Nord User Forum

[Piano Jochen]

Hello everybody, I hadn't connected for a while and am very pleased about the ongoing discussion. Just as a summary for myself and those interested, compared to the starting point of this thread, we have learned the following:

The Nord Piano sounds are described as distant by a number of pianists. Some users have found the Yamaha CP4 or VST pianos as much better solutions for stage. There is some hope that the Nord Piano 3 will be a more playable piano than the other Nord instruments. Dexibell and Physis Piano are interesting candidates to be tested, too. The opinions about the Dexibell differ, whereas the Physis appears to be generally well accepted among pianists. Should no HW piano convince, SW pianos are the way to go. Receptor is no longer available, but contemporary standard hardware is reported to be an even better platform to run VSTs.

I am very excited about having the opportunity to test some of the Physis models in 2 weeks and will let you know about my findings.

[Piano Jochen]

(...) I decided to build my own VST rig out of a Mac Mini at a fraction of the cost and never looked back.

DH, could you please share what your VST rig includes, apart from the Mac Mini?

[dhbp-nord]

Rig consists of:

- Nord Piano 2 HA 88
- Novation SL MKII 61
- Alesis Q88
- StagePas 400i
- FireWire Audiophile
- Art Pro 4 ch rack mount D.I.
- Mac Mini (2011) quad Intel i5, 16gb, Win7, Reaper. 1TB SSD
- Omnisphere 2
- Arturia V4, Komplete 10, IK suites
- OP-X, Zeta2, Lounge Lizard4, Rapture, etc

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DH

[Piano Jochen]

DH, thanks a lot for sharing this! It looks like a serious set-up.

Since what I am looking for is a small number of acoustic and electric piano sounds, I still hope to get away with a HW piano, all in one box, ready to turn on. We'll see...

[Dreamer]

Very interesting and informative post!
I have a Nord Stage 2 HA76 and like everything about it except the pianos.
They record great but for live band, even through my two DXR10s, they're flat and boxy, tinny sounding.
I have similar comments during sound check and I'm not too sure how to respond. I'm standing behind a £2800 stage piano

So true. I also have two DXR10s. The fan noise kills me more and more when used in quiet venues. Will sell them. Local DJ is looking forward to it. I tried them in a store with CP4. Same thing. It's a nice temporary workaround but that's it.

I think amplification is the key. Looking at two Bose F1 812 currently. Will give them a try. If this yields a real difference in sound then no need to change the board. And they are cheaper, more powerful and have more lows than the RCF TT08A.
If anyone on this forum has already checked them out I'd love to hear the experiences.

If piano on F1 is just on par with the DXRs, I will update in the long run my Yam P250 with a CP4 or P255 successor. Also, Forte 7 with OS 2 now has 3 GB of flash memory to upload your own samples. Options, options

[danrv]

I also have two DXR10s. The fan noise kills me more and more when used in quiet venues.

They would have to be very quiet venues to hear the DXR's fan noise. I only notice it really when I use them at home.

I setup our RCF HD12s FOH speakers the other day just to hear what the piano sounds like out front.
The Silver Grand piano does benefit from some EQ when used through PA speakers so I've added bass and cut a little mid and top. Has sounded much better over the last couple of gigs.
It's been mentioned before that you really need a piano sound EQ'd for live use and one without EQ for recording or headphones.

[Dreamer]

They would have to be very quiet venues to hear the DXR's fan noise. I only notice it really when I use them at home.

True and only inside of course. At home it annoys me most. Fanless cooling is more expensive but has definitely advantages...

Regarding the two sound sets, I use them too but I think it is a barely acceptable workaround. You don't release separate mixes for headphones and speakers, instead you create an ideal one that works for all situations. If the type of the speaker colors the sound that can be a desired effect but not for multisound devices like E5. DXR's are brilliant for metallic sounds of FM, guitar samples and also bell-like rhodes sounds benefit from it but for piano it lacks in the warmth of the mids and the plastic cases add a unfortunate boxy note that can be reduced but not fully compensated by equalizing.

If piano sounds are the main focus in your rig you need to invest more. I recently used Bright Grand as cream on the cake for minnie the moocher with a local brass band, worked great in the mix with the DXR's, the more Intimate the setup is, the more you detect DXR's limits.

[danrv]

If piano sounds are the main focus in your rig you need to invest more.

They're not really as I do mostly live band Pop, Rock, Jazz funk playing. I find the pianos pretty good for more intimate Jazz gigs and solo piano.
Had I known about the cost and requirement for premium amplification for the Nord piano sounds though when I bought the Stage 2, I may have considered a different keyboard.
The main considerations though we're the compact size and manageable weight of the HA76 and my DXRs are better for piano sounds than my Roland KC350.

I didn't get a chance to compare them with the QSC K10 but the Yamahas looked better value.

The RCF TT-08a seems to be the best powered option for Nord piano sound reproduction but they're too expensive.
Wouldn't mind giving them a try though.

[Piano Jochen]

Here is my promised report from my test of the Physis Piano at Cosmo Music:

I really loved the responsiveness and enjoyed playing a lot. I tested the K4 with the wooden keys, the K5 EX and an upright model. I don't know what firmware was loaded, but it might not have been the latest one, since I found the sound somewhat uneven and bright, as reported by selmer and in other forums. My general impression is that I was playing a very promising, but not yet mature product. Also, I have to say that I didn't like any of the different Fatar keybeds of the mentioned models. I definitely will be anxious to try newer versions in some time.

A surprise was trying out the Gemini sound module by GSi. It has a great modeled Rhodes, the famos modeled VB3 organ and some additional sample sounds that also include a grand piano. But this piano is much more than just an adder, it has a very natural, complex and expressive sound. At the end I was too tired to come to a conclusion, but the Gemini might be my choice!

[lawman]

If this board still has any followers, I'll pass on a recent comment from Joe Walsh, appropos the sampling vs. modeling discussion. He said in an interview (maybe on Daryl's House) something to the effect that nowadays, music can be made perfectly on computers; however, "Perfect music just doesn't sound good."