It has been a couple of months since I bought the NP88 and I feel it's about time I laid down some thoughts I have about the piano. This could potentially turn into a very lengthy review... I will attach this one photo, I feel that pictures really don't do this instrument any justice though...
I'd like to write a couple of things about myself first. I'm 26 and I'm a classically trained pianist, been playing the piano since age 4. After I graduated the local Conservatory I went to the first Jazz/Pop Faculty in South/Eastern Europe in my home town of Timisoara, Romania. Since then I've been working as a showband pianist on two cruise lines- Carnival Cruises and Princess Cruise Lines. I also have a post-bop/fusion/funk band at home which I tour with, called Expanding Time Colours.
My current job with Princess requires me to sightread pretty much all day and I'm currently playing on Yamaha C5 100 year anniversary grand pianos. I also play on Roland RX700 and Yahama keyboards from time to time when the gig requires a rhodes or strings or hammond work.
I absolutely love the Yamaha grands and absolutely HATE the Roland and Yamaha keyboards. I am one of those people who think that Roland and Yamaha really do a very crappy job from keys to sounds.
So I decided to save up and buy myself a portable instrument that I'll enjoy playing when the grand is not an option. After a good 4-5 hours in Sam Ash in New York I decided Nord was the way to go. At that time the only Nord available in that store was the Stage Classic.
But then, later on, when Nord announced the NP88 I knew that would be the keyboard I'd enjoy playing.
The first NP88 Thomann.de sent me was a faulty one: an Eb in the middle of the keyboard broke (the whole hammer broke) after 10-15 minutes of playing. I was shocked! But after a pretty lengthy process I received a new one and this one seems to be okay.
The NP88 is stunning! As a pianist I'd love to have wooden keys on it. I think this is the only thing that I could find wrong (if that's the word to use here) with the keyboard. But then I do realize that would make it way heavier and harder to gig around with. The keys have a decent weight to them (obviously not as heavy as a grand) and the dynamic response is the best out of every keyboard I've ever played on.
It amazes me how a 200mb sound pack can sound better than a 80Gig+ (very CPU intensive) VST can. String resonance is something I'm very familiar with (as well as pedal noise) so I found that to be spot on in Nord's interpretation/virtual reenactment.
The panel is pretty straight forward and easy to get used to. It'll take some time to fiddle and see how it all works, but after a couple of days, you'll know where everything is and you can concentrate on playing. The only thing I wish I had was a software update that would transform/switch reverb in/to delay: Using a rhodes patch with autowah and distortion you can get some pretty crazy growling and awesome sounds out of the NP88, and the only thing that's missing is a delay. I do understand that that's not the NP88's destiny, and that's why they have the Stage (2), but it would still be great to have it there, just in case you need to go nuts once in a while.
Live mode is something I will never use. If, when rehearsing with the band, I do come across a patch or settings that I'll love to keep, I just store them and they remain the same. With live mode I found myself ruining the patch just because there's no undo to settings you put on it.
Another thing I'd love to see Nord get on top of is add more sounds to the Nord Piano Library. I absolutely love the Rhodes patches that come with v5 but I'd also like some more additions. They did a great job with the Imperial but for some reason I still find the Lady D more elegant and dynamic responsive to my particular playing. But that's just me.
In a sort of a conclusion, the NP88 is, in my humble opinion, THE best portable keyboard you can buy today as a pianist. It's very straight-forward, pretty light to gig with, great sounding and great response of the keybed.
I usually don't like to "rate" stuff, but I'll do it just so you get a feel of what I consider the strong and weak points of the NP88 at the time of writing this little rant.
NP88:
Visual/Design/Panel: 9/10 - I do like the red and the panel is really well made and laid out. Would love some delay!
Weight: 8/10 - It is pretty hefty carry but not as heavy as the Roland RD700.
Sound: 10/10 - I absolutely love the way the NP88 sounds, from the grands to the rhodes and alike
Response/Keys: 9/10 - I'm a pianist so I do prefer the heavier wooden/ivory keys on a grand, but this is the closest you'll (or I'll) get to a proper grand when it's not available for me to play on.
Updates: 7/10 - They did come out with v5 of the Library and did add the Imperial, but I'd love to see Nord come up with some more patches for us to play with.
Cheers for reading if you got this far, I'm not an editorialist, I'm not a proper instrument reviewer but these are just some thoughts about the NP88.
I recommend this keyboard to any pianist out there who have not access to a grand when gigging! I have no buyer's remorse what-so-ever and I will keep buying the NP88 or v2 or whatever no matter what Roland or Yamaha come up with, or Korg for that matter, in the future. I've been closely following these brands for years and they just spill out the same, weak, bleak sounding instruments.
Nord is the way to go, for me!
Cheers!
