Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Looking for a Stage Piano Solution

Man, I've been going around in a circle for a number of weeks trying to decide on a DP solution do a jazz situation I'm playing in. I'm currently using a Motif ES7 but am struggling without weight keys. I'm playing primary Piano, Rhodes, B3 and Wurli sounds. Sometimes I'm using some vintage moog leads. I've looked at the CP and RD pianos. Really like the Yamaha CP5 and CP50. I know the RD300NX is coming out soon, but I really need a solution soon.

I was going to head out to the store again to play around but instead took the time to connect my ES7 to my aging Ensoniq KS32. Damn, I really never knew how good the motif keyboard sounds were until I played them from a weighted source.

Now I'm thinking of just finding an 88 key controller to drive my ES7 and then bringing both on the road. That gives me my piano feel with another keyboard to do fast organ and synth stuff. I can get four parts from the ES for splits.

I think this will save me quite a bit of cash and give me the both of best worlds.

So what to do about a controller. The KS32 weights a ton, so it a no go. I was thinking a Yamaha P95, very light and inexpensive. I guess a PX-3 would work but would be more money for sounds I do not need.

I have not heard anything good about any of the dedicated midi 88 weight controllers (M-audio, Fatar, etc...)

So I'm looking for suggestions, any help would be appreciated.

Lastly does anyone know if I use a keyboard such as a P95 that is only 64 voice, will that voice limit prevent me from using the full 128 on my ES or is the 64 limit only internal?

Thanks again,

Rick

AFAIK keys just spit out MIDI, and polyphony numbers are due to sound generator limitations.

From my experience of Fatar in the Nords I'd say they are pretty good. They are not "authentic" but very nice.

I had the CP5 a couple of weeks and loved it but the action is not really like a piano. The effect becomes rather psychological after a while and is very fun/pleasant to play but once you switch back and forth to some more "authentic" action it feels much more like the synth it really is. I'd still have it if I could have taken it on a plane. I have a RD700NX now, expensive but I don't regret the change one bit.

Keybed + extra synth (or even better a rack unit) is a suberb solution for the road. You'll feel like a guitarist but what the heck. It'll be lighter and flexible. If it saves you money thats even better. IMO.

Cheers
Fred

I was looking at the CP50 but the C5 feature wise makes it pretty compelling. I'm not sure what you saying on the CP5 action. Was it responsive and controllable enough to play the piano patches? Was it not optimum or was it just a decent compromise between synth and piano action?

I can vouch for the Nord Piano and RD-700GXF. If I'm not mistaken, you need to be able to split the keyboard into zones, and thus would rule out the NP88. As far as a straight forward stage piano, there is no better option than the NP88. Everything is one touch, one button away. It's really terrific for a stage piano.


I agree. The NP88 is a step beck action wise from the PHA II/III Ivory Feel actions of the RDs, but when my piano teacher came by my place, he said the RD-700GXF I had sounded great for a keyboard, but the action felt cheap and keyboardish. He's coming from a 7' Baldwin Grand. So action seems to be a very relative thing, although, if there is one thing I could change about the NP88, really the only thing, is I feel Clavia could have chosen a better, more 'piano' friendly action.

I just wish that for the Nord Piano price it came with an organ function. Everything else in that price range does.

Yeah I think the reason the NP88 is cost what it does must be mostly because they're handmade and in much lower volumes than their Roland, Yamaha, Kawai, Korg, and Kurzweil counterparts. Plus they're design internally is different to allow for the flexible replaceable sound library. Perhaps with the Stage 2 coming out, the price on the Stage EX will drop.

They do not have Organ samples? Right?

Yeah the Stage series do. The Nord Piano is a dedicated stage piano so it understandably doesn't have a lot of the bells and whistles the others do, which, oddly enough, is one of the many reasons I love it. I think the Stage EX would work out great for you. http://www.clavia.se/main.asp?tm=Products&clpm=Nord_Stage_EX

AmericanMusical.com has a Nord Stage EX 88 in stock for $3195 which is a great price for that board.

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item..._source=froogle&utm_medium=feed&

Has anyone suggested the CP33? They can be had for under $1000 new.

I played a CP33 very nice but limited sounds.

$4K for the new Nord Stage II. Hard pill to swallow.

CP33 here, awesome oustanding action. Expressive sampled piano set, nicely cuts through the mix in band situations.

No, not the Stage 2, the Stage EX. There's one in the link that's $3195, which is a thousand less than the $4199 Stage 2.