Nord User Forum

cphollis wrote: 04 Apr 2025, 01:50 I experience mine through headphones, IEMs, room speakers, studio monitors, personal stage amps as well as big PA systems. Nords aren't exactly cheap, so I stick to better quality gear.

The pianos also record and reproduce well for the stuff I do. If someone is really into high-def piano samples, they should be considering software instruments.

Other things to keep in mind? A real weighted controller will improve the "sound" of piano voices vs. the unweighted NS4C keybed you mention. You might want to try using your P515 as a midi controller -- you should notice a big difference.

Also, unless you are standing out in the audience, you won't really have a good idea of how you sound through a pair of Bose S1 Pros as they're not ideal for near-field monitoring. Properly set up, I think they sound pretty good for what they are.

maximus wrote: 06 Apr 2025, 00:11
Not sure I understand how P515 can improve the sound output of the Nord. Please elaborate a bit.
I tweaked a bit the S1 pro and sound much better, but they do cut off the lowe freq possibilities of the stage, around 62Hz I think, and high 17khz, so far from 20Hz-20khz. Still a good option since I had them already. Will try the L1 Pro 8, should be much better.

Thanks for your comments!

cphollis wrote: 06 Apr 2025, 03:17

maximus wrote: 06 Apr 2025, 00:11
Not sure I understand how P515 can improve the sound output of the Nord. Please elaborate a bit.
I tweaked a bit the S1 pro and sound much better, but they do cut off the lowe freq possibilities of the stage, around 62Hz I think, and high 17khz, so far from 20Hz-20khz. Still a good option since I had them already. Will try the L1 Pro 8, should be much better.

Thanks for your comments!

Unless you've trained yourself, it's quite difficult to get a smooth, rich acoustic piano sound on an unweighted keybed -- it just doesn't sound right. Using a weighted keybed controller improves the situation considerably.

The Bose S1 Pro has an artificially boosted bass response between 100-120 Hz which can make pianos sound dark and tubby. I would EQ maybe -10dB out of this range. The rest of the frequency response curve is flat enough.

FZiegler wrote: 06 Apr 2025, 01:11 Of course, the NS4C has a triple sensor action. Nevertheless, you don't have a hammer action available nor a hammer action feel. That way, controlling velocity is far from what you should be used to. Just connect your P-515 (if you still have it) to the MIDI port of the NS4C and use the key action of the P-515 to control the NS4C sounds. It will improve your piano playing experience a lot.

You may see that inappropriate sounding of the piano voices has a lot to do with the unusual, organ-centered waterfall key action of the NS4C.

cphollis wrote: 06 Apr 2025, 13:46 On your NS4, there's a full parametric equalizer for each section. Set the midrange sweep to 110Hz and the filter to -10dB -- it should sound miles better. I like a little sparkle, so I'd use the "bright" filter setting on APs with that speaker.

maximus wrote: 09 Apr 2025, 11:55

cphollis wrote: 06 Apr 2025, 13:46 On your NS4, there's a full parametric equalizer for each section. Set the midrange sweep to 110Hz and the filter to -10dB -- it should sound miles better. I like a little sparkle, so I'd use the "bright" filter setting on APs with that speaker.

Thank you ,are you talking about the the EQ knobs under AMP/SIM EQ panel? I assume those settings affect all sections turned ON? One thing I noticed is the keys sound differently if I hit them soft or hard, assume that's due to the velocity response, is there a best setting to use here?
Many thanks!