Nord User Forum

When playing the F#5 on a certain velocity range (somewhere in the upper levels, maybe around 70-100 velocity) on the Nefertiti MKI, the sample has a significant loud "pop" in the lower frequencies integrated in the sample. It's audible very clear with headphones and there's no doubt that this is a mistake. I am playing on the latest version 5.5 with a Nord Stage 2 EX Compact OS 2.26.

When in doubt, it’s not a “mistake” - it’s an instrument.

It was a sad day when they corrected the slightly detuned C#; let’s not get them to kill the instrument’s idiosyncrasies entirely, hm?

We have Yamaha for boring pastiches of instrument cliches.

analogika wrote:When in doubt, it’s not a “mistake” - it’s an instrument.

It was a sad day when they corrected the slightly detuned C#; let’s not get them to kill the instrument’s idiosyncrasies entirely, hm?

We have Yamaha for boring pastiches of instrument cliches.

Did you listen to it before you made this comment?

ibljula wrote:

analogika wrote:When in doubt, it’s not a “mistake” - it’s an instrument.

It was a sad day when they corrected the slightly detuned C#; let’s not get them to kill the instrument’s idiosyncrasies entirely, hm?

We have Yamaha for boring pastiches of instrument cliches.

Did you listen to it before you made this comment?

Yes. And the D# just below it is slightly mis-adjusted, as well, being just a tad too loud. And the C# just next to it is slightly distorted.

This is an amp'd actual Rhodes, and a single particular instrument that has a legendary reputation. It sounds the way it sounds. It is Nord's attempt to faithfully reproduce the particular instrument people love with all its quirks and liveliness, not a programmed functional audio cliché a la "Rhodes sound", the way my Motif XS always seems.

If my money were on it, I'd bet that the F# needs a new hammer tip, btw.

(I'll take a great Rhodes over a perfect one, any day.)

This is only about a significant loud low freq pop sound in a certain velocity range on the F#5. Nothing to do with tuning, "perfect" rhodes, "great" rhodes, taste, Motif or anything similar to that. I really don't want a flat Motif rhodes (or a Motif at all for that matter) and I think the Nefertiti sounds amazing (best Nord rhodes so far), but this low freq pop was so clearly audible that I wanted to see if others had noticed the same. I'm not asking Nord to change anything - it was just a nerdy observation.

I *think* I'm hearing what you're talking about. And I'm pretty sure that it's a busted hammer tip that's giving the note that deep "bok" attack. However, it's only one of many little imperfections that make that Rhodes particular.

I don't hear it here, but maybe I don't listen for the right thing? There is some hammer noise, but I don't perceive it much differently from the neighboring tones (F and G).

However, I'm on version 5.3 (Large-- the one with the detuned sample), so it may not be entirely the same as you have installed? That's what came installed with the Nord Stage 3 when they shipped originally. The 5.5 version was released a year ago, so I'm not sure why they still ship with the older sample set.

In any case, the C#5 is funky, and the F3 and F#3 are even funkier and somewhat out of tune, depending on how it's played.

Maybe you should try installing the 5.3 version instead, to see if the F#5 weirdness would disappear then?

I don't know. I've never played a perfect Rhodes piano. I rather like the character of the sample.

Yeah, the EP8/Nefertiti sample is quite character-like. And it's in much much better shape than my old Rhodes was in, in any case