White Grand

[soultrane]

I love it. I owned a Model B, and the thing about it is, it's very very difficult to get that super bright sound out of the average new Model B, you've got to have a lot of technique or you've got to treat the hammers w lacquer, or both.

So, to get this to sound right, I've found that playing mezzoforte for almost everything, keeping my wrists loose, and using the soft pedal quite a bit really makes it sound very much like a Steinway indeed. Only trigger that top layer when you really need it, in your Chopin etudes and polonaises and the like... then, it's so easy to bring that brilliance out it's almost like cheating... (lol it is cheating).

Re; the B; there probably never was any item ever made for the home that was so over engineered as the Model B. It's way way way too big for most homes, and I'd say 95% of the people who own it are using it at less than 5% of it's total potential.

Still, it's my all time favorite piano; many prefer it's scale to the scale of the D, but the fact is it's always bass heavy, and you really have to work your RH to balance it out (which is the opposite of this sample).

Anyway, great job Nord, thanks for all the updates; I cleared all my other pianos out of my Stage 2 and I'm just using this one now. I love that Steinway sound and this gives a lot of color!

[Schorsch]

Another key factor is that we can finally stop reading about how great the Royal Grand 3D is. That thing was the the flagship for way too long. I know some will loyally keep it on their board but I'm guessing its usage will drop off exponentially. Like the amped samples, it was a sonic experiment that was much celebrated but whose technology is not being continued.

Well, I like the 3D when playing at home over my headphones, and I think that’s what it’s optimized for. I would never ever use it in the mix of my band or playing solo through a decent PA, for this I have found a new favorite - the White Grand

[Quai34]

Well, I still like the sympathetic resonances, I put them almost all the time....

Do an A/B of a M and L of the same piano then tell me how much difference you will hear, in normal pop/funky playing

Yes, sure.... But anytime I try a piano, it's always alone, with no other musicians, then, I'm biased....I try it on solo act or jazz... But in L, you said it would fit, I will definitely try it with the Bosie and the Itslian in L and I will let you all know....

[Quai34]

Maybe I'm also biased because the XL version makes me "feel" that I'm playing a "real" grand Imperial.... Sympathetic perception/feeling???

[daniel70]

I have tried now the White Grand XL several days on my Stage 2 and i must say it’s the best piano sample i ever played on any digital piano! So natural sustain, so dynamic playable and round sounding even in mono. I fell in love with my Nords for the second time. If Nord only would release a Rhodes sample on this level, i would be in heaven.

[HokieKev]

In regards to Rhodes samples just curious if you tried the relatively new XL Electric Piano samples and the Ondre bundle that uses them. I just downloaded and set these up last night and thought they were pretty good.

[daniel70]

In regards to Rhodes samples just curious if you tried the relatively new XL Electric Piano samples and the Ondre bundle that uses them. I just downloaded and set these up last night and thought they were pretty good.

Yes, i have it since they were released. But these are nice adds and they are slightly better (though not all of them - i like the original EP5 better, for example), but they are still small and not on par with those big grand and upright samples from Nord. Don‘t get me wrong, i find them ok, but i miss a Rhodes with 200mb or so, which is in the same league as the Scarbee Rhodes, for example.

[baekgaard]

Remember when comparing size that the Rhodes samples are mono vs stereo and there are no sympathetic (pedal down) samples.

Comparing the acoustic piano L and S versions, it seems the pedal down samples doubles the size approximately.

So if you take as an example the bright Grand, a mono version of only pedal up samples of that MAY have been between 22 and 50 MB (S/M/L vs and XL with no stretch). For the white, it might have been 35 and 60 MB.

So the largest EPs (30+ MB) are comparable or more detailed than the S/M/L version of the acoustics.

Now, we don't know how the number of layers, samples and loop lengths are comparable, nor do we know how they compress mono vs stereo and acoustic vs EPs -- but if the calculations above are somewhat in the right ballpark, some of the EPs may be comparable to the newest acoustics in S/M/L size. It's not like they are 30 MB vs 250 MB.

Yes, more and more detailed EPs would be nice - just wanted to add some perspective

[HokieKev]

Is is nice how you can substitute a new piano like the White Grand for the Royal 3D and maintain all the programs/patches that the 3D was based on. I am curious as to how the original program compares to its "substitute". I don't currently have enough spare memory to do any A/B testing. Has anyone else done this?

[Rusty Mike]

I've done a few rehearsals now with the White Grand with a few big bands. My experience so far is in mono through a single QSC K8.2.

In my opinion, this has to be the most versatile and musical grand piano in the Nord Library now. It sounds wonderful naked, but can accommodate many playing styles and situations with a bit of simple tweaking. It's not a lot of work to get this piano sounding great.

I've replaced the L sample in my Stage 2EX with the XL, and will be using it in place of the Grand Lady D from now on. The Lady has had a good run for me.

There are now three pianos in my stable:
1. White Grand XL as the default go-to
2. Amber Upright XL, which is every bit as exciting as the White Grand. It's versatile with a very musical singing quality. Great for jazz standards
3. Silver L for when I need a brighter sound

This makes my musical life much easier now. I'm not whining about mono vs. stereo and can tailor to a room without much fuss.