Whither Holiday Gift?

[cphollis]

I now have all my set list programs locked in with the familiar samples: White Grand, Bambino, Clav, EPs et. al.

I wouldn't really be able to use a new one unless it was exceptional. It'd be a major effort to re-integrate any new sample with all my existing programs (EQ, balance, etc.) and can't see how it would be worth it.

[leonardo 1]

Hi everyone, I don't know if I would like new samples but I would certainly like more reactive sounds and samples under my hands (better touch and sound interaction).
so something more dynamic and better for stage 4 is welcome.... especially on the EPs I would like them to be chubbier and more reactive (maybe with the mark 8 champion)..

[Schorsch]

+1 regarding the EPs

[Gambold]

> but who really “needs” it?<

Well, who really needs anything, right? Sure, I can keep playing the White and the Bright until they carry me out feet first, but....there is a promise from Nord that a purchase from them comes with regular sample updates.

That doesn't always mean piano samples of course. EPs, digitals, strings, and even clavs are appreciated too. But no matter how wonderful the Bright Grand sample is, it's now 13 years old, and like the rest of us, it ain't getting any younger. Technology has changed, sampling techniques have inevitably improved, and the quest in the digital world is always to get ever closer to sounding like a real acoustic.

It's been five years since a foundational Grand sample has been released. That's not a huge amount of time, but it's a change from the former pattern of every two or three years. Yes, we got the Soft Grand last year, after a four year wait, but it's not anyone's idea of a new A1 setting...I doubt Nord will ever factory-load it as such.

And with an Electro 7 coming up in 2025, is Nord really going to release it with a 6-year old White Grand sample as the A1? If you track the release dates of all the previous boards before the Stage 4, the A-1 Piano sample was never more than two years old. With the Stage 4, the A-1 was four years old, and that was disappointing. I sure hope it's not an indicator of a trend.

[cgrafx]

I'd really love to get a decent grand piano that is close mic'd in a dry room (I don't want to hear anything but the piano - I don't want to hear it reflecting off the floor or even the piano lid). Personally this is the flaw in ALL of Nords piano offerings. Every single one of them sounds like a piano in a room and I don't want the room acoustics. I don't want the piano to sound like a recording of a piano in a room, I want to just sound like a piano. I'll get the room from what ever location I'm actually playing in (and I can add reverb or what ever other delay effects I choose).

[Gambold]

And maybe with 2024 tech, getting that kind of sample is more achievable than it was ten or even five years ago.

The classics are crying for an overhaul. The Bosendorfer was the Total Shizzle when it was released...now it's just another hairy old Nord piano sample. The Grand Lady D was once celebrated as maybe the best sample of all...and there's still no XL of a large Steinway on the list.

Interestingly, the Studio Grand 2, which maybe as close as you are going to get to a "no room acoustics" sample, got a surprise XL release not too long ago. And it was totally under the radar.

[ziozeus]

I'd really love to get a decent grand piano that is close mic'd

I would call ambience embedded sound overdone in the white gramd and in fact subtracting from the swinging capabilities of that instrument. Also the note off sample, which is so important for swinging, is very loud in this sample but it get somehow lost in all that reverb. But I feel the other samples are not problematic in this regard. Yes there is much more embedded room sound in all nord pianos than in all other manufacturer but since I like nords more then all the competitors I wouldn't say nord should change approach. Maybe they know what they are doing and why. All this somehow starts to make sense in a live environment. You can hear less of all this but still maybe it's all part of why these sounds are more acoustic like and armonic then all others.
Again in my experience white grand is overdone and it get confusing and you lose energy, bite and precision in many live situation

[WannitBBBad]

(re: clavinets)... They pretty much have a funky sound and you bang away on them, mostly for Stevie Wonder tunes. It's not like a bigger sample is going to change things...

Note-off samples, for one.

And if they could add some sort of after-touch majick (sample vibrato) for the pitch/excitation you can get when you wiggle a pressed key on a real clav, that would be the icing.

Ditto. Listening to the Dexibell S10 online, the clavinet had the distinctive note-off. Having that, and the capability to select a new or vintage setting (a worn clavinet with more note-off) would be a nice addition. Even better to add AfterTouch capability.

[ajstan]

Well, we may be looking at January if the 12-year streak is to be continued for another year.

In 2019, 2020, and 2021, the "gift" was delivered in January instead of before Christmas. In 2022 and 2023 we received the Pearl Upright and Soft Grand respectively on the 22nd, so there was hope that they were back on a December schedule, but today is the 23rd, but there hasn't been a year to-date when the gift was published in December after the 22nd.

[Gambold]