Alesis NanoPiano Reference Manual page 3

WELCOME!
Back in 1979 my band's keyboard player and I went on a quest
to find the Perfect Stage Piano. There was a shiny new Yamaha
Grand in the recording studio where we were working, but for
live performances we needed something (a) portable, and (b)
affordable. We also wanted it to (c) sound great, since we loved
the music we were making and wanted audiences to hear it at its
best. With these three goals in mind we set off searching
through the music stores of New York City.
What did we find? Disappointment.
Keep in mind that these were the "pre-everything" days — pre-
MIDI, pre-sampling, pre-digital synths. The "piano" keyboards
that were any good cost at least five thousand dollars, and were
so heavy it would take three roadies to haul them on and off
stage. The keyboards that cost less — a mere two grand —
sounded bad. The ones that were truly portable got that way by
physically chopping off all but the middle octaves, drastically
limiting what you could play. And none of these instruments had
more than one sound.
I will not mention what we wound up buying. Suffice to say that
for quite a while afterwards we felt weighted down, poorer, and
deeply compromised.
But time and technology have marched on, and happier days
are here. Today I am no longer stuck with an expensive, limited,
quasi-piano behemoth. I have a NanoPiano instead.
Portable? Pick yours up and see. At not quite 1.25 pounds, I bet
you could shot-put it over the roof of your high-school
gymnasium. I have a friend who carries his to the studio in a
fanny pack.
Affordable? Oh yeah. (But you know that, or you wouldn't be
reading this.)
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NanoPiano Reference Manual 3