The Perfect Church Instrument

[Cybersaint2k]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Background is I'm a pastor now, but I've been doing music leader work in the church for 35 years. I've played lots of keyboards (Korg O1W series, Kurzwells from the 80s and 90s, Roland, Yamaha MOtif 8) and pianos (Kawai, Yamaha and an intimidating Bösendorfer) and preferred the Yamaha action overall, but the Kawai is a close second. The presence of Kawai tech in the keyboards led me to Nord as an option.

My new church is building a building and setting up sound and such falls to me since I have experience. I'm calling in experts to help with the overall PA.

For our main keyboard on stage, I've been looking at something in a mini-grand cabinet for aesthetic reasons. But Nord is, well, very attractive. And that 4-5 feet of space that a cabinet will take up might be better used elsewhere.

The church piano is a funny thing--it needs simplicity, a good keyboard, and the ability to quickly layer sounds and recall those layers with the press of a button. Too many buttons and the person sits down and feels overwhelmed. And if the touch is too heavy (I'm looking at you Yamaha CP 6xx) nothing matters because the keyboardist doesn't like it.

In your personal experience, what's the right 88 key for a church that does a blend of ancient and modern music that fits the description above? Something like the Kawai CP1 is our other option due to the nice cabinet, but is no longer in production and had too many bells and whistles. Maybe the Samick SG500 is the other option for something in current production that's not Roland (11k) and Yamaha (17k)?

[solmaster]

I assume you have already looked at what a number of churches are using? Nord Stage 3's seem to be a very poular choice these days, including a new local Baptist church. Whilst the more 'mature' players can be initially overwhelmed with the sheer number of knobs and controllers, a number of patches have been created and using Song mode, are readily playable for all, includes layered sounds. The sounds are top drawer, especially the pianos and the B3. The pipe organs are also pretty usable. The keybed is perfectly playable for most pianists, although the Nord Grand has the more 'realistic' piano bed. However, this does not have the B3 or synth like the Stage 3.
Don't be put off by the Nord interface-it really takes no time at all to get used to it! The Stage 3 is my first Nord (Years of using Yamaha, Roland and Kurzweil) and I won't be be changing back!
Anyway, just my tuppence worth......

[LewTheKeysGuy]

Please PM me as I would be better suited to advise you on this. I'm an English Church Organist and pianist, a Nord Stage and Nord Grand owner and my background covers church installations for digital pipe organs, pianos, etc. We can discuss things in much better depth.

Happy New Year.

Lew

[lawman]

Cybersaint2k,
Let me just throw this into the mix. If you're not already aware of this, there are a handful of companies that make piano shells that look like a grand or baby grand, but are made to accommodate an electric piano of your choosing. Also, how important is it to you to have the full-blown organ capability of a Stage? People that are accustomed to real-life acoustic pianos would prefer the more authentic feel of the Grand. It has great piano samples as well as some fairly good strings and brass, but almost no organs. However, you can find more (and better ) organs and other downloads in the separate "Nord Sample Collection" under "!!New Stuff!!" at the left side of the Forum's home page. It contains several hundred user-generated samples. However, if you want adjustable drawbars and other tweakable organ parameters, the Grand is not for you. Finally, have you taken a look at Yamaha's Avant Grand series? They have actual piano actions. Good luck.

[LewTheKeysGuy]

Cybersaint2k,
Let me just throw this into the mix. If you're not already aware of this, there are a handful of companies that make piano shells that look like a grand or baby grand, but are made to accommodate an electric piano of your choosing. Also, how important is it to you to have the full-blown organ capability of a Stage? People that are accustomed to real-life acoustic pianos would prefer the more authentic feel of the Grand. It has great piano samples as well as some fairly good strings and brass, but almost no organs. However, you can find more (and better ) organs and other downloads in the separate "Nord Sample Collection" under "!!New Stuff!!" at the left side of the Forum's home page. It contains several hundred user-generated samples. However, if you want adjustable drawbars and other tweakable organ parameters, the Grand is not for you. Finally, have you taken a look at Yamaha's Avant Grand series? They have actual piano actions. Good luck.

Got it in one sir, exactly that.

There is one issue. have you seen the price of piano shells? for what they are, they are expensive, an average £2000 upwards from one company in Italy, I was looking in to this for another project. There's more than one way to skin a cat lol.

have a wonderful day all.

lew