Nord User Forum

[Tasten-Bert]

Goodness aren't we all picky!!! LOL. And to think there are people to whom all pianos and keyboards sound the same and they cannot tell one sample apart from another

Yes, many times it is like this. I‘ve thought a bit but can‘t remember any gig where I got feedback from anyone of the audience for my piano sound!

When I play with my rockband it happens that someone says ´your organ parts sound like Jon Lord‘ or ´your solo in Davy‘s on the road again, wow, original‘. But no matter whether I play a mellow piano in an Adele’s Ballad or a rock piano - the sound doesn‘t matter at all, my impression. Only to make sure: for the audience, not for me.

Sunny regards from Germany

[Rusty Mike]

Rusty Mike it's interesting you describe the Italian as "too harsh". Because if anything, I'd think it's too "polished", too "perfect", too "even-sounding", but not harsh (maybe the language barrier raising its ugly head again). I even like it for certain specific contexts...

Hlaalu, you may very well be correct. It has been a few years since I loaded the Italian Grand. I tried it both live and in my home studio and found it unsuitable for my needs. It’s possible that the “perfect” character didn’t work for me. I play 99% traditional jazz and big band, and the Fazioli sound just doesn’t seem to fit that style.

It’s all subjective, however, and I respect other people’s opinions.

[greatbarrier86]

I find the White too (and here being non native in English does unfortunately matter...) soft-and-felty-and-woody in its attack (the "thuck/pop" that greatbarrier86 mentioned?) but then too "metallic" in its harmonics, if this makes sense. Also the sound of the dampers moving is too loud, even for me who I like to hear all the quirks of imperfection.

I think soft-and-felty-and-woody is EXACTLY what I was trying to say, come to think of it. But as far as I've heard, that's standard for a Steinways. The "White Grand" is a Steinway B, correct?
Also, can't you turn of the damper noise? I can on the Grand but it's my first Nord so i have no clue what the others can do. Or are you saying you want a LITTLE damper noise but that's just too much?

Hoping not to turn this thread in yet another "which is the best piano" , I think I'd put the Imperial Grand as my personal favourite, even with a tiny bit of EQing removed in the mid to high-hish range to "mud" it up a bit. And yes also the Royal Grand 3D I like a lot, as it is untouched. I know it's been dividing tastes but I think Nord really did an excellent job with this one. Others that I like, albeit in a different category for me, are the Silver and the Bright.

Personally I like those threads. Your favorite may not be mine, but learning WHY it's your favorite definitely helps me determine whether those factors are relevant to me, and if so, how much so.

Goodness aren't we all picky!!! LOL. And to think there are people to whom all pianos and keyboards sound the same and they cannot tell one sample apart from another

Nah. No way. These things cost the same as a (very) used car. The Stage 3 in the US is $4,699. The Kurzweil Forte is $4,999 (another reason I was irritated with the Steinway/Yamaha sounds on it). You get to be picky when you're spending that much money. That's part of the deal, IMO.

I play 99% traditional jazz and big band, and the Fazioli sound just doesn’t seem to fit that style.

I'm a rock pianist myself, so that puts Billy Joel, Elton John, and The Beatles as my favorites. The Fazioli works on some of their slower stuff, but i agree. It's a very niche sound. I think it sounds great for things like Con te partirò

[Spider]

I think one of the things people like about the Lady D is that it's not overly bright. The Nord Piano Library is made up almost exclusively of very bright pianos, especially the grands. I'd say the only soft one is the Velvet, with the Lady D and Studio Grands also on the mellow side. All the others go from bright but with nice warm overtones (Silver -my favourite-, White, Concert grands) to extremely bright, sometimes even with harsh-metallic overtones (Bright, Italian, Royal, Imperial).
There are a lot more soft, mellow and "singing" pianos in the Upright collection, in my opinion. The Grands are excellent for live work in a thick mix (electric band, rock etc), but for solo use I tend to cut the highs and bump the mid-lows, to make them a bit warmer and less aggressive.

That said, I agree that with the arrival of the White, the Lady D has become somehow redundant, they are quite similar but the White is more detailed, with more dynamics and a better stereo image. I think the Lady D still has a bit more bass and nicer overtones, the White sometimes has some weird "ringing" which I'm not sure I like. Very small differences anyway.

All of the above is of course exclusively my opinion, based on my tastes, my hearing, the bands I play in and my mixing-amplification systems. We know that all these factors influence heavily our perception of the different Nord pianos, so it's perfectly right if other opinions are completely different!

[FZiegler]

Yes I'd want only a bit less damper noise -- assuming the wooden noise I hear is indeed the sound of the wood damper machinery moving. By the way are you sure you can turn that off on the Grand? Looking at the front panel I see the same controls other Nords have. Perhaps you were thinking about string resonance? That one can be turned on or off.

Maybe you'd go for a dive into the Sound menu: piano pedal noise level and string res level. If ever this is a thing that affects more than one sound in your ears.

[greatbarrier86]

I think the OP meant string resonance, which in my ears doesn't affect the damper noise.

Actually i meant the pedal noise. At the time, i was thinking it was one and the same as damper.