Isn't it time for more flexible velocity curves?

[maurus]

I fully agree. Keyboard action and velocity mapping is THE main problem zone of Nord instruments when it comes to piano playing. If nothing can be done about the action itself, something CAN certainly be done about the curves.

To offer downloadable curves and a curve editor in software would be totally in accordance with Clavia's open approach to sounds - so why not?

[neolithic]

If it's possible for them to do this as a firmware update, it would be a nice feature for sure. trouble is, if they changed the existing 3 dynamics settings, people would complain, so it would have to be done as an optional feature, through the global settings maybe...

[michael_C1]

Thanks for the comments. Maybe Nord will listen if enough owners, and prospective owners, consider it a priority to have greater velocity curve control.

I was mistakenly only considering the lower sensitivity limits, so today I checked the upper velocity limits on my Nord Piano, and I can get up to about velocity 100 playing hard, occasionally a little higher. This is in agreement with what some others have been saying. Surprisingly, velocity curves other than the default didn't seem to give much variation, a 5-10 bump on the high end, with no change on the low end. Perhaps some kind of filtering is going on to give the additional brightness with different curve settings.

The velocity range is substantially narrower than I originally thought. For the sake of argument, if we (pretty generously) assume that normal playing yields a velocity range between 30-105, then that's 75 out of a possible 127 velocity values being used, which is only 59% of the available velocity range! (My own playing is more like 40-100, which is less than half the available range).

As evidenced when we use external keyboards as controllers, our Nord's are capable of reproducing just about the entire 1-127 velocity range, only not when playing the Nord keyboards themselves.

[michael_C1]

To offer downloadable curves and a curve editor in software would be totally in accordance with Clavia's open approach to sounds - so why not?

Great idea!

[michael_C1]

Does the triple pedal help? I was thinking of buying it...

I only kept my Nord Triple Pedal for a short while. Using the soft/una corda pedal did soften the tone, but if I recall correctly that was across the board, and playing harder didn’t give back normal brightness and volume when that pedal was down. So, it didn’t increase the dynamic range.

If it's possible for them to do this as a firmware update, it would be a nice feature for sure. trouble is, if they changed the existing 3 dynamics settings, people would complain, so it would have to be done as an optional feature, through the global settings maybe...

maurus's idea of downloadable velocity curves could be a solution or as you say, a global/menu setting. I've no doubt that Nord could make it work!

[AlQuinn]

+1 could not agree more. Actually the only velocity curve I find useful is the default one, the harder ones are way too sensitive.

Exactly my experience too

[mon8169]

+1

[spradders]

So how do we take this idea to Nord? Does it ever work just to email them? Or is Pablo our route in?

[neolithic]

A good way to measure the general feeling among owners is to create a Poll - "How important are configurable velocity curves?" (start a new topic and choose the "Poll Creation" tab next to where you upload attachments).
Make the choices/options objective and see what the consensus is!
I'd do it myself, but this is michael_C1 's topic so i'll leave it to him

[michael_C1]

So how do we take this idea to Nord? Does it ever work just to email them? Or is Pablo our route in?

A good way to measure the general feeling among owners is to create a Poll - "How important are configurable velocity curves?" (start a new topic and choose the "Poll Creation" tab next to where you upload attachments).
Make the choices/options objective and see what the consensus is!
I'd do it myself, but this is michael_C1 's topic so i'll leave it to him

I think it's safe to say that Nord is aware of what's posted on these forums. There's a direct link to the forums from the Nord website after all, and Pablo M is pretty active here, and is always helping with information or advice.

Requests for more and better velocity control have been popping up in posts on other subjects for quite a while. I thought creating this topic might help focus more attention on the subject. Forum members adding a +1 or -1, and/or making comments here might be as effective as doing a poll. OTOH, a poll might more effectively serve as a request petition. Hmm.