Nord Piano 4

[Nottechy494]

I’m far from a techy person, plug in and go is more my thing. However I have the Nord Piano 4 but my piano sounds all seem hollow, as if something is missing, either too tinny or bassy but definitely hollow. I’ve played with the affects but I cannot seem to get that crispy solid sound that I hear when I see others playing the nord keyboards. I have one RCF Art 7 speaker, that the shop sold me along with the Nord Keyboard (I thought the Nord must have a mono output if they are selling me just one speaker (costly speaker) but is doesn’t so I bought a splitter cable two jacks into one the other end. Anyway I cannot get a good solid crisp piano sound. Any advice please, I’m starting to wonder whether I bought the wrong keyboard (plus speaker). Thanks.

[cgrafx]

you have to explicitly set the keyboard to mono. 2nd button from the left, next to the master level. I'm not 100% because I don't have a NP4, but most likely need to hold the shift button before you press the mono button.

[Nottechy494]

Thank you cgrafx. I will look at the mono button later thanks. Any tips on good piano sounds, I’ve used many different piano sounds but can’t seem to get a good or great sound, they seem
Hollow, missing something. The Reverb setting help a little but if you turn the button too much (because you feel it needs more Reverb) it just creates a more echoing sound. So any tips on how to create good crisp solid piano sounds would be great thanks.

[cphollis]

I’m far from a techy person, plug in and go is more my thing. However I have the Nord Piano 4 but my piano sounds all seem hollow, as if something is missing, either too tinny or bassy but definitely hollow. I’ve played with the affects but I cannot seem to get that crispy solid sound that I hear when I see others playing the nord keyboards. I have one RCF Art 7 speaker, that the shop sold me along with the Nord Keyboard (I thought the Nord must have a mono output if they are selling me just one speaker (costly speaker) but is doesn’t so I bought a splitter cable two jacks into one the other end. Anyway I cannot get a good solid crisp piano sound. Any advice please, I’m starting to wonder whether I bought the wrong keyboard (plus speaker). Thanks.

Things to try:

- Use the mono button as above, with a single cable that you know to be good.

- Use headphones connected directly to your keyboard as a reference point. That way you can pinpoint what the board is doing vs. what the speaker, cable and room are doing to your sound. Hint: a NP4 sounds awesome on even cheapo headphones.

- Big 12" and 15" aren't the best at reproducing crystal clear piano sounds. Consider powered 8" units or vertical pole arrays instead: EV, QSC, Alto, RCF, etc.

- Nords work best using two audio connections for real stereo. If the the signals are combined out-of-phase, they cancel each other and you end up with this very weird, thin sound that varies in intensity from program to program.

- Two speakers sound best, but one ain't half bad if you make EQ adjustments. I usually have to suppress the mid-range frequencies -6dB around 400Hz to clean up the mud. Also try the "smiley curve" EQ -- a bit of boost at the extremes, a bit of cut in the midrange.

Also -- do you intend to play at home, studio, perform -- ???

[Nottechy494]

Thanks cphollis unfortunately I haven’t been home for a few days but as soon as I get home I’ll try the headphones and see what it sounds like. I have tried playing with the EQ with just the one speaker (as mentioned above) but I’m struggling to get a solid piano sound, the piano sounds seem to sound a bit hollow, missing something but I will keep trying with the EQ. Thanks again.