Nord User Forum

I'm by no means a virtuoso or even a good jazz player. I'm 45 and revisiting my education on it all though. I understand that I went with a very expensive option, so don't take this as a best practice or anything. I bought the Kawai MP11se. I love the action. I didn't love the sound. I didn't want to return it, so I now have the Kawai MP11se on the bottom, with an S3C above it, and a Wave 2 above that. Loving it.

I have a Mason and Hamlin piano, a Kawai MP11SE, and a NS3. The MP11SE is by far the most realistic piano action you can find on a slab piano. It's not exactly like the real thing but it's very close. To step up you need to move to a hybrid piano or acoustic grand. I've played an MP7 and it's a completely different action. Personally, I think the piano sounds on the Kawai are more realistic sounding than the majority of piano sounds of NS3 but the NS3 is just so much more versatile, honestly they aren't really even in the same device class. Then again, I'd not call the MP11SE 'portable' not unless you have a crew. I know some of this isn't relevant to the NP5 or NG piano but the MP11SE is kind of a niche unit.

The kawai mp11se has arrived.. after playing 1 hour with it next to the nord grand.. i can say that the piano sound samples are crap compared to the nord grand… the keybed feels like it has some quality and its really natural wooden keys.. but i didnt like the key return.. it doesnt come back fast.. nord grand has a lot faster key response after you press it full it returns back fast… after i played 1 hour with kawai mp11se and then gone to grand the grand felt like toy very easy and fast to play …. I will give it more trys tommorow..

I also check midi them and i notice that the sound of nord pianos made the kawai keybed feel lighter..

Both velocitys at factory startup

any new thoughts on the comparison?

just one minor information regarding software (since this post is about software)

For those of you who are about to buy Native Instrument Komplete there is probably a sale coming in June 2022 due to the summer of sound event.
Last year NI offered some discount during that time (I think it was the whole month).

I can't promise anything but since June is almost here maybe for those of you who interested to buy it could be reasonable to wait until June.

pertietblues wrote:any new thoughts on the comparison?

I manage to make kawai sound awesome in a recording but still.. it took me over 1 hour to make it..

At the end i will tell you my final thoughts

by my personal opinion the samples on pianos are by far a lot better on nord. To make the kawai pianos sound real needs to spend a lot time on eq, hammer sound, pre delay on reverb, stereo pan on microphones and other options… the good part is that you can make very detailed eq on kawai with Full parameter eq.. but on nord by default the pianos sound more real and rich.. and even with the detailed eq on kawai you still cant get the same sound result like nord has by default you can just make better the default sound of kawai ( imagine we could do if nord give us the options of kawai parameters) .. the sound on some of the kawai pianos make me feel on some octaves that they are pitch sampled like they have different sound on some octaves compared to nord that its full 88 notes same sound.. sorry for my bad english i hope you understand my mean
Kawai has 2 string samples very good and 1 awesome pad which i like it a lot and i will propably sample it for my nord with sample editor .. it has also some good bass samples.. the keybed on kawai is the heaviest i ever tryed.it is wooden and feels natural when pressing but it doesnt return back fast like nord grand (probably because it is very heavy) when playing some very fast notes when you raise up the hand fast and going to press again the same note the key has not return back so it makes me lose my dynamic and power balance on my hands and that doesnt happen with nord grand propably because the keybed is lighter or because im not so experienced player.. kawai has also xlr outputs while nord doesnt and when i midi played nord samples with kawais keybed the keybed felt more lighter.. when tryed kawai samples on nord grand the result wasnt very good for me … the samples started feeling a lot more lower quality.. i dont know why this happen…

kawai is 34kg…not possible to moved from 1 person..

The nord is a lot better because default sounds are better so its more friendly for everyone even non experienced with sound people. The keybed is awesome and has the best return from all keyboards i tryed so far.. the weight is lighter than the kawai and it has also triple sensor like kawai does.. you can use any kind of samples with sample editor you can also download from nord site other nord samples also.. nord has also some awesome pads and some awesome strings.. i didnt like much the bass samples on nord.. i preffer the kawai bass samples…it is 20.9 kg and can be moved by 1 person. The quality on knobs feels a bit better.. and overall the nord grand makes me happy when playing… kawai didnt make me so much happy when playing.. even the look on nord grand is a lot better more beautiful looking.. and as a result i am going to keep the nord grand instead of kawai that i am sending back to thomann

Thank you very much for your detailed comparison M1tsos. I could imagine it took you a lot of time and effort to compare those two instruments. So again thank you very much for sharing.

One sentence from your comparison sums up my overall impression as well: '.. and overall the nord grand makes me happy when playing…'

Sure it is not perfect but very fun to play and it offers (at least for my purpose) plenty of possibilities (effects, layering, equalizer) to experiment with.
I guess the main issue of someone who is interested in Nord instrument is their price and I agree with your opinion you posted somewhere else - the Grand is a bit overpriced.

ryanhardo wrote:Thank you very much for your detailed comparison M1tsos. I could imagine it took you a lot of time and effort to compare those two instruments. So again thank you very much for sharing.

One sentence from your comparison sums up my overall impression as well: '.. and overall the nord grand makes me happy when playing…'

Sure it is not perfect but very fun to play and it offers (at least for my purpose) plenty of possibilities (effects, layering, equalizer) to experiment with.
I guess the main issue of someone who is interested in Nord instrument is their price and I agree with your opinion you posted somewhere else - the Grand is a bit overpriced.

Kawai has extremely a lot more possibilities to experiment.. but it needs knowledge to make it fit for your needs…

I just wish i could have kawai’s detailed parameters options inside my nord… or the nord piano samples inside kawai

M1tsos wrote:

pertietblues wrote:any new thoughts on the comparison?

the keybed on kawai is the heaviest i ever tryed.it is wooden and feels natural when pressing but it doesnt return back fast like nord grand (probably because it is very heavy) when playing some very fast notes when you raise up the hand fast and going to press again the same note the key has not return back so it makes me lose my dynamic and power balance on my hands and that doesnt happen with nord grand propably because the keybed is lighter or because im not so experienced player..

The Kawai has a full length, wooden, triple sensor key with an escapement. You don't need to wait until the key returns fully back to hit it again. To the contrary, if you lightly and slowly press a key down you will feel a very subtitle click about 1/8 or 1/4 inch (3-4 mm) above bottom, that's the point on a grand piano that you can repeat a note, and that's the point on the MP11SE keys where a note can be repeated. Other triple sensor KBs allow you to re-strike a key before it returns but very few have that feel. The other advantage of the MP11 over every other slab is the extended keys which allow you to play close to the fall board with close to the same feel and sensitivity of down the key.

Swampfox wrote:

M1tsos wrote:

pertietblues wrote:any new thoughts on the comparison?

the keybed on kawai is the heaviest i ever tryed.it is wooden and feels natural when pressing but it doesnt return back fast like nord grand (probably because it is very heavy) when playing some very fast notes when you raise up the hand fast and going to press again the same note the key has not return back so it makes me lose my dynamic and power balance on my hands and that doesnt happen with nord grand propably because the keybed is lighter or because im not so experienced player..

The Kawai has a full length, wooden, triple sensor key with an escapement. You don't need to wait until the key returns fully back to hit it again. To the contrary, if you lightly and slowly press a key down you will feel a very subtitle click about 1/8 or 1/4 inch (3-4 mm) above bottom, that's the point on a grand piano that you can repeat a note, and that's the point on the MP11SE keys where a note can be repeated. Other triple sensor KBs allow you to re-strike a key before it returns but very few have that feel. The other advantage of the MP11 over every other slab is the extended keys which allow you to play close to the fall board with close to the same feel and sensitivity of down the key.

Thanks for letting me know that… so that means i need to learn play better… and nord grand suits better for people at my level??