The 11 Grand Pianos of Nord

[PianoManChuck]

Nord currently has 11 Grand Pianos (ie: Bosendorfer, Fazioli, Kawai, Steinway, Yamaha, etc).

This video demonstrates them all in 25-second intervals:

[AllanH]

Thanks Chuck from "Down Under"... love your work! Reckon you had a lot of fun doing this.
Before I purchased a Piano3, and 6 months later an Electro6, I visited many of your reviews/clips as well as researched this beaut forum. This gave me a lot of confidence in my choice of instruments and I'm certainly not disappointed
Personally my favourite is the Shigeru Kawai.
cheers, Allan.

[SteveNordP3]

Thanks Chuck. How specifically were these recorded in terms of signal path and DAW; e.g., flat EQ both at the Nord and DAW? Pre-amps (if so, what brand/settings)? Etc.

Thanks!

[PianoManChuck]

Thanks Chuck from "Down Under"... love your work! Reckon you had a lot of fun doing this.
Before I purchased a Piano3, and 6 months later an Electro6, I visited many of your reviews/clips as well as researched this beaut forum. This gave me a lot of confidence in my choice of instruments and I'm certainly not disappointed
Personally my favourite is the Shigeru Kawai.
cheers, Allan.

Thanks for the feedback Allan, much appreciated! BTW: The 'meaning' of Shigeru is luxuriant, excellence, and its also sometimes used as a proper name in Japanese culture.

[PianoManChuck]

Thanks Chuck. How specifically were these recorded in terms of signal path and DAW; e.g., flat EQ both at the Nord and DAW? Pre-amps (if so, what brand/settings)? Etc.

Thanks!

The performance was captured in MIDI format using a DAW. From there, the following process was repeated 11 times:
- Load the specific piano sample into the NP4 (the largest available, which was either XL or LRG).
- The MIDI performance was sent to the MIDI IN of the NP4 so that it could be 'played back' using the chosen sample.
- While the sample was being 'played back', it was captured onto its own stereo AUDIO track in the DAW using the L+R line outputs.
NOTE: Only a slight reverb (Stage, setting 3.4) was used on each.

Once the above was completed, it was a tedious editing job in a video editor dividing the video into 25-second samples, and muting out the 10 samples that weren't used in each 25-second segment.
I ended up with: 2 video tracks, 12 audio tracks (11 stereo audio tracks for the pianos + 1 Microphone track for the vocal), 3 text tracks (title, captions, scrolling, etc).

While the video looks simple enough, and while it all makes sense to those who understand what I wrote above, it was still a long drawn-out process that took several days to complete. But the final video came out as well as (if not better than) I expected!

Cheers!

[SteveNordP3]

Thanks Chuck. How specifically were these recorded in terms of signal path and DAW; e.g., flat EQ both at the Nord and DAW? Pre-amps (if so, what brand/settings)? Etc.

Thanks!

The performance was captured in MIDI format using a DAW. From there, the following process was repeated 11 times:
- Load the specific piano sample into the NP4 (the largest available, which was either XL or LRG).
- The MIDI performance was sent to the MIDI IN of the NP4 so that it could be 'played back' using the chosen sample.
- While the sample was being 'played back', it was captured onto its own stereo AUDIO track in the DAW using the L+R line outputs.
NOTE: Only a slight reverb (Stage, setting 3.4) was used on each.

Once the above was completed, it was a tedious editing job in a video editor dividing the video into 25-second samples, and muting out the 10 samples that weren't used in each 25-second segment.
I ended up with: 2 video tracks, 12 audio tracks (11 stereo audio tracks for the pianos + 1 Microphone track for the vocal), 3 text tracks (title, captions, scrolling, etc).

While the video looks simple enough, and while it all makes sense to those who understand what I wrote above, it was still a long drawn-out process that took several days to complete. But the final video came out as well as (if not better than) I expected!

Cheers!

Agree - it looks simple but was quite a process. Thanks for doing it.

So - other than some slight reverb from the NP4, the audio is not EQ’d in any way and just goes straight from the NP4 L/R outs to your DAW L/R ins - no pre-amps, no other signal processing?

[PianoManChuck]

Agree - it looks simple but was quite a process. Thanks for doing it.

So - other than some slight reverb from the NP4, the audio is not EQ’d in any way and just goes straight from the NP4 L/R outs to your DAW L/R ins - no pre-amps, no other signal processing?

That's correct. With the exception of the slight reverb, no other effects or EQ was used - the signal was unaltered from the NP4 to the resultant recorded tracks

[Spider]

Great job Chuck, nice playing and really useful!
My personal favourites are the Silver for a bright sound and the Velvet for a soft one, but it's surprising to hear how good some of the oldies sound even in the direct comparison!
On the other hand, the more I hear the Italian grand the less I like it (unfortunately, as I AM Italian!), it sounds totally lifeless to me.
Thanks again!

[PianoManChuck]

Great job Chuck, nice playing and really useful!
My personal favourites are the Silver for a bright sound and the Velvet for a soft one, but it's surprising to hear how good some of the oldies sound even in the direct comparison!
On the other hand, the more I hear the Italian grand the less I like it (unfortunately, as I AM Italian!), it sounds totally lifeless to me.
Thanks again!

Thanks! Funny that you mentioned that you like the Italian (Fazioli) less. It used to be one of my favorites, but since they added newer grands, the Italian doesn't sound so great anymore. I think I like the Royal Grand 3D the best (or at least one of the best) at this point.

[Quai34]

Thanks Chuck. How specifically were these recorded in terms of signal path and DAW; e.g., flat EQ both at the Nord and DAW? Pre-amps (if so, what brand/settings)? Etc.

Thanks!

The performance was captured in MIDI format using a DAW. From there, the following process was repeated 11 times:
- Load the specific piano sample into the NP4 (the largest available, which was either XL or LRG).
- The MIDI performance was sent to the MIDI IN of the NP4 so that it could be 'played back' using the chosen sample.
- While the sample was being 'played back', it was captured onto its own stereo AUDIO track in the DAW using the L+R line outputs.
NOTE: Only a slight reverb (Stage, setting 3.4) was used on each.

Once the above was completed, it was a tedious editing job in a video editor dividing the video into 25-second samples, and muting out the 10 samples that weren't used in each 25-second segment.
I ended up with: 2 video tracks, 12 audio tracks (11 stereo audio tracks for the pianos + 1 Microphone track for the vocal), 3 text tracks (title, captions, scrolling, etc).

While the video looks simple enough, and while it all makes sense to those who understand what I wrote above, it was still a long drawn-out process that took several days to complete. But the final video came out as well as (if not better than) I expected!

Cheers!

Agree - it looks simple but was quite a process. Thanks for doing it.

So - other than some slight reverb from the NP4, the audio is not EQ’d in any way and just goes straight from the NP4 L/R outs to your DAW L/R ins - no pre-amps, no other signal processing?

Thanks Chuck for all this great work and yes, I know that the video part is always the toughest one...For me, it still the Bosie in XL, well, I don't have that much room in the Stage 2 so, I had to do a tough choice....
Bravo!!! For doing this agin.
Sincerely