Grand Piano sounds disappoints

[danrv]

Yes. I swapped the stock Bosie Imperial for the Bright Grand L.
I would have had to delete quite a few other pianos to install
the XL.
Sounded a bit jangly but haven't really experimented
with EQing. What may work at home won't
necessarily sound right on stage. You can only get an idea
with the band playing.
Tend to use the Studio Grand 2 more.
I did read about someone in a similar position who found that
the Bright Grand 2 XL was best for pop and rock playing.

[danrv]

Seems a bit crazy after spending out on the Nord but if there was a way of getting the piano sample from my Roland XP80 onto the Stage 2, I'd do it.

Easy. I'm pretty sure the same basic piano sound is in the Roland JV-1010. They're readily available pretty cheaply on eBay (at least here in the U.S.), they are small and light, and they even have a bunch of other useful sounds in them. Use the Nord's EXT function to split and layer the Roland sounds with the Nord sounds.

Thanks. I really meant somehow loading the sample onto
the Nord rather than connecting a sound module.

[anotherscott]

Thanks. I really meant somehow loading the sample onto
the Nord rather than connecting a sound module.

Well the module is really small and light. If you really didn't want to carry it around, you could try sampling the piano sound into your Nord. User samples can only have a single velocity layer, but that piano sample is so old it may only have one velocity layer anyway! The trick is doing the loops (though sampling software can often do a decent job of auto looping), and keeping the size down so it doesn't use up too much of your sample RAM.

[danrv]

I've no idea how to go about sampling the XP80 piano.
Is there a cheap way of doing this as it's a one off task?
I agree it's an old 90's piano sound but it's more even than the Nord's
and doesn't lose the punch up the top end.

[anotherscott]

Is there a cheap way of doing this as it's a one off task?

Try these apps, there are free demos...

http://www.samplerobot.com

http://www.extranslator.com

[Marlowes]

Hej Danrv!

I bet you'll find some amazingly good Roland pianos in the XV5080 packages from SC-sounds:
http://www.sc-sounds.com/clavia-nord.html
Just "pay and play"!

By the way: my JV1010 is NOT for sale. I'll keep it.

/Amicalement
Michael in Scania

[danrv]

That's great, thanks. Will check them out.

[trumelpuut]

I don't know if this addresses your issue, but here are my 2 cents :

An acoustic piano is a difficult instrument to record or mix. Usually the medium range of the spectrum is unbalanced, and several keys kind of "owl"... When you've got to mix a piano into a multi-instrument mix, you filter that range down to make room for the rest. This makes the piano sound more nasal but the overal orchestration (be it rock or jazz or whatever) sounds more balanced. Even a piano solo album (I have a few classical ones in mind) sound nasal because it's hard to make that instrument sound good in a recording even though it sounds great in real life. That (among other reasons) is why most digital pianos have such a poor sound: the problem was solved by the manufacturers in a rather drastic way, by filtering out most of the resonance, i think. This other extreme, for example, is the old Roland HP2700/3700, A digital piano that doesn't address the issue at all : as a result, it has beautiful resonance, but is as hard to mix as a real acoustic piano. I think Nord has found a great compromise - not too nasal, but not "owly" either. It may simply be that you don't like that compromise. But I wonder: did you compare it to other digital pianos, or are you comparing it to a real acoustic instrument ? (EDIT: discard this last question, i hadn't read the whole thread)

Also, I find that the NS2 especially needs good speakers in order to sound rich : in headphones (especially without reverb) it may sound a bit thin, and so does it on dull speakers. But on the right sound system, I find it to be pure delight. It also sounds more rich in stereo than in mono, as can be expected.

And, lastly, these may be two silly questions but: 1. did you donwload the XL versions of the piano sounds ? That makes a huge difference. And 2., have you checked whether string resonance is enabled ?

[stuartoMVF41000S]

I may be wrong, but judging from what has been said in the posts, the disappointment isn't that the grand piano sounds on the NS2 aren't very accurate in reproducing the sounds of the pianos they are supposed to be modeled after, it is that they aren't to the original poster's liking compared to her Yamaha S90's grand piano sounds. Assuming that is the case and increased harmonic distortion is wanted, perhaps increasing the string resonance level in the sound menu, and increasing the amp drive in the effects section will help.

As many posters have already noted, if you want to hear the detailed richness of the NS2's grand piano sounds you have to go through really good audio equipment. This is especially true when you want to hear the delicate tonal detail playing softly. In my case I have a stereo pair of Roland KC-550 keyboard amps, and they just aren't up to reproducing all the sonic detail and accuracy that the NS2's grand pianos (and everything else really) deliver; using good headphones or running the NS2 through my home audio system is so much better.

[kblok]

Do you have a SW or a HA version?