Well the NP32 arrived yesterday. It sounds great, is sleek and lightweight and the light graded action and touch sensitivity are good enough for my purposes and a big difference from the PSR.
However . . . there are two problems:
1. The left side speaker buzzes when bass notes are struck. Volume dial is at about 12 o'clock, and it doesn't happen in the right side speaker. At first I thought it was because of reverb but it happens with a dry signal. It happens less so if I play with a lighter touch. :/ The touch sensitivity is on factory setting, medium. So, I'm not very happy about that.
2. When I connect the NP32 to Notestar and launch any song I've bought, only the keyboard part plays back through the keyboard speakers, and not the vocal track or backing track. I looked further into the NoteStar settings and sure enough, it says right there that when the the keyboard source (and not the iPad) is selected, ONLY the keyboard track of the Notestar file will playback through the keyboard speakers, and not the vocal or backing tracks. Big bummer.
This is a big disappointment, as the level of the Ipad tracks have to be cranked up and it never sounds like you are playing with the actual band, so to speak. The strangest thing, is that, when I tested the NoteStar app out with the PSRe363 that I bought and returned, it did play back ALL tracks - vocal, piano, and backing tracks - through the keyboard (which sounded great) and it seemed to override any ability to select the Ipad completely. I didn't understand why that was like that, but I didn't question it because all the tracks came through the keyboard speakers and sounded cohesive, balanced, and wonderful.
I don't understand why this phenomenon is happening, as I am using the same ipad, same connectors, and the same USB to Host port.
One other gripe. This is my second NP32. I bought one originally from Amazon, but it arrived with a hole cut in the box on one end and it it was banging around loosely in the box. It got sent back and I got a refund. Clearly it had been used.
What to do? Do I return the NP32 for one that doesn't buzz, and just deal with how the Notestar app works with it? Do I returned the NP32 and consider a different keyboard, perhaps one that will work with the NoteStar like the PSR did?