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... a new addition to the Nord family, to be presented at Musikmesse: http://www.nordkeyboards.com/main.asp?tm=Home

It seems to be basically a Nord Electro 3/4 HP with the organ taken out and more piano/sample RAM put in instead. Not terribly innovative I have to say, but convenient for pianists accepting a lightweight Fatar TP100 action-equipped keyboard.

Very significantly, though, if it has the NP2 feature set, that means it can split/layer two sounds at the same time. To me, that makes it much more desirable than the NE3/4HP. True, you lose the organ engine, but playing organ on that keybed is not great anyway. I think it will be a great option for a lightweight piano.

You are right - and that's indeed a substantial feature for some (not me though, personally I'd rate the increased piano RAM much more important).

Strange release imo. I have a hard enough time playing and executing things on the tweaked Fatar TP-40 as it is. I can't imagine going to even a less substantial or lighter weight action. Also, I've never met a pianist coming from an acoustic type background that was ok with anything less then 88 keys But then I guess this is geared to the *other* market of players, of which there seems to be no shortage of these days.

In addition, I remember the days of not too distant past when 39.6 lbs was considered lightweight. People need to go to the gym more often or at least get some dumbells for home use. You don't have to be a weightlifter or have big muscles to get serious gains from minimal resistance training..seriously.

Personally I would have been happy to see an XL, remapped Studio Grand 2 (with a fuller/fatter high end) or Grand Lady D (Steinway) and a new rhodes or wurli-as opposed to a new instrument.

To echo maurus..yeah I'd like to see an increased memory where you can load in at least 3 XL samples. As things stand right now, I have the XL on the Bright Grand & Fazioli but have to use the L on the Bosendorfer. The Bosie still sounds great, it has the best low end out of all the Nord Pianos imo, but the XL makes it even that much fuller. And for live stuff, it does make a difference.

Interesting. I have the Bosie and Fazioli as XLs and the Bright Grand as L. Do you find much obvious difference between the Bright Grand L and XL - perhaps stretching is more obvious?

I found the TP-100 (as implemented in the Numa) to be slightly heavier than the TP-40. Neither action wins any awards from me, but it's not too bad playing the lesser of the two (with the caveat that in the Numa, playing pp with fluidity and expression was a struggle).


Since about 1986, I have not had a digital piano with fewer than 88 keys until the SV-1. It requires quite a bit of adaptation to play effectively on 73. Even 76 keys would have made things quite a bit easier. But I do appreciate the shorter length when negotiating stairs and setting up in cramped quarters.


Some of us oldies have back conditions which would not be alleviated by any amount of gym work (in fact quite the opposite). With practically no cartilage between vertebrae, it becomes excruciating on both lower back and sciatic nerve dealing with both the weight and the twisting required for setup - with reduction in mobility lasting days sometimes. Lightweight is basically the only solution for being able to keep playing gigs.


Lets hope there'll be something along those lines before the end of the year.

Vox-I tried that combo for few gigs and found that I go to the BR. Grand often. Yeah to my ears, the XL on the Br. G. gives it just that extra bit of fullness which I like to have for clarity when the crowd noise and poor room acoustics make the piano sometimes hard to hear...even sitting right up on my monitors.

It seems the L on the Bosie is better served because I use that mainly for jazz ballads or playing solo accompanying vocals.

Thanks, Dave. At the moment, I'm using the Nord mainly for recording, and most of the time have been using the Fazioli/Bosie combination - hence the XLs for those. When I resume gigging with it, I'll have to give your combination a try, as I'm sure I'll use the Bright Grand more often then.

And I remember the days when I had roadies. ;-)

Really, a 40 lb keyboard, in a case, going up and down a flight of stairs in my house every gig (plus whatever mystery obstacles I may encounter on the other end) is no fun, especially when it's one of many trips. (I am responsible for bringing, not only my own multi-keyboard rig, but usually also the band's PA.) And then packing it all up at the end of the night (everything weighs twice as much after 1 am).

I briefly had a Nord Stage 2-76, and it was just more weight than I wanted to deal with. The heaviest board I've been okay with is the 32.6 lb MOX8, and even that's a bit of a pain. But we each have our own thresholds. (And it's not always just a matter of sheer weight, but also how it is distributed, and how comfortably the box can be gripped.)

That said, I don't care for the TP100 keybed, so as much as I like the Nord piano and sample sounds, my next weighted board is still going to be the Casio PX-5. But I may use it to trigger some piano sound located elsewhere, maybe even a Nord Stage 2-73.

But for someone who is okay with the TP100, I think this new NP2 will be a great choice. I like it better than the NE4HP. I think the split/layer function and extra RAM are more useful than the 4's organ engine in a monotimbral board with a keybed that is so ill-suited to organ playing.

+1. Ex Nord owner here...the Studio Grand 2 was maybe the most organic of the pianos but is very feeble in the top two octaves - just completely runs out of oomph. I was a huge fan of the Nord's EPs but having now played the CP1's for a while I can see where the Nord's could use some significant improvement.

Steve, I hadn't realized that you'd traded the Nord for the CP1. You've got a few hefty beasts in your arsenal now!

I'd be interested in how you compare the attributes of acoustic piano samples between Nord, Yamaha and Kawai.

With regard to EPs, I think modeling is a very viable option right now (a la CP series at al), whereas there still seems to be some way to go with APs.

When I bought my Nord, I decided between the Electro 3HP and the Nord Piano. Had the NP2HP been around, I'd have chosen it over the Electro.
For me, 73 keys are acceptable, light weight and compactness is a must (when traveling). I usually play acoustics.
I did not find enough of a difference in the keybeds/actions to tip the balance towards the Nord Piano, hence I went with the Electro. But regretted the lack of piano memory from the beginning. To have an organ on board is a nice bonus but by no means a must.
Having said this - is the NP2HP for me? Not really, as the downside of all Nords remains the action. As a travel piano the Electro 3HP is just about OK for me. Would I trade my Electro at no cost with the new one? Probably, yes.

Edit: After all this thinking about Nord actions my hands itch to touch my grand.

Hey I didn't know you went with the CP1 either, congrats Steve ! I think I'm going to get one, along with the MP10, just to do dead lifts with on alternate days...

Seriously, I'm probably going back to the CP, more then likely the 5, but was considering the 50 after spotting this the other day.
http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/msg/3718588628.html
But after spending 45 minutes at the GC going back & forth between the two, and having owned the CP5 already, it would be hard to go back to the 50 with, imo, the inferior action and clarity of sound. The CP1 is even fuller sounding then the 5, but I still need the LH bass capability as lame as that is. I really miss playing along with the CP5 drum grooves- Modern Jazz #81 (I think) and the Afro-Cuban one a few past that.

It's so personal isn't it?

For me I would say:

Yamaha - big, ballsy, even, articulate, powerful, rich, sometimes bright (CFIII), rounded, musical, reflective (S6)

Nord - characterful, idiosyncratic, organic, believable, fun, dynamic, neutral (Fazioli), gritty and warm (Studio Grand), bombastic (Bosendorfer) etc.

Kawai - I can't classify the Kawai in the same way. I tried but the words I used were uncomplimentary despite the fact I think the MP10 is a very good piano. I do think there's a sort of unfinished and unpolished quality to the samples. There's a slightly raw, rough edge to the sounds in my opinion. The Yamaha feels like it's giving you a cuddle but there's a slight coldness to the Kawai. Where the Kawai scores is the action - which is beautiful. Not necessarily the most piano-like in my opinion but for tactile smoothness it is top-notch and the user interface is intuitive and simple.

It's just my opinion but when you hear the Kawai sounds, regardless of the spec and model (PHI, UPHI etc) they are clearly using samples from the same sampling session. Whatever they do with the technical spec (layers, attack, loops, EQ etc), I think Kawai have taken the existing samples as far as they can. A newly prepared source piano and new recording session is needed now, not messing about with their existing samples.

Cheers,

Steve

Thanks Dave! I honestly think the CP5 was the sweet spot of the CP range. That was what I was most interested in and I think with mic input, audio recording and the 300+ sounds it was going to tick more boxes for me. But the CP1 just spoke to me a bit more and given the price differential is now relatively small (here in the UK at least) I went for it. Time will tell whether it was the right decision!

Cheers,

Steve

Absolutely. But that's what makes these discussions interesting!


That is perhaps the key. I do agree that despite their DPs' shortcomings, Yamaha does make its instruments musical. I do hope they come up with something interesting (and lighter) later this week.


That was almost exactly how I felt about the MP6. Great instrument overall, but I kept tweaking in the hope that I could find the AP sound that I would be happy with.

Thanks for the rundown, Steve.

The Bosie still sounds great, it has the best low end out of all the Nord Pianos imo

Who are these users that just post a verbatim snippet of someone else's post?

It's a bot...they scan through the posts and reiterate some lines.

James
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