Nord User Forum

It IS time for another Steinway. All the Yamahas are great, but...let's have an XL of the Lady D!

For me the Royal Grand is the best acoustic piano for solo playing, in that it does not lose its sound quality when played in mono. But I don't use it for rock and roll playing in my covers band - I agree that it does not cut through.

I guess I've been having a different experience with the Royal Grand. I didn't expect such versatility from it with the dummy head 3D recording of it (thought it would only be viable in stereo), but regardless whether I use it in mono or stereo, it's by far my favorite piano Nord has offered. I play it solo, I play it in a loud rock band. It cuts through for me just fine. The bright grand definitely cuts through a mix, but like Gambold said, it's a bit two dimensional. I feel that the Royal cuts while still sounding like a complex 3D piano. Having said that, I check this forum daily hoping for a new topic header cueing me to download a new piano. Nord has effectively trained us to always expect better (sometimes not for the better, but the adventure sure is fun).

Ok, I'm gonna have to give the Royal another tryout. I have an Electro 4 so memory is limited, and I have the XL of the Bright Grand loaded since that's my bread and butter in the band.

Since I can't fit two XL samples onto the board, it will take some time to over-write the Bright with the XL - but I feel that to be fair I have to give the Royal the "royal" treatment. Unfortunately I can't do a side-by-side compare of the two XL samples....

Gambold wrote:Ok, I'm gonna have to give the Royal another tryout. I have an Electro 4 so memory is limited, and I have the XL of the Bright Grand loaded since that's my bread and butter in the band.

Since I can't fit two XL samples onto the board, it will take some time to over-write the Bright with the XL - but I feel that to be fair I have to give the Royal the "royal" treatment. Unfortunately I can't do a side-by-side compare of the two XL samples....

Just for comparison purposes, you could use the S samples. No string resonance, but it will give you enough of an idea regarding the character. Once you've made your decision, you can load the larger size of the sample you prefer.

I agree on the Royal Grand and it is my first choice for playing alone. It has a fuller sound than the Bright Grand and feels the closest to a real piano when playing. Unfortunately, my experience is that because of that fuller sound, it does not hold up well at loud gig level volumes.

Im having a hard time making my 5d sound good through an amp...harsh harsh piano sounds. I bought a roland 550 and returned it...then i bought an OSC 12.2....same thing.
Its really unacceptable....I love the sound through my head set though

Thoughts

Hi folks, I have to agree most of the posts. I play in a cover-band and it is true, that you use only one favourite piano.
I also play a Kurzweil and the piano- and epiano-sounds are more natural in this board.
The pianosounds from my Nord5d are wonderful for studio-use, but on stage (we do blues, rock and pop) they are not strong enough and I have to modify the EQ.
I considered to change my Nord5d with a Nord5hp, but the clattering of the keys is terrible and not a good solution for organ-sounds.
The last days I learned, that I should carry two boards on stage: my Nord or my kurzweil and one of my hammonds (sk-1 or xk-1)

By the way: does anyone know a technical solution to modify the keys of a Nord5hp to avoid the clattering?
Regards Thomas

Been discussed in several threads. Here's LINK to a complete re-lubrication job I did on my Electro 3HP.

The E3 was well out of warranty when I did that work. I'm not advising anyone else to do it - proceed at your own risk.

Overall, the key noise on the HPs is only noticeable in a studio or playing at low volume. You never hear it in a band context.

I've basically fallen for and been using the Silver Grand pretty exclusively for the last year... am I alone??