Nord User Forum

I just purchased a Stage 3 compact and have watched many demo videos for the piano sounds on this keyboard. For some reason the piano sounds much better in the demos than my board does. Is there some trick to get the sound right? Do I need to turn on the reverb and effects? I would've thought that stock sounds would be perfect already. I'm going through a guitar amp. Would that be the reason?

Indeed a guitar amp is one of the worst way to amplify any keyboard, not just the Nord Stage and the Royal Grand 3D piano sample set is optimized for stereo headphones btw (see notes on its page on Nord website)

Dcollora wrote:I just purchased a Stage 3 compact and have watched many demo videos for the piano sounds on this keyboard. For some reason the piano sounds much better in the demos than my board does. Is there some trick to get the sound right? Do I need to turn on the reverb and effects? I would've thought that stock sounds would be perfect already. I'm going through a guitar amp. Would that be the reason?

Piano sounds from any keyboard are not optimal through a guitar amp. Preferably in stereo through a keyboard amp, clean powered speakers like QSC Kx or Mackie, etc. or headphones/IEMs.

There is always an adjustment of dynamics and velocity for each keyboard as well. I have weighted 88 boards like the NS2 and feel like the pianos work better from that based on the quality of the action. Though I am perfectly happy with my NS3 Compact piano experience after getting used to it, plus it's a lot easier to move.

Guitar amps suck for acoustic keyboard sounds. Electric Guitar sounds are based largely on distortion; acoustic piano sounds are not. Acoustic piano also uses an incredibly wide frequency range in its notes. And to produce accurate sounding transients, such as the sharp attack of a piano note when the key is struck with higher force, you need excellent frequency response to reproduce that sound. A Fender Rhodes EP sound (such as the Nefertiti sound available on your Stage 3) might sound ok thru a guitar amp.

Then there is the stereo/mono issue. Most Nord-provided acoustic piano sounds work much better in stereo. I am one of the "mono minority" on this board, in that I use a single speaker for my amplification, and I have no interest in complicating my life by adding a second speaker and using stereo amplification for my Nord in live gigs. IMO most of the acoustic piano sounds provided by Nord do not sound right when used with a single speaker. It's not merely that they are not "optimum"; they actually have something wrong with them - the octave immediately below middle C will sound squirrely. There are some recent upright piano sounds in Nord's AP sound library that do not have this problem, but their low end is too weak for my taste.

Even though the Royal Grand 3D was designed for use with headphones, it is the best sounding AP sound for single speaker usage (mono) which is available to me on my old Electro 3. It really sounds wonderful to me, using my single speaker amplification setup (I have an Electrovoice zx-a1). Since you have the newer Stage 3, you can use the Royal Grand 3D or the "White Grand", which is supposed to be even better, and has been reported by others to work well in single speaker mode. (The White Grand AP sound is not compatible with older Nord boards such as the Electro 3 and Electro 4). While I have never tried it, I would guess that the "White Grand" is the best Nord AP sound available to you for use with a single speaker.

My recommendation is that you get at least one good powered speaker, such as a QSC model or an Electrovoice zx-a1. As a general rule, avoid most things that are called "keyboard amps" - while they will be better than a guitar amp for AP sounds, most of the better quality amplification options today for AP sounds are called "powered speakers".

Welcome to the forum!

As stated, the problem is that guitar amps are usually part of the sound CREATION, and not aimed at sound REPRODUCTION.

Unless used specifically for effect, amps connected to keyboards are used to reproduce a finished sound as best possible. Guitar amps are built to shape, distort, and otherwise affect the sound in desirable ways.

Play those online videos through your guitar amp, I bet you're comparably disappointed.

Since we've run out of TP here in the States, I've been wiping my bottom with a guitar amp and it REALLY HURTS. Could it be the guitar amp?

(Please be gentle...)

sus_4 wrote:Since we've run out of TP here in the States, I've been wiping my bottom with a guitar amp and it REALLY HURTS. Could it be the guitar amp?

(Please be gentle...)

sus_4 wrote:Since we've run out of TP here in the States, I've been wiping my bottom with a guitar amp and it REALLY HURTS. Could it be the guitar amp?

(Please be gentle...)

You should get an old Kustom TnR amp.
That will solve Your problem.

sus_4 wrote:Since we've run out of TP here in the States, I've been wiping my bottom with a guitar amp and it REALLY HURTS. Could it be the guitar amp?

(Please be gentle...)

Well... if it is a tweed-covered model it could be, tolex should work a little better