POLL: Favorite Acoustic Pianos (complete list, 2018)

[themixtape]

Updated, complete list! Tell us details! What you love to practice with, on studio monitors and/or headphones.... what you prefer for live use... styles you play, etc. Thanks!

[themixtape]

Would anyone be able to move this to the General Nord Forum? Thanks!

[themixtape]

Wow, so far the Royal 3D is highly in the lead.. and the Silver's getting a lot of love, too! No surprise with Amber being in the lead.

Let's keep these votes comin!

My votes (at least today): Royal 3D, and Bambino. It really has so much of that "home" piano sound... sounds great with headphones, NOT a big file (even as XL) and really sounds lovely. The other uprights I love: Mellow, Blue Swede, Amber, Rain, Black, and Romantic.

[themixtape]

You can now change your vote, and vote for up to 4 of your faves!

[gatzou]

Thank’s for this interesting post !

Like many, I love the Royal 3D. It is my go to piano for solo. My previous “first choice” was the imperial, which is still very impressive and magnificent, but the royal sound warmer and less “rich”, making it perfect for singer back-up.
Amber is also my favorite upright, very pleasing and versatile.
Even if I don’t use it a lot, the mellow got my vote because it has that really distinctive sound you want when you need it.
For live band play, I was more a “Bright” player, but today I find difficult to choose between the Bright and the Silver. For rhythm / comping loud chords I prefer the Bright ringing tone, but the Silver is more present in the upper register and his cleaner sound could blend better (and not only “cut”)

Anyway, I really have everything I need with the piano library. The only thing I can dream of is a new Steinway with the same sampling level as the Royal. The lady is nice but she is aging ! (less dynamic range, pp tone less convincing)

I mostly play through a good PA, occasionnaly through headphones.

[Watusi]

Got a feeling that exactly Bright Piano is the sound of piano we love to hear on records

[themixtape]

Crazy how no one has voted for certain pianos... former favorites Studio Grand 2, Queen Upright... crazy!

[themixtape]

Lately I'm not feeling the Amber too much. So plain... it barely sounds like an upright, compared to the Blue Swede, Black, and Bambino. Weird.

[afroskully]

I love the Amber and use it when I'm getting "grand piano fatigue". It's an actual Nord user medical condition, you can look it up.

The first grand I ever downloaded from the website to supplement what was already on my E5 was the Velvet and I thought it was good, until I found some others that I thought surpassed it and ditched it. After seeing this poll I figured I'd give it another shot, and I'm kind loving it again. I have 3 XL grands loaded right now... I can't ever ditch the grand imperial. I'm giving the Silver a solid try after ignoring it for a while (finding that EQ is definitely the way to round this one out). I have to say the Velvet also with some EQ tweaking is starting to really grow on me. It's got that great mellow, gentle tone that sings at the same time, and when it's time to bang away (especially on the higher register), it sounds Great. I think the highest two octaves on it sound much more present than the Silver. So for those who wrote off the Velvet, I'd say give it another spin.
(FYI, these observations are through a pair of qsc k8.2s)

[themixtape]

How do you EQ the Silver and Velvet? It's lovely, and crystal-clear.... but I find it's almost too "in tune" like... playing pretty singer-songwriter stuff... it's so perfectly-tuned it's hard to like... I dunno... "feel" the chords... haha. I still dig it-- initially hated it but it's grown on me.

Every time I mess around with Velvet, I write something new. Just a lovely grand.