Jump to content


Please note: You can easily log in to MPN using your Facebook account!

How does Nord sound management work?


Recommended Posts

I've never owned a Nord keyboard, and am interested in the piano 4 or 5.

 

I'm curious about the business of downloading your own choice of sounds from their site, and how it works in practice. Do the keyboard come with a reasonable chunk of empty memory that you can fill with your choice of sounds? Or do you need to remove something to make space first every time you want to add something else? The specs say how much memory each model has, but not how much the factory sample sets take up already.

 

As per my other thread. I'm also interested in the Yamaha CP88 but slightly put off by the limited palette of sounds. The ability to have access to such a wide variety (without having your keyboard clogged up with hundreds of sounds you never use) on the Nords seems like a great advantage. Just the Project Sam strings alone hugely increase the value of the instruments.

 

But am I missing anything?

Link to comment
Share on other sites



  • Replies 22
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

I have had a number of Nord keyboards and the Sound Manager is actually really easy to use. The memory is mostly filled (not completely) with sounds from the factory. Any and all of them can be deleted if you like. When I got my Stage 3, I deleted all of the programs and many of the samples, only keeping what I needed to program the sounds I needed. When you go to the Nord Sample Library site, you can audition the sounds to see if you like them before you download and put them into the instrument. It is a very flexible approach, in my opinion, and if you need to trigger a Harley Davidson sample, you can find that somewhere and load it it with the Nord Sample Editor as well.

 

-dj

iMac i7 13.5.2

Studio One 5.5.2

Nord Stage 3

Nord Wave 2

Nektar T4

Drawmer DL 241

Focusrite ISA Two

Focusrite Clarett 8 Pre

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DJKeys has accurately summarized it. When the boards are new, all the slots are filled but lots of them you don't need or want anyway. You can audition sounds, then if you want to load them, you delete some sounds that are redundant or you know you don't want, etc. Rather than ship a board with lots of empty slots, Nord fills them up with something. You decide which ones you don't want if you find sounds you want to load in.
These are only my opinions, not supported by any actual knowledge, experience, or expertise.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never owned a Nord keyboard, and am interested in the piano 4 or 5.

 

I'm curious about the business of downloading your own choice of sounds from their site, and how it works in practice. Do the keyboard come with a reasonable chunk of empty memory that you can fill with your choice of sounds? Or do you need to remove something to make space first every time you want to add something else? The specs say how much memory each model has, but not how much the factory sample sets take up already.

 

As per my other thread. I'm also interested in the Yamaha CP88 but slightly put off by the limited palette of sounds. The ability to have access to such a wide variety (without having your keyboard clogged up with hundreds of sounds you never use) on the Nords seems like a great advantage. Just the Project Sam strings alone hugely increase the value of the instruments.

 

But am I missing anything?

 

CP88 is built like a tank. The NORD is not so much.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

CP88 is built like a tank. The NORD is not so much.

 

Haters gonna hate, LOL. Broken record here.

My 20+ years of using Nords (along with many other brands including Yamaha) suggests otherwise. I have an NS2 88 that saw nearly a decade of heavy road use until I retired it to my music room, sitting above my A101. Aside from a few battle scars on the wooden end pieces, it still looks and plays like new and never had a single issue with it.

 

CP88 is probably built like a tank, though it's pretty new without a decade+ of road use. I'd pit any of my Nords against it for durability. My Yamaha S90 (which I've owned since around 2002) is a tank, although the panel developed some paint chipping/oxidation/borderline rust from lots of use. I haven't yet seen this happen with any of my Nords.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As per my other thread. I'm also interested in the Yamaha CP88 but slightly put off by the limited palette of sounds.

I'd probably give Nord the edge on pianos, but Yamaha the edge on EPs and most other sounds... to the extent that it has them, of course. The Yamaha also has 4-zone MIDI controller functions, which at least means that you can use an iPad/iPhone to fill in the gaps on the Yamaha more easily than you could on the Nord, plus it has the pitch and mod controls. Nord has the triple pedal. But one of the biggest variables may be what you think of the actions.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks everybody. Didn't mean this as a comparison thread, but as we're there: Another possibility is a second hand Yamaha CP4, which seems to have the same action as the CP88 but a much wider range of (still very high quality) sounds.

 

If I went for a Nord it would probably have to be the Piano 5 (since what I REALLY want is a quality hammer action 73-key), which looks like being pretty expensive once it's available. I've come round to accepting the 88 form factor due to sparseness of alternatives, and the Yamahas seem to tick most of my boxes and sound superb. I was just interested in how this aspect of Nord works, and I must admit it's tempting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I went for a Nord it would probably have to be the Piano 5 (since what I REALLY want is a quality hammer action 73-key), which looks like being pretty expensive once it's available. I've come round to accepting the 88 form factor due to sparseness of alternatives
Have you tried the CP73 and found its action disappointing?

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've owned several the Yamaha CP series. Wonderful keybed action, built like a tank, good APs, great EPs and whatever else comes along sample-wise is sort of "meh for the most part. As far as sound palette (breadth and depth), the Nord is way ahead in many categories.

 

As above, the sample manager (and sample creator!) are super easy to use. One surprise bonus for me sith the NS3 is that it runs non-piano (single-layer) samples as part of its synth engine, so all the filters, envelopes and other effects apply. Maybe the samples themselves aren't exactly what you want, but you can do a lot with them.

 

Because Nord uses special read-optimized flash storage (not the same as in your familiar flash drive), loading new sounds can take noticeably longer than you might expect, especially those beefy XL piano samples. This isn't a big issue in practice, unless you sit down to audition a bunch of new piano samples, and then you really notice.

 

Nord has been diligent about investing in new sample sets, so that's a nice bonus. And there's a great user sample repository with many thousands of contributions which recently have been indexed.

 

Examples? This one band wanted me to do all the ear candy in Uptown Funk, and there's a lot: claps, shouts, slides, etc. I easily found a sample set, loaded it up and was good to go. All I had to do was remember what key to hit when. We played it live exactly once, and that was that. Down the road, another band wanted to do Copperhead Road and I was on call for a rousing bagpipe lead. I found a half-dozen different samples, picked the best one, ran it through the NS3 synth engine for some fattening and shaping, and the result was good enough to impress everyone.

 

That being said, I have yet to find awesome solo brass/sax samples.

 

Not everyone needs this in a keyboard, and would be quite happy with whatever stock sounds come built-in. But I find it very useful.

Want to make your band better?  Check out "A Guide To Starting (Or Improving!) Your Own Local Band"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That being said, I have yet to find awesome solo brass/sax samples.

 

To be fair, I have yet to find awesome solo brass/sax samples in ANY HARDWARE INSTRUMENT EVER INVENTED.

 

That's good to know. I stopped looking at hardware solo brass/sax once I came across the SWAM software instruments.

Want to make your band better?  Check out "A Guide To Starting (Or Improving!) Your Own Local Band"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do Nord often update their sample libraries?

I wouldn"t mind having some organ samples in a Nord Piano.

The schedule is unpredictable, but I wouldn't expect organ samples. There are some around, but nothing is very good... for one thing, there's no Leslie effect in the Nord Piano. (CP88/73 beats it there.)

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chuck - I am getting samples dialed in quite a bit better on the Wave 2 than on my Stage 3 Compact in the areas of horns, strings, flutes and guitars. There's just more "there" there for shaping the samples.

 

Interesting, I played with a reggae band this week using the Stage 3 and I have decided that I am going to switch to the Wave 2 as my "bread and butter" board for playing modern reggae. It's the first thing that has come up where I would leave the Stage home for rehearsals and just put the Wave 2 in my car. I can easily cover my reggae piano needs with a single velocity level and the old school sounds like a Korg M1 piano work well here and so do the "cheesy" house organs fitting in well instead of full blown Hammond B3.

Yamaha U1 Upright, Roland Fantom 8, Nord Stage 4 HA73, Nord Wave 2, Korg Nautilus 73, Viscount Legend Live, Lots of Mainstage/VST Libraries

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jeff -- that's good to know. It certainly looks that way on paper, now confirmed by real world use :)

 

My current target platform for those hard-to-emulate realistic horns, strings and woodwinds is iOS. In particular, SWAM is in the process of bringing their software instruments over from MacOS, and they're all beauties. SWAM Trumpet is out now, Violins is in beta, and right after that their sax section is supposed to be out. I have yet to find any hardware device that matches their expressiveness.

 

That being said, the iPad is a fragile gigging platform. If that doesn't work out, I'll be in the market for a Plan B, and a nifty Wave 2 might do the trick.

Want to make your band better?  Check out "A Guide To Starting (Or Improving!) Your Own Local Band"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing to note about the Nord sample library is that all of the samples are single-layered and their dynamics can only really be controlled using a velocity controlled envelop for the amp and filter. This is different compared to something like a Montage 8 which will have quite a few multi-layered samples that have discrete samples at specific velocity levels to more closely simulate playing a guitar, for example, softly versus aggresively.

 

I own a Piano 4 and a Nord Grand. I enjoy both and I don't find the single-layer samples to be a problem as they impart their own creative sound to the mix.

 

The CP88 will not get you multi-layered samples (as far as I know). So if that's important to you, go with something like a Montage 8.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My current target platform for those hard-to-emulate realistic horns, strings and woodwinds is iOS. In particular, SWAM is in the process of bringing their software instruments over from MacOS, and they're all beauties. SWAM Trumpet is out now, Violins is in beta, and right after that their sax section is supposed to be out. I have yet to find any hardware device that matches their expressiveness.

though I am not sure how much of that expressiveness you'll acheive driving them, from example, a Nord Stage 3. From their product description:

IMPORTANT: If you choose to play using an external controller, please note that a controller with the ability to continuously control the expression (like an expression pedal, breath controller, MPE device, wind controller, â¦) is required. The same way a real brass instrument needs air, SWAM Trumpet needs something to control its expressivity. SWAM instruments do not work with just note-on velocity.

-----

The CP88 will not get you multi-layered samples (as far as I know). So if that's important to you, go with something like a Montage 8.

I would expect the CP88 would have multi-layered samples... I think the supplemental (i.e. non-piano) sounds are basically brought over from their other AWM models (like Montage). Most of those "legacy" sounds are not very big to begin with, I doubt it would be worth the effort to strip layers out of them.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do Nord often update their sample libraries?

I wouldn"t mind having some organ samples in a Nord Piano.

The schedule is unpredictable, but I wouldn't expect organ samples. There are some around, but nothing is very good... for one thing, there's no Leslie effect in the Nord Piano. (CP88/73 beats it there.)

Didn"t know the CP88 had a Leslie. Then again, if it"s the same as the one in the YC88, it"s not very good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didn"t know the CP88 had a Leslie. Then again, if it"s the same as the one in the YC88, it"s not very good.

It's probably the same as (or at least similar to) what's in the Montage/MODX/MotifXF,MOXF/etc. and the "general effect" variant that's in the YC (and definitely not the "main" one that people usually talk about, though as Woody's video showed, that old "ordinary" one is in some ways better than their new fancy one, depending on what attributes you focus on). The minimal organ of the CP88 will exceed anything you can do on a Nord Piano in this respect.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

AnotherScott: you're right. I can use Nord controls for basic expressivity, but to really get into the trumpet (for example) you ought to have at least an X/Y/Z midi controller. I use my iPhone 8 attached via velcro, with a bluetooth connection (see previous thread). A couple hours of fooling around gets you an expressive horn solo that could fool most people.

 

I think it's an unfair comparison with normal hardware keyboard sample, even multi-layer ones. The modelling is that good.

Want to make your band better?  Check out "A Guide To Starting (Or Improving!) Your Own Local Band"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...