New Piano sound: Soft Grand

[ThePianist]

Soft Grand Nord Piano Sound. Watch this to make an informative decision about latest Nord Piano Sample, if you run out of storage on your Nord Keyboard. If you found the video informative, please like and follow the channel for more relevant content.


ThePianist

[baekgaard]

https://www.nordkeyboards.com/sound-lib ... soft-grand

Soft Grand Nord Piano Sound. Watch this to make an informative decision about latest Nord Piano Sample, if you run out of storage on your Nord Keyboard. If you found the video informative, please like and follow the channel for more relevant content.


ThePianist

Why are you posting the same content several times and in multiple places?


//Berretje - fixed the double posts

[ElectroStrat]

Hi folks,

I just downloaded the Soft Grand L version to my NS4 88. The top two keys do not work (no sound), at least in my setup.

Thanks

Eumel

The medium version also lacks the two highest notes.
It's somewhat logical as Large and Medium versions have the same samples but differ only on the string resonance regions respectively covered.

It's a pity that some of the latest piano sounds have flaws e.g missing soft release (Grand Imperial 6.1 ...).

[Gambold]

Hey guys, I was on vacay, and I come back and lookee here! A new Grand sample! All my complaining can come to an end! Nord has provided a Christmas gift!

Well...sort of.

It's pretty telling that a lot of other posters here, people who are a lot more measured than I am, are disappointed in this latest offering. And indeed, the issue is becoming kind of a big one - WHAT THE HECK WITH ALL THESE CHEESECLOTH PIANO SAMPLES?

I mean, who does Clavia think is using their keyboards? As far as I can tell, most Nords are used by pop/rock bands or prog/modern jazz artists. Do ANY of these people want yet ANOTHER muted, muffled, throw a blanket over it piano? Was the Felt Upright that much of a hit? Or were we all hoping for an updated, more complex sample of one of their classics?

What is especially disappointing is that the wait time for a new Grand sample tends to run close to three years. So this is it, until 2026. No updated Lady D, or Imperial, or Fazioli. Certainly no Bechstein (sorry Freddy!). And it's pretty apparent that Clavia is now fully committed to the Yamaha experience. Hey, they are great pianos, but Yamaha clones and samples are all over the market. What made Nord special is once upon a time you could get a sample of a Petrof or a Kawai.

At this point I might as well stop moaning about it. It's pretty clear to me that Nord is going through a fallow period - ownership is aging out, product releases are on autopilot, and there is no sense of any new or exciting direction, much less dynamic leadership. Even the fabled quality control has slipped - the release the L version with missing keys. I mean come on, Clavia.

A Soft Grand. After four years of waiting, and after the teasing promise of the White. Oh well, back to the Bright I go...

[Rusty Mike]

On another forum, someone had mentioned that these soft pianos have a significant place in worship music. Nord has obviously made a strong push to the gospel/worship market, so maybe that was the motivation.

Gambold, I would not go so far as to saying the wheels are falling off the bus, but their market shift is apparent. Possibly they feel the pop/rock market is covered so they’re focusing their energy into their lucrative target buyer base. It’s worked for Hammond for years; I’m pretty confident they make most of their money from the churches and giggling musicians are an added bonus.

Like I said earlier, nice effort on Nord’s part to put this out, but it’s not for me. I too would like to see a new robust Steinway D and not another soft piano or something that came out my grandmother’s parlor.

Happy Holidays to all to who recognize such things.

[analogika]

It’s worth noting that this “worship” market is virtually nonexistent outside the United States.

[LeftyBass68]

IMG_20211211_195627049.jpg (2.7 MiB) Viewed 4303 times

IMG_20211211_211831535 (1).jpg (3.01 MiB) Viewed 4303 times

IMG_20211211_211831535 (1).jpg (3.01 MiB) Viewed 4303 times

Canada,Australia,New Zealand and many other countries have worship bands and choirs I'm thrilled to report!Joining our neighbors in celebration and something we all enjoy!
That's my B2 at Christ Church Cathedral in Downtown Vancouver at the corner of Georgia and Burrard!
That's Canada hiding in plain view as usual.This Cathedral was standing when Vimy Ridge took place.

Merry Christmas everyone,I'm enjoying Nat King Cole "Chestnuts" on the new piano samples.Enjoy!

[ThePianist]

Hi Nordlicht,

There was a glitch in the portal and I could not see my post and tried again. By the time the second was posted, both posts were added. Berretje, seems to have removed the duplicate. Thank you, Berretje.

Hope you have found the link insightful.

Happy New Year everyone.

https://www.nordkeyboards.com/sound-lib ... soft-grand

Soft Grand Nord Piano Sound. Watch this to make an informative decision about latest Nord Piano Sample, if you run out of storage on your Nord Keyboard. If you found the video informative, please like and follow the channel for more relevant content.


ThePianist

Why are you posting the same content several times and in multiple places?


//Berretje - fixed the double posts

[analogika]

I think he’s referring to the fact that you’ve made the exact same post advertising your YouTube channel in three different threads.

[baekgaard]

they really need to (or have someone in the USA) sample all the dozens of brands of grands we use to have - Baldwin, Kimball, Chickering, Knabe, Wurlitzer etc. there are so many piano brands besides Steinway and Yamaha.

According to this overview, we currently have grand samples of Yamaha, Steinway, Blüthner, Kawai, Fazioli and Bösendorfer and upright samples of Grotrian-Steinweg, Nordiska, Yamaha, Baldwin, Bösendorfer, Petrof, Baumgardt, Schimmel, Östlind & Almquist/Malmsjö and Svenska (at least). So there are a few more than just Steinway and Yamaha samples.

But yes, more samples and variety are always welcome. Here in Europe the more known German brands, of which some have been in production for +200 years, that haven't yet been sampled would be Sauter, Thürmer, Steingraeber & Söhne, Bechstein, August Förster, Zimmermann and Schimmel (since we have at least some Blüthner and Grotian Steinweg samples already). And locally where I am (Denmark) we've had Hornung & Møller (that's the make of my own grand piano), Hindsberg, Søren Jensen, Herman N Petersen, Andreas Christensen and Brødrene Jørgensen. It's getting harder to find a piano in good condition from these, though (all are out of production) although I think I've seen and played most of these brands and they all have their own unique sound and character.

On the recent Soft Grand itself, I actually like it a lot. It's quite well done and very expressive. I just had the opportunity to use it live here for one occasion for a solo piano piece (with some synth sounds too), and it worked really well for what I wanted it to do. I didn't get any complaints on muffled sounds from anyone in the audience; they apparently just listed to and hopefully appreciated the music itself and not my ability to dial in the piano sound... Using a soft filter on some of the existing brighter samples wouldn't in my view have been as expressive.

YMMV, of course. We probably play in many different settings and have very different needs and ideas for how we like our music to be expressed -- and I for one enjoy listening to someone with a very different approach than my own!

For reference: I normally play the White Grand, the (recently updated) Studio Grand 2, or the Royal when I need a bit more "mature" or darker, less in-your-face sound. I also use e.g. the Amber and the Felt -- it all depends on the sonic image I strive for and whom I play with (smaller or larger ensemble and how many guitars etc). Between those, I don't really find that I "lack" anything that makes it difficult for me to express my musical ideas wrt acoustic pianos. Luckily, I haven't yet found myself in a setting that required me to play the Bright Grand with the bright filter -- but others are very happy with that (or perhaps need it to cut through a wall of sound).

Even if I'm also always looking forward to and will be happy to check out any updated or new samples that may be added, I just wanted to put a bit perspective to -- what I personally find a rather large -- sonic palette we have access to even if some of those samples are not new. And maybe I'm a minority here, but I'm actually quite happy to no longer play the Roland and Yamaha boards I used to play that had one or two rather sterile samples to choose between