Nord User Forum

Help! I'm new to the Nord Electro 5 family. I play in a classic rock band. I primarily play piano and organ. Having a hard time finding a piano sound that cuts through. Eg-for the piano intro to Fleetwood Mac Don't Stop I can't find a sound I'm impressed with. I've played with the eq and reverb. What I'd really like to do is layer 2 pianos to get the sound richer and fuller. Sadly that's not in the Nord capabilities. Have I just not found the right piano sound? Any suggestions?

You *can* layer piano sounds on the E5, up to a point.

There are several simple sampled pianos in the sample library (not the same as the primary piano samples), just layer them up. Try the DX7II sample with Silver Grand, for example. A bit of slow, deep chorus will give you the detuning effect you're looking for. The rest is EQ, compression, reverb etc. Layering in plucked sounds (for example, the newer acoustic guitar samples) gives you a bit more presences as well.

The same trick works well to thicken organ sounds, e.g. layer in a bit of Cathedral Organ with your B3 to get that majestic sound.

Thank you cphollis! I was frustrated not being able to layer the pianos but didn’t think about the samples. Thanks! I’ve also since played with my eq and reverb and I’m happier with the sound. On another note- there’s so many organ choices. I’m playing Gimme Some a Lovin, I’m a Believer, etc. Do you have a favourite b3 sound? Also because There’s no rotary wheel would I achieve the roll-off with an expression pedal?

How many different Piano samples (npno) have you tried? just the factory ones or also from nordkeyboards.com?

If you have time and really want to find the perfect piano, delete all factory pianos and load in as many Small or Medium size piano samples as possible from the Nord website - could be helpful I guess


I find that the Silver Grand is perfect for Rock (and RockNRoll)

cgids1 wrote: Eg-for the piano intro to Fleetwood Mac Don't Stop I can't find a sound I'm impressed with.

Hi, Christine McVie originally played this on a Yamahe C-7 as far as I know and I think the StudioGrand samples are from a C-7 as well. Try StudioGrand 2 and tweak the sound with the EQ (especially treble increase may help) to see if you get close to the original sound.

The way I match sounds to songs is pretty simple, but productive. I play a recording of the song through my amplification, and then I fiddle around with the Nord until I find something that pairs well with it. What I eventually come up with rarely matches the original keys sound, but ends up sounding pretty good. Try it, you'll see.

I agree with cphollis. Especially when playing with a band you should find the sound that fits well with all the other instruments in the band and the overall amplification. The original recordings are good as a reference, as a starting point. Then you have to mess around a little bit especially with eq and effects to make it sound right.

Agree with both Alex and cphollis, this is how I do it was well - except of that I listen to live recordings instead of studio recordings whenever possible. The resaon is because in studio recordings you have very often additional effects and optimization done which is not available when playing live on stage, and since we are using instruments intended to be used live on stage we may have difficulties to exactly replicate the studio sounds

cgids1, which acoustic piano sounds have you tried so far, and are you using one amplifier/speaker or using two?

Schorsch wrote:Agree with both Alex and cphollis, this is how I do it was well - except of that I listen to live recordings instead of studio recordings whenever possible. The resaon is because in studio recordings you have very often additional effects and optimization done which is not available when playing live on stage, and since we are using instruments intended to be used live on stage we may have difficulties to exactly replicate the studio sounds

True, and a lot of overdubs in studio as well. You can achieve that in a level by layering sounds (something not possible in the past) but not efficiently most times. I also do check the live versions and have found that they are much simpler regarding the sound palette but richer in musical content. That is the magic of music after all!