Nord User Forum

I'm interested in purchasing a digital piano and I was just about to pull the trigger on a Roland RD700-NX when I heard about the Nord Piano 2. I realize that it's new and just now starting to arrive in stock so I know there might not be a lot of people who have hands-on experience with it yet. But if you do, or you have experience with the original NP, could you please compare the Nord pianos to the RD700-NX? I'm specifically looking for some info regarding:

- Quality of sound (AP is the most important to me but I'd like some decent EPs and maybe a few synths)
- Feel of the keybed (I thought the RD700-NX keybed was a little bit stiff and actually preferred the feel of the Yamaha CP5)
- Quality of construction
- Polyphony (I read that the Nord APs only have 40 notes (?!?) but I think I must be misunderstanding that because it seems so much less than the advertised 128 note polyphony of competing products from Roland, Yamaha, etc.)

I live in the Washington, DC area and I'm having a somewhat difficult time finding dealers who carry Nord so I have very little knowledge of their products. Thanks very much for any feedback you can give me!

I'm a showband pianist on cruise ships and I've been playing Roland RD700-XX for some years now. On my last contract, they actually had the RD700-NX and I played it for 4+ months.
I also own a NP88 for about a year now, so I'll try to answer your questions:

- The AP sound terrible on the Roland. There's slight differences in timbre between the older models and the NX but it pretty much boils down to they didn't really do much to improve the sound over the years. The NP88 blows the Roland away when it comes to sound. Same thing goes for the EPs on the Roland; they are the same as they were 1000 years ago. Very unrealistic and just poor sounding.

- Most people would prefer the Roland's keybed. I myself played the Roland first and then the NP88 and I'd have to disagree. The NP88 keys are LOUD and they make these really scary noises that sound like the keys are about to break, but they won't. And when you start playing it amplified, and with other people, you quickly forget about the noises and concentrate on the sound. The action fits me perfectly as a pianist. The keys are a little lighter than on a grand but - in my humble opinion - much better than the Roland's.

- Build quality is amazing with Nords. They pride themselves with the label "Handmade in Stockholm, Sweden" as Apple prides themselves with the "Designed in California" label. I've been gigging the NP88 for almost a year now - which means taking the legs on and off (tilting the piano to do so), shoving the softcase in whatever transportation I could find or afford, as well as touring when every single day I had to do and redo my setup on stage. Build quality is top notch!

- As far as polyphony, I never quite understood the way Nord advertise this. What's the real number? But when I play, if I can hit a low note and slide my hand all over the piano with the pedal down and don't hear any cut off notes, that's plenty enough for me. I have never encountered a situation where I wish the NP had more notes poly.

As a conclusion, I'd personally go with the NP88, which I did. I had 5 years on ships playing mostly Roland RDs and when it came down to buying an instrument I'd use for my own music, I went for the NP88. But obviously it would help immensely if you could find a place to go and sit down at the NP and play it for yourself.

Hope this helps, if you have any other questions, please let me know!

Cheers!

I'll just add a few things. I like the 700NX's action. I think it connects well with their piano sounds. I think the EPs are basically un-useable though.

I don't know if this is meant to be stationary for the home or more portable for gigs but the Roland is pretty heavy. It's the same weight has my CP5 (55lbs) but without the lip on the front of the Yamaha that makes lifting and carrying it, from say the keyboard stand to the case, easier. Basically the weight distribution on the Roland makes it more difficult to maneuver around.

I was just playing the 700NX in the store and found some glaring deficiencies in the Super Natural piano sound of the main *Concert Grand*. The Ab & A a +5 and 6th above middle C have an ugly metallic quality to the sound if you hit them too hard on playing on an accent. I went into tone edit and was not able fix this without greatly altering the tone (for the worse) of the Concert Grand. Mysteriously this particular sound did not occur on the other two SN pianos-Studio and Brilliant. Personally that abrupt noise killed it for me- I couldn't live with that.

I've always had problems with Roland pianos cutting through over bass and drums out live in the past. Can't say the 700NX will be the same since I don't have any experience with it but I did have the 700GX for about a month and the sound was nice while you were playing by yourself but when the band stared playing the 700GX disappeared and was too transparent. And this was jazz quartet not a louder volume rock context.

All of these DPs are a compromise in one way or another. Basically you have to pick your poison if your are a serious pianist coming more from an acoustic piano background. I think the two best are the Nord and the CP5.

I spent some time deciding between the NP88 and the RD700NX. The sounds of the NP sold me. If you want to see the inside of the RD700NX check this out:

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthre ... 700NX.html

Roland mounts the keybed assembly on particle board (look at the pics carefully), which seems less durable. It may offer the advantage of reduced acoustic transmission of the key mechanism - better damping. To date, I haven't found the teardown pics of the Nord Piano.

Read this also:

http://www.norduserforum.com/nord-piano ... t2287.html

Good luck with your decision.

- dr p

Cee & Dave,

Many thanks to both of you for taking the time to share your experiences! I really appreciate it. That is exactly the type of information I was hoping to find.


Cee - if I could, I'd like to ask you to about something you said:

"The NP88 keys are LOUD and they make these really scary noises that sound like the keys are about to break, but they won't."

That sounds scary! How loud are we talking about? I'll only be playing at home and at the moment, I'll almost always be using headphones (Denon AH-D7000 or Ultrasone Pro 900) because more often than not, I only have time to play in the evening after my kids are asleep. Would the sounds from the Nord keybed be tolerable in that situation?

Thanks again!

drparticle - thank you for the information, as well! I think you just answered my question back to Cee about the noise of the keybed. I'm leaning towards the NP2 at this point but I sure wish I could find one locally to hear this noise before I spend $2700+ for it. I wonder if keybed noise was a common complaint with the NP and something they made an attempt to address in the NP2?

As I've said in another post, and I'll try to restate here:

The keybed noise seemed a problem on all of the digi pianos I tested. It even bugged me a little when I 1st got the NP set up in my studio. Within one week of playing the NP, the keybed noise didn't bother me, and I VERY MUCH like the piano sounds and playability.

Have fun!!

- dr p

bmt22033 wrote:drparticle - thank you for the information, as well! I think you just answered my question back to Cee about the noise of the keybed. I'm leaning towards the NP2 at this point but I sure wish I could find one locally to hear this noise before I spend $2700+ for it. I wonder if keybed noise was a common complaint with the NP and something they made an attempt to address in the NP2?

bmt22033-check your pms..

Well, if you're going to play with headphones on, in the same room your kids are sleeping in, you'll wake them up for sure.

But the overall noise depends, of course, on how hard you hit as well... There's no real way to explain how loud the keys are, until you try them yourself.

I personally don't find this to be a deal-breaker.

I had about ten or more years period of using Rolands (RD series) before I started to use Nords. I have very similar feelings about those two brands like others here: Nord is a clear winner of sound but it has annoying keybed noise. Touch is little light too and it really should have more chances to adjust its velocity response. Roland has quite nice touch but sound is problematic especially on stage. It can be very muddy and it's difficult or even impossible to equalize it more clear and same time not make it "unnatural" or digital. What I really liked with Nord was that there was no need put any EQ to it. For example Bright Grand will cut through mix in every acoustic situation for sure.

One more thing with Roland rd 700GX: I had difficulties with fast repetitions. Maybe action was too slow. I think Nord is better with that. On the other hand, I don't know if this is improved in NX model, which btw uses same keybed that is in their V-piano.




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