Nord User Forum

I've played piano since I was 6 and am very particular about touch/feel. I have a sense that The Nord Grand has a keyboard that feels like a real piano and that the piano sounds are realistic (they sound like an acoustic piano).

First, are those valid assumptions

Second, I am also interested in the Piano 5 because you can layer 4 sounds at once...Does the Piano 5 keyboard feel real (similar to The Nord Grand) or is it squishy? Also are the sounds (like piano) realistic...are they the same as the Grand or do they sound different?

I'd like to purchase one of these so I'm hoping folks can give me feedback...thank you!

Welcome to the NUF!

The piano sounds are essentially the same on the NP5 and the NG.

They do have a quite different feel. The NG has, as you say, a more piano like feel, but the NP5 isn't bad. I like playing both.

The NP5 is easier to drag around and offers a bit more options for layering sounds than do the NG. The NG looks pretty cool in your living room, though

When you ask if they feel "real", that is not just a simple question about the keybed. No two pianos are equal, so if you'd be playing my grand, you may not like it even if it's very "real" And also, it is about the entire experience, which includes listening to the sound coming from multiple places on a real piano, perhaps feeling the vibrations from the low end strings, the smell of the wood, etc. You don't get that with any electric piano apart from perhaps the silent acoustics. But the Nord boards generally offer a really good connection from your playing the keys until you hear the sound.

So playing an electric piano is different, but it is something you can adjust to and even enjoy a lot! I've given up on the quest for a perfect keybed; I'm happy with a very good one (like you generally find in the Nords) and find that I quickly adjust to any particular model.

Nord pianos sounds are really good, and you can select many different models (grands and uprights), so you're not stuck to one model only. You also don't need to have it serviced by a piano technician every 3 months to keep it in tune. And you don't need to maintain the right humidity to avoid cracks in the soundboard, etc...

So there are pros and cons

Keyboard actions (keybeds) are a very subjective matter and I recommend testing both instruments yourself in advance if at all possible.

If the Nord Grand had the wooden Grand Feel action from Kawai, the case would be crystal clear, but the modified plastic keyboard from the ES8 is not to everyone's liking either.
I liked the keybed of the Piano 5 better than the Grand. The Kawai keybed was a bit " bouncy" for my taste.

Of course, both instruments are able to load the same piano samples from Nord's library and therefore they can sound basically identical.
The piano 5 is the newer instrument (which also handles the newer 4.0 synth sample library) and it offers more for the money (more memory for piano and synth samples, 2 x 2 layers).

Nordlicht wrote:Keyboard actions (keybeds) are a very subjective matter and I recommend testing both instruments yourself in advance if at all possible.

If the Nord Grand had the wooden Grand Feel action from Kawai, the case would be crystal clear, but the modified plastic keyboard from the ES8 is not to everyone's liking either.
I liked the keybed of the Piano 5 better than the Grand. The Kawai keybed was a bit " bouncy" for my taste.

Of course, both instruments are able to load the same piano samples from Nord's library and therefore they can sound basically identical.
The piano 5 is the newer instrument (which also handles the newer 4.0 synth sample library) and it offers more for the money (more memory for piano and synth samples, 2 x 2 layers).

Thank you so much for your feedback...it really helps!

Thank you both for your feedback...it truly helps

Nordlicht wrote:Keyboard actions (keybeds) are a very subjective matter and I recommend testing both instruments yourself in advance if at all possible.

If the Nord Grand had the wooden Grand Feel action from Kawai, the case would be crystal clear, but the modified plastic keyboard from the ES8 is not to everyone's liking either.

This. If you have a chance, find a place where you can play them before buying. Anyone who has years of experience with pianos will form a very definite opinion with the keys under their hands.

The other points in the posts above are also all valid. In the end, only you can decide.

Thank you

I meant to say that it is hard to find a place that has the high end pianos...when I've asked they all say they are to expensive to carry so they only special order.

kmcw53 wrote:I meant to say that it is hard to find a place that has the high end pianos...when I've asked they all say they are to expensive to carry so they only special order.

Perhaps you will find here in this forum or in one of the Nord Facebook groups someone with a Grand or Piano 5 who lives near you. Then you would have the opportunity to play at least one or the other before a purchase.

I'm a piano player - always have been playing an upright, never a grand. The NP5 is the one that I was more familiar with right from the beginning. The Grand may be more sensitive, but the action is too sensitive (too light) to me - Nordlicht calls it 'bouncy'. To my feeling, the Grand is a diva. Only concerning the key action.

As far as the sound generation is concerned, the NP5 is the more powerful and elaborated anyway. Not only in number of engines, but also concerning effects.

My 2 cents from testing both for an hour or so.