New Piano Sample from Nord - Soft Grand

[Mighty Motif Max]

https://www.nordkeyboards.com/sound-libraries/nord-piano-library/grand-pianos/soft-grand

 

“Soft Grand is a modern compact size grand piano equipped with extra soft hammers giving a very soft, yet dynamic, response. With its warm, mellow and gentle sound, the Soft Grand adds a unique new character to the Nord Piano Library.

Note: The Soft Grand requires the latest OS update and is compatible with Nord Stage 4/3/2 EX/2, Nord Electro 6/5, Nord Piano 5/4/3 and Nord Grand.”

[The Piano Man]

Or for the cost of a Nord, just buy a real piano.

 

If you need a portable option, get a Yamaha CP or Korg SV and save yourself a lot of money!

[Docbop]

I listen to it a little and not something I'm in a rush to load.   I could hear using it for some film composing type work, but not something I hear for a gig unless as part of layering sounds.    It's like the softness is an effect, now that would be cool to have as an effect that give that type of soft sound but is adjustment as to amount and how quick it affects the sound. 

[konaboy]

54 minutes ago, The Piano Man said:

Or for the cost of a Nord, just buy a real piano.

 

If you need a portable option, get a Yamaha CP or Korg SV and save yourself a lot of money!

you kidding? what real piano can you get for the price of a nord electro for example?

[Phil Aiken]

All I want for Nordmass is a new Wurly. 

[o0Ampy0o]

36 minutes ago, konaboy said:

you kidding? what real piano can you get for the price of a nord electro for example?

 

Quick route to boredom is listening to comedians talking seriously about jokes.

 

Chris Rock describing his index card layout has its moment though.

[DJkeys]

1 hour ago, Docbop said:

I listen to it a little and not something I'm in a rush to load.   I could hear using it for some film composing type work, but not something I hear for a gig unless as part of layering sounds.    It's like the softness is an effect, now that would be cool to have as an effect that give that type of soft sound but is adjustment as to amount and how quick it affects the sound. 

I agree. I have had Nords for many years and don't understand this plethora of Piano offerings (Soft, Felt, Toy, etc.) that are useless for gigging in my opinion.  Nord never really marketed to the film score crowd, it was always the Performance instrument. The amount of upright pianos is incredible, yet I don't use any of them.  I suppose if you are doing a classical or jazz gig where the piano is super-exposed that would be one thing, but for live band performance, I have been using the Silver and White grands exclusively in my Pop/Rock cover bands. 

 

-dj

[obxa]

16 hours ago, DJkeys said:

Piano offerings (Soft, Felt, Toy, etc.) that are useless for gigging in my opinion

 For those of us who also work  in Worship, where Nords are insanely prevalent (and Nord knows it..._) becomes a lot more useful.  I too don't find much use for uprights or felt in any of my regular gigs  except when one of the bands I work with calls NRBQ's super-fun  "Magnet".. or "Lady Madonna"... fun to use upright on.  But the Felts, and mellow uprights are essential in Church settings for offerings etc.  Used to have to roll my own by shaving all the top end off the regular pianos. Tend to use the bright Yamahas for most uptempo stuff, but been using Nord's felt a lot  lately, and will tomorrow evening for a lot of our quieter concert carol stuff.   

 

 

 

Totally agree they need a better Wurli. 

[Nathanael_I]

+1 for worship use. Will be loaded immediately. 

[jazzpiano88]

[elsongs]

I just downloaded this yesterday for my NS3. It's nice and expressive, but not worth using 200MB of your precious Piano memory (unless you really cleared out all the other sounds). You can get the same kind of sound with Studio Grand 2 with the "Soft" EQ setting on and a little tweaking in the AMP/EQ section. I already have Studio Grand 2 (which is much more versatile in that regard) and deleted Soft Grand.

[Manolios]

18 hours ago, konaboy said:

you kidding? what real piano can you get for the price of a nord electro for example?

 

[mate stubb]

I love the Nord uprights. For my last gig (60's and roots music) I found grand pianos mostly inappropriate - nobody was packing huge sounding grands back in the day. I kept 2 grands and 2 uprights in my Nord which were layered to loosen the unison tunings and make them cut better without having to EQ them into brittleness.

 

[CraigT]

18 hours ago, konaboy said:

you kidding? what real piano can you get for the price of a nord electro for example?

You cannot have a Nord thread without someone saying they are a ripoff.  Nobody has said they hate red yet, surprisingly.

[Jon E]

I love red. But wish they stop bother us with new downloadable samples. Enough is enough.

[Mighty Motif Max]

On the contrary, that’s part of the selling price IMO and probably the best thing about Nords - the variety of sounds and improvements over time vs being stuck with the factory default samples forever. If anything I’d like to see some newer C7’s and Steinway D samples (currently the older Studio Grands and Lady D).

[Phil Aiken]

2 hours ago, CraigT said:

You cannot have a Nord thread without someone saying they are a ripoff.  Nobody has said they hate red yet, surprisingly.

My Electro is painted black. My Grand is original, but I may strip the top and side panels and have them be natural wood. Nothing against the red.

[Docbop]

Nord has added a little variety in their sample in the last couple years with the Felt piano, a new upright, and a couple more Rhodes.   The Rhodes were interesting the other okay.    I've had my Nord Stage about two years now and I find in general most the sound are boring and of limited use especially for performance.   The earlier Nord sounds are kind of dull sounding not a lot of clarity.  The later sounds have a little more definition but they all are way too fat.   Fat is good if doing solo, duo, trio work, but if playing in a band or recording fat is bad unless doing solo, duo, or trio.    I find I have to have low end rolled off as a standard setting.   I listen the Nord Artist sound package and some good sounds so I get into what are they doing and there are layers of synth and effects to make the Rhodes and other sounds good.    

 

To me Nord needs to do a whole revamp of their sounds library with focus on sounds for live use,  so sound more open AP sound, most sound like very close mic'd.   Definitely way better Wurlitzer sounds.   So a balance of their sounds gear to solo... playing and sounds for live.  

[stoken6]

3 hours ago, Docbop said:

To me Nord needs to do a whole revamp of their sounds library with focus on sounds for live use,  so sound more open AP sound, most sound like very close mic'd.

Indeed. And a consistent volume/projection across the entire spectrum would make all the difference. I sometimes wonder whether they use a spaced (or wide-angled) mic pair that gets plenty of bass and treble, and not much in the upper-mid. 

 

Cheers, Mike.

[The Piano Man]

On 12/23/2023 at 9:33 PM, konaboy said:

you kidding? what real piano can you get for the price of a nord electro for example?

A Nord keyboard doesn’t include speakers. To get the best out of a Nord, you need to invest in a high end speaker system which does put it at the same price as a good quality upright piano. Obviously people that buy Nords don’t think they are overpriced. Opinions are opinions at the end of the day!

[yannis D]

6 hours ago, Jon E said:

I love red. But wish they stop bother us with new downloadable samples. Enough is enough.

Why?

This is the right after sales service many companies don't provide

 

[jazzpiano88]

[Stokely]

Probably not something I'd use live...I find the White Grand to be a good all-rounder.  I use the silver grand in at least one 80s-style layered patch.

[Jon E]

On 12/24/2023 at 11:52 PM, yannis D said:

Why?

This is the right after sales service many companies don't provide

 

Sorry I should have added an irony warning.

[Docbop]

On 12/24/2023 at 2:52 PM, yannis D said:

Why?

This is the right after sales service many companies don't provide

 

Nord doesn't have a great reputation from what I seen when it comes to service, they pawn it off on their distributors.   

[yannis D]

8 hours ago, Docbop said:

Nord doesn't have a great reputation from what I seen when it comes to service, they pawn it off on their distributors.   

I use Nords since 1999 and never had a problem with their service, both locally here in Athens and in Sweden, when I had to send an old Electro for repair. They have high prices, but this is Sweden I always had my instrument repaired on time. But here we're mostly talking about how they are renewing their arsenal constantly. I like the fact that they're not sitting in their laurels (they sell products one way or another...) but trying instead to give more new and fresh sounds to their customers.  

[UnderGroundGr]

41 minutes ago, yannis D said:

I use Nords since 1999 and never had a problem with their service, both locally here in Athens and in Sweden, when I had to send an old Electro for repair. They have high prices, but this is Sweden I always had my instrument repaired on time. But here we're mostly talking about how they are renewing their arsenal constantly. I like the fact that they're not sitting in their laurels (they sell products one way or another...) but trying instead to give more new and fresh sounds to their customers.  

I had 2 Nord instruments, one stage 88 and one electro 3. I changed 3 stages and then took my money back and bought a kawai MP8 and i change 2 electro 3, used it for 2 years and sold it...for me, the most overrated company out there, pricey and very bad construction and reliability...i had kawai and Kurzweil all my life so, i can understand the difference...

And many of my friends had problems, sold the Nords and never looked back...

[MartinLeo]

Not really excited about the soft… would rather prefer a new Rhodes or to improve the B3 Leslie effect. 

[CyberGene]

I haven't owned a Nord 😛 But one of the most popular gigging keyboardists here is a friend of mine and we regularly discuss stage pianos, workstations, synths, etc. He has had issues with most of his Nords and thinks they are quite overrated but he also says there's this prejudice among people against keyboardists who don't bring the red on stage as less professional, less successful (because if you're successful you are rich, hence can afford the most expensive). Not sure how that is in other countries but here you're judged by if you own a Nord or not 🤦🏻‍♂️

[analogika]

1 hour ago, UnderGroundGr said:

I had 2 Nord instruments, one stage 88 and one electro 3. I changed 3 stages and then took my money back and bought a kawai MP8 and i change 2 electro 3, used it for 2 years and sold it...for me, the most overrated company out there, pricey and very bad construction and reliability...i had kawai and Kurzweil all my life so, i can understand the difference...

And many of my friends had problems, sold the Nords and never looked back...

 

My Electro 2 hasn't failed me even once in the 18 years and hundreds of gigs I've owned it, the Stage 2 had zero issues in the three years I had it, and the Stage 3 had the loosening mod wheel connector of the first production run (fixed in ten minutes), and had dirt under two of the key sensors two years ago or so. I've had that for over six years, now.