Choice: To buy Stage 4 88 to have ”more keys” & splits, OR the 73 SW to have silent action for night practicing?

[Tinkle]

Being a music loving geezer recovering from a stroke, and having a semi-paralysed left hand, I’ve begun to study organ / piano playing.

I love Bach, ”ep jazz”, easy classical piano pieces, ragtime, progressive rock.

I’m an ex-drummer of a brass band / classical orch., but new to kbds, though I have played them alone by the ear on and off, badly for decades, on a ac. piano & a flimsy synth.

Now I intend to invest into learning kbds hobby playing properly, as an enjoyable physical therapy for my stroke. Some money came to my way, and I want to get an instrument to last me till I’ll eventually croak.

Musicwise either Stage 4 / 88 or 73 semiweighted action would suit me just fine, although organ/synth is what I play a lot more than piano.

BUT:

All my life I’ve been a completely NOCTURNAL being, and although I live in a block of flats, I would do 95% of my playing bet ween 11 pm and 5 am AT NIGHT, with headphones, obviously. Thus the more silent semiweightef action would be a no-brainer.

Again, but:

Due to my injured left hand I am very clumsy in playing the left hand parts, and unable to even passably use the octave jump button, hence I easily ”keep running out of base keys” with non-88 kbds. Also, using split kbd areas of just a few keys is a no-no for me: to be able to use a split I need it to be a good chunk of the kbd.

So I’m asking your views, experiences on the noisiness of the Stage 4 88 HA keyboard action , regarding the chance of pestering of my neighbours downstairs and also those dwelling behind the wall. (The concrete building I live in was built in the 80’s, build quality ok, but no medieval castle stone walls.)

AND I’m asking those of you having the 73 key Stage 4 versions - while perhaps •not• being very dextrous in using ”thin kbd split slices” - are 73 keys enough for you?

And back to the 88-key version problem:

How much does ”dampening” the legs” of the 88 HA kbd from vibrations help with key noises from travelling to downstairs?

What to kill the vibrations with?

How easily might the key clicks (of, say, boogie-woogie) transfer to my behind-the-wall neighbour?

I have read several postings about the model differences in reddit and in here, but I’d welcome as many tales as possible, of your experiences, on balancing the too much noise / not enough keys issue.

There’s not much of a need for me to shlep the keyboard around, so the weight is not a decisive factor.

[glombi]

Hi!

I'm not sure if I got your questions right:

1. Yes, I use NS 4 73 in a cover band. I get along regarding splits. In rare cases i would prefer 88 keys, but I have to carry it around a lot...

2. The NS 4 88 and 73 key beds are technically identical, other than with NS 3. So noise wise there should be no difference. I practice a lot at night with headphones. No complaints from neighbours downstairs so far. No extra precautions taken...

Regards,
glombi

[Tinkle]

Hi,

Perhaps I was not clear: I am not pondering between Stage4 88 HA and 73 key HA, but between Stage4 88 HA vs. 73 SEMIWEIGHT.

— And between those latter two models there ought to be a clear difference in the key sounds - a heavy ”chukish” sound in HA, vs. a softer, a bit synth-like keysound in semiweight.

I base those sound guesstimates on Yamaha moxf HA vs. semiseight Yamahas. Unfortunately I’m not able to test the two action versions of Nord Stage 4’s for quite a while yet.

[cphollis]

Hi, and welcome to the forum! Long time Nord player here, going back to the Electro 2.

Although you'll see the occasional comment about keybed noise on these forums, not many people seem to notice it in practice. I don't.

I play a fully weighted NP5 73 (same type of keybed as the NS4 88) and, yeah, it's a mechanical keybed, but its self-produced noise is minimal. I also play an unweighted NS4 73 Compact, and it too makes some keybed noise, also minimal.

My recommendation -- given your situation -- would be the the NS4 73 Compact. You don't need a lot of hand strength to play it, the keybed action is suitable for a wide range of styles, and there's a big universe of sonic potential to explore for many years as I'm doing with mine.

Start with a decent pair of open-backed headphones and you'll be quiet as a mouse for the neighbors and roommates.

[Tinkle]

Hi, cphollis,

Thank you for your insight. I’m sure the less massive compact has many benefits, in my use, over the Panzerwagen-like HA88.

When I played Yamaha moxf 88 HA, the hammering of the keys was like drumming a tabletop or a wooden bench with your palms. Guaranteed to carry downstairs via the keyboard stand’s legs, although I had them in rubber-bottomed and foam-padded ”cups”.