Nord User Forum

Hi - I find I use one piano sample for all my rock tunes and it might not be optimum (grand lady!)

What do people like to use for southern rock? traditional blues? modern blues? pop?

thx

Bright Grand and Studio Grand is my favorites for rock, blues and pop. I use Bright Grand mostly for rock and blue and Studio Grand for pop music.

People are really liking the new AmberBaby Upright.

Edit: Argh. Mistyped. Thanks, baekgaard.

Consider maybe also the new Baby Upright. I'm not a rocker myself, but my impression is that it will cut nicely through in a mix.

Black Upright seems to be popular among the rock and blues players. It does cut. You can also give the Grand Upright a whirl. Yamaha U1's are just naturally bright and cutting.

Another suggestion is the Silver Grand. It's quite versatile - mellow when you lay back and cutting when you need it. The Italian and Imperial grands have huge overtone structures, and may work as well, but could be too, um, "grand" sounding.

I love the Lady D for jazz, but it would be among my last choices for rock.

You need to experiment using your amplification and rehearsal/gig dynamic. It's going to be different for everyone.

It might also matter whether you are using mono or stereo amplification, and perhaps more importantly whether your band's sound system delivers your keyboard sounds to the live audience in mono or stereo.

It's mono through the PA. so hard to experiment until gig time

I find most of the Nord acoustic piano sounds don't work well only a single speaker - whether or not you turn on the "Mono" button on your Nord. The octave below middle C is where many of these acoustic piano sounds go to die, in mono. Some report better results taking the single line out from the "R" instead of "L" (with the "Mono" button off), since Nord pans more bass to the left and more treble to the right in its acoustic piano sounds.

I find the Royal Grand the best for single speaker amplification in quieter settings, but its top end does not cut for rock/covers playing. The newest Baby Upright *seems* like it would cut nicely at the top - but I have not had a chance to prove this at a covers band rehearsal yet. Also, the low end of the Baby Upright is weak.

I would like to try a split that would use Royal Grand on the low end and Baby Upright for the higher end. This is a test I cannot do on my Electro 3 (no split capability), but you should be able to set it up on your Stage 3.

I play in a loud 14-member soul band and the Royal Grand cuts through without any problem.

Rusty Mike wrote:Black Upright seems to be popular among the rock and blues players. It does cut. You can also give the Grand Upright a whirl. Yamaha U1's are just naturally bright and cutting.

Another suggestion is the Silver Grand. It's quite versatile - mellow when you lay back and cutting when you need it. The Italian and Imperial grands have huge overtone structures, and may work as well, but could be too, um, "grand" sounding.

I love the Lady D for jazz, but it would be among my last choices for rock.

You need to experiment using your amplification and rehearsal/gig dynamic. It's going to be different for everyone.

+1 in the Italian and Imperial, they sound very "Grand'Ish" but it's what I like in them....