From aevett1@yahoo.com Mon Oct 22 06:11:36 2007
Subject:Re: Nord Stage experiences - Help me evaluate

It would seem Tony and I have similar thoughts about
the Stage's pianos. Interesting that he was able to
listen to a 'rocking country band' who's keyboard
player used a Stage for piano. Lately, I've been
playing with an act of that genre, and one night last
week I decided to re-evaluate the Stage as a 'piano'
(I usually rely on my Stage for Organs, EPs,
Clavs...and leave the piano to my S90; much of the
time, like Tony, I use the "Natural Grand" voice).
For ballads and such the Stage sounded good; not
stellar, but good - both from out front and on stage.
On the uptempo/rock tunes, the Stage sounded a bit
anemic. Especially in the midrange, the presence just
isn't there, and the decay is a bit short for my
tastes. I've tried, in past settings, working with
outboard EQs, Sonic Enhancers (including a BBE 882);
it just doesn't help all that much. Version 2.26 does
help with regard to the velocity curves, but I'm
curious about the 'new piano' that was just referred
to in this thread. I think that's what the Stage needs
to bring these kinda quirky pianos up to task. Until
then I'll be relying more on my S90 for those tasks.

Allan

--- tonysounds wrote:

> Yeah, and no.
>
> The Yeah: The recordings sound much better than my
> monitoring of the piano while playing; and of course
> since it's in context with the rest of the music,
> there's a lot more latitude (unlike when i'm
> monitoring it, where what the player would be
> hearing would be more upfront).
>
> The No: It's not that I'm into bright mega stage
> piano sounds. In fact, my go to piano is the
> Natural Grand in the Motif, which is a general midi
> program, and is duller than the popular presets like
> Power Grand, etc.
>
> The real problem with the Stage piano, to me, is
> this: it has a very hollow midrange with a very fast
> decay that leaves the piano with no body. (Unlike a
> real piano.) It just has no girth. I watched some
> rocking country band open up for us at a festival
> back in August, and the keyboardist used a Stage
> through a couple Barbettas. I stood by the mixer,
> and frankly, while it was okay, the Stage was hardly
> killing. After about 20 minutes, I walked back by
> the keyboardist to listen to his perspective with
> the Barbettas, and it just was not getting it for
> me.
>
> I spent about an hour at a Guitar Center Saturday
> (and no one was there!) and played it through a few
> different keyboard amps, in mono and stereo, and
> frankly, it bugs me even more. I find the pianos
> share some samples with the Wurli (layers maybe?)
> and have this strange overtone. I'm guessing, but
> that's what it sounds like.
>
> This is a strange beast. And even Keyboard
> magazine, which really tends to err on the side of
> its advertisers, had a hard time giving this a
> thumbs up. Read the review: "quirky" was the word
> used for the pianos.
>
> It sounds gorgeous through headphones, and I bet
> will record very nicely, but through an amp, whether
> a keyboard amp, or nice EAW monitors, I can't
> connect with this thing, to the point where it just
> inhibits and affects my playing.
>
> I know my reactions aren't status quo, but I
> believe they need to do some work on this
> instrument.
>
> T
>
>
> Dave Bradley wrote:
> The problem people report with the
> acoustic pianos "cutting" is clearly a
> stage hearing issue. Even Tony admits that when he
> hears back a recording of
> the gig, the piano sounds fantastic. We seem to have
> grown addicted to
> bright mega in your face stage piano sounds, while a
> real piano sounds
> nothing like that.
>
> Are your speakers well elevated, or shooting up at
> you from the floor? Have
> you considered a BBE to enliven the high end of the
> piano without destroying
> the sound with treble EQ?
>
> Moe
>
> On 10/21/07, Tom Sellers