vanderSchoot Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I don't know if this question is for me, but i'd like to answer anyway.....KAWAI The first Kawai controler I encounterd was the MP9000 and it was head and shoulders above the compition ,i have the original Kawai MP8 and still like it very much. The only thing it doesn't do that well is very fast repetitions. Apart from that it still plays exceptionally well for my needs. Meaty, a little on the heavy side with a very rock solid control of the keys from the first attack till the precise bottom out feeling. I thought the MP8/2 and MP10 sucked compared to the MP8, lighter and much more like an average Yamaha P series feeling. The VPC1 feels good too, but i wouldn't trade my MP8 for it. The MP11 i still have to play. I used to take the MP8 out with me, but i damaged the wooden sidecaps severely during a concert (stupid me) and it was to heavy to carry around anyway. The Nord gets to much critic here,....for me it plays better than the Roland RD600 I had for years and better than the Yamaha P120 i had for years. Of course the Yamaha CP1,5 and 4 are slightly better and the top of the line Rolands....but again not that much. And all other controlers are on par or worse compared to Nord (Studiologic, Physis) So i think Kawai is the best by quite a margin and then it is personal taste and personal needs like controling other external equipment the way it fits your needs and applications best. Happy holidays to all of you ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Nord Stage uses a TP40L. I don't believe that's the case... at least it doesn't feel like the TP40L in the high end Kurzweil 88s. 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 More sharing options...
lvercaut Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 AnotherScott, I do believe it's TP40L in Nord Stage same as in Kurzweil Forte. ( by the way and offtopic, i just bought the EV ZXA1 system you talked about in so many threads and they are indeed fantastic sounding speakers !) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Mullins Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Tried the Velvet XL and the Silver XL (which I hadn't tried before.) I liked the sound of the demos of the Velvet better and liked playing the Silver better. So I'll keep the Silver loaded for a while. I tend to keep the Bright Grand Large as my standard piano and have rotated through some others. But the Silver and Bright are in the same ballpark sonically, so I'll probably choose to keep one of those and find one of the darker pianos as an alternate (Italian, Velvet or Grand Imperial) for variety. It always seems to be the same story: I like the demos of the darker ones and like to play the brighter ones. Yamaha CK88, Arturia Keylab 61 MkII, Moog Sub 37, Yamaha U1 Upright, Casio CT-S500, Mac Logic/Mainstage, iPad Camelot, Spacestation V.3, QSC K10.2, JBL EON One Compact www.stickmanor.com There's a thin white line between fear and fury - Stickman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cphollis Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 In addition to playability and sounds, let's not forget weight! A Nord Piano 2 comes in at a svelte 40 lbs. for a full 88-key stage piano. The extra 20 lbs required by some of the other boards mentioned here were a major factor for me, as I schlep my own gear. 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 More sharing options...
Dana. Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I do believe it's TP40L in Nord Stage same as in Kurzweil Forte. Having played both, they do not feel the same: the Forte's action is lighter. I suspect the Stage action is TP/40M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDP Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 The NP2 has the same Fatar keybed as my PC3s (TP40L) However, the NP2 is a stiffer action. Nord does do a procedure at the factory to the Fatar keybeds, so that neds to be taken into account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana. Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 The NP2 has the same Fatar keybed as my PC3s (TP40L) However, the NP2 is a stiffer action. Nord does do a procedure at the factory to the Fatar keybeds, so that neds to be taken into account. To clarify, the NP2 HA88 has TP/40, but the NP2 HP has TP/100. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morizzle Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 My christmas wish: Nord makes the next incarnation of the Piano series in the usual 88&76 versions, but also one with a wooden keyboard action like the one in the higer class Kawais. NP3W... one can dream... It's not a clone, it's a Suzuki. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kawai James Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I only have an Electro 3 (SW73), so I appreciate that the action is not terribly piano like (arguably, it's not supposed to be...), however it's good enough to get by on. However, MIDI-ing up the Electro to my MP8II really breaths new life into the piano samples. I remember the first time I tried this combination, I couldn't believe how great the Nord sound connected with the Kawai keys. Anyway, I still haven't tried this new Bluthner, however it does have the 'aged' character that others have mentioned, it could become my go-to piano sound. Merry Christmas. Cheers, James x Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own. Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Valid reason to go with a 61k Nord with TP-8O action and just drag along a 73/76/88k weighted for its action alone - even if the piano sound is mediocre. Can you set a Nord to run two engines (let's say the piano section and the B3 emulation), one to respond from local control and the other from the midi in? Or on a different MIDI channel? Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kawai James Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Elmer, I expect this may be possible on the Stage (and Nord Piano 2?), but is definitely not possible with the Electro3/4. The Electro 5 may allow this, due to the ability to split organ with piano etc. Cheers, James x Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own. Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Can the E5 load the hi res piano libraries, James? Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kawai James Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Do you mean the XL size? Yes, all the NE5 models have 1GB of memory, so plenty of room to load in the XL piano samples. It' worth noting that the NE4 (HP/SW) had twice the memory (380MB) of the previous generation, so these can also load XL sounds. Depending on the sample, it may also be possible to load an XL sound into the NE3's 180MB, although you'll likely have no memory remaining for anything else! By the way, as far as I know the 'resolution' of the Nord Piano Library sounds is the same, regardless of the size. The main difference is the number of keys samples (i.e. amount of 'stretching'), which Clavia refers to as 'Fully mapped keyboard', and may or may-not mean 88-key sampling. Cheers, James x Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own. Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Understood, the XL libraries have less sample stretching as opposed to being rolled out in higher htz/bit. I understand the Nord synth engines run at 96k, also true of the organ and sample player engines? Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kawai James Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I understand the Nord synth engines run at 96k, also true of the organ and sample player engines? I don't know, I'm afraid. I doubt it somehow, based on the relatively small download filesizes (although they're obviously compressed). My guess would be 44 kHz, 16 bit - stereo for the pianos, mono for the EPs. Per at SampleTekk might be able to confirm this point, assuming it is not secret information. Cheers, James x Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own. Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legatoboy Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I have just purchased a NE5 61 and MIDIED my Casio PX5S as it's controller for the Nord pianos and I'm really enjoying trying them all out. My 1st gig with this new rig will be in about 2 weeks. 17 lbs (Nord) and 26 lbs (Casio). Being new to the Nord pianos I've been swapping out various ones in and out of the NE5...will try the Velvet Grand possibly later today .... So far I like he Bright Grand but I only have the Med. in right now and will probably go for the Lrg or XL on that one... the 2nd piano for LG or XL right now is a toss-up between the Studio, Silver or Italian.....will have to add the new Velvet to the list! I like the Lady D's 'body' also! The Casio is driving the Nord pianos very nicely. Little AP piano-like 'events' are occurring that I never got out of a digital before. Coming from my CP-50 GH action the Casio with the 3rd sensor is superior in a lot of ways. The CP-50 has been a very good piano for me for live or for recording. Didn't have the the $ to upgrade to a CP-4 a few years back and didn't want to sell the CP-50 in the end....normally I would have sold the 50 and gotten the CP-4 but I wound up in this position with the NE-5 and Casio and kinda glad it happened this way. I think the Nord pianos are more organic than the Yamahas so far. The upper octave thinness issue with the Nords I'm sure I will find out more about on the gig compared to the Yamaha, I can hear a bit of that already. The Nord NE5 is replacing my VR-09 also on organ/synth duties. The Roland is a lot of fun and has a very good synth section with resonant filters which I am bemoaning taking off the active roster but the Nord Sample Player is holding it's own very well. No Filter though on the Nord in the conventional sense. Bottom line the organ/synth action on the VR and to some the degree the organ itself wasn't working for me. I really like the Nord pianos so far....very pleased with them in the basement and very playable from the Casio PX-5S keybed! Red is a Christmas color! CP-50, YC 73, FP-80, PX5-S, NE-5d61, Kurzweil SP6, XK-3, CX-3, Hammond XK-3, Yamaha YUX Upright, '66 B3/Leslie 145/122 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kawai James Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Congrats Legatoboy - that's a very good (and very portable!) setup. If you have a chance to check Elmer's query above, I would also be interested to hear if it's possible to drive the Nord's piano from your Casio while still playing the Nord organ from its own keyboard. Cheers, James x Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own. Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 From the manual on the E5 MIDI scenario 1: Nord Electro 5 as controller...14 scenario 2: Nord Electro 5 sending MIDI on Part Upper in KB split mode...14 scenario 3: Nord Electro 5 receiving MIDI on Part Upper in MIdI Upper receive mode...15 scenario 4: Nord Electro 5 with a sequencer...15 Apparently this is doable with scenario 3 where the Electro 5 can have two engines running, one set to upper the other to lower. Local Control is On to control the lower engine, and upper is set to listen to incoming MIDI. Then in Split mode you have to set Keyboard Split Point to MIDI receive. If I am right about this you get full range control of the upper and lower engines. So you can set the lower to organ for draw bar control and the upper to an Piano Engine (preferably XL) or the Sample Synth and play it from your PX-5S or what have you. Hopefully polyphony is not a factor in this setup, I would imagine the Organ engine can do full polyphony and the piano or sample synth has its own limitation - which I believe is 40 to 60 voices which is pretty low when pedaling. But users claim the note stealing algorithm is very good, although at Nord's prices I think they could beef up the polyphony. Regardless, scenario 3 just made the Electro 5 more interesting to me. Downside is that you only get a pair of 1/4 inch unbalanced outs that operate as stereo or L-mono. So your organ+piano or sample synth has to be mixed/EQ'd in the Electro 5 and obviously you'd use the internal Leslie sim as you wouldn't want to Vent your piano. keyboard magazine review explains a lot. Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kawai James Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 Thanks for the info Elmer! Mmmmm...that's pretty impressive. Now all we need to do is wait/hope for Casio to release an action-only version of the PX-160 - hook it up to an NE5SW61 and we're good to go! Cheers, James x Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own. Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 Very coy, James. When's that light weight pro Kawai stage piano showing up? Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kawai James Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 You mean the 'MP7 Lite'? Fer is beta testing it right now... Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own. Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keybass Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 After hearing the samples of the "velvet grand" I would recommend the pianoteq offering as a better representation of the Blüthner sound. Nord did not ask our permission to use our instrument or our image in promoting this. Pianoteq did ask our permission and did a terrific job IMHO. Peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markay Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 [quote=Keybass] I would recommend the pianoteq samples a better representation of the Blüthner sound. Pianotrq did ask our permission and did a terrific job IMHO. [/quote] I think you meant Pianoteq modelling, compared to Nord's sampling. A misguided plumber attempting to entertain | MainStage 3 | Axiom 61 2nd Gen | Pianoteq | B5 | XK3c | EV ZLX 12P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keybass Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 Fixed. Peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legatoboy Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 Congrats Legatoboy - that's a very good (and very portable!) setup. If you have a chance to check Elmer's query above, I would also be interested to hear if it's possible to drive the Nord's piano from your Casio while still playing the Nord organ from its own keyboard. Cheers, James x KJ, Yeah it's a beautiful thing, you can MIDI up the Piano on the Casio and run Organ and Synth on top...There is a setting in the MIDI System Setup...If your gonna do this I can help you...took me a bit to twig it out....two days about 3 hours each day and the rig and patches were set up for my gigs. Easy in the end to do...I run the Casio with line outs too but keep the Vol. knob down...If I want the Casio non MIDIED I have to go down two menus so not quick for that setup change on the fly but doable...I may get an A/B Midi switcher and only use one out to cut the MIDI in connection to the NE5 quickly....so the Casio alone is one foot switch press away....that is the only whole in the rig right now.... just sent this to someone who PMed me (below) "This setup is very flexible and good sounding... Action for me great on both and lightweight. I am enjoying it very much. 1st gig next weekend! The synth or 'Sample Player' is very good as far as the samples go to download...would have loved s bit more in the synth section but it's pretty good...mellotron strings and stuff also! You get one knob that acts as a Amplitude ADSR so you can adjust the release and attack...there is another adjust for the velocity that will open the filter up and down based on that. ....The only thing is there is no real Filter ADSR per say so no Filter sweeps or dialing in a tonality.... the VR-09;s synth used the drawbars to open the Filter Env. , cutoff and resonant filter...very nice. Roland does synths well! But the piano and organ samples on the NE5 are just great to play! I MIDI the Piano to the PX5S and run the organ synth on the NE5 keyboard.. or vice versa with synth / clav, anything anywhere....It's a groove ...hope it lives up to it on the gig..I think it's gonna be great...very comfortable great sounding pairing! I just keep my Vol. down on the Casio but turn MIDI off if I just want just the Casio on the bottom tier...I may get a MIDI switcher to turn of the MIDI send off quickly on the Casio to just play that alone. .. There is a setting in the MIDI System Setup for the Upper Channel assignment for this type of split. Not to go into particulars here on Xmas day but I can send you the info on how it's done. No Problemo" Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays, LB CP-50, YC 73, FP-80, PX5-S, NE-5d61, Kurzweil SP6, XK-3, CX-3, Hammond XK-3, Yamaha YUX Upright, '66 B3/Leslie 145/122 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 Excellent. And with regard to the Sample Synth/Player section. Does Nord allow you to load your own samples? Do they provide software for editing/formatting your samples and uploading to your NE? Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nadroj Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 Excellent. And with regard to the Sample Synth/Player section. Does Nord allow you to load your own samples? Do they provide software for editing/formatting your samples and uploading to your NE? Yes and yes, and once you get to grips with the sample editor it becomes stupidy easy to do so. Hammond SKX Mainstage 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burningbusch Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 I understand the Nord synth engines run at 96k, also true of the organ and sample player engines? I don't know, I'm afraid. I doubt it somehow, based on the relatively small download filesizes (although they're obviously compressed). My guess would be 44 kHz, 16 bit - stereo for the pianos, mono for the EPs. Per at SampleTekk might be able to confirm this point, assuming it is not secret information. Cheers, James x The Nord Sample Editor supports WAVs at a max of 44.1K/24-bit. Likely everything in the Electro/Stage/Piano lines is running at 44.1K. Some of the standalone Nord VAs run at 96K. The Roland Aria line runs at 96K which is kind of a PITA. I tried using my little Roland Scooper Eurorack effect as a sound module but having it locked in at 96K didn't work for me. The new Roland Boutique line is back at 44.1K because of user requests. As a side, I don't know that any of the Nord stuff actually acts as an audio interface when connected via USB. I think it's just basic MIDI. Busch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 Thanks useful info. Here's the Nord sample editor in action. Suggests using 16bit/44.1k. [video:youtube] Anyone know other third party vendors selling wavs prepped for the Nord sample synth?http://www.sc-sounds.com/clavia-nord.html Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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