Isn't it time for more flexible velocity curves?

[michael_C1]

The other thing that we cold fix with velocity curves is the problem when soloing,
right hand side is to quiet compared to left !
Is that correct ?

Someone's going to say that we just need to practice more

[spradders]

I definitely agree that some of the piano sounds are quiet and lifeless as you get past the middle octaves - they can be improved with EQ. I find the Yamaha is better, and (I think) the Lady D. The Bosendorf for example has great bass, but poor upper register (hence why some people create a split with Bos in LH and something else in RH).

[Merlimau]

Sounds like an interesting post. And add to that the inherent limitations of the 0-127 MIDI velocity specification, which gives us nowhere near the level of sensitivity an acoustic piano is capable of.

Before the after touch starts, pressure sensitive keys could be a solution (I don’t know if there is a keyboard which has that). So you could switch between velocity sensitive and pressure sensitive keys. Implemented with pressure sensitive piezo crystals which generate midi velocity numbers. Than you have three measurements: Velocity or pressure and after touch.

[pablomastodon]

Sounds like an interesting post. And add to that the inherent limitations of the 0-127 MIDI velocity specification, which gives us nowhere near the level of sensitivity an acoustic piano is capable of.

not too sure my fingers are capable of accurately and reliably producing 128 different levels of velocity though...

bless,

Pablo

[michael_C1]

Sounds like an interesting post. And add to that the inherent limitations of the 0-127 MIDI velocity specification, which gives us nowhere near the level of sensitivity an acoustic piano is capable of.

not too sure my fingers are capable of accurately and reliably producing 128 different levels of velocity though...

bless,

Pablo

Ha! Good one, Pablo! 'Accurately and reliably' is pretty much out of the question. I don't know about you, but I can't even reliably play at one specific velocity over and over when I try.

As far as piano, I just meant that an acoustic piano is far more sensitive than any electronic instrument. It's the ideal, something to strive for. In my opinion, Nord is pretty far ahead of the pack as far as piano sound, but there's a lot of room for improvement as far as responsiveness.

These days I'd often chose a Nord piano library over a multi-gigabyte software library for solo recording, except that I can't reach the lower velocity levels while playing my Nord Piano's keyboard. There are some clunky workarounds, but they really shouldn't be necessary.

[bluesbaba]

Well gentlemen
Since one extra velocity curve was made for the NP2,that means there is a way to do it !!!
Living on a prayer ...........

[michael_C1]

Well gentlemen
Since one extra velocity curve was made for the NP2,that means there is a way to do it !!!
Living on a prayer ...........

That's great bluesbaba! Even though there's no reason to think it couldn't be done, it's nice to hear it confirmed

[michael_C1]

For now, here are another couple of ways to get more velocity curve flexibility from our Nords (I mentioned Cantabile earlier):

MidiBridge is an iOS app that makes it possible to use various preset velocity curves or to draw your own. I've used it and it works pretty well.

Midi Velocity Changer by Trombettworks is an oldie but a goodie for creating your own velocity curves. It's PC only and you need to use a loopback app such as Midi Yoke or LoopBe1 along with it. It works great with a sequencer such as Cubase which doesn't like inserts very much other than Steinberg stuff.

On the positive side, you can dial in pretty much any velocity curve you want using these applications, which really opens up the sounds, especially piano sounds, of a Nord keyboard. In the studio it's great.

On the negative side, it means carrying extra gear and wiring it up when playing live, which kind of defeats the simplicity of using a Nord on stage. Additionally, it's such a pleasure to play with tweaked velocity curves that it can be a bummer (60's speak ) when it's inconvenient to do so.

[bluesbaba]

Thanks for keeping it alive )
Imagine a packet of cigarettes size box,midi in/out,maybe one or two buttons,you program it at home and bring it along to the gig!!!
VeloBoxPro ))))))

[michael_C1]

Thanks for keeping it alive )
Imagine a packet of cigarettes size box,midi in/out,maybe one or two buttons,you program it at home and bring it along to the gig!!!
VeloBoxPro ))))))

Nice idea bluesbaba!

I forgot to mention that the Midi Solutions boxes (a similar size to your idea) have been tested with several Clavia products and probably will NOT work without an external power supply. it would have been a convenient solution otherwise, although a bit expensive.