CyberGene

I'm on a similar path currently but rather seeking options for downgrading my CP88 to a 73-key keyboard that is lighter. I really *LOVE* the CP88 but its weight is just killing me. Besides, I can't fit it sideways in the trunk of my SUV and so I have to fold the rear seats but I'm losing the rear seats where I drive my gig-mates... I remember I was able to just fit the Studiologic SL73 sideways in the trunk, so this exact size and not even a centimeter longer is the maximum I can afford. Seems only the Numa X Piano 73 is as short at 105cm. But I briefly owned a Numa X Piano 88 and was slightly underwhelmed... No perfect world 😕

For the sake of completeness there's also the Numa X Piano 73 with TP110 action that is a great improvement over the dreadful TP100/LR. It has nice Rhodes and passable acoustic pianos, audio mixer and USB-audio interface, very compact and lightweight, good price. The organs are nothing special though. But you can always add a VB3m on your iPhone/iPad.

I’m wondering, if you’re bothered only by seeing a thread’s title, isn’t that some indication of you needing a beer or something?

So, the hybrid LED drawbars have been borrowed from Yamaha YC-series, that's really new, it's the first time I see Yamaha being copied by Nord rather than the other way around 😲 Looks like a really nice all-in-one stage instrument. Thinking about the price makes me look elsewhere though 🤣 Since the thread is about talking someone out of Nord Stage, here's a super wild speculation: I hope the rumored Yamaha CK61/88 would be a Nord Stage competitor, in the sense they somehow added a configurable synth engine to the YC-series by either repurposing the drawbars or somehow fitting a few simple synth controls in the refaceCS style and undercutting the Nord Stage pricing but it's all a lot of wishful thinking... And I hope it will be announced before NAMM.

The pivot length has almost nothing to do with how tiring an action is. What matters is hammer weight, i.e. inertia. Kawai actions traditionally use lighter weights in actions that are less tiring to play although that’s a generalization that has exceptions. However light actions has their disadvantages too: they have narrower range of forces you can apply to accelerate the key within the short travel path of the key. This means that when you map that narrow range to the wide dynamic range of samples obtained from a huge concert grand you will have exaggerated response and inability to control the dynamics precisely and in a linear fashion. That is in contrast to the Yamaha approach (again, a generalization with exceptions) where they tend to use weightier hammers and actions that have more linear touch response for acoustic piano patches but can be tiring for people with wrist conditions.

All DP actions push back against your fingers too much. On a real piano the keys get lighter once you throw the hammer and you can feel that happen under your fingers which makes them easier to play, you don’t combat the keys all the time. It’s subtle and needs a lot of unnecessary technical explanation (I can do it and have done countless times) but basically I agree all DP actions suck.

For some odd reason I have recorded a lot of my music using the XKey Air although I have plenty of other keyboards at home. It’s just so easy to put it on any flattish surface next to the MacBook Air and record. I don’t even use cables, the Bluetooth MIDI works good enough for me. Reading how “humble” my XKey inventory is with a quantity of one, and considering how I purchased that soft bag that can hold one 3-octave and one 2-octave, I’m wondering if I just found the perfect excuse for a 2-octave purchase now 😀

A friend of mine uses John Zorn as a synonym for cacophony and why people hate jazz 😀 I tend to agree with that, although I’ve heard some chewable stuff from Zorn too.

Thanks for that. I registered here probably 15-20 years ago but I started actively reading and participating only in the last year and I haven't seen this discussed recently but I may have missed it.

Yeah, in the first moment I was wondering why "valves" and "amplifier" in the same sentence, like is that a hydraulic amplification that needs pressure valves or something? 🧐

What’s wrong with sequences? Steve Reich

OK, here’s an example. If you are listening to Another Brick in the Wall, do you expect to hear that iconic guitar solo note for note as in the album? 😀

In jazz, solos are always improvised, or it wouldn’t be jazz. How about other styles, e.g. rock, pop, etc.? As a listener, do you prefer hearing the solos note for note as you know them from the studio album? As a performer, do you compose fixed pre-cooked solos for your music?

I've sometimes heard jazz soloists that otherwise have wonderful studio improvisations, to resort to endless phrase repetitions in live concerts, probably out of nervousness. But it's really annoying. I would prefer a memorized solo rather than hearing some repeated phrases.

No, really, Yuja Wang is one of the best living pianists. I've been following her concert schedule and looking for another good occasion. (The airplane story is real though and I get a lot of laugh points when I tell it but should have kept it for another occasion 😀 The thing is the story is even stronger with the contrast and anticipation that comes from telling how majestic the Elbphilharmonie is, the architecture, the acoustics, the location, the great performers there... and then my struggles with Hamburg's restaurants and airplane claustrophobia)

Serious envy here! A few years ago I traveled alone to Hamburg to listen to my deities Evgeni Bozhanov and Martha Argerich and it was magical (although it ended with a food poisoning from some fish on my way back and vomiting in the airplane’s little toilet that isn’t designed for this position, hence inability to close the door and creating a wonderful spectacle for the entire plane). I’ll do this again only for Yuja Wang and I’m being serious (throw up jokes aside).

So, she’s straight but also likes girls? I’m not implying anything here, just being geek analyzing the presented facts. 🤓

Why do they change the lyrics so often 🧐

Same here. And it's worth mentioning that it has polyphonic aftertouch, long before Hydrasynth was a thing (and I have a Hydra too that I love).

Thanks, I started watching the linked video. So, he's a (rock?) guitar player who raises awareness about classical music performers and especially virtuosos. That's a noble thing, maybe more people will become interested in classical music 👍🏻 Especially the guitar shredding crowd who think of themselves (and no disrespect here from me either) as the only virtuosos out there 😀

Got it. I guess his audience is non-classical oriented then? Because I can't imagine classical music fans who don't know Yuja Wang.

Speaking of which, I've listened to this hundreds of times:

I don't know who's Rick Beato and why we should listen to him talking about one of the greatest living pianists, rather than just watch her playing 😉

It’s just a fancier way to spell a G7alt but without the 7th and with the third in the bass, so it sounds vague-ish. And naturally it’s the dominant to the Cm7/11. Thus, the scale that you can play is Ab melodic minor: Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F G.

@niacin I'm no Bach scholar but he is my favorite composer and I started my piano journey as a kid when I heard Bach for the first time and it was a love from first listen. For the first few years I played and listened ONLY to Bach, all day long 😀 With that in mind, I also tend to believe the BWV 565 might be an early piece by Bach because he also has a book of early keyboard toccatas that are kind of simplistic and not very typical of his later output, so he was not always about complication. Everything is possible. But I can also believe it's not his work and frankly I would be even somehow relieved because there are moments in it that I find slightly cheesy 😀 That being said, as a kid I used to love it and had memorized the entire piano transcription of it. Nowadays I rarely listen to it though and might be able to play only the toccata by heart.