Nord Stage Unofficial User Forum

Hi everyone, just got a stage ex 88 and was a bit disappointed with the sound at a jazz gig. All the nice sounds in the acoustic piano samples that i liked at home whilst playing through headphones and stero seemed to get lost at the gig. I was using a single mackie powered srm 350. I just took the line out of the nord straight into the back of the amp and selected mono mode. The sound was too thin for my taste although in the shop I played the nord against a roland rd 700gx through a single monitor speaker and thought the nord was much much better. I really hope that people can suggest where I'm going wrong. Should I get another srm 350 to play in stero\? should I put the nord through a little mixer first and then into the speakers? Would this warm up the sound a bit? to be honest i don't really know about any of these technical things, just want a decent piano sound on small jazz gigs.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
boise

Hi boise,

well your post is touching two highly debated issues around keyboard in general and the Nord in particular: Amplification and the AP sound LIVE.

First of all, amplification is important that's for sure! So the SRM350 is a good choice for APs so don't see a problem there, but depending on the room EQing can really change the sound in my experience. So have you tried EQing at the Nords EQ, maybe lower the Mids sllightly (thats what i do at least)? An additional mixer will most likely not change the sound other than giving you an additional EQ and gain on the overall signal (which could be useful e.g. with some JBL speakers that require rather high levels, but should not be a problem with the SRM.).

The second issue is the general quality and sound of hte Piano sample. So first of all, which ones are you using? In my opinion, the Yamaha is the best to use live while at home and solo I prefer the Steinway. Have you tried all of them, different versions possibly? I guess you have the XLR ones right?? Using String resonance?? It improved to my tast my AP sound greatly! After all, there is a broad disagreement about the quality of the Stage's Piano samples regarding playing solo or more jazzclassic kind of music. So if you like the other sounds (EPs, Organ,...) through your amplification, it might be the Nord Sample "style" which is not perfect for you and maybe need to look for another AP sound module?

Lastly, have you played around with the Mono button, I get mixed result of what is better when using different amplifications, depending on what is available etc.??
Also, usually when playing live, I use the different velocity settings (mostly set to 1 or 2) while when at home, I prefer the "natural"(=no lights lit) velocity curves. Live, too much dynamics is difficult anyhow so I am happy reducing it when playing live and it VERY MUCH improved for me the live sound (I am not too much into standard Jazz though, at least on gigs).

Hope you find your peace with your Piano sound!
Cheers
Johannes

Hi Johannes,
thanks for your reply, I did another gig last night with the same set up and enjoyed playing it a lot more. I think that I might be so use to yamaha and roland sounds that I might struggle to be open to hearing different piano sounds. People seem really divided regarding the nord AP sounds but I think that especially the yamaha samples are really good on the whole but I'm aware that I might want so much to find a decent piano sound that I'm sort of convincing myself to think its good. Sorry a bit of a rant. Anyway thanks for your suggestions. I think that after a few more gigs I'll figure out whether I like it of not. I hope i do because I have tried so many keyboards and ended up hating them.
Do you think getting another srm350 and running it in stero would improve the sound or not make much difference?

thanks a lot
boise

I know it makes a difference.

I use a (relatively) small KC350 - with the intention of buying a second one.