Looking for stage piano input would be greatly appreciated

[bennyray]

Being a former member took a break from the music scene. Looking for a stage piano this may seem a little wierd

 

but I love the Korg SV2 especially the Eps. and the vintage look as well. I have had a nord before love the pianos but

 

something keeps bringing me back to the Korg sv2. Experienced and know about the  Yamaha YC like the sounds and 

 

the Stage 3, Nord piano 5 as well. Love the Nord pianos but not eps.  I was going to purchase Nord piano 5 but heard

 

the Korg SV2 and the sound and look just got me thinking again. The Nord piano 5 and OBX8 is something I have been

 

lusting for but the SV2 just love the ease of access and no menu diving. Any thoughts or someone that has a SV2

 

could chime in. Thanks for any input would be appreciated.

 

Benny

[ElmerJFudd]

I have had some time at the SV2. I did like it and found it to be an improvement as far as acoustic piano playing from the SV1.  I would enjoy having one.  But I opted for the CP88 instead because I preferred the action.  You should try both before picking, but the SV2 is quite nice!  

[bill5]

Nothing against anyone here of course, but might want to also ask here, I've found it a good resource in the past:  

https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/forums/6/1/digital-pianos-electronic-pianos-synths-keyboards.html

[The Piano Man]

I like the SV2. Hoping for a black version with speakers. The speakers add a nice vibration effect but I can’t stand the mixed color scheme. Reminds me of the Casio PX5s. I prefer when a board is all black or even all white. 
 

Anyway, back to the actual board. It has all the classic vibe of the SV1 but the acoustic pianos are a massive step up in quality.

 

Action is the RH3. You would need to try it. I like it but can absolutely see why some piano players prefer the Yam CP88 action. Personally, I prefer the RH3. It’s also really good for EP and not terrible for organ.

[jejefunkyman]

Happy owner of a Korg SV2 here 😁 I owned a SV1 for a long time and switched to the SV2 2 years ago. As said already here, the acoustic pianos are much improved compared to the SV1. My favourite is the Italian variant which I'm using at home for practice and on stage. 

The electric pianos and Clavs are also improved compared to the SV1: many different variants and a more detailed tone. 

The effect section is better than in the SV2 with more fine tuning capabilities.

As a bonus, there's a large choice of available additional sounds in the editor and a compatibility with the DS-1H sustain pedal which is much better than the included one. 

The available XLR outputs are very good for stage usage. 

I like the RH3 action very much, but it is also probably because I'm very used to it. 

The only complain I would have is that Korg seems not be interested by offering additional sound packs, despite the fact that they wrote on their website that it would be possible to upgrade the SV2 sound collection by Korg's own sound packs or some provided by external developers. 

[AnotherScott]

11 minutes ago, jejefunkyman said:

The only complain I would have is that Korg seems not be interested by offering additional sound packs, despite the fact that they wrote on their website that it would be possible to upgrade the SV2 sound collection by Korg's own sound packs or some provided by external developers. 

 

They have 3 soundpacks at https://www.korg.com/us/support/download/product/0/839/which add the standard and optional sounds from the SV1.

 

 

[jejefunkyman]

Yes I know but to me they are very much outdated sounds now compared to what is offered by the SV2 😅 I was more referring to new sounds which can take profit of the bigger memory available in the SV2. Anyway, at this point I think it's just wishful thinking and that there was definitely no plan from Korg to upgrade anything on the SV2. And I think here Yamaha is definitely doing a better job with the CP/YC line. 

[AnotherScott]

17 minutes ago, jejefunkyman said:

Yes I know but to me they are very much outdated sounds now compared to what is offered by the SV2 😅 I was more referring to new sounds which can take profit of the bigger memory available in the SV2. 

AFAIK, there is no additional available writable memory in the SV2. New sounds, then, can only be edited tweaks of the sounds that are already in it (which is what those soundpacks are, since the SV2 as shipped did include all the sample sets of the SV1 but didn't include all the original programs).

[jejefunkyman]

I also know this, so I'm only complaining about the wrong advertising which Korg did on their website and the wrong expectations this generated in customers like me 🥲

 

Anyway I have no more hope now, but I'm still angry against Korg because of this 😂

[ElmerJFudd]

The CPs are also limited to the wave forms Yamaha provides.  On occasion they add to them by firmware update. But that will only happen as long as it is the current model and selling well.  

[jejefunkyman]

Yes Korg once did something similar on the Vox Conti and the Grandstage. I believe it should also be possible on the SV2, but until now there's no sign that something will ever come. So I don't expect anything more from them. 

I also think what is available on the SV2 is more than enough. So it's not so important in the end. Well at least this is my way of dealing with my disappointment 😂

[bennyray]

Thanks for all the input I just like the sound and look of the SV2. Jeff I thought you had a Nord for piano could be mistaken

 

been a few years since I been on on the forum. Really like the Nord Stage 3 as well.

[Paul Woodward]

21 minutes ago, bennyray said:

Thanks for all the input I just like the sound and look of the SV2. Jeff I thought you had a Nord for piano could be mistaken

 

been a few years since I been on on the forum. Really like the Nord Stage 3 as well.

If you like the SV2 but want a few more sounds, the Grandstage is a great choice if you can find one. 550 sounds in there covering most of what you need and easy access controls from the board itself.

[bennyray]

Yea the Grandstage is nice but I just prefer the vintage look and the tube vacuum on SV2. May try the YC 73 alot of sounds

[Docbop]

IS the Korg GrandStage still in production???   Korg doesn't have an official notice of it being EOL, but some vendors list it as out of production.    

 

 

[Paul Woodward]

5 minutes ago, Docbop said:

IS the Korg GrandStage still in production???   Korg doesn't have an official notice of it being EOL, but some vendors list it as out of production.    

 

 

Don’t believe so, although Korg still have it on their front page (but not in their piano section). Still a few used ones floating around. Unlike the SV, these have seven of the sound engines from the Kronos and around 50gb of sound data on board.

[AnotherScott]

Vox and Grandstage use the Kronos engines from Korg Japan. SV1/SV2 come from a completely different design team, Korg Italy. So there are more differences between the SV2 and Grandstage than you might expect. The Kronos-derived EP1 engine EP sounds are entirely different from the SV2 EDS-X EP sounds, though both are excellent. 

 

The different design groups probably means a lot of the internal architecture is different as well, so getting back to one of the other comments above, the fact that it was apparently possible to add new wave data to Vox/Grandstage updates doesn't mean the SV2 ever had that possibility.