Nord User Forum

hallo nord users! I have bought some new YAMAHA HS7 Monitors for my Stage2. I love the piano sounds when I play with headphones( the headphones are nothing special), but when i connceted the Stage with the new monitors, the piano sounds sound thin. I have always to put some bass in the equalizer in order to sound better. Through the monitors the piano sounds not so good as with headphones, although the monitors are great. Do you have any advices?
Thanks!

Welcome to the somewhat baffling world of Stage 2 pianos. The trick is to use the eq settings, and experiment until you hear the full sound that you like. Don't hesitate to turn the knobs all the way while experimenting. I'm sure you'll find a configuration that will sound good.

Thing is, if the headphones are "nothing special" then they might have been affecting the sound, and now you're hearing the proper sound of the pianos through your monitors. If the headphones are the closed type, then cheap ones often add a boomy bass to the sound. In a little while, I think you'll get used to the better sound of the monitors and come to realise that it was the headphones that were wrong, not your monitors. The Yamaha HS7s are good monitors for the price, and they have plenty of bass, so they're not the problem.My guess is that eventually you'll realise that the amount of bass in your monitors is right after all.

I use the HS 8’s with the sub. A world of difference. Rivals the “headphone sound”.

Thanks for the answers. The headphones are the AKG K44.. i have the oppinon that the headphones are telling me the "real" piano sound because it sounds great like in the demos on the clavia side. Can it sound thin because i am connecting to the speakers directly through Channel 1+2 out with 2 unbalanced cables?

thanks

I also have 2 sets of AKG 240's, and the software and hardware I use sound quite good through them. I got the Yamaha'a a week before the sub, and did find a real difference in the overall quality of the pianos with it. I place it in the floor under the controller on the left side, and don't let the volume get out of hand. The caveat is that I do not use any Nord pianos. That being said, I don't use any EQ changes on anything wether it be software or hardware. I will adjust velocity curves. It's just me, but I doubt that the cables are having that effect on the bottom end, but may give you some noise. Because you are going direct, it may however be affecting the amount of overall signal supplied to the cabinets.

@vigancucy : I have a similar exprience, with a pair of yamaha msp7 monitors and a beyerdynamic dt770 headphone. The headphone is known to emphasis 80Hz and under frequencies, and the monitors are often described as being shy on these frequencies, they are indeed designed to be used with yam's sub sw10.
I also noticed that the impact of the transcuders (foh, monitors, headphones) bass response is high on pianos sounds.

This frequency response curve does not lie : http://resolution.nodecube.net/products ... Studio.pdf
Althought the msp7 is different from the hs7, I think we have the same experience.
The limits of these 7 inches monitors is easy to experience with your stage2's synth section.
Using a simple waveform you go down to pitch B1, A1 ...
Sound volume will decay and really disapear under G1 (48 Hz) on msp7.
it won't decay using the dt770.
When you play piano, some harmonics will be missing.
This also as a clear impact on kick sounds using the nord drum.

vigankuci wrote:The headphones are the AKG K44.. i have the oppinon that the headphones are telling me the "real" piano sound because it sounds great like in the demos on the clavia side.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you there. The K44s are cheap, bottom of the range headphones, and reviews specifically mention that the bass is excessive and muddy, (along with poor treble reproduction). They are certainly not telling you the real sound at all. You will have to trust that the Yamaha monitors are far better sounding. Sometimes, it just takes time to adjust to a different sound, even if it is a better quality sound than you are used to.

vigankuci wrote:Can it sound thin because i am connecting to the speakers directly through Channel 1+2 out with 2 unbalanced cables?

No, that won't make any difference to anything.

Seriously, just take a few weeks and you will get used to the new sound. It is purely a question of perception, and I'm afraid your headphones have been misleading you quite badly.

ArfNtz wrote:@vigancucy : I have a similar exprience, with a pair of yamaha msp7 monitors and a beyerdynamic dt770 headphone.

I don't think any amount of charts is going to change the fact that the AKG K44s are simply awful You have to bear in mind that they cost less than twenty pounds new.

For the OP, it really depends on whether he wants a natural amount of bass or an "extended" amount of bass. Adding a sub would certainly give him what he's missing, but I would council him to wait a while to get used to the monitors first. Sure, compared to boomy headphones, the sound will definitely seem bass-light for a while, but you never know, he might prefer it in the end. After all, there's no need to rush out a buy a sub just to mimic the "wrong" bass he's been hearing in his headphones.

The problem with Yam HS7 is wherever you come from it takes time to get used to them because they always sound brighter
I like my msp7 for that reason too.