Grand Imperial vs other pianos...

[afroskully]

Hey everyone. I'm curious as to your thoughts on this. I've cycled through every piano available in the library while using my mono rig, and now that I'm running stereo, I decided to take everything for a spin again. I'm noticing there's something about the Bosendorfer that I love that I'm not noticing in the other pianos, which is a level of expression via velocity that seems to have more layers than the other samples. I was A/Bing it against the Silver and the Amber and I couldn't get the same range of soft to loud... almost like they have less samples in the same note comparatively to the grand imp. (by the way, being a huge game of thrones fan, i love writing the words grand imp).

I love the tone of the Amber the best out of the three but for live playing last weekend I kept going back to the Bosie for reasons above. Does anyone know if certain pianos have more samples per note than others? Is that what I'm hearing, or am I imagining this? I thought I was finding the same thing with the EP7 tines amped vs the nefertiti (EP7 being more dynamic), but the sound of the nefertiti being so great trumps that one for me.

[Quai34]

I no nothing about the layer but I'm like you, I keep coming back to it and I always use it for everything even classical....I have the XL version in my Stage 2

[baekgaard]

Interestingly, the NS3 comes with two grand pianos in XL: The "Royal Grand 3D XL" (Yamaha S6) and the "Imperial Grand XL" (Bosendorfer). So I guess someone at Nord are also happy with those two samples (there are many other grands installed by default, but they are "only" Large versions).

[GeeDeWee]

In my Stage 2 the Royal Grand 3D (L) and the Imperial Grand (L) are loaded.
I love the Yamaha, but there is something about the Bosie that made me keep it since I bought my Stage.

[Arci66]

The XL version of the Imperial Grand is also my first choice even if it is a pleasure also to play the other models sometimes, but Bosendorfer has "something special".
On the Upright the Amber is on top for me and Nefertiti among the Eps, it is evident that an Xl sample works much better expecially if play it as piano solo at home using headphone or monitor speakers.
In live mix and depending on the music genre, we could find other models to be more effective, but having a large selection of pianos we have many alternatives to try.
Acustic pianos is one of the strong selling point of Nord production.

[ericL]

Imperial Grand XL has been my "go to" piano for years and I really like it (hard to explain why). I've tried every other piano and I will occasionally switch over to Sliver XL or Amber XL.

[88keyz]

I've been using Silver Grand because I felt it cut through the mix better in live situations with a full band. But now I'm using an Electro5D non-weighted instead of my Stage2 HA 76 (I decided to lighten my load at gigs - I'm getting too old to carry the gear!) The Silver Grand seems less dynamic on a non-weighted keyboard. I'll have to take another listen to the Imperial Grand.

[cphollis]

All things being equal, the Imperial Grand is my go-to sample for straight ahead acoustic piano sounds. I'll use others here and there if I want something brighter or more woody or whatever.

I also like the fact that it sounds pretty close to the Bosie 200 sitting in my living room. Bring enough killer amplification, and you can get an approximation of the same vibe.

[Quai34]

Glad to hear that, I was quite sure it reminds me some Bosie I had played years ago at Music Messe in Francfort so, I was right....

[criss]

The Silver Grand seems less dynamic on a non-weighted keyboard.

I would recommend the Bright Grand as a replacement for the Silver Grand
(with a SW keybed and for playing with a band).