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Do nords need an amp?

Postby WelshMikey » 11 Jun 2012, 16:28

I went to the music store today to try the stage 2 and piano 2, I also tried other keyboards including the roland 700-nx.

I have to say I was massively dissapointed with the nords, when listening over youtube on my laptop speakers (much more powerful than you might think they are JBL's with subwoofer aswell) and on my sennehiser ie6 headphones the nord keyboards sound admazing. In shop though I tried using the two keyboards with shure around the ear headphones and through some samsung stage speakers in both cases the sound was well i dont know how to describe it other than weak/flat? The roland piano noise felt like a powerful grandpiano sound whereas the nord sounded like a toy, perfect clarity but a toy non the less, it had no woomf in it like a grand piano would. Does the nord perhaps require an amplifier to sound good? If not then why do the videos on youtube sound so good but the piano I played sound so weak/flat?
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Do nords need an amp?


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Re: Do nords need an amp?

Postby Frantz » 11 Jun 2012, 17:06

I think I understand your surprise ;) don't hurry, take your time, try a Korg SV1 as well, try a Yamaha Motif, try a Kurzweil PC3K.
You come from a DGX, the Motif could be the natural move.
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Re: Do nords need an amp?

Postby Frantz » 11 Jun 2012, 17:15

The Nord is ready "out of the box" for you to tweak the sound to suit your tastes, then play.
Whereas the Roland is ready "out of the box" for you to play, then tweak the sound if you want.
I'have always been frustated with my RD because the piano sound was not enough "flexible".
It's such a great pleasure on the Nord to try their pianos & make a choice : http://www.nordkeyboards.com/main.asp?t ... rand_Piano
Then you can try all the settings available straight with the buttons on the kb's panel :D
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Re: Do nords need an amp?

Postby Frantz » 11 Jun 2012, 17:28

I exagerated a bit "the approach" in my first two lines above, you have good sounding presets "out of the box" with the Nord, but when you play, every situation is different (alone, with the band, stereo / mono, different kinds of amp/speakers, room ...).
Have you tried to change the dynamic, the eq, the effects, the piano sound you are using, maybe split one (bosendrofer) for the bass and another (Yam bright Grand) for the upper range ?
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Re: Do nords need an amp?

Postby WelshMikey » 11 Jun 2012, 17:54

I didn't try the split function, just piano and piano layered with strings and pads. I tried some of the effects and realised I would probably never use them except for delay and reverb, both of which I liked alot. The stage two was way way too complex for my liking, even the person demonstrating it to me seemed to struggle, he certainly didn't do what I asked anyway and I hate the keyboards feel so atm it is between the nord piano 2 and the roland 700nx, I'm edging toward the roland at the moment as it feels like a step up from the dgx rather than a change from it.

But I love the fact that you can create and load new patches on the Nord and if i could get the same sound i get on youtube it would be very hard for me too choose between the roland and the nord piano 2. If the roland allowed me to add new sounds (ok i know it has 1000 already but still) it would win hands down atm but im sure the nord can do more than the pathetic output it gave in the shop. However if that requires some external post processing of somesort then i may go for the roland and try some of the other suggestions before I buy. For the record i will be buy the krk 6 inch monitors or the adam a3x, probably the krk as although i like the adams im afraid it has too much bass for a piano instrument. Does anyone have any experience using either of these monitors with the nord? Did it still sound flat? or did it have more oomph behinf it?
Reverb was good but at the same time I found the roland could be more finely tuned though i think it affected all instruments not individually i.e. on the nord i could reverb the strings and not the piano etc whic hwas handy.
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Re: Do nords need an amp?

Postby bdodds » 11 Jun 2012, 19:56

I've never had any problem with the output of my NS2's pianos. I don't have the NP2, but it's all the same stuff, they don't vary in output. I would imagine there's something flaky in the signal chain to give you that impression - there are many variables that go into amplification that could cause issues. The way to do it would be apples/apples with using the same cables for the roland then moving them over to the nord, then you'd know it's a comparable amp setup.

To answer your direct question - there is nothing to my knowledge that would have the Nord putting out a signal that was much different than the signal put out by the Roland. They should have the same strength of signal leaving their outputs, or at least fairly similar. If you ran into a situation where the line output was insufficient to drive a particular powered speaker, then I'd expect the Roland to have the same issue. Neither the Nord nor the Roland will drive an unpowered, passive speaker.
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Re: Do nords need an amp?

Postby WelshMikey » 11 Jun 2012, 20:22

Thank you for your comments. I tried the same set of headphones on the stage 2, piano 2 and roland. The more I look into it the piano 2 it dosent do everything I want even if i do love the sounds i hear on youtube, and the stage 2 is just too complex. I think I will get the roland, it feels more homely for two reasons, it is functionally just liek an upgrade from the dgx i.e. it will record play and layer music/samples. Also although i find there to be a limited number of piano sounds atleast it is a sound i like and has a nice strong sound like my old acoustic piano. Thank you to everyone on this forum you have all been very helpful and pleasant =). I will miss the nord community i'm sure but don't think it is the right keyboard for me. Any ideas for good music mixing software though? One with built in samples so I can arrange backing tracks etc. Thank you =).
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Do nords need an amp?

Postby Michael Wright » 11 Jun 2012, 20:57

I found the headphone out level on my
NE3 very low. It was difficult to get into it for messing around and not disturbing
others. Perhaps too much R$R!
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Re: Do nords need an amp?

Postby WelshMikey » 11 Jun 2012, 22:17

@ Michael w, interesting comment, if given the chance I will give the piano 2 another try in a different shop which will hopefully be using a different amp. If not then I will get the roland still. Thank you for pointing out your experience with the headphone socket however as the roland was using different speakers, I only have the headphones for direct comparison between the nord and roland.
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