CyberGene

I was gonna ask the same question. I also have a CP88 that I love but it's too heavy for occasional jams and was wondering if I should downgrade to a more portable alternative such as CP73, Numa X 73. Or keep the CP88 and just buy something very cheap in addition, hence Numa Compact 2 or 2X. BTW, any other difference between the 2 and 2x besides the added organ engine?

That’s correct only to a certain degree and is why I made my comment indeed. I still believe dismissing a rock song which is fairly accessible, through some jazz terms is a bit snobbish but I see you’re being offended and I apologize. I may be wrong about your intent but when I made my comment I was sure it was rooted in the jazz mentality. Again, I also see why such a direct attack isn’t appropriate. Maybe it’s because I’m a fan of Toto and would prefer if people who dislike them, dislike them in the context of this style of music, and not using implicit or explicit references to other genres or music theory devices that have nothing to do with Toto. P.S. When I’m criticizing jazz elitism, I’m criticizing myself too. That’s what I used to be, a jazz elitist. And I’ve seen that in so many people around me. But I had no right to extrapolate that to people I don’t know, in this case to you. Apologies again. ✌️

OK, reading it like this, I realize how I messed up the tenses (I'm not a native Englilsh-speaker) 🤣 That should read: [if Yamaha implemented what I suggested] one COULD basically recreate [to a certain degree] a Nord Stage with a YC and an iPad. Not sure how that grammar stuff is called, but it's conditional thing and the condition is not yet fulfilled 😀 I mean, you can't right now recreate sh*t because external zone on the YC is just too awkward and requires a lot of menu diving 😕

I didn't test the USB-audio with an iPad while I had mine. How's the latency? Can you control a snappy instrument with fast attack (e.g. an organ) on the iPad through the USB Audio/MIDI interlink without perceptible latency? Also, I really forgot how the external MIDI zone implementation was but can you easily (I mean with as little menu diving as possible) set an external zone to be on the left/right split as used by the internal zones? Or, in other words, once you have an iPad connected, can you treat the external zone as an internal seamlessly, without having to go to special menus, dial in note ranges, octave settings, volume, etc.?

The price is indeed hard to swallow but that's because there's no real competition. The closest thing is Yamaha YC-series but these are more in the Electro-category. If Yamaha implemented slightly better external zone implementation (currently it require menu diving) with direct control for split point, octave settings and volume of the external zone (and I have provided a detailed suggestion for firmware update on their page), one can basically recreate a Stage with a YC and an iPad.

Yes, I had issue with the piano tones exactly in the bass region, and especially the more quiet dynamics that sounded almost like another instrument and not a piano.

That's the biggest disadvantage to me. Although it can be argued how important it is for an instrument that already has all that is needed in terms of sounds but for me it would be the decisive factor to just sell my CP88 and two synths (Hydrasynth and Take 5) and replace them with a Nord Stage (and a Macbook where I run drum loops and additional synths/fx) which would admittedly offer everything in one board.

I also don’t get what you mean. It’s a very energetic song with a catchy melody. Do you specifically listen for stuff like ii-V-I to be able to determine a tonal center or something? I guess too much jazz can twist our perception 😀 Just try to listen to it without analyzing it.

This chart measures the weight needed for the key to start producing sound. It can be argued this is a totally useless comparison. Even if it measured actual downweight (as understood by piano technicians), it would still be rather useless since downweight can be regulated through the use of added lead counterweights but that would only affect pianissimos. For anything above pianissimos it's the inertia of the key that matters and it's not easily measurable. For instance, imagine the hammer was 1 ton, way too heavy, right? Now, you add enough lead counterweights in front of the key and bring the downweight down to the standard 50g. But is it playable? Well, good luck moving quickly 2 tons of inertia 😉 I think whoever brought that table did mostly introduce a lot of misunderstanding and confusion for years to come with people referring to it as a bible of piano feel while it means almost absolutely nothing. Just some table with numbers and nothing else.

I'm not familiar with the Nord interface and terminology but form the pictures it seems the synth engine can have three separate instances? Like three separate synth voices simultaneously, is that correct? But there are also a lot of potentiometers on the synth panel and I simply can't see how that will work with three simultaneous synth voices on the same panel. Unless I'm missing something. You switch to a voice and you have no idea about current values since the potentiometers stay at the values from the previous instance (or even worse from a previous patch). I guess you can select whether to use jump/match strategy but it's too awkward to switch between the three instances/voices and dealing with the discrepancy all the time, it kind of defeats the purpose of what Nords are about: easy to use and direct interface. Why not use encoders with LED rings?

@Adan pretty spot on observations IMO. Although I was initially disappointed with the Numa X Piano 88 and returned it, I realize I had too high expectations. I see myself getting the 73-key version for portability, size and weight. However I still have some objections with the piano sounds that all suffered from some extreme dull, thin and synthetic character and I can hear that in any single demo, both the original sounds and the newly added ones. And I don't see any firmware efforts in improving that, unfortunately 😕

There's no contradiction, since your statistics are not a representative sampling among all women but just among keyboard players. If one has chosen to be a keyboard player in the first place, she's already aware she has to deal with synths/workstations/software that require a fair bit of geekiness, programming and all the other complexities surrounding us keyboardists. Statistically you can't state women are equally interested in equipment as men because 100% of your guests are implicitly interested in equipment already, or in other words they are "preselected". It's like asking women on the female soccer team whether they like soccer and then generalize about all women 😉 A real study would be to to start with all the female musicians and then see which one of them are those that deal with music instruments that require technical understanding, frequent upgrades, programming, digging into user manuals, forums, etc. (I guess guitarists and keyboardists are the two main subgroups).

I also discovered about Theo Katzman (and Vulfpeck) from this thread, thanks! But I’ve had an odd experience that I’ve also had with other artists in the past too. Very impressed in the beginning and so happy to have found a bunch of great new music only to forget completely about it after a week with zero interest to listen to it again 😕 I’m trying to understand why that happens though. Might be wrong but I think it may have something to do with the music being too well crafted to give the impression it’s not too well crafted, if that makes any sense 😀

There are certainly some exceptions. But generally men (not all of them of course) tend to be more interested in gadgetry and equipment than women, being it photography, music, etc. And I actually think being obsessed with equipment rather than music itself is kind of silly, it's something I fall victim for way too often and I would prefer if I spent more time playing rather than tinkering with my synths or researching what newer toy to buy... My wife makes better pictures with her iPhone than I can do with my mirrorless camera despite me being able to talk about exposure, ISO, dynamic range and all that BS all day long while she just has better artistic eye than me 😀 So, I mean no disrespect towards women when I say most of them are not interested in equipment. Quite on the contrary, I think this super obsessiveness about equipment which is often seen in forums like this one and is more typical of men, is the one that stands out as a bit weird.

@EricBarkeryou probably meant to tag @Montunoman 2instead? My participation in both threads has been mostly meta-related responses to other people questioning the need for the thread and not the main topic of one living with a more talented partner. I have my opinion but I prefer to keep it for myself 😉

My 5 year old has a dream of becoming a pop singer diva 😀 But she’s not interested in the numerous keyboards at home. I don’t think music is dying. Not at all. Maybe it’s the music of our generation that is dying.

So, you compare a robbery to a thread where men discuss their dreams of having a famous and glamorous pianist as their girlfriend. No wonder the world is what it is now if people can’t make this simple distinction 🤦🏻‍♂️

There are simple reasons why there are not many women here. This is a forum mostly about equipment talk and women tend to not be so obsessed with equipment and gadgets as men. And then, forums are dying, young people are on social networks, so you should not expect many new people to register here, regardless of their sex.

If you're old enough to see history repeating, you may indeed prefer to get "stuck" in better times. I'm old enough to have been born and raised in an oppressive communist state and I remember grotesque stuff. But let me tell you straight away. It all started with good intent of social justice and equality. Rings a bell? And they were so sure they were the only keepers of the "only" truth, they didn't argue with people who disagreed with them. They canceled them, threw them in jail or just beat them up to death in unknown dark places. All because they thought they were fighting for a better world, so those that disagree were enemies. Neighbors spied on neighbors and reported them to to authorities. People were so scared, they walked on eggshells out of fear for being reported. I hope you're not so young that you haven't studied history. I hope you can spend some time on the history of communism and the totalitarian states in the Eastern European bloc. Because I swear, it looks very suspiciously like where the world is going now.

The whole controversy in that other thread started with something entirely different, not sure why we're still focused on miss Wang. It started with a member expressing disappointment about how threads like that one get much more attention than threads about nice looking male pianists. And that member explained it with the fact the majority of the members here are straight men. I argued and asked what the expectation is: to have more female and gay members? Or to expect from that vast male majority to show more interest in male pianists? I think it ignited some rather heated comments and it's sad it has been closed and now the entire controversy is being summed by one isolated comment I made about Yuja Wang certainly being aware of some reactions she provokes with her outfit. And that she certainly doesn't care and being one of the best classical pianists of all time can do whatever she wants, and she may actually enjoy being liked by men.

Maybe. Or maybe not, since the moderator was summoned and was asked to not allow this type of discussion. We live in times when people prefer to just keep quiet rather than arguing with the PC police. In any case, I will respect the forum rules and if what I said is considered wrong, insulting, unacceptable or against the rules (I don't think so, but I may be wrong), I will be OK with this thread being deleted. BTW, I have my own piano oriented forum which was created as a spin-off of PianoWorld but allows any topic, no moderation, totally free speech, politics and whatever you decide. It's linked in my profile here. Feel free to move the discussion to that other forum (PianoClack).

Yes, please. Instead of reporting it and then the entire thread being deleted and you misquoting me in another thread, let other people see what I said. Thanks.

I said it but you keep on exaggerating it and twisting what I actually said. When you first misquoted me you actually used the word "rape" which couldn't have been farther from what I said and meant. What I said is that she has been consistently choosing outfits that are undeniably provocative (in a sexually explicit way). And since it's not an isolated case but is consistent and is a conscious choice she made, she then must certainly be aware of the effect this attire may cause to men since we're all driven by biology after all and some men can get aroused looking at women who are dressed this way and one should not expect from these men not to get aroused. Hence, she must be aware she's provoking this type of thoughts. And I stand behind these words and wonder what is wrong with them? And BTW, if you keep on quoting me (although you didn't mention my name), I have the right to respond and defend myself. And we go back to square one.

Not sure if the keyboard in the RD-700NX is similar to that of the RD-700SX but I used to own the SX and to haul it to gigs a lot 15 years ago, it's still my favorite stage piano, I have very fond memories. I was kind of fit back then, working out in a gym regularly, so didn't mind the 23kg if I remember correctly, however I have a herniated spinal disc and long ago abandoned sports, so I would never buy again such a heavy piano... Even the 18kg of the CP88 cause pain in my back that lasts for days after a rehearsal... I've even considered the Vox Continental Black 73 which is under 10kg and despite having waterfall keys has been praised for piano playing on this forum. BTW, I owned a YC61 for a while too 😀 It had a fantastic waterfall action, I liked it a lot even for piano playing but 5-octaves was just too limiting. If the YC73 was with that action, I would gladly purchase it. Some people say the VOX is even better as a multi-purpose waterfall keyboard. What I don't like though is the lack of USB interface and I use a Mac with Logic to add drum patterns and synths. As I said, no perfect world...

Well I actually purchased a YC73 first. But it had a slight defect and I returned it. But there wasn’t a second unit for replacement and new units were expected after three months and the only available CP/YC instrument at that moment was the CP88. I think the BHS action in the 73-keys models is OK but somehow springy. It’s not terrible as the TP100LR though. However the action in the CP88 feels more premium, not so springy, very tight and controlled. But I would sacrifice that for a lighter weight and shorter size and the CP73 and YC73 are in my shortlist now. I don’t see the former available in European stores though and I’m wondering if it has been discontinued. There’s one YC73 available though. But the price has increased to €2300 and I can’t sell the CP easily where I live and will have to ask something like €1600 and the entire exercise might not be worth it… BTW, I’m not an organ guy and I prefer the CP panel with separate piano, Rhodes and others. On the YC there’s a dedicated organ which I would barely use. And then I’m left with a single keys A/B panel which is reused and needs to be switched between the two voices there.