Nord Piano 5 Announced

[stoken6]

[it's the most realistic way to get the "Don't Stop Believing" sound â layer the same piano twice.

Also "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" - the same piano, twice, with a little varispeed on the piano, and the talent of Greg Phillinganes.

 

I recently did some production work on a track where I layered the Bambino and the Rain uprights, with slightly different EQs, for a rather charming and very dynamic piano.

I'm going to try that now. Particularly with Moe's endorsement below.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[stoken6]

[it's the most realistic way to get the "Don't Stop Believing" sound â layer the same piano twice.

Also "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" - the same piano, twice, with a little varispeed on the piano, and the talent of Greg Phillinganes.

 

I recently did some production work on a track where I layered the Bambino and the Rain uprights, with slightly different EQs, for a rather charming and very dynamic piano.

I'm going to try that now. Particularly with Moe's endorsement below.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Docbop]

I like the Nord hope to own one, one day, but for now have my RD-2000 my first digital board. Part of what I like about the RD-2000 is I can create eight layers of internal and external sounds. Sometime adding another instrument adds more timbre to me than EQ or effects. Same with my Keyscape their Hybrid (their term for layered) key sounds are excellent.

[analogika]

 

 

Clavia agrees that this is useful, which is why the Stage lets you layer any two pianos, any two organs, and any two synth patches at the same time. The Nord piano doesn't, because it's aimed at people who don't need or want all that complexity weighing down their choice of gear.

 

But the question was what two separate piano engines give you that a single piano engine, with split and layering capabilities, doesn't. And the answer is: The ability to layer TWO piano engines. Because a single piano engine is, by definition, monotimbral. That is what "single engine" means.

 

Layering two pianos is great for the reasons described above. Also, it's the most realistic way to get the "Don't Stop Believing" sound â layer the same piano twice.

 

I recently did some production work on a track where I layered the Bambino and the Rain uprights, with slightly different EQs, for a rather charming and very dynamic piano.

 

So layering two 'piano engines' on a Nord is somehow different that layering two different pianos or the same piano twice on any other digital keyboard? Keeping in mind, the Numa Compact series has string resonance.

The question was why it"s useful, not whether it"s possible on other hardware (it obviously is).

 

This is not a do-anything-workstation like a Kronos, nor a jack-of-most-trades stage machine. It"s a stage piano with a trade-off of additional functionality that adds usefulness without adding too much complexity to a straightforward concept.

[AnotherScott]

That demo tells me nothing about the piano...what is it with putting up all the information about the board and then have no audio demos on their website 'coming soon'...do they bother with product demos on their site anymore? Is it something they leave up to youtubers to demo?

It's only been a few days! But if you want audio demos, just look at the demos for the current model (Nord Piano 4). The 5 will basically sound the same, with the main differences being more split/layer options, new reverb options, and some new synth options (i.e. unison mode, vibrato, and switchable filter). Maybe you'd rather they'd said nothing until they had all the pieces in place, but others are probably glad to have whatever info they can as early as they can, especially if they were about to purchase some other board and this could affect their decision...

 

Wonder when they will change to use an ssd, fully loaded with the XL versions of all their pianos and the entire Nord sample library, save you messing around with the Manager software, and having to make compromises on which samples you want to load and the quality level?

 

no, it won't slow things down noticeably, the Nautilus has a 40 or 60gb ssd, and loads its (vastly larger) piano samples sets seemingly instantly. I doubt reliability and cost are factors these days either.

 

I think my old Integra was running a 16gb compact flash inside for its expansions. If you're not constantly writing to it much then I think reliability is good and if it does fail, then it's a very cheap part!

 

It's baffling to me.

It would require a completely different architecture. Recently discussed in some detail in the thread at https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/3088122/re-nord-piano-5-incoming

 

With split and layer capabilities that is all that is needed. See the Numa Compact 2 and 2X.

As others have alluded to, Nord and Numa use very different architectures. The Nord Piano 4 could split/layer two of its sounds (same as Numa), but one sound had to be drawn from the piano category and one had to be drawn from the everything-else category. The NP5 lets you simultaneously draw two sounds from each category (so four sounds total). But sure, there are other boards with all kinds of other capabilities...

[Fleer]

Hesitating between this and Yamaha"s YC88 now at a similar price point. No real need for organ as I"m a Vox man.

[AnotherScott]

Hesitating between this and Yamaha"s YC88...No real need for organ as I"m a Vox man.

If you don't need organ, why not a CP88 instead of YC88?

[Fleer]

Hesitating between this and Yamaha"s YC88...No real need for organ as I"m a Vox man.

If you don't need organ, why not a CP88 instead of YC88?

I was thinking that too, A/Scott, but there"s a long distance between like and need.

[stoken6]

this and Yamaha"s YC88 now at a similar price point.

Says it all. Yamaha's Stage costs the same as Nord's piano.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Adan]

this and Yamaha"s YC88 now at a similar price point.

Says it all. Yamaha's Stage costs the same as Nord's piano.

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

Yamaha hasn't quite stolen all the thunder of the great Norse god Stageus. To me, the main difference is the Stage has a knobby synth rather than minimally editable synth samples. And the YC is still a decent leslie sim short of a real clone (wait, did I just write "real clone"?).

 

The CP to NP comparison is a bit more apples-to-apples, and there it's hard for me to make an argument for the Nord from any objective value perspective. And I've owned more than my share of Nords. As I said above, some folks will prefer the Nord piano sound and have to have it just as a subjective thing. From where I sit, if you march through the parameters the CP88 brings so much more to the table than the NP88. Just the key action alone would decide it for me. The CP73 v. NP73 is perhaps a closer argument, because if you can stomach the price of the NP, you'd be getting a better key action in a 73. But I happen to think the action of the CP73 is pretty good. There's been some controversy about a faulty mechanism on repeated hard hits, though imo the issue has been overblown because it's only noticeable playing Jerry Lee Lewis style licks -- a real issue for some, but not for most.

[stoken6]

Yamaha hasn't quite stolen all the thunder of the great Norse god Stageus.

Stageus was a Roman god surely? You're thinking of Stagin, or maybe Stagr.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Stefan011]

With Nord You also pay for continuity/compatibility. In next lets say 10 years, it willl be possible to load their best and most recent samples into NP5. Yamaha does not work this way. Nevertheless, I stay in "too pricey/functions I dont need" camp.

[Fleer]

And I wonder how much memory the YC88 has. The NP5 has 3GB, allowing you to load up on all of the Nord Piano and Sample libraries.

[Fleer]

this and Yamaha"s YC88 now at a similar price point.

Says it all. Yamaha's Stage costs the same as Nord's piano.

I believe the Yamaha YC is more of a Nord Electro competitor.

[analogika]

The Yamaha YC88 is indeed positioned against the Nord Electro. It only has one of each engine AFAICS, and it has only rudimentary synth playback functionality (and with a limited library and no way to create your own as with the Nord Sample Editor). But the Electro doesn't come in an 88-key version.

 

The Stage has two of each engine, and has a very capable synth that does a bunch of different modes, including FM, sample playback, and virtual analogue. It also comes with a MIDI control engine that can be dedicated to a keyboard split area. The YC doesn't really compete here.

 

Currently, Thomann Germany has these prices:

 

Nord Electro 6 HP: 2149 (currently discounted from regular price of 2855)

Yamaha YC88: 2749

Nord Piano 5 88: 2999 (regular price 3570)

Nord Stage 3 88: 3499 (regular price 4759)

 

So the Nord Piano has dual piano and dual sample playback engines, but is missing the organ engine of the YC. But it comes with an extensive sample library and the option to roll your own. Doesn't seem too far out of line, price-wise.

[AnotherScott]

I agree with Fleer and Analogika... YC is more of an Electro competitor than Stage competitor... but it does add enough notable Stage features that it could tempt someone who wants some of those more-than-Electro features without having to pony up for the Stage, e.g. pitch/mod controls, external MIDI zones, monophonic synth sounds with portamento, filter sweep, the ability to split/layer two sounds without one of the sounds having to be a piano or organ, and the availability of an 88-key verison. It still falls short of a Stage in other significant ways, e.g. a full knobby VA synth, which you can even process custom samples through; aftertouch; the ability to split/layer 4 sounds plus organ rather than 2; assignable outs. Though YC also has some advantages over Electro OR Stage, e.g. multisampled non-piano instruments, completely adjustable split point, 4 MIDI zones instead of 2, simultaneous drawbars and LED indicators, and probably preferable actions. OTOH, even the Electro gives you the custom sample loading, the large/expanding library of piano and other sounds, the ability to send organ out a different output from the rest of the sounds.

 

I think the YC's biggest weakness vs. the Electro is the Leslie effect, but that's probably less of an issue for the people buying the hammer action versions, since they are less likely to be the most demanding of the organ nuances in the first place. From that perspective, the YC73 may be the pick of the litter, as it is still pretty light, and is up against the TP100 in the comparable Electro.

[Fleer]

Well said as always, A/Scott.

One thing bugging me, is the huge price gap between the YC61 and 88. Never seen that much difference in price for 27 keys.

[AnotherScott]

One thing bugging me, is the huge price gap between the YC61 and 88. Never seen that much difference in price for 27 keys.

It's a grand... same as Montage. But yes, pricier than the $700 difference in a Kronos or Fantom. Of course, it's not just the extra keys, they're different actions, so even the "first 61" keys of those 88s are more expensive keys, and the boards are a lot heavier, which means the chassis has to be built to support that weight... But some of it may also just be "what the market will bear." ;-)

[Fleer]

https://musik-huset.dk/produkt/nord-piano-5-73-tangenter-nyhed/

Without VAT approximately $2350 or 1990

[jimkost2002]

What is their aversion to pitch bend or mod wheel controls?

 

The assumption is piano players don"t want/need it on a board they are marketing for mobile piano paying.

 

So what are we driving at here? It"s a TP-40 variant?

 

 

Elmer, your supposition would be correct if NP5 DID NOT have an expanded sample synth sectionâ¦..especially the new monophonic lead soundsâ¦.. it seems ridiculous to have them without a PB â¦â¦

However, when I had an NP 4, I MIDIed a nektar controller to the NP4 and got the PB/mod functionsâ¦. hopefully you can do the same with the NP5