Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Nord Piano sounds vs. Vintage D sounds comparison?

I've been considering the Nord Piano or Stage as an alternative to what I have, which is a Studiologic VMK188plus with various piano software, including The Galaxy Vintage D.

The Vintage D was a recent purchase, and up until I got it I was very frustrated with sampled and modeled piano sounds. But The Vint D sounds great and is pretty good as far as playability used with a high quality keyboard and low latency system.

Has anyone had an opportunity to compare the Nord piano sounds to those of the Vint D? I'd be very interested in your conclusions, especially since the Nords are a relatively expensive option.

Thanks,
Michael

In my very humble opinion and rather extensive experience with Nords having now owned 3 of them, and a current owner, the Nord's pianos sound like you're listening to a real acoustic recorded and played back to you, if that makes sense. To me, most all other digital pianos sound like overly processed, artificial samples (which they are!). Nord's pianos aren't perfect and certainly have their flaws, but all in all, there is no comparison in sound quality and overall real variety in sounds. None of their pianos sound a like AT ALL. They each have a very unique character, much like the real grand and upright pianos they sampled.

These are my opinions of course, but for the gigging musician, or for one looking for top notch acoustic and electric piano sounds in a DP, you just can't go wrong with the Nord Piano 2, Nord Stage 2, etc.

Zachary,

Happy Birthday to you! No cake, no singing from me (which is undoubtedly a good thing).

I totally agree that digital pianos in general are disappointing. My main interest is in the Nord piano sounds as opposed to the Vintage D software sounds themselves. As a performing instrument Nord's a clear winner, no argument.

I've only heard other people play Nords. I come from a place that you don't spend more than $2G for a DP. I'm amazed that people today spend in excess of $4G. I understand the sounds can be updated but Nord still manages to update the hardware thus making people reinvest in the new product that does something better than the previous version. I also understand the many other features...

That being said I am new to VST and I have the Vintage D and NeoSoul keys connected to my FP4. I think the D sound great and the many different parameters you can tweak not to mention the larger samples makes it much better for my tastes. I also love the Rhodes sounds I'm getting from Neo.

Back to Nords. I've heard many good recordings of them on youtube but frankly never heard one live that I liked. I guess the speaker system must be important.

Then there's the action. Most Nord'ers seem to think the Fatar is a compromise but they probably play better than your controller.

I already had the laptop, I spent $330 and now think I got a great gigging package. I might consider painting my Roland FP4 red, just to be cool.

Happy Birthday Zach!

Coincidentally, I have just returned from a friend's birthday...he's a good chap, and while we have yet to meet in person, I expect you are too!

Cheers,
James
x

36251,

I know what you mean about instrument costs. Still, if I was working more, making the bucks, I might consider buying a Nord with more enthusiasm, because it would be an investment that would make my gigs easier. Undoubtedly, the Nords offer convenience along with quality.

My Studiologic keyboard BTW has the TP40GH Fatar action, which is a better action than those in the Nords.

I'm still hoping to hear from someone who has compared the Vint D with the Nord piano sounds directly.

devils advocate - you already admit that your action is better...

The ability to tweak a very good sample that is much larger in size and to add in all the different resonances...

It would suggest you're just having Nord envy, which is quite common.

Hey - buy it, you can still use Vintage D with it and if you decide it's not better sell it for a loss. What could be better than that?

36251,

Actually, it's NOT Nord envy, exactly the opposite in fact.

I like the Vintage D a lot. The only way I'd consider the Nord is if the piano sounds are better than what I already can get from the Vintage D.

That's why I posted my question in the first place. Since no music stores around me carry the Nords I need to get some opinions. I'll be a happy camper if Vint D turns out to be better.

you can always buy the nord- it is light and travels well and its onboard sounds would be as good as any other DP you'd find for playing on the move- and also use it at home to control the vintage D when you had the urge. that way you could have some change of pace- do you want to eat chicken every night? that's the beauty of samples!

Unless the Nord piano sounds are better than those from the Vintage D, I'm not likely to buy a Nord just for the halibut

What place is that? How much was your N2?

Thank you for the Birthday wishes!!

The N2 is a DP? I hadn't noticed (: Seriously, I was speaking about gigging keyboards. Over $4G for a Stage/or an 88 Kronos, etc. - Seriously for a local GB musician??? That's a lot of gigs and new boards come out too often to be satisfied or loose that much money in depreciation in my book (but that's just me.)

Back to my N2... Sure it will depreciate and isn't an acoustic. For me though, I live in a tiny house where a Steinway S would take up whole living space. So, I lived with a wonderful Steinway K for last 7 years. Great sound/less than wonderful action. Before that I owned a Yamaha CP70B which was small enough to be acceptable in my house but got tired of the thin sound. To tell you the truth if at the time it was MIDI, which it wasn't, I could of got VST Vintage D, if it was available.

The good thing about a Steinway is it holds it's value. It took me 10 minutes playing a AG to realize it was time to get one of these.

I actually almost bought a Yamaha Grand Touch but at last minute decided the technology wasn't worth the money at the time and for a little more got my 11 year old Steinway K.

Not to dwell on a subject I've commented on many times in these blogs but you asked... The N2 is everything I need. The sound opens up when you add the samples of the sustain pedal. I love both acoustic pianos sounds for variation (helps boredom.) The action is sublime which is really helping me reach new levels of playing and practicing. I love not having to worry about humidity issues and always having a tuned instrument means no compromising (my K held a tune exceptionally well but now I can see it wasn't perfect.) The smaller size of N2 has given me tons more space, since I was able to move to different part of room (I only had one place, 600 lb. K would fit.) It won't hold it's value like Steinway but all the other reasons were too attractive to worry.

Back to the subject of this blog. My latest addition of Vintage D to my gigging FP4 has now given me new joys and it only cost an additional $330, not to mention the NeoKeys has finally given me the real Rhodes stereo vibrato sound I've been yearning for in a DP, without spending over $4G for Nord.

Final note: If Nord Stage or new piano had reasonable price point I might of bought one but now that VST's have given me a better sound than Nord (in my opinion,) I might be done with my addiction for the perfect gigging DP.


edit: I got back almost all of my investment from K and was able to buy N2 and still put over $2G back in my pocket - how nice is that!!!

Thanks for giving your opinion of the sound of Nord's pianos vs. that of the Vintage D, that's precisely what I was asking for!

In what ways does the Vint D seem better? And what type of computer setup are you using for gigging? Do you use a second HD for the samples, or is the system stable with just one HD?

No acoustic piano holds it value.

Maybe not new pianos but my used Steinway K upright did. It was 20 years old when I sold it. If it's not a Steinway also expect to wait a lot longer to find a buyer. Before the K I owned a used Steinway 1098, which I paid $6000. I sold that one for $5000 and the K I didn't loose that much. I'd say after owning for 7-8 years loosing less than a $1000 is a good deal.

I already owned a Toshiba Qosmio with 8gb of ram, i7 processor, full HD screen, 1GB video card, etc. laptop, which I bought used on Craigslist. It was only 6 months old at the time and cost $1000. I had plenty of issues but worked them out. Read how I did it here -https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1890213/CDP%20-100%20MIDI%20Delay%20Issue%20?.html#Post1890213