You really did the nord pianos justice, and I mean that as a high compliment because they are such beautiful and expressive instruments. Music selection was great and very tastefully played. I especially appreciate the Liebestraum No. 3 section.
Dang, i thought i was being clickbaited for this. I was expecting only for a good sound checking about the Piano, but it got better with your skills! Thanks for sharing your talent. 😁
Great performance, I do not yet own a nord stage yet, but I hope I'll be owning one at the end of this year. It is amazing how many presets there are and the ability to tweak them. Love it!
Not a bad choice to be honest! I've had a chance to try it out in the store and I quite liked the action which is definitely better than Nord's, though I still enjoy sounds and the synth engine of the Nord Stage 3 :)
Thanks! I think I started with jazz about 6 years ago. I've been playing it since then from time to time (there were days or even weeks when I did not play anything from jazz, though there were other days when I played it for 7 hours straight).
@@faruzzy yes, I was originally classically trained. I started playing piano at the age of 7 (as far as I can remember) and played regularly for like 7-8 years (these were not particularly useful or interesting though), then I had a long break for 6 or even 7 years, after which I pretty much started from scratch and began with learning things that were interesting for me. At about the same time I started learning about jazz theory and a bit later started practicing and improvising.
@@mikemorales6458 thanks! I'm not sure I'm a good sight reader. In the last year or so I've been primarily playing by ear (though in jazz it's probably quite common because of the nature of jazz and similar genres).
Hello again, could you please provide the titles of the tunes you're playing? I'm particularly interested in the one you play with the Velvet Grand at 1:44. Thank you!
00:01 - My random transcription of the part of the soundtrack written for the StarCraft 2 ( ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-g_1U7L_uDA4.html ). 00:39 - Another randoom transcription of Hiromi Uehara's performance ( ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-l3oSh4MLWMY.html ). 01:44 - Transcription with some improv over Justin Hurwitz's soundtrack to the La La Land primarily inspired by some other version's I've heard by talented jazz musicians ( ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6DmflxfmIB8.html ). 04:37 - Geschwin's "The Man I Love". 06:22 - Free transcription / improvisation over Jimmy Van Heusen's jazz standard "Polka Dots and Moonbeams". 07:50 - Another quite popular Gerschwin's song that became jazz standard "Summertime". 09:17 - Random parts from Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" with some modifications (played by ear, did not remember the details). 09:58 - Improvisation over Liszt's "Liebestraum", after recording figured that the original was actually written in a different key, but whatever... 10:37 - Improvisation over another popular jazz standard "Georgia On My Mind" originally written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell that went famous thanks to Ray Charles's recording and performance.
You're playing sounds really great! When you're playing your Nord, how do you listen to it? With headphones? Speakers? I've been wanting to get back into piano. The past Yamahas I've owned, had build in speakers. I felt that setup tricked my brain into thinking I was playing an acoustic piano. This Nord looks and sounds fantastic though.
There are no built-in speakers in Nord pianos (as well as in most other stage pianos for that matter), but there are outputs for both left and right channel, so you could attach any speakers to it. I do prefer to play in headphones though as I have quite nice studio headphones that sound amazing and that are quality-wise much better than any set up of speakers in a room that is not acoustically treated. I did not want to build a sophisticated acoustically treated environment, so I decided to use headphones to not compromise the quality of the samples. Also it allows me to play piano and practice any time without potentially disturbing others (e.g. neighbours etc).
@@daniel-abramov Hi, thanks for the reply. Do you find playing with headphones enjoyable? Does it hinder the expressiveness in you playing in any way? Does it get fatiguing after any playing period? Does having the high quality of the Nord come through in the headphones? Sorry for asking so many questions. I've been at friends' houses and they would have some digital piano. And I would go play it and there seems to be some disconnect between what my fingers are doing and the sounds that come out. I don't want that for my playing.
@@dannyslea I think it depends on headphones, I'm using a pair of very nice studio headphones (Beyedynamic DT-880 Pro) that are very comfortable (they don't use the typical synthetic leather but instead some very nice and soft velour pads), I've been using these headphones since more than 6 years and they still sound as great as they did at the first day. Amongst all headphones I tried (in €100-€400 price range), those are definitely the best IMHO. I do find playing in these headphones more enjoyable than playing on e.g. average speakers and I can sit in them for like 4-5 hours in a row without even noticing that they are on me. After all, these are the headphones who are designed for a professional monitoring and use in the studio (i.e. for producers who use it for hours and hours every day). As a consequence, you can also expect a supreme sound quality (these are 250 Ohm headphones, so really work great with the stage pianos, though they would definitely be a bit quiet if you're using them with a tablet or smartphone due to the impedance of the headphones). Ideally I would suggest you to try play nord with those headphones in the store (if there is a possibility), so that you can judge it by yourself, but I personally do enjoy them and I think using a good pair of headphones is in all cases better than use of the cheap speakers. Speakers may be good, but good speakers are also expensive and require the properly treated acoustics in the average room, so headphones is a great option in such cases.
@@daniel-abramov Hi, those headphones look they have a really well thought out design. I liked the semi-closed backs and that the earpads are not that stuff that seems to fall apart after a couple years. I will have to check them out. I tried some Beyerdynamics like 15 years ago and I didn't like the way the scrunched my head, but these look a lot different.
Hi Daniel, you have absolute made my day :) First and foremost, brilliant playing and choice of music. My sister and I bought the Yamaha S6 3 years ago and we absolutely love it and as I’m just about to get a Nord Piano 5 88, I was thinking of the Nord Stage 3 88 instead as I would most probably need the organ dedicated section. I seem to rest assure that this is the right choice for me after hearing you playing as it much have a brilliant key-bed for a pianist. I mainly play Rachmaninov, Saint Saëns, Chopin and also love my Cole Porter, Gershwin alongside similar composes. Whilst I understand that’s the underpinning key bed it’s not going to be as found on the Yamaha S6 Concert Grand do you think it will be satisfying for playing such music. How do you find the touch and keys on this wonderful Nord Stage 3? Cheers Jean-Claude
Thanks for the kind comments :) As for the keybed: I personally am not a big fan of the Nord Stage 3 keybed. I think it's ok, but definitely not the best keybed on the market (and it's also quite old, they used to put this keybed in MIDI keyboard: the keybed manufacturer Fatar is known for their keybeds that are very popular for being used in MIDI keyboards). I don't find this keybed particularly good for classical music if compared to a real acoustic piano or grand piano. So I would say the keybed is just "average" at best. It's definitely playable and for some jams, stage usage, or playing jazz it's probably ok, but might be a bit challenging for a demanding classical piece I reckon.
@@daniel-abramov Thank you so much for your prompt reply to my questions …. So basically it is ok for say Jazz, Ballads and other genres similar to that playing. I just want to have fun and play this as a composition type of use and maybe even have it with my ApplePro with Apple Logic Pro. Will it be sufficient for the use? I will use the Yamaha C6 Concert Grand for Classical and the rest the Nord Stage 3 will be the chill out part of the music life!
@@france4me117 oh yeah, absolutely! It's just the keybed has a very plastic feel and the keys rumble a bit (i.e. a bit noisy) and the velocity response might be too light for delicate classical compositions. But it's definitely a great instrument nevertheless :) I think that in the worst case (if you don't like the keybed at all), you could always buy a nice MIDI keyboard and connect it to the Nord Stage 3, which would allow you to use the sound engine of Nord, but with the external MIDI keyboard. In fact, that's the setup that I oftentimes use at home. Ideally, I would, of course, recommend visiting a local store, so that you can try it and decide if you like the feel of the keys or ordering from big retail stores like Thomann that usually offer a 30-day money-back guarantee in case you don't like a product.
Fantastic!! Thank you so much for doing this! BTW my guess is the Italian grand is a Fazioli F228 (7ft4) but im not sure it could be the 9 or 10 footer even, what is your guess from the time you have spent playing it?
I would not consider myself an expert in it, but I tried to rely upon the information that I could gather on the official website + discussions on forums. There is some nice comment under this video from one of the guys who listed all the pianos used in this video, according to his information it's Fazioli F212.
really nice playing mate! Do you have favourites (in grands and uprights)? I personally use the uprights (amber is my goto) far more, maybe because I played just (real) uprights my whole life. Cheers!
Hi, thanks! I think my favourites from grands are White Grand and Velvet Grand. From uprights I really enjoy Mellow Piano (Amber is also very nice). I even made a separate video about it. But it's really hard to choose the favourite as I like all of them :) They all have certain character that is suitable for one or another piece of music.
Thanks. I've just checked their official website and according to the information on the website, the Nord Piano Library is compatible with Nord Electro 3/4/5/6, so I think it should work just fine ;)
@@monsterjazzlicks I midi the Nord to a Roland FA-08 and play the Nord pianos on that since it's weighted and has good action like the famous RD2000 keybed
It is the K&M 18810 stand. It does not have wheels, but if used with some types of laminate, it slides back and forth with a bit of resistance when the force is applied directly from the side. I actually find it even better than wheels, since wheels make the stand unstable and it wobbles during playing which I do not like. But with K&M 18810 it is very stable and I can play comfortably on it while being able to apply just a bit of force by pushing it from the front and it smoothly slides under the table :)
@@daniel-abramov Thank you so much. Actually, I ordered one, but fully foldable version 18820, and planning to shorten legs by 12 cm so I can bring the stand even lower than 600 mm so I can fit it with my piano under my desk.
@@erikmajernik463 I've owned 18820 as well, but from my experience its legs had some rubberized caps that prevented the stand from sliding forwards and backwards, so I did not find it to be useful as a "poor man's keyboard with rollers" :)
@@daniel-abramov Do you mean the black round plastic cups at the end of leg beams were of a different material on 18820 than are on 18810? More rubberized?
If we're talking about piano library only, then the only significant difference is that NS3 has twice as much storage as the previous version of NS. In other words: you will be able to use the same piano sounds on NS2 / NS2EX, however you probably won't be able to put **all of the pianos** at once into your NS2 if you're using the XXL-patches (though if we're talking about the whole piano library from Clavia, then even the storage that NS3 provides is not enough to fit all of them). Althoughif you only care about piano/rhodes/wurlitzer sounds, I would go for the Nord Piano 3/4 since buying NS3 just to play piano sounds is a bit of an overkill unless you have an unlimited amount of money at your disposal ;)
@@daniel-abramov thanks for your reply! I was about to buy a NS2 but after your answer and some research I'll just wait u til I can get the NS3. Also I'm haunted by the idea of buying a NS3 only to see a NS4 come out! Lol that would literally kill me lol
They really do have amazing sounding pianos. I tried the action on most of their boards though, and I feel like it’s a very plastic, acquired taste. I’m sure it’s one of the durability and weight compromises, but it’s one of things you’d have to get used to, and have to expect going in.
@@daniel-abramov even in the Nord grand, that I tried at Sweetwater sound, I was shockingly disappointed. It looked gorgeous, sounded amazing though. I guess I really, really prefer the action on my korg sv1. Amazing keybed. That piano has miles of its own problems though. Lol.
I used the audio interface from Focusrite (that red box on the table that is visible at the beginning of the video) with 2 cables for unbalanced audio from the Nord.
My random transcription of the excerpt of the soundtrack for the StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, original: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-g_1U7L_uDA4.html
For me, Nord, the sounds of gorgeous, but the action sucks for that kind of money. The action should be better than what it is and I guess if you play it long enough, you’ll get used to the action, but if they did better on the action, they will be the superior keyboard. and up the memory to3 or 4
Yeah, I can relate to that, but if the only thing you need is the nice piano sounds from Nord Piano Library (the ones that I tried to demonstrate), then you could go for a cheaper Nord Piano that [in terms of piano sound] is as good as Nord Stage. I primarily decided for Nord Stage 3 since I also extensively use synth engine and other things. But buying Nord Stage 3 only for piano sounds is probably an overkill (also the action is definitely not the greatest on the market and varies from one model to another due to them being assembled by hand [which is actually one of the reasons why they're so expensive - manufactured in Europe with lots of manual action]).
@@daniel-abramov I agree! I mainly will only use the piano sounds, but is it better to have it than not? I have been struggling with whether I should or not.
I used plain standard settings without any additional reverb, amplification, effects or soft release. The only thing that was enabled for pianos is the string resonance (which is quite standard for all Nord Pianos by default). I actually recorded it without any processing for a reason, so that the pianos presented "as is" they come from the library.
really great point with the Nord (and one of the main things why I got it): no menu diving. Everything has a button. When something is on (like an eq or reverb) there will be a light on as well ;) No lights in the Video = standard settings
When you download from the library - can you just add the white grand to one of the un-used banks?? I love my stage 3, (wish I got the 88!) but I’m not savvy to download yet. I have a Mac pro book.
@@terelldavis you can. The only limiting issue might be the space you need to save it. But you can delete other pianos you don't use to free up space. And if you don't like it in the end, just replace it again.
