NS3 Owner looking for piano-focused keyboard (not 88 keys)

[Winds]

Hi so I just wanted to get the opinion of the community here. I've been the owner of a NS3 88 prolly about a year and it's been great. It's been so great that it actually fell flat on its front one time (I made a thread about it few months back) and it still works incredibly well making me value it more LOL!

As much as I love my NS3, I think at some point I do want a smaller keyboard to lug around especially for smaller venue gigs, the one that pops to mind quickly for me is easily the NP5 73. My reasons are quite simple:

1) I'm already comfortable with the Nord engine, so getting a NP5 shouldn't be such a huge learning curve.
2) I need one centered more for piano gigs.
3) I don't mind a smaller keyboard, not 88. This is also a major concern as I am prioritising size.
4) I am also definitely not interested in the Nord Grand. My situation is more for gigging, and I can't imagine lugging around an NG. Defeats the purpose of wanting a smaller size.
5) Definitely not interested in the midi keyboard route. I started from there and for me that period was more hellish compared to after getting a proper stage keyboard. More money spent yes, but more huge investments made in my opinion like less troubleshooting, less time to set-up, less to bring, and feel more at ease in general.

I think my only beef was when I did try out the NP5 I thought the keys felt strange. Perhaps if I try it again, I may have a different opinion.

I do recall trying out flagships like Roland and Kurzweil. I thought they sucked to me but maybe others have different opinions about it. I think the Yamaha was ok. I feel like Yamaha already has that signature sound and I'm quite familiar with it, but there are a few different families like the montage or motif or YC? I'm quite familiar with the montage or motif as I have tried those, not so with the YC.

Anyway, before I go ahead and get one, I want to know if the community agrees that this is a wise choice to go for considering my situation or whether I should look at other cheaper options instead, like hmm...

EDIT: Or perhaps I should wait if a new NP6 comes around?

[twofarmers]

In case you are considering the lighter Nord Electro, I use the NE6 HP73 as a backup/lighter rig for my Stage 3. Once I played the Stage 3, the NE feels terrible. The hammer action portable keyboard on the NE feels cheap compared to the Stage 3 and the 15 pound weight difference is not enough to make up for the feel. I'll keep it for a backup, but not my first choice for playing.
Just wanted to chime in.... Tony

[Winds]

In case you are considering the lighter Nord Electro, I use the NE6 HP73 as a backup/lighter rig for my Stage 3. Once I played the Stage 3, the NE feels terrible. The hammer action portable keyboard on the NE feels cheap compared to the Stage 3 and the 15 pound weight difference is not enough to make up for the feel. I'll keep it for a backup, but not my first choice for playing.
Just wanted to chime in.... Tony

Yes. I think I recall trying the NE and I think I agree that the action felt cheap compared to the NS3. Since I'm looking for more piano action based I think it would be a poor choice since maybe the NE is suited more for electro piano?

[cookie]

CP models from Yamaha are to be considered and tested. Very close to Nord's philosophy for the interface.

Fred

[docbop]

I'd be considering the Yamaha CP 73 or the YC73. The Yamaha CP is their piano focused board.

[ajstan]

Check out Piano Man Chuck's YouTube videos where you can find reviews and demos for many popular keyboards with a focus on piano sounds:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPhc55 ... mG8_D3cQfg

[Winds]

Hi guys, reviving this thread as I will be on the road to review keyboards again.

From this thread it seems the YC73 was mentioned more, but I am also wondering if anyone had the liberty to try and compare between these three models:

YC73
NP5 73 and
Korg SV-2 73

Just to be clear, I am looking specifically for a "shorter key" model, not 88-keys so it seems these three fit the bill. Another thing is I would be using this more for piano based only and probably not really or zilch on synths/organs/ep.

Light weight would be nice, but not very important.. at the end of the day, touch, feel and sound will still trump the overall decision I think...

Weight comparison:
YC73 - 13.4kg
NP5 73 - 15.5kg
Korg SV-2 73 - 17.2 kg

sheesh additional 5 kilos from YC to Korg.

At the end of the day, I know I have to try it out myself, but before I go on the road again, I still would like to know if anyone has ever tried all or at least one of these models, can give insight on these models, or perhaps there are other models I can consider not yet mentioned. Considering my priority for less than 88 keys, and more for piano based, anyone would like to share their thoughts?

EDIT: I'll be checking out this video as well to help with my decision, a comparison of SV-2 and NP4. Technically not the NP5 but I'm assuming soundwise maybe not a huge difference and it's more of little upgrades in the overall engine? I could be wrong.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PraJGEs65k

[cphollis]

I've been playing the NP5 73 both standalone and underneath a NS4 for a while now. I love it. The keybed is transparent to me, in that it's good enough that I don't notice any limitations, except in my own playing of course. I don't miss the extra keys one bit. The sound engines are fabulous to my ears. The soft case makes it very easy to transport. I can see me keeping this instrument for a long time.

I haven't tried the other ones, so I can't offer a direct comparison.

[cphollis]

Also, the NP5 was a significant upgrade over the NP4, which I also own.

[Rusty Mike]

I bought an NP5 last year to replace my Stage 2EX 76. About month ago, I purchased the Yamaha YC73. I have been writing up a fairly comprehensive tour of the YC, mostly in comparison to my long history with Nord keyboards, going back 14+ years and 7 different instruments. Your question has given me some inspiration to publish my take in this forum. I'll get to that in a few days, but for now, here's a short take comparison:

• The weight savings on the YC is very noticeable to me. Certainly much more luggable.
• The NP5 has smoother feeling action and I'd say the finger-to-ear connection is much less fussy. The YC action feels just fine, especially for playing live. Finger-to-ear is less consistent, but there is a lot more ability to dial in a feel that works for you.The YC's action is faster, tighter and smoother than the current HP action on the Electro.
• To me, the AP and EP sound selection is better on the NP5. The overall quality of the Nord library is much better to my ears as well. The EPs sound more natural and expressive, while the Yamaha's just seem a bit artificial to me. It's taking me a while to get my head around Yamaha's sound set. Live I don't notice it as much, and have found sound settings that work for me. Again, it's a deeper instrument but the Nord is better out of the box and don't need as much tweaking.
• Yamaha's upright piano samples are simply terrible compared to the Nord. There's nothing else to say there.
• I can tweak a Nord instrument with my eyes shut - it just works. I have the YC manual open a lot to figure out how to navigate the settings, and many of them are rather anti-intuitive.
• For the non-piano samples, the YC has no ability to load samples - you get what you get. Not really important to me and my playing use case. For what it's worth, the organ engine is pretty good.

I've had the YC out for about 5 rehearsals/gigs now and am still dialing it in. It will be my gig instrument for the time being as I'm just not up for lugging the NP5 around, despite it being a better sounding and more intuitive instrument.

Give me a few days and I'll post up my ever-growing review.