Keybed Grand vs Piano 4 vs Piano 5

[Jazzrock]

Hello,

I really want a Nord electric piano because I like the sound, the control concept and the look. But I played the Piano 5 and the Grand for an hour today, alternating between them, and wasn't really fascinated by the keybed. The Grand's keybed generally felt higher quality, but it was very loud. I found the volume distracting when playing through headphones. Second, I found the action quite light, so not really like a grand piano. A Yamaha NX 1 was nearby for comparison and the action was much heavier (but also very loud).The Piano 5's keybed was much quieter, but it felt a bit like there was a spring involved in the action. But the action was heavier, so more realistic in that regard. It also seemed to have graduated weighting, however the white keys felt inferior compared to the Grand (more like plastic).

I'll be playing grand or upright 95% of the time, so I don't really need the Piano 5's new features. If the keybed is really the same as the one in the Piano 4, maybe a used Piano 4 would be the best option, then wait until the Grand X gets a better keybed (maybe the one from the Kaway MP 11 SE). But some say the Piano 5's keybed is better than the Piano 4's. Is it really true that there are differences? Also, I wonder if the Grand's keybed is really that much louder than the Piano 5's? While the Grand was placed on a proper electric piano stand, the Piano 5 was placed on a wobbly stand for multiple keyboards. Perhaps the latter swallows some noise, so the Piano 5's volume would be the same if it were placed on the same stand as the Grand.

I would really appreciate comments on this comparison. Thank you very much!

[ziozeus]

In my life I have mooved from a yamaha cp120 to cp5 to cp4 to a kawai mp7se to a nord grand. Every time I tryed a nord piano I felt the action as plasticy not only in the feel but also in the noise it made. That has never been an option for me. So I jumped into the nord train only because the kawai action attracted me. You are right in saying it's rather light. And unfortunately it's not graded like the mp7se it derives from, which as a result is slightly havier indeed. Probably the nord grand shares the same design philosophy the cp5 had: light and not graded to be good with EP too. It's a (rather strange) trade off I admit I have to live with as I'am also only into acoustic piano sounds. But it's a very pleasant action to play at the end. I'm not bothered about the grand noise, maybe it's more noisy than the yamahas I had, but not at a level that would determine wether a neighbour would wake up or not in the night...

[Janatuinen]

I have currently Electro 6D which I control with really old Roland FP2. I’m looking for better action and I tested this week both Piano 5 and Grand. I’m not fully satisfied with Piano 5 action, it’s a bit gluey. Nord Grand is quite nice to play even the action is light but at the same time the action is so noisy that it’s not the right one for me as I’m mostly playing with headphones when kids are already sleeping and I don’t want to wake them up. It’s much more noisier than my 15 years old Roland. Yamaha CP88 was quite noisy as well.

Suprisingly actions haven’t developed so much during 15 years when comparing to my Roland. I try to find now Kawai VPC1 for testing.

[Jazzrock]

Thank you for your comments. It confirms my impression that the Grand's keybed is not better in every way compared to the Piano 5 (at least when it comes to playing piano sounds):

Grand's keybed:
+ feels of higher quality and playing on it feels more authentic
- the action is quite light
- noisy

Piano 5's keybed:
+ action is a bit heavier
+ less noisy
- feels cheaper and playing on it feels less authentic

So it's very difficult to decide which one is right for me. I'm still not sure if the Piano 5's keybed is better than the Piano 4. If they are the same, the Piano 4 would be an option as a temporary solution. Maybe one day Nord will release an electric piano with a really high quality keybed.

[Dave Ferris]

I was considering the Nord Grand a few months back to possibly upgrade from my aging CP4. On first play (outside of NAMM and a local AM dealer's home almost two years ago) I was sort of leaning towards getting it, probably more because it was just different then the Yamaha. But after two more return visits, I knew long term I wouldn't be happy with it. I owned two NPs ten years ago- NP Classic and NP2. So I have some background with them.

The NG action felt very un-pianistic and un-natural feeling. Coupled with the piano samples just not sounding good/right/natural for single line Jazz playing, I wrote it off. I haven't played the NP5 but have the NP4-- it was the same fatar feeling action, which I highly dislike. But maybe a tad tighter then I remember the NP2 being.

I bought the Yamaha CP88 back in late July and used that on a few gigs and returned it. I liked the updated CFX piano sound but couldn't hang with its action live. After a few months wait, the Yamaha P-515 showed up yesterday. I like the action but there's a major problem in the area from F#6 to C7 it sounds like a different instrument up there. Tinny, thin, wonky and overly cheap. I don't what happened when they were sampling but they didn't get that section right at all. A drag because the action is very nice for what this is (price point) but I don't think I can get past that upper register. That would drive me insane. So I'm back to square one again with all of this.

I very well just might stay with the CP4. Nothing new really speaks to me as a jazz pianist, except for my AG N3X (which I love) and obviously that's not for gigs. So I'm in the same quandary but with a different brand.

[wvujazzman]

I was considering the Nord Grand a few months back to possibly upgrade from my aging CP4. On first play (outside of NAMM and a local AM dealer's home almost two years ago) I was sort of leaning towards getting it, probably more because it was just different then the Yamaha. But after two more return visits, I knew long term I wouldn't be happy with it. I owned two NPs ten years ago- NP Classic and NP2. So I have some background with them.

The NG action felt very un-pianistic and un-natural feeling. Coupled with the piano samples just not sounding good/right/natural for single line Jazz playing, I wrote it off. I haven't played the NP5 but have the NP4-- it was the same fatar feeling action, which I highly dislike. But maybe a tad tighter then I remember the NP2 being.

I very well just might stay with the CP4. Nothing new really speaks to me as a jazz pianist, except for my AG N3X (which I love) and obviously that's not for gigs. So I'm in the same quandary but with a different brand.

Isn't it interesting how different folks have different tastes... I too am a jazz pianist who played a CP4 for several years until this spring, when I upgraded to the Nord Grand. For me, the Kawai action felt a bit more responsive than the CP4, and I like the samples better on the Nord as well. I've been a Yamaha guy for 15+ years, so this was definitely a change for me. I don't notice the noise mentioned by some, but I never use headphones - i'm always playing through amplification. Either the piano monitors, or my full keyboard amp (Motion Sound KP500).

The CP4 is still in the family - I gave it to my son to use as his primary board. Now you have me curious... I may have to pull it out and do another direct A/B comparison now that I've played the Grand for almost 9 months.

Eric

[PScooter63]

I'm a bit mystified by the comments about action noise. It would be very interesting to hear the action of a relatively new concert grand acoustic piano without being able to hear the musical sound of the strings resonating on the soundboard. Might it not be relatively "noisy"? Would the owner, hearing that "noise" without hearing the musical sounds, be bothered enough by "noisy" action to look for a different acoustic grand piano that had a quieter action? I don't think so.

For what it's worth, I compared the action sounds of my Yamaha Avant Grand N3 - which has an action that is basically the same as Yamaha's acoustic concert grands' - with the Yamaha's volume off, and my NP5, with its volume off. The NP5's action sounds different, but it isn't louder than the Yamaha's action. Neither piano's action sound bothers me. Of course, YMMV...

[Dave Ferris]

For a stage piano that's portable, I'm fairly happy with the CP88 at this point, although the action is too light for me. It sounds worlds better then the CP4, which I'll probably sell.

I've tried hard to like them but the Nord piano samples for straight-ahead acoustic jazz single note lines-- they simply don't work for me with regard to a player's connection to the instrument coming from almost four decades on quality acoustic grand pianos of a Yamaha C7e, Yamaha S6 and now the Steinway D the last 15 years.

I actually loath playing any electronic keyboard that's attempting to emulate an acoustic on a Jazz gig. When I'm in that unfortunate situation I sort of view it as "pick your poison", anything of good quality will probably "work". But that said, historically I've found Yamaha to be the least offensive and the best option for expressing myself that aligns with my acoustic jazz piano roots.

[Jazzrock]

I'm a bit mystified by the comments about action noise. It would be very interesting to hear the action of a relatively new concert grand acoustic piano without being able to hear the musical sound of the strings resonating on the soundboard. Might it not be relatively "noisy"? Would the owner, hearing that "noise" without hearing the musical sounds, be bothered enough by "noisy" action to look for a different acoustic grand piano that had a quieter action? I don't think so.

For what it's worth, I compared the action sounds of my Yamaha Avant Grand N3 - which has an action that is basically the same as Yamaha's acoustic concert grands' - with the Yamaha's volume off, and my NP5, with its volume off. The NP5's action sounds different, but it isn't louder than the Yamaha's action. Neither piano's action sound bothers me. Of course, YMMV...

Action noise is probably almost never a problem when presented simultaneously with the pure sound of an acoustic concert grand piano. The situation is different when a digital piano is played through open headphones or through loudspeakers with a low volume setting. In this case, too much action noise sounds artificial and not like an inherent part of the sound.

As mentioned earlier, the action noise of the Piano 5 seems to be relatively low, e. g. compared to the Yamaha Avant Grand N1X and also to the Nord Grand (at least this was the result in my comparison).

[rb293]

Have you ever tried a Roland RD2000..... I like it very much.... I also have a Montage 8.. I like the rd2000action better... Good luck in your decision....