to plug/unplug cables

Grand Piano is brilliant, good for rock and pop, not so much for classical, even if it sounds good and wide. Dark pianos are simply pass/down filtered samples of a brighter sound, not an excellent choice.
Some organs are fine, but do not expect an aggressive hammond sound..
A very nice harpsicord and "classic" lead synts (square, sawtooth etc.)

Steel solid and very small.

Neve needed!

Nice complement for a master keyboard in home/amateur use if you need a few good instruments (piano, organ). Now it is probably surpassed by more modern expanders. Anyway it is maybe the most compact module!

Yea easy to use.. except for the fiddly little knobs.

The pianos do their job. Organs are rubbish. So are strings. Some not too bad E-pianos. There is only one usable pad sound.

Piano and E piano only real things worth using, and only one of each sound slightly ok. So its pretty dismal all in all. I must confess, its almost as good as my Korg N1R.. doesn't say much for the Korg eh!

All the little knobs fall off. I hate this piece of junk. Mind you, it fits in my pocket. So not all bad.

Really bad. Don't take it unless you have nothing else.

Very easy. But the midi funcions should be better explained.

64 notes at one time makes a diffrent. Even with a bad keyboard the sounds make you get the feeling of playing on a real piano. With my Roland A33 it's like heaven. The drawbacks is the effct knob and no memory.

Sorry to see a couple of not so serious remarks from some of the reviewers (pardon my English I'm from Sweden). I love the piano sounds, very realistic for that kind of money. Yes the midrange sound is a bit weak and the strings aren't realistic, but it is a piano module. And you can't get a Steinway for that kind of money.

Nothing to complain about!

I want to buy one more for live preformence and if it was stolen I would buy it agin.

Couldn't be easier

Basic features--it would be nice if there was included a headphone jack

YUK!!!!! The supposedly fantastic acoustic grand piano is the pits! It is transposed down an octave. The other piano samples are really bad. The electric pianos are worse than most out there. All in all, I got so tired of listening to this thing that I just traded it in.

rock solid

no need to ask

I just got rid of this thing. It is not the answer to your quest for a good "piano in a box." While I know that other piano modules can get more expensive (and that this think is no worse than the Kurzwiel Micro Piano) you will be disappointed. Save up your money and buy a Motif Rack instead.

It couldn't be easier. It's on the light side, so for safety on a gig I always duct tape it to the top of my keyboard. The manual is OK. Some of the sounds seem alike to me, so I wish the manual described what Alesis had in mind when they programmed them.

They manage to put a lot into a small space. However, many of the sounds I would never want to hear, much less use. I would have opted for higher quality over so much useless quantity.

The sounds are as bad as the ones built into my computer. There is not a trace of realism in any of them. The piano sounds in my obsolete Korg 3500 blow this sucker away. I use the Nanopiano on gigs because it's so light and easy to use. But I would never do any serious playing or recording with it.

Like a tank. I've had it since 1998 and hauled it to scores of gigs, with never a trace of malfunction.

Never needed it.

I can't recommend this unit for anything except convenience. It's musically embarrassing.

This unit is the virtual definition of "Plug and Play," which is good, because the manual is pretty thin. This worked fine for me, though, because I'm the kind of person who likes to learn by playing rather than reading.

It has 64-note polyphony. The effects are pretty basic, but adequate, and extremely easy to use. No capability for expansion or programming. And I join other reviewers in wishing that it had a POWER button.

The nanopiano has some very nice pianos, EPs, organs and synth leads. The string sounds are less than overwhelming, although a couple are usable. I've used it for rock, pop and country, and it more than fills the bill.

Solid. Over the last two-plus years, this unit has survived my kids at home, drunks at gigs, and my occasional bumbling in between, and has never missed a beat. I use it at gigs with a pretty cheap midi-capable keyboard (to protect my better keyboards from the aforementioned drunks), but I do keep a backup 'board in the van. This is not a slight of the nanopiano, I just ALWAYS like to have a backup.

Never had to use it.

Considering the price, I LOVE this unit. Between gigging and home recording, it has more than paid for itself, and I would definitely buy another one, were it to be lost or stolen.

The presets are the best quality acoustic piano I have heard with the exception of the Roland JV1010. (This unit is less than half the price of the JV1010 ans does not have the live performance MIDI problems.)
There is no way to edit the patches but with 256 different
voices, for my use is live rock, country performance, I have been happy with patches provided.
The manual is a little self congratulatory, but beyond that is logical and straightforward.

The ployphony is more than adequate. The built in effects are controlled by one knob which makes them a little unidimensional but for the price and sizr of the unit are good. The Nanopiano works well with the StudioLogic SL880 controller and respoonds well to the pitch bend and modulator wheels.

The organ sounds are not quite as good as my Hammond XB-2 but are better than the Yamahas and Casios I have heard. One of the best patches is the electric piano called Rock Roads does a great job of imitating the Fender Rhodes. The Fender Rhodes made different sounds dependent on how hard you pushed the keys and the Nano Piano does this well. I like the string and synth sounds.

I have found the unit to be very reliable. It is so small that one must be careful not to step on the sound cable or power cord coming out of it or it will be jerked on to the floor. This is my own fault because the unit can be rack mounted and I had not done that but just had it sitting on top of my StudioLogic controller. It took the lickin' and kept on tickin.

I have contacted Alesis once when I thought the unit had conked out when I dropped it. They were ready to receive the unit back and repair it. But I found out that the power cord had come unhooked. So I did not need to send it back. Lost the manual. Easy to download new one from web.

I am going to buy another one for two reasons: 1.My StudioLogic has two MIDI outs and I could use a two NanoPianos on the two different zones of the controller, piano left hand and organ right. 2. If the unit does quit working there is no other piano controller out there (correct me if I am wrong: apitt@novationco.com)for hundred bucks. The closest tyhing to it that I know of is the Roland JV1010 at four times the price and I have heard and read that the JV1010 is not suitable for live perfornmance because the MIDI drops out (see reviews on this site). The rack
monuted sound modules I found at purchase time and now by EMU, Korg, Kuzweil at. al start at $500 and run into thousands. These unit have synthesizer, sound shaping, and tons of other features I would never use. The only thing I have found even close to the NanoPiano is the Yamaha MU15 Tone Generator which is priced two and one half times the NanoPiano. And I have found the piano sampling in the Yamaha products to be cheesy at best.

I'm not sure I ever even cracked the manual...

Well, yes, maybe I did. There was a bit of good-natured
Alesis flag-waving, including a gross overestimation
of how great this little guy sounds. It's not bad,
but guys -- c'mon... The Bosendorfer "phase-accurate
grand" you crow about is probably the worst of its
pianos. The manual is for telling people how it works...

That aside, it really is very simple and intuitive --
everything is what it is, and does what it does. No
mysteries, no nasty surprises. The knobs don't have any
stupid names that would confuse someone without a manual,
or any of that stuff that some manufacturs pull. Well
designed, well laid-out.

It had a decent number of features for what it was --
a very tiny, utilitarian box.

I was just plugging a keyboard into it, and running it
into a mixer, so I can't speak for any MIDI capabilities
it might or might not have. It worked fine the way I was
using it.

I had just returned a Roland JV1010, because I'm not really
a keyboardist, and therefore couldn't cost-justify a $400
module for very part-time use.

The Nano was considerably cheaper, so I tried it.

A few of the pianos sounded pretty decent, and the organs
were way less lame than the JV1010's -- a couple were
in fact quite nice.

The strings, however, were horrid -- very raspy and
lacking in dynamics. I found myself having to pound
the keys down to get the strings to fire -- they didn't
seem to respond well to touch. There was a buzzy fakeness
which just couldn't be hidden, even in a dense mix.

If I'd gotten my Nano when Mars was blowing it out at
$99, I would have kept it. I paid nearly twice that,
however, and since piano, organ, and strings were all
I was looking for, the weak string sounds were enough
to convince me to return it.

It worked fine while I had it, but I'll pass on rating this.

Pass on this, too.

I returned it, but if I saw one used for $75, I'd pick
it up for the pianos and organs. It's not a bad unit
at all, especially for a non-keyboardist who's just looking
to dabble. The simplicity is appealing, as is the compactness.
I just paid more than it was worth to me the first time.
Overall, I'd recommend it if you want a simple unit for
a few extra sounds.

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 ).

It's all knobs, volume, effect, midi channel, instrument bank, intrument program. Smile and dial. Just slave it to a controller, set the receive channel and dial in the patches. Doesn't get any simpler than that.

This is a plug and play box. It does exactly what it's supposed to do. Polyphony is what sold me, 64 voices. Not multitimbral. Each patch has built in generic effect (reverb, chorus), can't really edit them w/out a pc/mac. You can only adjust the volume level. It responds to all midi controls. I control w/a studiologic SL760. This box is perfect for low tech, live rig, which is what I use it for. I give it a 10 b/c it's perfect for how I use it.

I play blues, pop, funk, R&B, reggae and rock. The piano patches sold me. The sustain is pretty close to the real thing regarding decay. However, they sound a little bit cold, great for rock, blues, reggae, funk, but not warm enough for jazz, classical, slow songs or accompanying solo vocalists. They are very expressive though regarding velocity and aftertouch. The "Rhodes" sounds are mediocre at best. I own a Rhodes Suitcase 73 and a stage 73. The "Rhodes" sounds do not in any way sound like or react to velocity the same as a real rhodes. However, I've found that the 'suitcase' works for most tunes and w/the right eq, the soft rhodes can be made to sound pretty close. The organs are terrible unless you're playing the wedding march. The clavs are thin and cheesy by themselves, but I run it through a Snarling Dog's Super Bawl Whine O Wah and it's a different beast (no pun intended). I don't use the other sounds for live performance, but I've tinkered w/them and they are all exceptional and useful for something, they just don't fit in the genres I play. Onboard effects are okay. They do the job. I bought it for the piano. I'm very happy w/it. I've grown to like the clav and the 'suitcase' and 'soft ep' has grown on me.

This little box is hardcore!! It's fallen off of my SL760 at least 5 times from about 3 1/2 feet to the concrete garage floor, wooden stage, concrete stage, red brick stage and is still operating perfectly! I stuff it in my gig bag under my 6 lb. wah wah pedal, chords, power strip, sustain pedal, etc. It's scuffed up and road weary, but still working fine. I gig w/out a backup.

I haven't had to deal w/Alesis regarding this unit. I had to send them my D4 for repair and they had it back to be in less than a week. That's good enough for me.

I'd definitely buy it again in the event of theft, loss or natural disaster. You probably can get 'em for less than $200 now. I got mine when it first came out. I've been playing for 15 years. I play in a 7 piece band. This box is perfect for the style of music I play. I use it w/ a Roland VK-7. It handles all of the keyboard parts for Wonder, Marley, SRV, Sly, etc. fine. It's so simple to use, even your drummer will be playing w/it. I considered the Kurzweil micropiano, the piano sounds were superior but it didn't have any clav and only 16 voices. Wish it had a headphone jack. If you're a performer and don't feel like carrying around your yamaha upright or your rhodes or your hohner D6, this is the box for you!! If you're a sequencing, techno junkie, this box is not for you. I still would have bought it if it only had pianos and clav. The extra 60 something patches put it up there for bang for the buck value!

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.