Nord User Forum

Hi,

I have both NP3 and NP4.

As an additional piano I use Syntoghy Italian Grand and Spectrasonics Keyscape.

The velocity curve on the NP's are weird. It doesn't seem to fill the whole spectrum. I don't know how to put it.

If I run my Yamaha CP4 the full velocity curve is there, the Keyscape grand piano plays like a charm.
Connecting the NP's its muddy and I miss the last procent of dynamics.
(Of course I know you can tweak the velocity curve in the respective plugins, but my issue goes beyond that)

Can somebody confirm this midi issue with the NP? Is it going to be corrected?

From when I've tested this earlier, the NP4 generate the full range of MIDI values. You could check with a MIDI Monitor of some kind if you are able to produce all values.

Having said that, velocity curves between different makes of pianos don't always work well. I used to play my NE3 via Yamaha or Roland weighted keyboards, and I never found a good velocity curve for this either. On the NS3, there is an option to tweak the velocity scaling of MIDI notes sent, but that option isn't available on the NP4 -- so you may have to tweak the scaling on the receiving end.

One thing that I've discovered on my NP3 is that it the MIDI-velocity is only based on 2 sensors. So the virtual hammer action doesn't work on MIDI. That makes the feel a little bit different if you play piano sound from a computer...

It's possible to tweak on the receiving end, but I have decided to move the NP4 to only be used on Live Solo Piano stuff and for recordings with midi with NP4 as sound generator. It is a great product. (I Actually recorded a whole solo piano album with the nord piano Bösendorf patch with a Yamaha N3 as a master keyboard:-)

For the issue of sort of bad dynamics on with NP4 as a master keyboard for plugin pianos, I have ordered a Komplete Kontrol S88

Bandinabox wrote:It's possible to tweak on the receiving end, but I have decided to move the NP4 to only be used on Live Solo Piano stuff and for recordings with midi with NP4 as sound generator. It is a great product. (I Actually recorded a whole solo piano album with the nord piano Bösendorf patch with a Yamaha N3 as a master keyboard:-)

For the issue of sort of bad dynamics on with NP4 as a master keyboard for plugin pianos, I have ordered a Komplete Kontrol S88

I am not sure teh Komplete Knotrol S88 is the best option for that purpose, its weight tells me taht it uses most likely a Fatar TP100 (what you find on NOrd HP products)

I'd rather get a Kawai VPC1 or a Studiologic SL88 Grand for playing Virtual Pianos (both with triple sensor, the latter btw has the same TP40 keybed as the NP4 but in its wooden and graded version TP/40WOOD)

For controlling piano sounds (both Nord patches and virtual pianos) a VPC1 is hard to beat - it not only has beautiful keys but also allows to select and adjust velocity curves.

I can confirm that my NP3 only send velocities between 1-120 over midi. The highest 120-127 is impossible. This is also confirmed by Nord over a year ago. Still haven’t seen a fix for this in an os update sadly.