I'm from the UK and I have been a gigging bass player for over 20 years; I decided it was time to learn to play keys…..happily, this new direction coincided with a windfall lump sum for PPI insurance mis-selling….
..So, I bought a Nord to learn to play on (extreme I know, but I wanted something I can grow into, rather than grow out of). I also learned from my bass playing that getting the best you can afford often repays itself over the years. I tried a few keyboards out, but found them to be a little fragile feeling, though I almost bought the Roland A-88 with the Integra sound module but just didn't have the patience to wade through screens of settings, and I also want to gig with it in a year or so.
The Nord was a revelation to me as I could just press a couple of buttons and find amazing sounds so quickly. The youtube vids I looked through seemed to back this up; lots of footage of people just playing, rather than fiddling with settings.
Anyway, I've had the Stage 2 for a couple of weeks now and am absolutely loving it, spent most of the time with the pianos, not really got into the synth side yet.
Some observations on the piano sounds…
I've got pretty good ears, though I do suffer from tinnitus in my right ear (I have been habitually stage left over the years…bloody drummers!
I found the Yamaha studio 2 sound sets off my tinnitus, particularly on the C above middle for some reason. But I found that the Yamaha Studio 1 version to be ok and my favourite so far….. so sweet and warm through headphones with very neutral effects on my ears throughout the range. Anyone come across this?
The uprights are all great fun, the romantic reminds me of mum playing when I was a kid. I know some folks championing the Black Petrov, and though it sounds awesome through my speakers, but I practice with headphones mostly, and I found that the swishy flanging type noises of the string resonances to be a little off-putting on this sample….anyone come across this also? Or maybe just my tinnitus again :-p
