New Enhanced Rhodes and filters for NS3

[analogika]

i just hope that it's not the only"christmas gift" from Nord?
I was expecting a really new piano sound, compatible with all boards...

We got a whole slew of new pianos — much longer overdue —, with future compatibility with older devices still open.

I’d think that the Stage 2/Electro 5/Nord Piano 3 will be updated to use the new samples, but they won’t get the new filters.

[De fursaK NE5]

Not new, updated would be more correct...

[analogika]

Well, with Dyno „filters“ (I REALLY wasn’t expecting that!), they’re basically like all-new pianos.

[nic cue]

Yes, it's cool for NS3 owners, but for others?
And I doubt that the oldest boards (piano 1/2, electro 3/4,...) will be updated...
I know that the many availables piano sounds are already far more than satisfying! But sincerely I was hoping a tinny surprise for christmas for my NP1 like a funny piano to test, or in my craziest dreams a really new Steiway with a lot of character

[baekgaard]

Well, with Dyno „filters“ (I REALLY wasn’t expecting that!), they’re basically like all-new pianos.

Indeed.

Even without any filters, the new pianos are really much more musical to me than some of the previous ones -- at least I've re-discovered many of the ones I didn't use too much previously. And with 5 filters and 8 pianos, there are some 40 different combinations to start out with, and most of them are open to explore (and tweak further with EQ etc) and fun to play. It's not difficult to loose some hours just playing them...

So to me they are almost like all-new pianos as well, open for my exploration. Maybe there are like pre-owned goods I may buy -- which basically is new to me

[anotherscott]

Not new, updated would be more correct...

Actually, their word is "enhanced."

I don't think the main issue has been one of having Nord sample more EPs per se (is there some Rhodes or Wurli model that you really wish they had a sample of, that they don't?), I think the issue has been wanting improved versions of the models they already had, and that's what people have meant when they've been asking for "new" EPs anyway.

One odd thing I noticed is the lack of correlation of sizes. i.e. The original EP7, which they classify as Medium, is 31.1 mb. The new XL is almost the same at 32.7, and the new Medium is just 17.7. The technical distinctions between the sizes have always been kind of murky on the EPs, and this isn't helping!

[baekgaard]

I think a step further in the right direction would be better amp sims also.

Me and a friend actually borrowed one of the rhodes being sampled by Nord and "Freddan".
We then played it side by side with the Nord and both going into a sixties Fender Bassman amp. None of us could tell wich was wich in a blindtest when listening.
That says a lot about the sound..

[baekgaard]

One odd thing I noticed is the lack of correlation of sizes. i.e. The original EP7, which they classify as Medium, is 31.1 mb. The new XL is almost the same at 32.7, and the new Medium is just 17.7. The technical distinctions between the sizes have always been kind of murky on the EPs, and this isn't helping!

I'd guess that now, with the new releases, Nord have had to consider which ones should be called/labelled what, so presumably the new ones are consistently named.

The 4 "old" EP's (1 to 4) are all in Large and Small size, IIRC, whereas 3 "new" ones are in XL and Medium and the newest EP8/Nefertiti is in XL, Large and Small.

I guess it's safe to assume the XL have individually sampled keys (as claimed) and the most sampled layers.

Neither Large, Medium or Small are claimed to have individual samples. I'm not sure (haven't tested) if they have less layers.

On the Nefertiti, the Large is approximately half the size of the XL, so maybe it stretches one sample over two to three keys (depending on range) and the small is 25%, so it probably stretches each sample over 3-5 keys or thereabout.

Listening to the Large samples also seems to indicate that some are indeed stretched a few keys.

[anotherscott]

Small vs. Medium vs. Large (pianos) has meant differences in resonance implementation, that's all. It is still unclear what S/M/L mean on a Rhodes or Wurli.

XL has meant less (or no) stretching. I'm only guessing that applies to the EPs as well.

XL EPs are shown as having more velocity layers. L models are also shown as having more velocity layers, but only when no XL version is available. The distinctions are not straight-forward.

[baekgaard]

Small vs. Medium vs. Large (pianos) has meant differences in resonance implementation, that's all. It is still unclear what S/M/L mean on a Rhodes or Wurli.

Indeed -- but we have had both Medium, Large and XL versions previously, so probably Nord had some idea with the terminology, which have nothing to do with resonance, since the EP's don't have any.

XL has meant less (or no) stretching. I'm only guessing that applies to the EPs as well.

For acoustic pianos, it means NO stretching according to Nord's information page on sample sizes ("Fully mapped keyboard") for the acoustics, and it's probably a safe bet it means the same for the EPs.

XL EPs are shown as having more velocity layers. L models are also shown as having more velocity layers, but only when no XL version is available. The distinctions are not straight-forward.

Nord specifically says that the XL and L versions have more velocity layers on the announcement, although I think Freddan only mentions the XLs as having more velocity layers in the video. On the EP8 page, it says that the extra velocity layers are only for the XL version.

So from the information we have so far, I would still guess that for EP's the "rules" are a bit soft, and somthing like this:

XL: Individually sampled keys (no key stretching) and extra velocity layers (compared to previous/smaller versions)
Large: Some stretching of keys, but still increased extra velocity layers (unless there is an XL version)
Medium: Still some stretching of keys and "normal" velocity layers
Small: Increased stretching of keys and "normal" velocity layers

But as said, these are only guesses! I could measure it, but it would take ~12 h just to sample the keys (and some hours for the computer to calculate the results) -- for each version set. So it would be at least 48 h of recordings just to sample two versions of two different EP's.

I've just loaded the largest versions available, and they are really nice