Nord Grand or Piano 5 or keep waiting - Advice needed

[Tasten-Bert]

Hi Chris

and a very warm welcome to this wonderful forum with lots of nord enthusiasts. You‘ll discover it as a helpful place for almost all questions.

Yours is not an easy one. What clothes shall I wear today? Hmm, may depend on the weather, my budget and on what I‘m planning to do. If I was in your shoes and would play at home only I’d keep the electro and would add a nord grand. If live situations are also part of your music I‘d probably keep the Yamaha and would add a lightweight electro 5 or 6 with the semiweighted keybed. In both scenes you could link the keyboards via MIDI which means you could play one keyboard‘s sounds also from the other‘s keybed.

Cheers and good luck making up your thoughts

[anotherscott]

Ive been waiting for a Nord Grand since January and now Im told they wont be available until 'at least' June. So, I wouldnt be at all surprised if something is in development.

It could be just an inability to get the actions from Kawai. The Nord Grand uses an action similar to what's in their MP7SE and ES920. If you look up the ES920 on Sweetwater, it says, "Kawai has temporarily suspended production on this piano until July 2022. Sweetwater expects this piano to be available some time in late Q3 2022." And about the MP7SE, it says, "This item requires extra delivery time from Kawai."

[MalcolmH]

Ive been waiting for a Nord Grand since January and now Im told they wont be available until 'at least' June. So, I wouldnt be at all surprised if something is in development.

It could be just an inability to get the actions from Kawai. The Nord Grand uses an action similar to what's in their MP7SE and ES920. If you look up the ES920 on Sweetwater, it says, "Kawai has temporarily suspended production on this piano until July 2022. Sweetwater expects this piano to be available some time in late Q3 2022." And about the MP7SE, it says, "This item requires extra delivery time from Kawai."

Thanks @anotherscott

I did consider the MP7SE but I went for something available locally as I wanted to pay cash and went for an MP11SE. Im loving the sounds and especially the keybed. The menu system is hopeless and convoluted and not a patch on Nord but this will keep me happy fro many months. We'll see what the situation is this time next year!. btw Im never going to gig as a pianist so the weight is no problem.

And lo and behold it looks like DV247 now have Nord Grands in stock at a reasonable price. Never mind.

[ryanhardo]

Hi there,
...
Thanks!

Hey chrisk14,
your questions are a bit difficult to answer. I think you have to clarify for yourself
Whats your budget?
Whats your use case? (gigging or playing at home, which sounds / songs you want to play?)

It seems the keybed and action is your biggest concern so maybe you have to visit a local music store.

My MODX8 should have the same type of keybed/action (Yamaha GHS) as your P-125 and I completely get your point. The keybed is so unsatisfying to play. I bought the Nord Grand online without checking in a store (but I read endless reviews, comments and watched every youtube video/review). At first I thought the Nord Grand keybed and action is poor because I was used to the GHS. After an hour or two I fell for the Grand. Sound wise, design, keybed and action convinced me. But thats a very individual decision to make.

The NP5 offers dual piano layering which is nice to have but in my case not really necessary. I think the only need for that is when you want to play piano with rhodes or some dx sounds. But thats very depending on the songs you want to play. My usecase is playing at home and the need for an authentic piano sound. If I really need a DX Sound or anything else I can control my MODX8 via Midi. Also for playing organ sounds I use my Motif XS7 because it has the FSX action. But right now I play only jazz, blues or classic songs so I have no need for synth sounds etc.

I think replacing your Nord Electro with a Nord Piano 5 could fail. NP5 has NO organ sounds (ok church organs but no hammond sounds etc.) E-Piano sounds are from good to ok but I think there are better competitors on the market. The Piano 5 or Grand is really just what it is claims to be - an instrument to play mainly piano sounds.

[M1tsos]

Hi there,
...
Thanks!

Hey chrisk14,
your questions are a bit difficult to answer. I think you have to clarify for yourself
Whats your budget?
Whats your use case? (gigging or playing at home, which sounds / songs you want to play?)

It seems the keybed and action is your biggest concern so maybe you have to visit a local music store.

My MODX8 should have the same type of keybed/action (Yamaha GHS) as your P-125 and I completely get your point. The keybed is so unsatisfying to play. I bought the Nord Grand online without checking in a store (but I read endless reviews, comments and watched every youtube video/review). At first I thought the Nord Grand keybed and action is poor because I was used to the GHS. After an hour or two I fell for the Grand. Sound wise, design, keybed and action convinced me. But thats a very individual decision to make.

The NP5 offers dual piano layering which is nice to have but in my case not really necessary. I think the only need for that is when you want to play piano with rhodes or some dx sounds. But thats very depending on the songs you want to play. My usecase is playing at home and the need for an authentic piano sound. If I really need a DX Sound or anything else I can control my MODX8 via Midi. Also for playing organ sounds I use my Motif XS7 because it has the FSX action. But right now I play only jazz, blues or classic songs so I have no need for synth sounds etc.

I think replacing your Nord Electro with a Nord Piano 5 could fail. NP5 has NO organ sounds (ok church organs but no hammond sounds etc.) E-Piano sounds are from good to ok but I think there are better competitors on the market. The Piano 5 or Grand is really just what it is claims to be - an instrument to play mainly piano sounds.

Hey bro.. i ordered for test a b stock kawai mp11se.. since you said you played a lot with it. What do you think about the keybed action?? Is it a lot better than nord grand??

[ryanhardo]

Hey M1tsos,
I think you referring to @MalcolmH comment.

I've never played the Kawai MP11SE/MP7SE

[anotherscott]

Nord Grand action is most similar to Kawai's MP7SE action. Lots of people (including Kawai) say the MP11SE action is better than the MP7SE, therefore presumably also better than the Nord Grand action. But these things are always subjective, I'm sure you can find some people who prefer the MP7SE and Nord Grand actions over that of the MP11SE. The only way to be sure what you'll like best is to try them yourself. Which action someone else likes best doesn't really matter, you're the one that will be playing it. It's kind of like asking what the best flavor of ice cream is. Of course the right answer is chocolate, but there's always some nut who will prefer strawberry.

[ryanhardo]

[quote="anotherscott"It's kind of like asking what the best flavor of ice cream is. Of course the right answer is chocolate, but there's always some nut who will prefer strawberry. [/quote]

Agree to disagree
First of all 'the' right answer is always 42! Nevertheless any question!

btt:
IMHO the Grand keybed is fine. Overall I'm very happy with my decision buying the Nord Grand.
Maybe the Kawai keybed is better in comparison but I stopped thinking about that topic. In that type of instrument we are talking about is no general right or wrong answer. So as @anotherscott said it is a very individual decision to make besides budget.

I recently discovered a library called "Ultimate Stage Pianos HD" for Kontakt which contains Nord sounds. But you have to find 'a way' to download it since it isn't offered anymore. Don't know why Nord sold that in first place but it seems they realized soon after release that was a very bad idea and removed the product again.

So now since 'magically' the library appeared on my hard drive I am now able to layer may Nord Grand with original other Nord sounds which makes my grand some kind of hybrid (or bastard ) 'Nord Grand Piano 4.5 something'. In addition I downloaded an iPad app called 'ctrl for iPad' (https://apps.apple.com/de/app/ctrl-for- ... 1247514528). This way I can easily control the Kontakt macOS app via iPad using the touch input and sending midi signals to Kontakt. But the app is a bit buggy so maybe there is a better app to find/use.

[anotherscott]

So as @anotherscott said it is a very individual decision to make besides budget.

and a big different in travel weight for the MP11SE as well, and so many people are interested in Nord for being lighter weight boards.

I recently discovered a library called "Ultimate Stage Pianos HD" for Kontakt which contains Nord sounds. But you have to find 'a way' to download it since it isn't offered anymore. Don't know why Nord sold that in first place but it seems they realized soon after release that was a very bad idea and removed the product again.

I'd be surprised if Nord ever offered/authorized such a thing. Maybe someone else did it without permission, and that's why it's gone.

For computer-based pianos that are most like Nord's library, you may want to look at Sampletekk.

[ryanhardo]

@anotherscott
Maybe you're are right and it wasn't ever officially from Nord. I just assumed it was because the UI looks very Nord like but that doesn't necessary mean it is an official Nord release.

Thank you for the info to Sampletekk but I normally I don't use virtual instruments. I just was curious about the Nord library for Kontakt so I gave it a try. It is ok but normally I just use my Grand standalone (or in combination with MODX8 / Motif XS7)
I also looked up some midi hardware because I really don't like the idea of controlling sounds via computer (mouse/trackpad and keyboard) - the usability for me is at max mediocre therefore I prefer a 'real' instrument with all the buttons, knobs etc.
But thats just my opinion.
Also the midi controller I found are either way too expensive or very limited so my iPad solution works fine but I neither like the touch experience as well (because of the missing tactile feedback). It feels more like a workaround. So out of curiosity I started looking for buttons, knobs, displays which can be connected with my raspberry pi. So maybe someday if I have too much spare time I'm going to build my own midi controller.