OK. So Ben Allen is one of the best out there... He plays beautifully, knows his way around keyboards and is very informative. This content is like Gold! Thanks man.
after yr video...i decided to get both.....becos u made them all sound so Great!!....... i always belived that it's the Master.....that makes the tools great !.thank you
The YC is 4100 cad and the NS4 is 7800 cad My NS3 is sold, I will have the YC this year. The NS4 is too pricey for my taste. I had 3 88 stages and the stage 3 was the last. The YC with its triple sensor Keybed will be perfect. I have 76 Kurzweil PC3 for the synth part so I’m ok. Regards
I say Yamaha was the winner for me. I've actually been pondering selling my Nord Stage 3 and getting a Yamaha YC88 so this video was very useful for me. What I like about the YC is the notes were more defined and would cut better in live setting. Hearing the Nord and Yamaha back to back could really hear how much bottom the Nord sounds have which makes them get a bit muddy. My Nord Stage 3 I have some bass rolled off on all the Nord sounds. Then when you look at the price difference the Yamaha is a great deal.
I was debating between the Nord Stage 4 compact vs the Yamaha but chose the Nord after I read a few reviews about problems with that keybed on the YC61.
My only gripe with the Yamaha is the polyphony runs out when using the U1 Upright layered with anything. That one takes a ton of polyphony. Otherwise, yes the YC88 is fantastic.
@@benallen5967 That is a real bummer, that means there is no real 128 note polyphony for the U1? Any chance you can demo this sometime? That would be really appreciated as I am considering the YC88.
Thank you Ben for an informative video.The YC88 has been on my radar for a long time, for live use and for practicing at home. I really like the keybed and the features. I was surprised to hear how compressed the YC88's acoustic piano sounds are compared to the Nord. The Nord piano sounds makes your piano playing so much more defined and delicate to listen to. I think Yamaha have missed the ball this time, it should be up to the user to apply compression if needed. I wonder if the compression is built into the piano samples, or applied later in the YC hardware. Have you tried to send audio from your computer via USB to the audio interface on the YC88 ? If the audio from the YC88's built-in soundcard is compressed the same way, then the YC88 is sadly not on my list anymore..
Acoustic Pianos win Nord, electric pianos win Yamaha. Organ: Nord for clean church, gospel sounds, Yamaha for the classic rock organ sounds. In my opinion.
Can you tell me if you are playing all the YC using default "Depth" settings? For the YC In "settings" and under "Sound" for each keys "A" of "B" and then into "Sensitivity" and "Depth" is oddly default set to "64". Turn every voice on the whole dang board back up to "120" and it's a brand new instrument that actually works. You can experiment with "Offset" and "Touch Curve" but the "Depth" is the biggest problem. Not sure how much of the "Tone Knob" impacts the samples as much as the "Depth" which seems to actually cut out some higher velocity samples which messes up the proper voicing.
Great video. Does the Yamaha have seamless transition like the Nord does ? The sound does not cut out when switching between programs or patches ? Thank you
Well done, thank you! How do you rate the Rhodes samples? For me, the Yamaha is the winner there. The new Stockholm is ok, but if you turn the treble on, it sounds unpleasant. The Yamaha Rhodes still Sounds good with plenty of treble.
Good afternoon Ben. I just subscribed to your interesting channel and I have a question for you. I bought a Nord Stage 4 Compact and it is my first Nord keyboard. I previously had a Hammond SK1 and Crumar Mojo 61. The Nord Stage 4 is the most complete keyboard that exists for playing live, but my ears have quickly detected that the Hammond organ is inferior in quality to the Crumar Mojo. I don't know if I'm leaving some effect to activate, if it's convenient to activate the compressor, or if there's some trick to improve the sound, but I'm noticing that the Hammond sound lacks body. I suppose that when you go from one clone to another you will notice certain differences, but it is the first time that I notice much more difference in the sound than other times, and this time it is towards a lower quality. Also from what I know, the NS4's organ is based on the C2D's engine, and that's a few years old model. I've seen you playing a lot of Hammond clones and wanted to know if your impression of the organ in NS4 matches mine. However, to try to improve the tone a little and something else, I ordered a Strymon Lex V2 pedal. Thanks for everything.
I agree. The Crumar organ is better than the Nord.. But the YC73 organ engine is really great with minimal tweaking. Needs that 1.20 OS upgrade though..
i tested yc 61 vs NE6D- better keys for yamaha IMO definetly good for piano, for me a more intuitive interface, in feels like for Nord you gotta take time to adjust yamaha is just straight forward. I don’t t like bright yamaha pianos but still found something i could use, but in all other departments it smokes the nord. Do you know if they fixed the problems with the YC 61?
Thanks! I'm using headphones. I rarely turn them on, but when I use monitors in the room, I have a pair of ADAM T7Vs. My headphones are Neumann NDH-30, and when I play live, I use 64 Audio U12T, U6T, and Sennheiser IE900.
It’s a matter of preference.. and where you are using the boards. In a band setting, playing solo gigs, just home practicing- believe me the audience will not notice one way or the other. I’ve never had anyone come up to me and say you know the NS4 would have sounded a little better-or that it’s any different. Features can matter the YC is more flexible adding VST and sounds because of their direct plug and play using a usb cable to any iPhone or laptop-
I sold my YC61 for a stage 3 compact. Reasons being 1. The 73 waterfall keybed which yamaha obviously missed. 2. Sound layering capabilities. I actually tried the YC73 and to me there was a huge sound difference from the YC61 and I couldn't get pass it
For the YC73 In "settings" and under "Sound" for each keys "A" of "B" and then into "Sensitivity" and "Depth" is oddly default set to "64". Turn every voice on the whole dang board back up to "120" and it's a brand new instrument that actually works. You can experiment with "Offset" and "Touch Curve" but the "Depth" is the biggest problem. Not sure how much of the "Tone Knob" impacts the samples as much as the "Depth" which seems to actually cut out some higher velocity samples which messes up the proper voicing.
I respect your opinion, but your comment does not make completely sense for me. If you DON`T play for money, like a hobby-musician or a church-musician (if the church don`t pay)THEN value for money of course is important. But if you actually are a working musician (I am) and people are paying you to play, then you want to have the best you absolutely can get (this is no joke, this is our craft) and this whole «value for money» -thing becomes of almost no significance. But maybe this was what you meant…..? My Nord Stage has paid itself back many many times already….
Mate at the YC and nord level it's not the brand it's the player and programming skill the will show these boards off. I have a YC and know heaps of people that have nords and I get my YC sounding alot better as I know how to use and they don't know how to use the nords
@@onkeyz Of course it boils down to your skills, if you can´t play it doesn't help even with a Steinway grand piano. But despite all the skills I still feel the Nord sounds more open, less compressed and more organic than the somewhat digital sounding Yamaha. I`ve played both and I always prefer the Nord. But hey, what do you expect? The Nord is much more expensive than the Yamaha. If you wan`t to see a really good demo between Yamaha and Nord, check this out: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9WtA4WhNltk.html
How did u layer those electric pianos with pads? How do I bring them one at a time to layer them and bring up each their volumes as u did with piano and organ?
@@benallen5967towards the end of the video u were playing the yanaha and layering in pads with electric piano and organ and pads with piano. Forward to 1 08 you said section b and going to layer in pads or synth strings in. Turning sections on u said. Where u said u made a UN upright piano or something then started layering in synth strings then Rhodes piano and layered in pads. When turning sections off or something.
If you make money playing in several live places, the best one is the one that gives you the best value for money. In this case, I choose the Yamaha. If you are vain, a studio music producer, or a church musician, where the concern is not the money invested, I choose the Nord.
Thats a very odd way of looking at things. I'm not a great musician, and I get paid peanuts for the few gigs I do. I also own, and Love the YC73 BUT I'd still buy a Nord no problem. Some people just love gear irrespective of the Brand, colour, and even price, if its your passion and you're willing to scrimp and save.
@@1881Gordon Activities such as hobbies and collecting do not come into my perspective. In these cases the price is the last to be considered. For those who work and earn money, I see a cost-benefit ratio versus investment and return.
you put it in a nutshell.... i guess i am 100% vain only.... but cant get my hands on a NS4.....seems out of stock everywhere...... any clues or links?...thks
Bro! You messed up mehn. Why didn't you compare both the organ on the Yamaha YC with the organ on the Nord Stage 4. You only played the organ on the YC because you know the organ on the Nord will smoke the YC organ
It's really too bad that the Yamaha has to have that piano compression. That is an absolute deal breaker. I've played keyboards with that and it just kills the dynamics. So funny that they would choose to implement it, because it seems entirely avoidable. At least make it an option. I REALLY don't want to have to spend the extra money for the Nord, but Yamaha is not making it easy with shit like that.
