Nord User Forum

Do you know which samples are used in all the pianos?
Here a list of grand pianos, with the year and the sample, do you want to complete or correct the list?

White Grand (2019): Steinway Model B
Royal Grand 3D (2016): Yamaha S6
Velvet Grand (2015): C. Bechstein 280EN
Silver Grand (2015): Shigeru Kawai SK7
Italian Grand (2012): Fazioli
Bright Grand (2011): Yamaha S4
Grand Imperial (2011): Bosendorfer
Grand Lady D : Steinway Model D
Studio Grand 1: Yamaha C7
Studio Grand 2: Yamaha C7
Concert Grand Close
Concert Grand Ambient

P.S. the Grand Lady D and the Studio Grand (that I love) have about 10 years, and the steinway model D and the Yamaha C7 are the most famous piano in the world. Wouldn't we need newer version of this 2 gran pianos?

Yeah! I use the search function, and don't find it... Great!

I just recently acquired a Yamaha CP73, and when I loaded it and tried it against the Nord C7, it was not even close. That is one old-@ss sample right there. Same for the Grand Lady D.

At this point, I think they're marketing breadth vs. depth which is appealing to some. That being said, my core go-to pianos continue to satisfy for live work and most recording work, with the software pianos working better when recording as a solo instrument.

If Nord is going to invest in new samples, I'd prefer they wait until they had some killer next-gen hardware to run it on vs. more with the same sampling tech. Yes please to higher-res, more compute-intensive modeling, more layers, spatial processing and effects.

More hardware power means more fun.

Davey Nordy wrote:I just recently acquired a Yamaha CP73, and when I loaded it and tried it against the Nord C7, it was not even close.

I've been tempted to get a CP73 or the YC73.

What are you saying? Okay, the Yamaha and Nord are not close to each other. Are you saying one is better than the other? Or just very different?

Davey Nordy wrote:That is one old-@ss sample right there. Same for the Grand Lady D.

When you say old, do you mean out-dated? Like the newer sounds in the library are superior?
I've got 9 grands loaded in my Electro 6 and I'm having trouble deciding which ones I like most.

Age-wise, those are samples (and a few others) that were created early on in the instrument's life. At the time, they were better than anything else you could get, and a lot of us bought into Nord as a result. They didn't get any worse over time, but better ones became available. Today, there are lots of choices. And, for the new Nord owner, it can take a while to figure out which ones work for you and why.

I've talked before about the piano sample rabbit hole - there is an abundance of riches on the Nord site and you can spend way too much time obsessing on which ones are the best. And on this forum, opinions are all over the place, with some long-standing users still swearing by the Studio Grand 2 or the Rain piano, where others are eager for ever newer ones and so champion the Royal Grand or Amber.

Clearly the sample sizes are growing, so we have to assume that the technology used has improved and the newer samples are thus "richer" and more detailed. I'm not a very good judge - to me the oldest ones sound a little muted or thin, and I just assume the best course is to not "trust my ears" (which can be terrible advice, especially for amateurs), and use the newest ones.

It's key to remember that sample quality is not very discernible to an audience when you are playing in a band, especially a pop outfit. That's when the brightest samples tend to be the best, like the Bright Grand.

Gambold wrote:I've talked before about the piano sample rabbit hole - there is an abundance of riches on the Nord site and you can spend way too much time obsessing on which ones are the best.

I totally agree.

Gambold wrote:Clearly the sample sizes are growing, so we have to assume that the technology used has improved and the newer samples are thus "richer" and more detailed. I'm not a very good judge - to me the oldest ones sound a little muted or thin, and I just assume the best course is to not "trust my ears" (which can be terrible advice, especially for amateurs), and use the newest ones.

The best course is to not "trust my ears". Seriously? You obviously mean well, but what's the 'perception' of the message that you're sending? In my oftentimes limited understanding something like 'don't trust my ears' equates to 'don't trust myself'.

I go through periods of testing other Grand Piano samples, but at the end of the day, I always end up preferring the White Grand (XL) for solo play. The other Grands are either a little too niche sounding or too similar to the White Grand to be worth considering for me.

However, some of the Uprights (Amber & Grand Upright) are unique sounding enough to me to also have value in addition to the White.