Nord User Forum

Just got this yesterday... very happy with it. Beautiful keys, beautiful samples. BUT... I'm feeling quite gutted as my downstairs neighbour has already complained about the tapping sound made by the Nord Grand keybed. This is after just a couple of hours using it. I'm not hammering it by any means, just playing normally. Even when I play it softly he says he can hear it coming through his ceiling.

To try to dampen the sound, I already had it positioned 3ft from the wall, secured on top of the Nord Stand, with the legs resting on top of two thick folded blankets. This in turn is on top of a rug, which is on top of a carpet, which is on top of a thick underlay. Underneath this are floorboards. I thought this was *easily* enough acoustic insulation, but turns out I was wrong... it's obviously loud enough that he felt he had to say something.

Anyone know anything else I can do? I feel if I could reduce the sound coming from the unit itself that might be better than any further acoustic dampening where the stand/legs meet the floor... I really don't want to have to give up playing the keyboard, but at the same time I don't want to be totally selfish and cause a constant thudding / tapping noise through his ceiling.

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I know there are some other threads on excessive noise from Nord keybeds, but haven't seen anything more recent... so maybe there are some new insulation products on the market I don't know about? Any other ideas much appreciated.

Might it be pedal noise that's coming through?

No, I just did some tests with him - it's definitely the keys... (unless the pedal is transmitting the key vibrations... seems unlikely).

Try using a flimsy X-stand that eats up all vibrations..?

Unfortunately I have the same problem, I thought there would be no problem playing on headphones, but my NS2 88 keys are really loud and my neighbours complained.
It's not even a matter of vibrations transferred through the floor, but simply of noise transmitted by the air. I think the Grand's action is quieter (my Kawai console piano with the same RHIII action as the Grand is definitely much better than the Stage) but anyway some noise is going to get through, and late at night in the complete silence I agree that a constant thumping noise can be maddening.

I'm afraid there's not much you can do except avoiding to play late at night.
At what time this happened? I gave myself a rule that I won't play after 10 PM (except sometime really soft stuff, like when I'm transcribing chords and melodies for songs and not really "playing"), and I haven't had any further complaint after that.

I think the physics of it would suggest it's the vibration that causes the issue, not the noise transmitted in the air... i.e. the vibration of flooring materials translate the soundwaves produced within the room... these vibrations keep translating into the next material down and so on (a bit like Chinese whispers) and sometimes can actually amplify the original sound depending on how good/awful the soundproofing of your building is.

For anyone reading who encounters the same problem: I've ordered 2X Roland "noise eater" platforms to see if they help. Expensive, but will be worth it if they work. Will report back. I'm also looking for a Sorbothane isolation disc that will support the weight of the keyboard. Has to be sorbothane according to what I've been reading (other materials aren't nearly as effective)

Will report back next week to let you know whether it works...

From your description your piano already sits on 4 layer of dampening materials, do you think there could still be so much vibration to annoy the neighbor?
And if this is the case, additional dampening would make so much of a difference?

My piano also sits on a thick drum mat on top of a thick carpet. The problem, at least in my case, is atmospheric noise, not floor vibrations.

jamino wrote: Anyone know anything else I can do?
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Any other ideas much appreciated.

Change the neighbour!

Mr_-G- wrote:

jamino wrote: Anyone know anything else I can do?
...
Any other ideas much appreciated.

Change the neighbour!

+1

A pair of these are worth a try to decouple your NG from the floor. I use the Great Gramma for my home theater subwoofer. You might be able to be able to use the smaller versions depending upon the distance between the legs on each side of the NG

https://auralex.com/content/specs/isose ... eet_v6.pdf