Nord Grand with Kawai Action

[lawman]

I inquired of Kawai America HQ in California. They responded this morning with this: "The Kawai key action used in the Nord Grand is a plastic hammer key action developed specifically for Nord designated RH-N."

[Duplobaustein]

Nord Lead is one of THE synths for electro music. Wave and Modular are legends.

A music radar ranking is not really a point here, but if so when you don't release a synth in years, you won't be in any ranking.

[Spider]

It's up on Thomann's.
MSRP confirmed at € 3687,81, actual selling price € 3111 incl. VAT.
Shipping in 4-5 weeks, so mid-May.

[Dezie]

Cant see it having wood keys due the the weight of the piano it would a lot heaver then what it is .Did think at first it might due to the size and layout .Shame really wanted wood keys the RH3 is ok but not the best i have it on my ES8 the keys are very noisy

[Quai34]

Cant see it having wood keys due the the weight of the piano it would a lot heaver then what it is .Did think at first it might due to the size and layout .Shame really wanted wood keys the RH3 is ok but not the best i have it on my ES8 the keys are very noisy

Same with me, I was not looking for a plastic Keybed, thus, the MP11SE is still on the list....

[maurus]

Compare these Thomann prices:

Nord Grand: 3099 Euros

Kawai VPC1: 1299 Euros
Nord Electro 6D 61: 1599 Euros

So you get wooden Kawai keys, all of the Nord Piano Library, plus a waterfall action for a second manual, plus organ, in a cheaper setup...

[Ecaroh]

The best combination there is. The Kawai keybed and the samples from Nord. This one is on my list for sure.

If it only had some external zones..

I am using mainstage a lot in combination with the stage3
Would have loved to see 4 external zones, with 8 assignable buttons and encoders(switchable)

It is a Piano, not a master keyboard (as the rest of the NP family so far), but you can always put it in Local Off and make all the Zones you want in Mainstage (including Zones that address the Grand as an External Instrument) then control them with a simple control surface, like a Nanokontrol or similar.

I strongly feel that lack of external panel is an obvious mistake from Clavia. In fact, I’ve been saying this for years (with NP and Electro models). IMO it’s maybe even more important that oversimplified sample synth. Why? Almost all of us have a laptop or external synths much more capable than this synth and using them with USB and monitor in is so simple. Simple ext midi on/off button with one or two knobs and maybe expression pedal (input) would really make difference to Nord Pianos. Now, with new Grand there’s no even need for laptop stand or extra holders. I like an ideaf of a simple Piano product, but this makes even more need for external connectivity.

[Spider]

These are all valid points, but I think they also project your wishes and musical needs on a product which has a very clear use (different from yours).

The NG is clearly targeted purely at the high-end stage piano market. It answers the complaints with the NP4 for more memory and better action and that's it, no more no less.

You ask for organ, synth, ext controls...those products already exist, they are called Electro and Stage.
But there are loads of people who only need a good piano sound and a good action. The NG is for them.

[Ecaroh]

Yes but I also believe that external panel is the easiest and cheapest to put to a Nord product. It also has a very small footprint on the panel. There are obviously people to whom this ain’t necessary, but for sure there are users like me too. I still don’t see a real reason for not to include it. This small panel can’t cost much, right?

It’s kinda funny that Stage has it even it’s the keyboard which can do almost anything by itself. (This isn’t to say that it should not have it!

[23skidoo]

Every additional feature in a software branch costs exponentially more in the long run. Nord is a very small company. By stripping out features that aren't essential, they're able to maintain a reasonable level of service with the talent they can afford to maintain in-house. Likely they've decided that the cost in the long run to support these features is not worth the fraction of additional sales it would gain. They also tend to balance their UIs towards minimalism, focus on only what's absolutely necessary, and adding features only if there is really incredibly strong demand for them.

So it's pretty easy to see why they don't have extern sections on everything, in fact. They don't make master keyboards, except the Stage is intended to be a centrepiece of an ensemble so that function makes sense there. Everything else is specifically intended to be more or less a standalone instrument and MIDI is provided only for recording/studio functionality. If you can make more use of it, great, but that's clearly not their point for including it on the Electros, Piano, and now the Grand. It's a consistent and logical approach when you comprehend it from the standpoint of the tradeoffs they need to make to keep things focused and manageable.