lowerhodes Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 I ws wondering if any of you Nord Stage owners have the newer 69.1 Mb Yamaha C7 installed on your boards and if so, if you feel like it's a significant improvement over the stock grand piano. An aquaintance of mine, whose opinion I value, claims that it is as good a hardware piano sound as is available. Any contrary opinions? What few stores that I know of that carry Nord's are unlikely to have this large a program installed as it precludes the inclusion of as many voices as the Stage typically includes. I have been on the fence about buying a Stage for a while and this might be enough to get me to do it but before I start trying to get a merchant to install the new Yamaha for an audition I thought I would ask you guys what you think. Fender Rhodes (x4) / Wurlitzer 200A / NE3 61 / Motif XS6 / Korg SV-1 73 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mate stubb Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 It doesn't matter what we think. This particular piano is very controversial - some love it, some can't make it work for them. It is sensitive to what speakers you play through, and demands to be played in stereo. I think mine is great. You need to hear it through the speakers you contemplate playing live through. When I was auditioning new stage speakers, I took my Stage into the store to listen. Moe --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicaL Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 Ditto what mate just said. The piano is beautiful through good studio monitors, and headphones... Just beautiful. It's best played in stereo as he said, but, some people have been able to make it work for them in mono in some situations. I play it in stereo live, and it works just fine. Depending on where you are, you may find some stores that have loaded that piano onto their Stage... Can't count on it though. Actually, I like the old Steinway as well. It has a very woody sound to me. Also, although not nearly as satisfying as playing one yourself you can check out the Piano demos on the Clavia site. They'll give you some idea of what the Yammie sounds like. HTH, aL Gear: Yamaha MODX8, Mojo 61, NS2 73, C. Bechstein baby grand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonglow Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 The grand pianos on the Nord Stage have the greatest disparity between listening to them through headphones and a live performance application than on any other DP I have ever experienced. I just could not make them work with my existing sound reinforcement, so I picked up a GEM RP-X module. It works really well with the NS. "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Zero Two Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 ditto w Moonglow - I too have a GEM RPX and it works live much better than the Yamaha Stage Piano in a live context. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowerhodes Posted December 6, 2007 Author Share Posted December 6, 2007 Thank you all for your responses. Moonglow and Jamey : Did you install the new 69 megabyte Yamaha? I don't like the stock Stage pianos either but am hopeful about this one. Fender Rhodes (x4) / Wurlitzer 200A / NE3 61 / Motif XS6 / Korg SV-1 73 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Aiken Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 The grand pianos on the Nord Stage have the greatest disparity between listening to them through headphones and a live performance application than on any other DP I have ever experienced. VERY well put!!!!!! I concur. Just can't stand playing piano on my Stage 88. Moog The One, VV 64 EP, Wurlies 200A 140 7300, Forte 7, Mojo 61, OB-6, Prophet 6, Polaris, Hammond A100, Farfisa VIP, ,Young Chang 6', Voyager, E7 Clav, Midiboard, Linnstrument, Seaboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffincltnc Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 I installed it and I really like it for what I bought the Stage Compact for -- a huge improvement over the Electro 73! For me it is the best combination of portability + flexibility. Solely as a piano, I think my Roland RD-700SX is better, but that's not what I bought the Stage Compact to be entirely. It's better than good enough! 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 More sharing options...
Moonglow Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 Thank you all for your responses. Moonglow and Jamey : Did you install the new 69 megabyte Yamaha? I don't like the stock Stage pianos either but am hopeful about this one. Yes, I installed the large Yamaha piano. While it represents an improvement, I stand by my previous statement, once again given the constraints of my existing sound reinforcement (Barbetta SE-32). "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffincltnc Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 VERY well put!!!!!! I concur. Just can't stand playing piano on my Stage 88. Have you tried it sitting down? (Sorry, that was bad, I know... I couldn't resist) 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 More sharing options...
MikeT156 Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 Jeff: I think you can use some "new" material! Mike T. Yamaha Motif ES8, Alesis Ion, Prophet 5 Rev 3.2, 1979 Rhodes Mark 1 Suitcase 73 Piano, Arp Odyssey Md III, Roland R-70 Drum Machine, Digitech Vocalist Live Pro. Roland Boss Chorus Ensemble CE-1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lerber3 Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 I love the Yami C7 on my stage... it seemed much improved over the original, but there were several other OS upgrades around the same time so it's hard to tell how much is due to bigger sample. The NS sound quality is greatly affected by quality of amplification. Sounds awesome at the best of times, but I 'play around' quite a bit... on some systems (with some players) it doesn't cut it. I prefer not to get in decibel wars with guitarists and bass players, but if necessary I can mix in some EP or clav and tweak the compression/EQ to put a sharper edge on the piano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicaL Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 I love layering the AP with the Electric Grand and add a touch of Chorus to the latter. The outcome is a "modern" sounding piano!! Love the NS Acoustic Pianos on their own too... Very playable and inviting!! Different Strokes. aL Gear: Yamaha MODX8, Mojo 61, NS2 73, C. Bechstein baby grand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magronbass Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 This is also interesting: http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-38698.html Verifies that Nord Stage piano sounds are cut down versions of some of Sampletekk's libraries. Not sure which ones, are made from which Sampletekk library, but still interesting. I use sampltekk black grand with p-250 and I like it alot after major eq tweaks. Not perfect, but very full of character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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