Nord User Forum

Eumel wrote:Hi folks,

I just downloaded the Soft Grand L version to my NS4 88. The top two keys do not work (no sound), at least in my setup.

Thanks

Eumel

Same here (Electro 5 played from a VPC1) :/ The keys do work in the XL version, though.

After playing with it for a while I like it a lot - even while I agree with those asking for an updated Lady D or similar. I find it to be by far the best of the various "soft" pianos so far, very playable and dynamic, with nice subtleties (overtones, attack variations, ...) distributed over the range. I look forward to exploring it more.

cookie wrote:It has been removed in the meantime from the website
I believe it should arrive, all clean, in a nice little package under the Xmas tree in few days !

Fred

I still see it there, or maybe meantime they have just reloaded the page, hopefully with the right files (previously also one of the demos was corrupted)

Yes, files are back on the website for download. I don't know if the issue with the L is fixed.

Fred

cookie wrote:I don't know if the issue with the L is fixed.

Fred

I’ve downloaded it a second time after being online again, substituted it in the instruments, but at least at the "L" version the top notes are still missing.

Nordlicht wrote:

cookie wrote:I don't know if the issue with the L is fixed.

Fred

I’ve downloaded it a second time after being online again, substituted it in the instruments, but at least at the "L" version the top notes are still missing.

+1

The XL version is complete (with the two last notes).
But unluckily I don't like it so much : I fed up too with felt sounds !

I'm asking myself again just now who actually needs all the soft, felt, romantic and mellow pianos? It's nice of Nord to give you these for Christmas, but somehow I don't see myself in this focus. Why not a new Wurlitzer or Clavinet? Or even a Rhodes? For comparison: there are now 13 Grand Pianos and even 14(!) Uprights, but only 9 Rhodes, two Wurlitzers and one (!) very old Clavinet sample. I think the Wurlitzer Amped is brilliant, but another one to choose from wouldn't have been bad. The Stockholm Rhodes is also nice, but it wasn't the big hit either. It can't compete with Keyscape or Scarbee, for example, in terms of richness of detail and overall sound. And with a device as expensive as the Nord Stage, I would actually expect that.

I am asking myself why do we need 1 new piano per year at all or bigger/larger samples, this evening, while I was listening to this (played on a Nord Stage Classic, 12 17(!) years ago ...)

maxpiano wrote:I am asking myself why do we need 1 new piano per year at all or bigger/larger samples, this evening, while I was listening to this (played on a Nord Stage Classic, 12 years ago ...)

Yes, the old Mark V sample sounds fantastic here, but above all it is played fantastically by Alan Pasqua. By the same reasoning, you could also say that Korg didn't need to develop its piano samples any further because the Korg Stagepiano sounds great on Kenny Kirkland's epochal piano solo on Sting‘s "Bring on the Night" life record from 1986!

I saw the name of the sample in the email from Nord, and I immediately knew that this would be a contentious subject. I just left for the holidays so I’ll need to wait until the 3rd to test it myself, but I look forward to testing this sample versus the Velvet Grand and the updated Studio Grand 2. From the videos this sounds like like a nice, quieter solo option for pop / jazz. I still use the White Grand 90+% of the time unless it’s too loud, heavy sounding for whatever I’m working on, but usually it’s just me playing it too loudly.

I can understand why Nord might be hesitant to sample something like the Yamaha CFX, because it’s already widely available on most newer Yamaha digitals out there and how could Nord hope to compete with Yamaha’s own sound engines for its star piano.

For me an ideal scenario would be for Nord to partner with a popular VST like Pianoteq to create a tool to convert samples / user settings into Nord formatted samples, but that too would have its own issues.