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Here's a test recording of the Nord Piano 88 - OS 1.44, Grand Lady D 5.3.

I did have to tweak it because it didn't have the proper EQ on my headphones so I added lows and mids. These have a significant effect on tone I might add. Listening to the recording, I may have overdone the EQ (too much mids). It sounds different from headphones.

My Romance
http://www.box.com/s/2jc0600qcp5q68hdu75n

I wanted to do a combo recording with a backing track but I couldn't mix it in easily. I need new cables to accomplish that so that'll be a later project.

There's also some slight buzzing. I'm recording direct from NP 88 to Zoom H4. Then I'm monitoring from Zoom headphones.

As far as feel, I felt like I had easy control of dynamics for example between LH and RH (for a DP). The sound had the fullness no matter how hard I play.

Very nice playing.
I am pleasantly surprised by the piano sound you are using.
It reminds me of the tone Keith Jarrett manages to get out of his pianos.
I have been trying to find a digital piano that would come close to that sound and this one seems to get there or close to it.
I can't help wondering if that sound is as good when you play live or out of speakers/amplifiers ?

Thanks for the nice piece of music.

filipi, thanks! I said the same thing in another thread. The tone is like a "Keith Jarrett" tone. So impossible to duplicate on a real piano but easy on the Nord! And it doesn't matter what dynamics I use, it still has that pretty sound all the time.

I hope mine sounds that good !

I would agree with you that the EQ boost needs to be backed off a notch or two. There's a very pleasing overall tone that gets covered up at moments by a boxy-sounding mix midrange emphasis.

Sounds very good. You can really hear the detail in the string and sympathetic resonance. Nord has done such an amazing job capturing those nuances. Are you also using the Long Release feature which I feel does add some to the overall sound, particularly for solo work like this.

As for your playing, very nicely done! I've gone back and forth as to whether I like the Grand Lady Steinway or not, but your mix and playing makes me want to explore it further.

ZF,

From the original post I'd venture a guess it just might be called "My Romance"!

Good sound JW...glad to see you got it going.

The good news is that there's amazing EQ control here. I couldn't believe the amount of tonal variation I got with that mid-sweep thing.

I didn't try to tweak this or try to re-record multiple times. I just plugged this in and played once. So I'm sure I'll get better tone and better playing too as I figure it out.

I have the Grand Lady D and the Bosie loaded. I switch back and forth and I'm gravitating more to the D. But this may also be a function of the EQ tweak. So I reserve the right to change my mind

Yes it's back and forth between these two, isn't it? (Same here.)

Nice recording, jazzwee. As to the EQ: For some purposes the Lady D may even sound interesting if the low mids are taken back somewhat (using gain -3 at 600Hz or so, with some boost in bass and treble). That's what I experimented with recently... wouldn't sound well with the Bösendorfer though; this one can take some midtone boost, to my ears at least.

I seem to be the only person who prefers the Yamaha studio 2 sound. It sounds somehow cleaner and slightly more cutting than the others. I do like the Bosie as well for solo playing.
Anyway here is a demo I did with the Yamaha studio 2 sound on my nord stage 2.


http://soundcloud.com/david-beebee/em-braceable-nord-stage-2mp-3

I like Studio Grand 2 as well. Not instantly impressive perhaps but when you dig down into it there is a real sense of dynamics with it. Personally I'm not fond of Grand Lady D but I don't think I could convincingly explain why. I like the Bosie although it can be a bit nasal in the upper mids but it is one massive piano! With these three pianos there is genuine variety on the Nord Piano.

Beeboss that sounds fantastic. I'm with you. My ears have always preferred the Studio Grand 2 C7 in both recording and live settings. I use the Bright Grand S4 Yamaha for live when I'm really needing to cut through.

What settings did you have on your recording? EQ?

Yes, Beeboss, I'm interested in the EQ setting for C7. It just sounds so bright to me when I listen to it but it sounds really good in that recording. Or maybe it's just your playing. You could probably make an out of tune upright sound good.

Maurus, I'm going to check out your EQ setting too. Looks like that's the thing to tweak here.

I might try a different sample for a band recording I might do later.

In general though, all the samples still sound better to my ears than anything else I've played.

jazzwee - just listened to your recording. I agree the mids need a tweak. Nice playing! You know that this recording is mono don't you? It would sound 1000% better in stereo.

Steve

Totally agree! There's nothing else remotely interesting to me in one package compared to the Nords, particularly the Nord Piano. I wonder when the Nord Piano 2 is coming...

I did a quick listen, but lost interest as soon as I realized it was in mono. Gotta be stereo for us studio freaks!

I would not expect any announcement for this Winter NAMM. So, perhaps a year from now, minimum? More likely, two years. Only the bean counters will know for sure!

Sorry I can't remember what it was, I usually just twiddle the eq until it sounds right and this changes depending on the acoustics and the monitoring. Often I use a small treble cut and a small bass boost. On that occasion it went through a small mixing desk so maybe I twiddled the eq on there as well.