kirsty wrote:I love threads like these. They can open so many cans of worms but actually address nothing.
Many forums have in the past slated the Nord Piano and Stage lineup for being a top priced stage board but furnished with an 'inferior' FATAR action which according to some individuals was unsatisfactory and un authentic compared to a real acoustic grand. I bet half of these keyboard warriors have never actually played a real grand.
The new Nord Grand with its fancy Kawai action which many praise was presumably offered to address this criticism, however personally I really didnt like the feel of it at all, I couldn't connect with it.
The HP actions many complain about, I love playing on these, they feel weighted still, but light and responsive and my fingers fly without issues.
I have a NP 5 now which does feel more authentic with key weight than the HP and have no problem moving between this and my Yamaha C6 grand in the living room.
Don't get me started on acoustic grands as they also have massive variance in how they feel to play. Three Yamaha C3's which were next to each other in my local dealer played and felt totally different to each other. In a shop of 50 pianos you get a flavour of all sorts of actions from very heavy which felt like hard effort to very light like a butterfly action, so light you got little feedback.
When you do this it does make you wonder, What is this 'authentic piano' feel that stage board players seek when so many pianos feel completely different. Which piano exactly am I trying to get a keyboard to feel like?
IMO the answer to your questions is Its all down to YOUR opinion of what you like and what you feel connects that action to the way you play, and the sound you expect that input to produce. Noone else can tell you the answer to that.
Great post and I agree. The conversation about authenticity in Stage Piano actions is a bit ridiculous as they don’t feel anything like acoustic grand pianos. What they do allow is for the player to express themselves. And this is the highly subjective part. It’s very much an individual musician perspective.
Mobile
Donate