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Re: Nord Piano 4 introduced

Postby cphollis » 02 Dec 2018, 00:44

The CP4 (and the Kawai MP11E) are widely discussed as "about as good as it gets" as far as AP action on a somewhat portable slab. Well, having played both, I'm putting the NP4 in the same league. After that, it all gets down to personal preferences and other factors. Bottom line: I think Nord did a great job on the action, even using an OEM Fatar keybed.

The response curve I'm guessing is closest to number 4, although not as pronounced. To get a "better" response curve, we're probably talking soft pianos that you can customize.
I think I have gear issues ....

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Re: Nord Piano 4 introduced


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Re: Nord Piano 4 introduced

Postby mixaudio » 02 Dec 2018, 01:26

cphollis wrote:The CP4 (and the Kawai MP11E) are widely discussed as "about as good as it gets" as far as AP action on a somewhat portable slab. Well, having played both, I'm putting the NP4 in the same league.

This is very encouraging. I'm hoping to find a NP4 unit to test. Not easy in San Antonio but maybe a store in Austin might carry one of these. Thanks for your comments!
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Re: Nord Piano 4 introduced

Postby lvercaut » 02 Dec 2018, 07:22

Congrats on the new purchase cphollis.
I also like the NP4 keys very much while it's a more simple mechanism and lightweigt compared to MP11SE. ( I do love MP11SE keybed first.)
Also the easy way to save your edits on the fly is just fantastic.Push,push and done.Great piano !
Last edited by lvercaut on 02 Dec 2018, 07:27, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Nord Piano 4 introduced

Postby baekgaard » 02 Dec 2018, 20:16

cphollis wrote:I like the weight and the feel, and I can be much more expressive between ppp-fff. ... But, for me, the action is definitely a winner.
...
So far, a great purchase that I'm happy about.


Great to hear that I'm not the only one that find the NP4 to be a very nice instrument, with a nicely tuned action/response :-)
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Re: Nord Piano 4 introduced

Postby SteveNordP3 » 02 Dec 2018, 21:14

A question for those of you loving the NP4 keyboard - have you played the NP3 and are you comparing with that? It’s better than NP3??
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Re: Nord Piano 4 introduced

Postby cphollis » 03 Dec 2018, 02:48

Hmm NP3 vs NP4 -- a partial opinion?

I've played a NP2 for many years, both natively and most recently as a MIDI input to my NS3C. I have only had a brief experience with the NP3, but it wasn't convincing enough at the time to trigger an upgrade at the time. Sure, it was a better action than the NP2, but not that much better that I cared so much.

The "virtual triple action" marketing stuff just blows past me. Eh. Like many here, we all know what a great AP feels like under our hands. If it feels good, I'm in.

My non-authoritative impressions? The action on the NP4 is better than the NP3. You notice it right away. That, and some nice feature upgrades (memory, filter sections, etc.). But for me it was about the improved action. I don't have to make excuses for it anymore.

The NP4 action is now good enough that I'm able to more easily do my full AP thing. All the drama and show-off stuff, no problem. The sounds are the same (as you would expect), just much more fun to control, and thus sound better. I get lost in the feel and the sound. Not too bad for a portable slab piano.

Just to remind, my home AP is a Bosie 200. No slouch. So my comparison standard is understandably a bit jaded.

I spent another 3 hours with mine today (day 2!!) and it was still quite awesome. Playing through a pair of RCF TT08-a, so pretty darn good setup. A blissful experience for me.

Conversely, in a loud electric band, you'd never notice the difference -- but playing AP-centric music at moderate volume, it's killer diller.

I'll be keeping this one for a good long time. There may be better AP slab actions out there, but the differences are now close enough that the rest of the Nord inherent advantages give the NP4 the nod for the win.
Last edited by cphollis on 03 Dec 2018, 02:52, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Nord Piano 4 introduced

Postby jdwosh » 03 Dec 2018, 04:00

Are the actual specs on the keybed of the NP4 any different than the NP3? I suffered with one of the original NP3s for almost 2 years- sent back for repairs three times including two attempts at installing thicker felt to dampen the loud clacking key noises. I never liked or could get used to the feel of the keybed on the NP3 even if the loud noises were overlooked. BTW, the thicker felt never really solved the loud clacking noise.Finally, completely frustrated with the NP3, I sent it back to the retailer and got a refund. Replaced it with the “aging” Yamaha CP4 and couldn’t be happier with the keybed feel and also the piano sounds.
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Re: Nord Piano 4 introduced

Postby NHL99 » 09 Dec 2018, 11:08

Nord haven't elaborated anything about a change in the keybed between NP4 and NP3. Could be a placebo thing.
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Re: Nord Piano 4 introduced

Postby baekgaard » 09 Dec 2018, 15:22

NHL99 wrote:Nord haven't elaborated anything about a change in the keybed between NP4 and NP3. Could be a placebo thing.


The playing experience is not just a question of the physical keybed feel (which may or may not be different between the NP3 and NP4).

The total experience is also very much in how the velocity is translated to sound (amplitude, sample seletion), any perceived latency, the D/A converters, etc. If you follow the discussion on the Nord Stage 3, where there have been some minor adjustments lately, it was immediately noticed by many, and there are discussions on whether we individually prefer the feel of version 1.4x, 1.50, 1.52 or later :-) That cannot be a placebo effect even if the physical keybeds didn't change.

I am not that qualified to say anything about NP3 and NP4 differences, but the NP4 is surely a nice instrument -- but compared to the NS3 HA88, it has a VERY different feel.
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Re: Nord Piano 4 introduced

Postby NHL99 » 09 Dec 2018, 19:40

We have the NP3 with a serial no above 13000. No problems whatsoever with the keys. Velocity curve should be part of the sample file. A SCIENTIFIC test should be a double-blind test, if the NP4 and NP3 keybed is to be compared. Of course, it's always of some interest to read comparisons anyway.
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