Just got the Numa X Piano 73 - Maybe there's something better

[JohnCorda]

Hi all,

TLDR at bottom
I just received a Numa X Piano 73 and I'm a little underwhelmed for a few reasons.  The action is just okay, it's not bad but not great either.  I'm coming from decades of playing a Nord Stage 2 (also the classic prior to that) as well as a 1923 Chickering baby grand at home.  I'm very happy with the feel of the NS2, as well as sound and features.  But it's heavy and my back is not in the mood for always lugging it around, and it takes up a lot of space.  Given I use a second keyboard and bring one or two amps, it would be nice to just have a lightweight yet weighted action keyboard with a smaller footprint.  The Nord still will be king for most situations but I want an alternative depending on the gig.

The piano modeling on the Numa produces some servicable pianos, but again, like the action, not great.  I play through a Motion Sound stereo amp.  The electric pianos are pretty good overall, strings are nice (don't play them often), and I don't worry about organ sounds in my bottom keyboard (my top board is a lightweight SK1 that goes through a Vent2).
The bass sounds are terrible.  I play left hand bass in a few groups, and that is why I sometimes bring two amps.  The advantage to the NS2 is there are four audio outputs.  I have 1 and 2 sent left and right to the Motion Sound, and output 3 goes to a 30lb MarkBass amp with a 12.  One of the best upgrades to my sound for left hand bass gigs is having a separate bass amp, not just for sound separation but the sound guy is less grumpy.  The Nord allows patches to be saved with their own output routing.

Having said that, the NS2 will come to at half or more of gigs than whatever my alt setup will be. The Nord has some nice bass samples that sound fantastic through a bass amp.  The alt setup can be just for non bass gigs.

So I'm going to bring my New Numa over to my studio to play around with it some more, before I make my final decision, but I'm leaning towards returning it (which is a bummer because I got a $200 off deal - I think it was open box).  It has a nice look, seems well made, compact, and about 26lbs - easy to move around.

But one more note - the UI is rather obtuse, it's advertised as simple and intuitive, but it's not.  Starts to make sense when you learn it (the manual is a fairly paltry online only item).
The price was great, but if there is something better for this size/weight, as long as I don't have to pay Nord prices, I'm willing to invest.

I'm looking at the Yamaha CP73 and the Dexibell VIVO S3 Pro 73.  They're both approx twice the price but maybe they are approx twice as good.  They are similar weight.
I'm looking for feel/action and convincing acoustic piano, rhodes, wurli, clav, marimba, and perhaps some synth sounds that are good enough/improved with an effect or two (onboard or outboard).  As well as lightweight and easily portable.

Doesn't look like either of these two have more than a left and right output but I'm not opposed to sending keys to one side and bass to the other output if they allow it (and have bass samples/sounds I can use).  I know the Dexibell can take user samples in SF2 format.  That would be nice, but tbh LH bass with audio separation is not that important - my main rig can always fit those situations.

Sorry for the wall of text -   How do these other boards compare on those fronts?  I'm open to other suggestions.

TLDR I play a Nord Stage 2 primarily and want to have an alt setup with a lighter, smaller board but still have good weighted action and good keyboard sounds, tried the Numa X Piano, but still want to try some more, like the Yamaha CP73 or the Dexibell VIVO S3 Pro 73 for example.

[AnotherScott]

The CP73 does not let you pan sounds to one side or the other. They did add that feature to the YC73 with its latest update, though. I haven't tried it myself, but it should give you the LH bass flexibility you might want.

[stoken6]

10 hours ago, JohnCorda said:

I just received a Numa X Piano 73 and I'm a little underwhelmed for a few reasons.  The action is just okay, it's not bad but not great either. 

 

10 hours ago, JohnCorda said:

I'm looking at the Yamaha CP73 and the Dexibell VIVO S3 Pro 73.  They're both approx twice the price but maybe they are approx twice as good. 

The Dexibell uses the Numa action's predecessor, the TP/100. If you don't like the Numa, you're unlikely to like that one.

 

I'm like you: I have a NS classic hammer-action and I like it (many don't). I found the TP/100 unusable, while the CP73's action entirely tolerable (although not quite as good as the Nord). 

 

Cheers, Mike.

[hrestov]

Yes, Cp73 down pan sounds… it’s a shame, because also the acoustic piano Cfx sound very good only through R output. 

[CyberGene]

11 hours ago, JohnCorda said:

I'm looking at the Yamaha CP73 and the Dexibell VIVO S3 Pro 73.  They're both approx twice the price but maybe they are approx twice as good.  They are similar weight.

I've returned a Numa X Piano 88 to replace it with a CP88 because I was also a bit underwhelmed by the Numa. The CP88 had slightly better action and better sounds too, however it's not 2x times better. I'd say overall the CP88 is something like 1.3x better 😀 Due to problems with my back and the heavy weight though I sold the CP88 and finally went back to a Numa X Piano 73. One needs to be realistic in their expectations. The Numa X Piano 73 is not the best keyboard out there but it's not the worst either. Actually it's pretty good, so I'd say it's above the middle line we can draw between perfect and trash. Taking in mind how light it is and how many features it offers for the price, it becomes an even better offer. But again, I wouldn't expect this to be your dream instrument.

 

P.S. BTW, I've also briefly owned a YC73 with the same action as CP73 and to be honest it's not at the same level as the CP88/YC88 and although I haven't compared them side by side with the TP-110 in the Numa, it may well turn out that the CP73 has worse action than the Numa.

[The_Star_Guy]

43 minutes ago, CyberGene said:

I've returned a Numa X Piano 88 to replace it with a CP88 because I was also a bit underwhelmed by the Numa. The CP88 had slightly better action and better sounds too, however it's not 2x times better. I'd say overall the CP88 is something like 1.3x better 😀 Due to problems with my back and the heavy weight though I sold the CP88 and finally went back to a Numa X Piano 73. One needs to be realistic in their expectations. The Numa X Piano 73 is not the best keyboard out there but it's not the worst either. Actually it's pretty good, so I'd say it's above the middle line we can draw between perfect and trash. Taking in mind how light it is and how many features it offers for the price, it becomes an even better offer. But again, I wouldn't expect this to be your dream instrument.

 

P.S. BTW, I've also briefly owned a YC73 with the same action as CP73 and to be honest it's not at the same level as the CP88/YC88 and although I haven't compared them side by side with the TP-110 in the Numa, it may well turn out that the CP73 has worse action than the Numa.

 

i currently own both the Numa X 73 and the YC  73  (I forgot to return it in time to get full credit) and between the 2, I slightly prefer the Numa's TP 110 action over the Yamaha BH action,, although it is perfectly serviceable.  For players that prefer sample-based instruments I think the Yamaha might be a better fit, but I an actually more enamored with the modeled sounds that I am getting out of my Numa X.   It is also a more inspirational instrument for me as well.   The main thing that is great about the Yamaha YC 73 is that it is potentially a single board gig instrument for Classical \ traditional players that don't need a lot of synth sounds, as it does cover the "bread & butter" basics rather well.   But right now I am thinking that a CK 61 as a top board over the Numa X 73 would cover the vast majority of my needs (except for the FM synth sounds).

[AnotherScott]

2 hours ago, hrestov said:

Yes, Cp73 down pan sounds… it’s a shame, because also the acoustic piano Cfx sound very good only through R output. 

 

If the CP let you pan sounds, I think it would likely pan both sides of a stereo sound to one side (rather than only using one side of the sound), so the CFX would probably no longer give you that benefit you get from liking the way the right side of its piano sound sounds by itself.

[obxa]

I had the same experience . I too really like the NS2 88 action but keep it at my church for weekly use and only bring it on certain shows because I hate moving it....or these days just about any 88 note.     Originally bought the Numa with the intent  I would just use it to control Nord Compact/Electro  piano sounds when they're  the top board. I shopped the Cp73, and also the P121.  Also considered a weighted Electro. 

 

    I feel  the Numa needs a fair bit of tweaking out of the box.   Especially if your ear is attuned to the Nord pianos (White, Velvet, Yamaha etc.) With that in mind,  look at the "Vintage Grand" or the Yamaha (aka "Japan" ) models.   Turn the pedal noise, resonance, and sympathetic stuff way down.  Also the reverb.   Do the same on the Bass patches. 

 

Going from a completely sampled base piano sound  to the hybrid modeling of the Numa is also a different thing too.   I've used PianoTeq in the studio and occasionally live  since 1.0 - the playability of modeled pianos  is wonderful, but sometimes the sound can throw off your ears.  

   
 

All that said - I'm still struggling to be happy with the Numa's AP sound through an amp on intimate small format gigs. Got some good advice from the members here I'm going to try this weekend.      All and all have still loved it for the other stuff I mostly do that's primarily IEM & Theater stuff with big PA.  Any show recordings I've heard sound great.  FOH folks always have great comments.   

 

  The keyboard action took a little bit to get used to, but have grown to really like the responsiveness.  There are settings there that need to be personally tweaked too.   Going from Numa gig on a Saturday night to  Nord (or real acoustic) on Sunday morning,  don't feel any real adjustments. 

 

 

On solo/duo/trio gigs also do a fair amount of key bass- mostly with the upright sound,  and have been pretty happy. Again, after some tweaking.

 

As a bottom board the Numa is ideal for the sounds I'm using: AP, String layer, EP, Marimba, Pads ,Vibes.  The Wurli needs some tweaking.  . The organ is wretched, but not what I bought it for.   

 

 

Looking long term- If only doing solo-trio stuff, I might re-consider Yamaha because I'm so used to their (sampled) pianos for plug and play.   73 notes is important,   I've heard mixed reviews about the Cp73's.  I wish they had done a CK73.    Got a small fortune in Nord stuff already.  

 

There's a long ongoing Numa piano thread on this forum already- and you'll see some great real world comments there.  

[CHarrell]

3 hours ago, obxa said:

 

  The keyboard action took a little bit to get used to, but have grown to really like the responsiveness.  There are settings there that need to be personally tweaked too. 

 

In terms of the velocity settings?

[obxa]

1 hour ago, CHarrell said:

 

In terms of the velocity settings?

Yes- don't have my numa in front, but experimented with things below until it felt right.   From the manual:

 

VELOCITY CURVE

You can select different velocity curves, according to your taste and playing technique. There are 4 factory curves: SOFT, NORMAL, HARD, FIXED.
Fixed setting value can be set in VELOCITY FIXED parameter.

 

KBD SENSITIVITY

Starting from the current curve, you can adjust the sensitivity in a range between -25% (heavier) and +25% (lighter).

 

KBD B/W BALANCE

Change the balance between black and white keys of your keyboard with a range of +/-15%.

 

The folks over at pianoworld love to obsess discuss 😀 such things at a granular level,  if you have a few hours, you can read through  the many Numa threads there too. 

[JohnCorda]

5 hours ago, obxa said:

I had the same experience . I too really like the NS2 88....

 

    I feel  the Numa needs a fair bit of tweaking out of the box.  

 

 

On solo/duo/trio gigs also do a fair amount of key bass- mostly with the upright sound,  and have been pretty happy. Again, after some tweaking.

 

 

There's a long ongoing Numa piano thread on this forum already- and you'll see some great real world comments there.  

 

Thanks for everyone's comments in this thread.  I did check out the Numa 73 thread here for a while before purchasing.  I forgot to mention in my OP that I found the upright bass sounds to be considerably better than the electric bass patches.  I played around with some of the piano settings you mention, with some positive results.  I also really like the Rhodes sounds, the Wurli is just okay.

 

I'm going to stop looking at the Dexibell VIVO S3 Pro 73, not enough feedback on the action, etc.

Still considering Yamaha CP73  or YC73 with drawbars

A board with drawbars plus piano,ep, etc can not just help to save back breaking moving the NS2 88 when it's prudent to do so, but also just be an all in one for shows that would be fine for, no second keyboard (in my case Hammond sk1)

 

So not to veer the thread in another direction but I'm starting to look at the Nord Piano 5 73 and Nord Electro 6D 73.  Starting to hit the upper limits of my budget.

However, either could replace my NS2 - which I can sell and cut back into the high price of the new one.  They both have sample synth engine - I'm sure I can have some good bass sounds - and some synth samples I can add FX to, to achieve similar to the synth engine on the Stage models.  I don't hit a ton of synths at shows but I always have a few tunes where I use them.

 

The 6D has organ and drawbars - and like the YC73 can be for quick sets without the need to set up the baby hammond (sk1/vent2) and extra stand config.  Only 20 lbs.  I can probably get used to the semi weighted but it's not ideal.

 

The Piano 5 would easily complement the baby hammond.  And it's almost a clear winner because of the action.  If it's anything close to the NS2.  Bit heavy at 34lbs.  Still smaller to move around.  I think NS2 is over 40lbs.

 

So many of these are just sooo close, but there's always a trade off that we have to accept.

 

I have two gigs this weekend and I don't have to time to battle the Numa UI to create a handful of patches so I'm going with my usual setup, and I'll dig back into the Numa Sunday or Monday.

 

[stoken6]

18 minutes ago, JohnCorda said:

Nord Piano 5 73 and Nord Electro 6D 73

Nord Piano has the TP40 action, which is liked by quite a few forumites. It's comparable to (allegedly better than) your NS2/88. Electro 6D has a non-hammer (i.e. sprung, organ-style) action and is a very different animal. Warning: if you meant the Electro 6HP, then we're back to TP100 action!

 

With either option, you'll be giving up a lot of Stage-only capabilities, such as synth editing, morph, arpeggiator, pitch/mod, MIDI control capabilities and more.

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

 

[RandyFF]

The User Interface is not as intuitive as I was lead to expect, but I’m more than willing to do the light learning duties:

> for me price was a major consideration, the X 73 was already at my max price, and with many budget items there’ll be compromises.  

> Considering they don’t have the extensive front panel 1 to 1 controls of many stage boards, there are still many many many operations possible in real-time while performing

> the beauty of this board is they’ve put thought into it, so I’m confident it’ll become easy with minimal effort: color coding, 4 knobs for volume and editing, dedicated knobs for fx, extensive numbers of easy to arrange favorites, 4 audio inputs plus USB Audio and din MIDI, etc.

> I’ve owned the Yamaha XS7, and compared to that this thing is child’s play, the industry as a whole has come a long ways in making boards more intuitive

> Perhaps you’ve gotten spoiled with the 1 knob functionality of pricier boards, but I bet if you get over the easy prejudice of expecting it to be the same as what you’re used to and take a little time to learn it, you’ll be pleasantly surprised

> I recently bought a Casio CT-S500, and was amazed at how user-friendly it was with about half the number of controls the X 73 has.  But you’ve got to learn their way of doing things.

 

I just picked up my X 73 last night, so I’m only a few hours into it.  I’ll report back after more time with it and say how I’ve got on with the user interface.

 

About the sounds: keep in mind that if you’ve got a strong Nord/Yamaha background.  There are dozens of little components that make up the sound we’re used to.  While auditioning some sounds last night I was having a bit of the uncanny valley experience (like with robots who are similar to humans but just different enough that there’s a feeling of weirdness) in my initial perusing of sounds because there were little things that threw me off a bit, ways in which the sound was slightly not what I’m used to.  

   > From what I’ve heard, Yamaha has gotten exceedingly good, esp with their higher-end boards, at having great sounding presets, and I know Nord is pretty good at that as well.  With the Numa Piano I hear that most people talk about needing to tweak it before achieving satisfaction, but most of them are successful.  So perhaps this is another price for buying a budget board-?

   > SL have come out with new sounds very quickly, and no doubt will continue to build up their library.  And they include a librarian!

   > So far I’m loving their EPs!

[b3plyr]

2 hours ago, RandyFF said:

The User Interface is not as intuitive as I was lead to expect, but I’m more than willing to do the light learning duties:

> for me price was a major consideration, the X 73 was already at my max price, and with many budget items there’ll be compromises.  

> Considering they don’t have the extensive front panel 1 to 1 controls of many stage boards, there are still many many many operations possible in real-time while performing

> the beauty of this board is they’ve put thought into it, so I’m confident it’ll become easy with minimal effort: color coding, 4 knobs for volume and editing, dedicated knobs for fx, extensive numbers of easy to arrange favorites, 4 audio inputs plus USB Audio and din MIDI, etc.

> I’ve owned the Yamaha XS7, and compared to that this thing is child’s play, the industry as a whole has come a long ways in making boards more intuitive

> Perhaps you’ve gotten spoiled with the 1 knob functionality of pricier boards, but I bet if you get over the easy prejudice of expecting it to be the same as what you’re used to and take a little time to learn it, you’ll be pleasantly surprised

> I recently bought a Casio CT-S500, and was amazed at how user-friendly it was with about half the number of controls the X 73 has.  But you’ve got to learn their way of doing things.

 

I just picked up my X 73 last night, so I’m only a few hours into it.  I’ll report back after more time with it and say how I’ve got on with the user interface.

 

About the sounds: keep in mind that if you’ve got a strong Nord/Yamaha background.  There are dozens of little components that make up the sound we’re used to.  While auditioning some sounds last night I was having a bit of the uncanny valley experience (like with robots who are similar to humans but just different enough that there’s a feeling of weirdness) in my initial perusing of sounds because there were little things that threw me off a bit, ways in which the sound was slightly not what I’m used to.  

   > From what I’ve heard, Yamaha has gotten exceedingly good, esp with their higher-end boards, at having great sounding presets, and I know Nord is pretty good at that as well.  With the Numa Piano I hear that most people talk about needing to tweak it before achieving satisfaction, but most of them are successful.  So perhaps this is another price for buying a budget board-?

   > SL have come out with new sounds very quickly, and no doubt will continue to build up their library.  And they include a librarian!

   > So far I’m loving their EPs!

Repeating myself. I have the Numa X 88 and the Numa X GT. I also have a Nord Grand. I like both of the Numas, sounds and key bed, better than the really good Nord Grand. We all have our own taste, but try (if you can find one) before you buy.

[Noah DC]

Just a quick reminder to update the firmware as you think about whether to return the Numa. A couple of the updates boosted overall action responsiveness and EP tone, among other changes. Didn’t see that update mentioned by the OP so just putting in a plug to inform the decision, however it lands.

[JohnCorda]

On 8/4/2023 at 4:20 PM, stoken6 said:

Nord Piano has the TP40 action, which is liked by quite a few forumites. It's comparable to (allegedly better than) your NS2/88. Electro 6D has a non-hammer (i.e. sprung, organ-style) action and is a very different animal. Warning: if you meant the Electro 6HP, then we're back to TP100 action!

 

With either option, you'll be giving up a lot of Stage-only capabilities, such as synth editing, morph, arpeggiator, pitch/mod, MIDI control capabilities and more.

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

 

 

I didn't mean the 6HP.  I did look into the 6HP and I don't see a reason to buy a Nord that has an organ section without drawbars at this point.  But also it uses the tp100 action - which if I'm not mistaken is the same as in the NS3 HP76.  I ran into a keyboard player who had one and we both agreed the action wasn't great.  He gigged with the board with a large dose of compromise.

 

I'm going to return the Studiologic Numa X 73.  I see the value and budget in the board, but I got to play it in earnest for a quick rehearsal before one of my gigs.  The NS2 was already in the car, so it was a good opportunity.  I just found it a battle to play.  The action is not the worst but it's stiff and also unresponsive.  I play an acoustic piano regularly and the Numa just feels off to me.  I did make adjustments to the velocity and sensitivity.  I have more than one issue with the UI, and one example is the rotary knobs on the left, while neatly color coded, require turning one off and turning another on to switch sounds within the patch, or long pressing one to make it the solo sound.  Neither measures up to the quick A/B selection in a Nord patch.  I rarely layer my sounds (only bass guitar layered with a clav or rhodes) and the Numa "4 sounds within a patch" config seems made for players who layer sounds.  I could go on about the sounds themselves which are hit or miss overall but enough said.

 

At the end of the day, this addition/change is about keeping my back intact.  And I'm willing to pay more for that.

 

I'm liking the Nord Piano 5, but it has two outputs, not four.  Does anyone know if I can at least route sounds to the outputs?  Like bass sample on left out and piano on right.  The mod/pitch missing seems an odd design decision, for being such a basic feature.  There is a control pedal input but I don't know what it will control with no organ and no morph.  Maybe there's some way it can adjust parameters in the FX section.

 

It does have MIDI - I'm assuming I can at least use it to play sounds from another instrument.

 

As an alternate keyboard when I don't cover bass, it should fit the bill very nicely however.  Just pricey without selling the NS2. 

 

Then again, I can always look for some kind of small desktop synth/sample player that has bass samples I can play with the left side split MIDI, then I get my separate bass output to the bass amp and FOH.

 

Yet I'm still looking at the Nord Electro 6D again.....   for just a very portable one off keyboard with everything except piano action, the 6D semi weighted/organ compromise action probably would feel better than the HP (hammer portable) actions on some of the last generation of Nords.  Don't need to bring the heavy two tier stand or the Hammond SK1 for the short set/shitty load in gigs.

 

Edit: for all my talk about action - for an alternate rig, I think I could compromise with the 6D, I just wish I could try one first, guitar centers around me don't have one in stock

 

[stoken6]

1 hour ago, JohnCorda said:

I didn't mean the 6HP. 

Conclusion: you'd be happy with an organ-style action like on the Electro 6D

1 hour ago, JohnCorda said:

this addition/change is about keeping my back intact.

Conclusion: you want something (meaningfully) lighter than your NS2

1 hour ago, JohnCorda said:

I'm liking the Nord Piano 5, but [...] mod/pitch missing seems an odd design decision, for being such a basic feature. 

Conclusion: you need mod/pitch control (and also assignable outs). 

 

Suggestion: trade your hammer-action NS2 for a Stage 3 Compact? The same action as the Electro D (but with aftertouch), drawbars, pitch/mod, assignable outs, assignable control pedal. I don't know if that's in your budget. NS3 prices should be dropping in the wake of the 4 being launched.

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

 

[JohnCorda]

6 hours ago, stoken6 said:

Conclusion: you'd be happy with an organ-style action like on the Electro 6D

Conclusion: you want something (meaningfully) lighter than your NS2

Conclusion: you need mod/pitch control (and also assignable outs). 

 

Suggestion: trade your hammer-action NS2 for a Stage 3 Compact? The same action as the Electro D (but with aftertouch), drawbars, pitch/mod, assignable outs, assignable control pedal. I don't know if that's in your budget. NS3 prices should be dropping in the wake of the 4 being launched.

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

 

 

Thanks for the suggestion.  You might be onto something, and it does have multiple outs.

I did some more thinking about this and it looks like I have to keep the NS2 to have the action and bass separation in one board.  So it doesn't make sense to get the Nord Piano as a replacement for all the other missing features as well.  I'm fine with lugging the NS2 around for half or more of my gigs, just have to stretch my back before and after shows 🙂

 

If I was going to sell the Stage 2 and accept only having semi weighted action, the Compact 73 would be a great choice.

 

At this point I'm at either getting:

 

The Electro 6D 73 and selling the XK1c
Thereby using the Electro as my top tier for organ or as a lightweight smaller standalone when it makes sense

OR

Getting a YC73 as the somewhat lighter, smaller, standalone option.

 

However this keyboard is expensive; in this scenario I don't end up selling the XK1c to get some money back.  
Also I've read reports of quality issues cropping up with the keybed after months or years of use.
And finally resale value won't be as hot as with a Nord.

 

Some day a Nord Stage 4 76 may come out and have better action than the NS3 HP76 but for now...

 

Really leaning towards the The Electro 6D 73 option.

[obxa]

If you go the Electro option, you can always get a cheap 88/73 note weighted controller when you need full piano range and action.   I got the  NS Compact with that in mind after deciding to stop moving the NS2 -88.   Maudio hammer 88 is one option.

 

Another option is a Slab piano to control your Nord.     The  "pro-sumer" ones from Yamaha, Kawai, or Casio  are lightweight and make great controllers.   Plus they make sound on their own.  They'll usually feature at least one good to great piano sound, and EPs -  and most all do bass splits.  Other sounds will likely be meh, but you'll have  Electro for other stuff.    

 

I gigged for a long while with a Yamaha P-255 (32 lbs) to strictly control the Nord Compact,  but also used it by itself on solo/trio gigs.    Occasionally use the Numa strictly as a controller, but  prefer its piano sounds over the Nord's on most gigs. 

 

 

 

 

 

[ImproKeys]

12 hours ago, JohnCorda said:

Some day a Nord Stage 4 76 may come out and have better action than the NS3 HP76 but for now...

 

Really leaning towards the The Electro 6D 73 option.

There is a Stage 4 73, which has a great action - I was considering going from my NS2 to the 4 73 HA - had it at home and it was great, but sadly faulty.
But now I came to the conclusion that I want to reduce weight (on the gear, ok maybe also on myself) and am considering going with a NS4 compact (73 keys). Today I had a brief opportunity to play it a a music store. To me it felt much more playable than the Electro 6D standing nearby. But yeah, its A LOT of money. I could sell some synths I almost never use live or in the basement...

[stoken6]

13 hours ago, JohnCorda said:

Some day a Nord Stage 4 76 may come out and have better action than the NS3 HP76 but for now...

 

36 minutes ago, ImproKeys said:

There is a Stage 4 73, which has a great action [...] But now I came to the conclusion that I want to reduce weight

Yeah, the Stage 4/73HA is not desperately light. If you want light, decent hammer action, not TP100,  with drawbars/wheels/assignable outs, your choices are limited.

 

If you go with a Nord compact, consider that you can add easily a lightweight hammer-action controller to it (needs 5-pin MIDI, so a s/h Yamaha P35 or Kawai ES100/110 for example) and the weight is about the same as your NS2 - but spread across two units. So that's one in each arm, or two trips, whatever.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[ProfD]

15 hours ago, JohnCorda said:

I'm fine with lugging the NS2 around for half or more of my gigs, just have to stretch my back before and after shows 🙂

 

Really leaning towards the The Electro 6D 73 option.

Maybe a dolly or rolling case could make the NS2 easier on the back.

 

Otherwise, the 73-key Electro 6D offers Nord familiarity minus some of the fat, er, weight content.😎

[kanefsky]

The case is actually one of the first places to look for weight savings.  Those wheeled cases, even the soft ones, can be pretty heavy and you can't use the wheels 100% of the time.  The official Nord 88-key soft case with wheels weighs 19 lbs, for example.

 

I think a lot of people don't pay much attention to how much weight the case adds, and just pick the most protective case.  Often you don't really need the most protection available, and if the case adds unnecessary size or weight it can actually make it more likely the keyboard will get dropped or bump into things.

 

My portable 88-key hammer-action keyboard is a Roland FP-10 (PHA-4 action) at 27.8 lbs and a Casio SC-800 gig bag at only 4.05 pounds.  If you include a Roland DP-10 pedal and the AC adapter that's about another 1.8 lbs.  The SC-800 bag fits the FP-10 like a glove (it also fits the Roland RD-88 perfectly) and has backpack straps in addition to a carrying handle as well as two large side pockets.

 

 

[CHarrell]

36 minutes ago, kanefsky said:

The case is actually one of the first places to look for weight savings.  Those wheeled cases, even the soft ones, can be pretty heavy and you can't use the wheels 100% of the time.  The official Nord 88-key soft case with wheels weighs 19 lbs, for example.

 

I think a lot of people don't pay much attention to how much weight the case adds, and just pick the most protective case.  Often you don't really need the most protection available, and if the case adds unnecessary size or weight it can actually make it more likely the keyboard will get dropped or bump into things.

 

My portable 88-key hammer-action keyboard is a Roland FP-10 (PHA-4 action) at 27.8 lbs and a Casio SC-800 gig bag at only 4.05 pounds.  If you include a Roland DP-10 pedal and the AC adapter that's about another 1.8 lbs.  The SC-800 bag fits the FP-10 like a glove (it also fits the Roland RD-88 perfectly) and has backpack straps in addition to a carrying handle as well as two large side pockets.

 

 

 

This is waaaaaaaay too true.

[JohnCorda]

On 8/7/2023 at 2:02 PM, ProfD said:

Maybe a dolly or rolling case could make the NS2 easier on the back.

 

Otherwise, the 73-key Electro 6D offers Nord familiarity minus some of the fat, er, weight content.😎

 

Well the case I use is a Nord case (and I can't say what it weighs on its own) has wheels on the bottom and a handle towards the middle so I can just walk it with ease over any relatively flat surface.  It's more the stairs times, and even when that's not an issue, lifting the thing out of the case and back in,  or the vehicle for that matter.

 

Maybe it was an overreaction, because I threw my back out a few weeks ago right after three gigs in two days with three different bands and a rehearsal prior (my studio is on the second floor and one of the rehearsals was elsewhere....).  a LOT of moving it around all over, but that was a particularly extensive week/weekend.  Nothing I haven't experienced before, just a bad muscle spasm, I know how to manage it, and now I was reminded to be more vigilant moving forward.

 

Like I said, I'm keeping the NS2 for the time being as there isn't a suitable replacement for my needs.  But for about a third of the gigs bringing the lightweight alternate would be nice.

 

I was checking the GC website for any of the ones I want to try out and none nearby come back as in stock.  I'll try calling a few tomorrow but I'm not expecting much in the way of results.

[DanijelL]

Yamaha YC (61 or 73) has few important pluses comparing to Nord Electro: USB audio, Audio Ins, real FM (with beautiful FM EPs), full master 4 zones

 

considering organ section - I would easily get rid XK1 and take NumaX73 for lower board plus YC61 for upper. High key trigger would be the only miss comparing to XK1... 

[stoken6]

On 8/7/2023 at 11:40 PM, kanefsky said:

The official Nord 88-key soft case with wheels weighs 19 lbs

 

On 8/9/2023 at 1:46 AM, JohnCorda said:

Well the case I use is a Nord case (and I can't say what it weighs on its own)

So the case is almost half the weight of the board? Yeah, there's opportunity for some savings there. One way would be to use a non-wheeled case, plus a trolley/truck. 

 

Cheers, Mike.

[CHarrell]

7 minutes ago, stoken6 said:

 

So the case is almost half the weight of the board? Yeah, there's opportunity for some savings there. One way would be to use a non-wheeled case, plus a trolley/truck. 

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

Or shucks, a wheeled case that's not 20 lbs. My Yamaha CP88 case is really nice, plenty of cushioning, wheels, and it's 10 lbs.

[counterpoint]

1 hour ago, DanijelL said:

Yamaha YC (61 or 73) has few important pluses comparing to Nord Electro: USB audio, Audio Ins, real FM (with beautiful FM EPs), full master 4 zones

 

considering organ section - I would easily get rid XK1 and take NumaX73 for lower board plus YC61 for upper. High key trigger would be the only miss comparing to XK1... 

You mean like this?

[RABid]

Piano is such a personnel decision it is hard to make a choice based on forum advice or YouTube reviews. For years people here recommended Yamaha but I never cared for the action. Bought a Nord Stage 2 based on opinions here and it was not the one. Finally went to a store and tried everything, then bought a Roland. I'm very happy with it because it feels like the acoustic pianos I played for years. I love the RD-2000. Sadly the store I visited is now closed. I would have to drive 7 hours to Sweetwater to really compare stage pianos. But, if I was buying it might be worth it.