MIDI conformity between different instruments

[soundscu]

I own both a Nord Grand and a Nord Stage Compact. I have some of the same sounds in both, like the White Grand.

Recently I recorded a live performance using the Nord Grand with the White Grand sound. Both audio and MIDI were recorded in real time (using Logic Pro), along with video.

There are a couple of minor edits I want to make to the performance, which is very easy with the MIDI track. Then I will re-record by sending the edited MIDI track back to a Nord instrument.

Question 1:
Does MIDI playback deliver the same performance fidelity as live playing? Or does the live keyboard have a higher resolution than MIDI can accommodate?

Question 2:
Will I get the same rendering of the MIDI track from the Nord Stage as I would get from the Nord Grand? Should I use the Grand for MIDI playback to ensure all the other nuances of the performance remain identical, or will I get the same result using the Nord Stage Compact?

I only ask because it is much easier to take the Stage Compact to the studio for editing, since it is smaller and lighter.

Many thanks for your help!

Jim

[23skidoo]

Depending on how it was recorded, whether over USB MIDI or DIN MIDI, you'll have MIDI-itself accuracy of about +/- 1ms per note. Velocity is recorded at 127 steps resolution and will have been captured at this resolution during performance so you're going to get back what you put into it and what the unit generated the original sound from.

This is BY FAR higher resolution than *most* pianists can ever play consistently - in other words, MIDI is more consistent, pass to pass, than the vast majority of even well-trained keyboardists playing the same thing again in a studio context. That said, there are edge cases where in SOME contexts on SOME instruments with SOME keyboardists, people *claim* they can hear differences between the live playing and the MIDI (particularly in very delicate, light, quiet playing on extremely high end pianos, where there are more nuances in the acoustic instrument than there are levels for the MIDI velocity to capture). And of course there are cases where the MIDI data wasn't recorded with correct timing for various technical reasons (slow computer, poor software/drivers, other stuff on the MIDI bus transmitting data too like CCs, etc. etc. etc.).

As a result, the only way to know if YOU'RE happy with a MIDI-recorded performance is to play it back and listen carefully to it versus the live recorded audio. That said, 99.99% of the time with modern equipment and proper setup, it'll be just as good, at least to your ear if not to a precision oscilloscope, as the original.

I'm not aware of any differences in the piano engine between the stage and the Grand from a MIDI perspective, so I would assume they're both equally superb, but you may want to go check the MIDI specs in the manual to see if they have different CC mappings (this is entirely possible as the stage maps a lot of things to the other engines and the Grand may have more nuances expressed in the piano engine - but I don't have a Grand so I can't comment on that with any certainty). In short, you might want to just play it back at home and listen to the Stage to make sure it sounds like you want before committing to taking it into the studio.

[Midimaster]

As MIDI does not record any audio, but only the key-presses (and of course controllers like sustain, etc...) , there is no "quality" in MIDI. They quality is as good as the instrument you will play back the midi-track. The MIDI simulates the same actions the player made at the instrument during recording. So the playback over the same instrument is the best you can do to replicate the exact original sound (if you want that!)

But MIDI enables also recording something on a cheap instrument (f.e. master keyboard without sound) and then test the MIDI-track with different expensiv instruments or virtualinstruments on the PC. This enable us to create music at the home-office and in the end use high-end instruments in the studio

[FZiegler]

Neither MIDI nor your Nord Stage 3 'have' a triple sensor support. But hopefully, the MIDI recording already contains a useful reduction of the data coming from the Grand's keyboard that could be played on another instrument. I'd recommend to verify with moments of fast repetition of the same note(s) - that's where the middle sensor of a triple sensor keyboard is involved most.

Of course, the sound of a Grand and a Stage will be slightly different: The program settings aren't recorded inside the MIDI file. And even the built-in digital audio algorithms may vary. No idea if you'll like the result even better or not. Just try!