Extremely important info for the sound of piano samples!

[Cute James]

Florian, thank you for your interesting insights.

One query for the thread: The outputs on my Electro are labelled LEFT OUT/MONO, and RIGHT. I had always assumed that when using a single cable plugged into the LEFT OUT/MONO, the Nord would automatically output a MONO signal, regardless of the 'Mono' mode button. Is this correct?
In addition, last month, a fellow Nord Electro owner recommended using the RIGHT output over the LEFT OUT/MONO (again, when using a single cable), as he believed it suffered less from phasing issue when playing piano. Is there any truth in this?

Cheers,
James
x

[whitenoise]

I guess so. It's interesting that all electros have mono output. The early nord stage didn't even have mono button. So actually there was no way to produce a mono sound unless you had a small mixer next to you on stage. Later on Clavia added a mono button feature that worked only for piano section. The Nord Stage 2 has a mono button that turns all instrument sections to run in mono. But still it works differently on electros which have just L/Mono output. I guess it's caused by overall hierarchy difference. Since both electo and nord stage use the same piano samples the phase cncellation issues are the same. The difference is only how you activate the mono mode: by button on Nord Stage or just plugging only one cable on Electro onto L/Mono output. In both cases running right output as a single source of the sound should help to avoid the phase cancellation issue.

[daniel70]

Right output oder left output on NE3? What is recommended now??

[whitenoise]

Use right output only to avoid phase cancelation issues with piano samples.

[Cute James]

@Cute James:
I do not think that plugging to the left or right makes it mono like in many keyboards that have the output labelled Left/Mono or similar.
At least in the NS2, you can test this easily:
Connect only 1 channel (let's say the left one) and play some stereo sound (the Vox organ with Rotary effect is a good one).
Now press the Mono button. If it makes a difference in sound when Mono is not ON, that channel does not send mono signal (when Mono OFF) but only the left one.
I hear a difference in my NS2.

If the stereo sound has keys/spatially positioned sounds (as in right hand keys/strings more on the right etc) then using only one channel might prevent some phase cancellation, but you would lose L/R balance (so the left or right part might sound louder/quieter).

Edit: typos

[Cute James]

Thanks for the tips!

James
x

[nuangel]

Me too !!! I can tell that my Nord Stage 2 is a quality product. I"ve owned many keyboards and have always had an eye for a great piano sound as I play jazz trio / duo settings, I got he NS2 Compact because I thought I could finally have a great sound without the tremendous lugging problems, BUT I must say I have never had a ROUGHER time trying to get the piano to sound right!! The only one that sounds almost useable to me is the (Yamaha) Studio Grand 2, but even then, it just doesnt "sit right" does anyone have any good EQ suggestions ?? though I have really tried for days on end to tweak them, and somehow always get either a "snarling" or a nasal kind of sound, though, again, one can tell that the samples were made with great trouble. PLEASE HELP!!!

[titanium]

Try the rain piano layered with the Blue Swede and then add mid cut to the rain piano. Add a tiny bit of compressor and it results in a nice smooth jazz program.

[titanium]

stage reverb if you would like some

[RedLeo]

Me too !!! I can tell that my Nord Stage 2 is a quality product. I"ve owned many keyboards and have always had an eye for a great piano sound as I play jazz trio / duo settings, I got he NS2 Compact because I thought I could finally have a great sound without the tremendous lugging problems, BUT I must say I have never had a ROUGHER time trying to get the piano to sound right!! The only one that sounds almost useable to me is the (Yamaha) Studio Grand 2, but even then, it just doesnt "sit right" does anyone have any good EQ suggestions ?? though I have really tried for days on end to tweak them, and somehow always get either a "snarling" or a nasal kind of sound, though, again, one can tell that the samples were made with great trouble. PLEASE HELP!!!

The type and quality of the amplification you use is hugely important for getting the best out of Nord piano sounds. What are you currently using to amplify your NS2 at live gigs?