Nord User Forum

Just to put things into perspective, I play an amazing Bosie 200 at home. Guess what, I can hear the piano action if I listen carefully.

Probably less than on my Nords, but it's still there. BTW, the ambient action noise on my multiple Nords is totally manageable, at least to me. Play through IEMs, turn up the stage monitor, etc. I've got 99 problems in my life, and this isn't one of them.

It's a piano. It's going to make a bit of ambient noise when you bang on it. Part of the charm for me.

In my late teens and into my twenties, I was spoilt rotten, working in a music store, practising on 2 "bosies" (290 Imperial + a smaller conservatior Grand) as well as the Yammy C7, which is sometimes under-rated. I don't have the physical space for either of these two magnificent instruments, but the Nord's do allow me the luxury of at least hearing the same sound when I play without the downsides of, or need for, a PC-based sampling library. I don't know if there's actually another manufacturer out there who offers as many varieties of premium grand pianos to play in a slab as does Nord - Fazi, Bosie, Yammy, Kawai, Steinway........ it's a pretty impressive collection. And yeah, if the action of the Grand lives up to my own expectations, I'm a likely punter.... partly from a touch perspective, but also because I'm reasonably certain their library of sampled instruments will continue to grow over time...and the noises of the keys and the action is absolutely what makes a piano so real. Ironically, Nord offers a specific "feature" that mimics the sympathetic resonance found in real pianos, not to mention the damper-release noises which you can "buy" if you purchase their triple pedal! Pianoforte by their nature are a mechanical instrumental after all and if a "digital " facsimile of the analog makes the same noises, then it's going to move us all closer to our nirvana of musical perfection.

The mechanical noise doesn't bother me but it drives my neighbors crazy
Seriously, the root cause in this case is less the weighted action but the four legged stand that's sold separately. Which I love, it looks great and is rock solid (wouldn't want an X stand in my living room just for the looks) but it transfers the key noise straight to the floor.

Put a nice heavy (dense) carpet under it, and put the keyboard legs into rubber chair sliders (the bigger square kind that are hard and spread the weight out a wider distance). Will greatly reduce noise transfer into the floor.

yea, I've got about 1 inch of insulation material underneath, seems to do the job.
And then, "now that you mention the key noise, you remind me. I've always wanted an accordeon"

analogika wrote:I find the Stage 3 compact somewhat quieter than the Stage 2 compact. Though that never actually bothered me — I just noticed it occasionally.

That's interesting. I've observed the same. Also feel like the NS3 keys are a slight bit heavier. But I'm not sure if it is due to wear or whether they changed the design a bit. My Nord Stage 2 was a demo model when I got it, though, and while the Stage 3 was as well, I suspect that it was a customer return unit that had hardly been played given that everything was absolutely pristine. The Stage 2 was good when I got it too, but the action was definitely a lot louder and squeakier. My Stage 1 and Electro 3 before that were the same, but they were all bought 2nd hand. Not sure about my C2D - I usually play it loud with a Leslie - but I don't actually think it's noisy at all so maybe they fixed it in later generations?

LOL ... yeah not much problem at 95+db ...

in all seriousness, my compact S3 does have some "Sticky" sounds sometimes especially on black keys , but even at moderate playing volumes in my basement, completely covered up by the audio.

The Nord Grand has the loudest of all the keybeds, the Kawai action just doesn't work in a Nord Chassis..... I am selling mine as Ive just tried a Nord Stage 4 and it's so much better in my opinion, but sadly soo expensive.

Its has a really loud 'thump' that I can't get use to, the stage 4 you can play lightly with hardly any noise at all and feels really good.

I had a Kawai MP7 which was fine but not the case in the Grand. The Nord has far superior samples though.