The Clavia Nord Grand is a top-of-the-line stage piano. Designed to impress not only on the stage but also in the living room, it combines the sounds and capabilities of the Nord Piano 4 with a Kawai keyboard. Excellent quality in terms of sound and feel.
The solid wood cabinet in a home-piano look is certainly unusual for Nord. After all, it is still painted red, albeit discreetly. In contrast to conventional digital pianos, Nord has implemented the sound generation of well-known instruments such as the Nord Stage, Nord Piano, or Nord Electro.
In this respect, we can rightfully describe the Nord Grand as a Nord Piano 4 with a powerful upgrade. You can hear and feel this: With twice the memory for the piano section, the Nord Grand has a whole host of excellent sounds on board. In addition, the keyboard comes from the renowned digital piano manufacturer Kawai. Nice!
Nord also offers a stand to match the solid wood cabinet. The control panel is angled like a lectern, making it very convenient to use. If you have only used conventional digital pianos, you will need a bit of an introduction to the Nord Grand, which has many more controls, buttons, and functions. In fact, everything is a little different – that’s Nord for you. The success of these instruments speaks for itself. Other notable features include high reliability, robust construction and above all, the sound!
Like every stage piano, the Nord Grand does without built-in speakers. The Nord Piano Monitors, which also fit the Nord Grand, are optionally available in a matching red design. In addition, there are two optional brackets for mounting the speakers on the back of the piano.
The monitors are positioned at a slight angle, which may make the overall appearance a little unconventional, but the implementation is consistent and uncompromising: When playing, you sit in the sweet spot and can enjoy the stereo sound of the tones. With conventional digital pianos, the speakers are hidden in the case – and often radiate downwards, resulting in a rather indirect sound. The Nord Grand, on the other hand, sounds very direct and clear through the Nord Piano Monitors and conveys a beautiful, realistic depth of sound.
A wide range of choices and characterful piano sounds – that’s how you could briefly describe the Nord Grand. Particularly the liveliness of the piano sounds is inspiring. The piano sounds from the Electro, Stage, and Nord Piano were already popular for this. However, thanks to double the memory for the piano section, the Nord Grand offers the XL versions of the Nord Piano library. And for these, the following applies: More detail, more dynamics, and more sound realism.
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Some pianists may not like the vividness of some of the piano sounds. Here and there, the attack and decay vary a bit more than elsewhere. And the tuning is – rarely, but sometimes – not quite 100% perfect. Those who prefer this less may feel more at home with the homogeneous and precisely crafted piano sounds found in digital pianos from Kawai, Roland, Yamaha, etc.
The Nord piano sounds can hold their own in harmony with the band. For supporting chord accompaniments in pop songs, powerful accents for the rock or funk band, or smooth jazz arrangements – with the Nord Grand you can really make your mark in the band sound. The consistently warm and powerful basic sound of the Nord Grand is remarkable.
The White Grand Preset of the Nord Grand would probably best suit classical tastes: unmistakably a grand piano. However, it is the many small details that make the difference between a “perfect” (or over-optimized?) piano sound and a piano sound with individual charm and character.
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The White Grand sounds clear, brilliant, and full – even at pianissimo, the piano is quite bright. The Royal Grand 3D is well suited for more solemn piano parts with more warmth at pianissimo. It is also a large concert grand.
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Playing the Nord Grand is a lot of fun. Compared to the Nord Piano 4, the Kawai keyboard makes a huge difference. The Fatar keyboard in the Nord Piano 4 is certainly not inferior, but the Responsive Hammer III hammer action from Kawai feels much more precise and comfortable.
Some important features of a digital piano keyboard have even been omitted: the special version of the RH III built into the Nord does not have graded weighting and let-off simulation. If you expect the most authentic touch response of a piano, you may miss these details.
But let’s turn our attention to the vintage electric piano sounds: For these sounds, which are essential to Nord instruments, you want an authentic feel. Not that you want to imitate the spongy feel of a vintage piano. But a Fender Rhodes has neither a graded hammer action nor a noticeable let-off point in the key travel. In this respect, the special version of the Kawai RH III keyboard is an optimal compromise between acoustic and digital piano sounds.
As with other Nord keyboards, the electric pianos and vintage keyboards make up a large part of the sound selection. The many electric piano sounds of popular vintage classics such as Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and Clavinet are popular for a reason.
The Nord Grand is based on the models and sound ideals of the Fender Rhodes electric piano. The Rhodes Mark I is available for smooth, atmospheric chords as well as clear, contoured attacks. The Mark II is just as authentically playable – sometimes as a rocky-jazzy variant with slightly distorted attacks, or even as a Dyno-My-Rhodes with a very present bell component. With the Wurlitzer digital piano, you can choose between a percussive character and a more open sound.
It’s not just the choice of sounds that’s impressive – the digital pianos in the Nord Piano Library simply sound extremely good.
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The digital pianos were sampled with the same attention to detail as the acoustic pianos. And you can hear this attention to detail in every note of the vintage electric pianos: The electric pianos vary with every note, especially the damper behavior when releasing a note is very realistically reproduced. This makes special phrasing and articulation very authentic and makes playing even more fun.
The Nord Grand’s great effects also contribute to the authentic sound. With two sections for modulation effects, three band EQ, amp simulation, delay, and reverb, you are all set for playing vintage sounds. You can individually assign sound sections to the effects via a switch. It may be a low-effort solution., but it works fast and efficiently.
A detailed sound is not always advantageous, such as when playing over a live PA. For this case, you can adjust the amount of string resonance and damper pedal noise. And if you need to be quick, you can completely turn these effects off via the control panel.
The TIMBRE settings are a great addition to the piano section. These special EQ/filter profiles emphasize the sonic character of specific piano models. For instance, Rhodes enthusiasts will appreciate the DYNO 1 and DYNO 2 settings, which replicate the unique Dyno-My-Rhodes sound with added overtones: Very brilliant mids and highs, and voluminous lows create a sound that is incredibly fat and wide with chorus and reverb. It’s amazing how the TIMBRE filters let you vary the existing sounds.
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The two sound examples above clearly demonstrate the difference in sound – the original Rhodes preset “Bright Tines” with chorus and reverb, and the same sound with the DYNO filter.
On the other hand, you can also adjust the dynamic behavior of the acoustic pianos here. The TIMBRE settings MID, SOFT, and BRIGHT provide even more variation for the grand and upright piano samples.
Fancy some strings? How about some organs, synth pads, or a realistic symphony orchestra? No problem, the Sample Synth sound section contains a wealth of high-quality sound material. The Nord Library offers not only a huge amount of sounds but also selected and exquisite sounds from the last decades of pop and rock music. You won’t find just any old Mellotron strings here, but samples from the original tapes of the Mellotron Company (also based in Stockholm). In addition, there are pad and synth sounds from famous polyphonic synthesizers.
The sample synth is a treasure trove, as the section works completely independently and does not affect the memory and polyphony of the Nord Grand’s piano section in any way. While the controls are limited to attack, decay/release, and level, they are sufficient to quickly create a playable Pad layer. Moreover, you can directly adjust the effect of velocity on filter and volume, which is really helpful for live use.
A significant advantage of the entire Nord keyboard series is the availability of freely accessible sound libraries for Nord users. You can download these free of charge from the manufacturer’s website. Nord keyboards also offer the added advantage of being able to freely configure the stored sound set. You use the Nord Sound Manager for this, which is also available free of charge. The editor software (MacOS, Windows) makes it easy to create sound sets and transfer them to the Nord keyboard.
Once you have transferred the sounds, they remain stored in the instrument and are immediately available when the instrument is switched on. You can even load your own samples into the memory. WAV files can be organized as multisamples using the Sample Editor and transferred to the memory of the Nord Grand. All in all, the editing options are designed for easy and efficient operation.
If you want to use the Nord Grand live on stage, you will find several very useful functions. First and foremost is the LIVE mode, which allows you to store the current status of the control panel in up to five slots. This is very handy after a power failure, as the Nord Grand is immediately ready to play with the last settings.
Another “little thing” that makes life (on stage) easier: All stereo-sampled sounds also sound good in mono. It is not uncommon to find yourself in a situation where you have to play the stage piano through a mono amp or stage monitor. With most stage pianos, the piano sound suffers considerably. Not so with the Nord Piano!
Many details make the Nord Grand more than suitable for professional use. First of all, the Nord Grand sounds fantastic! It is a pleasure to play, which is of course enhanced by the Kawai keyboard. For fans of classic digital pianos, the Nord Grand might not be the right choice. The focus here is more on the playing styles of rock and pop music.
In any case, the Nord Grand is a stage piano for those who want an acoustic piano with character. The acoustic pianos impress with their sound quality and expressiveness, and with the vintage keyboard sounds, lovers of Fender Rhodes & Co. are in luck.
Last but not least, the easy handling combined with the available sound libraries make the Nord Grand a flexible instrument that delivers top quality on stage, in the music studio, and of course in the living room. However, the Nord Grand comes at a price. Including the Nord Piano Monitors, stand, and accessories, it adds up to a pretty penny, but you won’t pay a Euro too much.
Release date: 08.2019
Keyboard: Kawai Responsive Hammer RH III (special version without graded weighting and let-off simulation)
Polyphony: 120 voices (piano part), 46 voices (sample synth)
Special features: Variable sample memory for piano section (2 GB) and sample synth (512 MB)
Included: Nord Triple Pedal
Optional: Nord Wooden Keyboard Stand, Softcase, Nord Piano Monitors
Manufacturer/Distributor: Nord/Sound Service
Jörg Sunderkötter
The Nord Grand is definitely the stage piano for those who want an acoustic piano with character. The acoustic pianos impress with their sound quality and expressiveness, while the vintage keyboard sounds delight fans of Fender Rhodes & Co.
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