Electro 6D not in tune

[eksund]

Hi there!

I am frustrated. I have been the owner of an Electro 6d, couple of months now.
I have an issue with it. It is not in tune. Not much, but enough to hear.
It is worse on the treble side than the base side.
Anyone else experienced anything like this?

[ericL]

This sounds unusual, as I've never noticed any tuning issues with multiple Nords over decades. Can you share more? Is it a specific sound or all sounds? Have you testing tuning scientifically with a tuner or just hearing something a bit off? There are some samples in the library that have some tuning "discrepancies" or "idiosyncrasies" to mimic the original source instruments (e.g. Mellotron, honky tonk piano, etc.).

[cphollis]

Say more about what you're experiencing? It's a digital keyboard, so should never go out of tune. Are you digitally measuring the NE6 tuning, or comparing it to another instrument?

[eksund]

I both hear it and can measure it.

It started out when I was playing two octaves in the upper register, I hear a typical out of tune sving.

440 Hz is 439,7 Hz, but that's ok, after that you should have 879,4 (880) Hz I have 880,9 Hz, can live with that, but next octave
is way out. Should be 1758,8 (1760) Hz but it is 1772,2 Hz. off by 13Hz!

I did a much simpler check with a bunch of different instruments.
It look as it is only the piano sounds that is affected of this out of tune thing.
The Grand pianos is 12-15 cents out of tune in upper register, but worse is
some of the uprights pianos are 15-20 cent out of tune in both upper and lower register.
However, the electric pianos is within 2-4 cents out.

Was the pianos out of tune when they recorded them, or are they all created from one out of tune recording???

Something is not right here. But I am leaning towards problem with the sounds Nord provides and not the keyboard.

Only one thing to do if you want prober piano sound - get a real piano.

[maxpiano]

Do you know what "stretched tuning" (used in also in acoustic pianos tuning) is?

Stretched tuning is a detail of musical tuning, applied to wire-stringed musical instruments, older, non-digital electric pianos (such as the Fender Rhodes piano and Wurlitzer electric piano), and some sample-based synthesizers based on these instruments, to accommodate the natural inharmonicity of their vibrating elements. In stretched tuning, two notes an octave apart, whose fundamental frequencies theoretically have an exact 2:1 ratio, are tuned slightly farther apart (a stretched octave). "For a stretched tuning the octave is greater than a factor of 2; for a compressed tuning the octave is smaller than a factor of 2."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretched_tuning

I think that should answer your question.

[FZiegler]

To be very exact, an acoustic piano tuning usually is stretched; the smaller the size of the piano, the more stretching is needed to get overtones in tune with resonating strings in the upper registers. A Hammond organ doesn't have this - it has other problems with tuning. And a synth could theoretically be perfectly in mathematical tune. I have no idea if Nord harmonises the different sound engines on a Stage or would leave the different sections with different tuning. But your findings should answer the question.

If you are looking for a more 'perfect' tuning, look for a concert grand piano sound! It needs less stretching. And yes, a real piano would deliver the same result.

[eksund]

Thank you!

I did not know about this curve. Railback curve.

If you take that curve and compare it with how the piano sounds is tuned, it make sense.

The piano sound from Nord is tuned to the Railback Curve. It differs slightly between sounds.

Thank you for enlighten me on this matter.

Then, that I find it odd to tune a piano out of tune is another matter.
Have to study it it maybe find out why.

[Mr_-G-]

Have to study it it maybe find out why.

It is because of inharmonicity of the strings. It is explained in that wikipedia page.

[pterm]

Do you know what "stretched tuning" (used in also in acoustic pianos tuning) is?)

When I saw this, it occurred to me that (as I recall) the smaller sized piano samples don't necessarily map samples 1 to 1 with keys:
https://www.nordkeyboards.com/sound-lib ... nformation

According to this, only the XL is "fully mapped". --This might mean that for smaller samples, only certain keys are original samples, and the samples between are calculated. It would be interesting to know if the original poster observes this on both XL and smaller sized piano samples.

[maxpiano]

Do you know what "stretched tuning" (used in also in acoustic pianos tuning) is?)

When I saw this, it occurred to me that (as I recall) the smaller sized piano samples don't necessarily map samples 1 to 1 with keys:
https://www.nordkeyboards.com/sound-lib ... nformation

According to this, only the XL is "fully mapped". --This might mean that for smaller samples, only certain keys are original samples, and the samples between are calculated. It would be interesting to know if the original poster observes this on both XL and smaller sized piano samples.

In fact in smaller sized samples the original stretching (of the piano that was sampled) is still present on the notes/keys actually sampled (mapped), so the test would show if the Piano engine of Nord is well designed and preserves the stretching (i.e. reproduce it correctly) also when using that sample for adjacent notes/keys or not.