Second Impressions
Before I got stuck into this review, I had updated the Piano 5 from the factory‑installed firmware to the latest version (v1.16), which promised a handful of optimisations, minor improvements, and a bug fix or two. I also backed it up and then downloaded the Bösendorfer Grand Imperial XL piano and installed this. In the past, that might have been the limit of my ambition but I was intrigued to discover what might be possible using the dual piano layers. So I confined the rich, rolling Bösendorfer to the low registers and loaded a livelier piano — in this case, a Steinway — into the upper registers to create a hybrid that combined the best of both worlds. It sounded great and, when I crossfaded the two, there were no obvious artefacts in the transition zone. I also swapped out a few of the factory Models in the Sample Synth, because one can never have too many Mellotrons, Chamberlins or string synths at one’s disposal. Having dual layers meant that I was now free to emulate my dearly departed Mk1 Mellotron, using my own composite brass samples below the split point and the unmistakeable violins above it.
The 73‑note version offers the same features and keyboard action as the 88, just with fewer keys.
Although I occasionally found myself pining for the Nord Grand’s Kawai keybed, playing the Piano 5 was still a pleasure, and the seamless transitions between Programs was a boon when compared with keyboards that cut one sound abruptly when you select the next. So everything was (nigh‑on) perfect, then? Well... no, it never is. I’ve been saying for years that Nord Pianos deserve dual, balanced stereo outputs — one pair for the Piano and a second for the Sample Synth. On previous versions you could at least direct the pianos to the left output and the synths to the right, but even this has now been discarded. It’s time that Nord Pianos grew a full set of analogue outputs as well as digital audio inputs and outputs.
The lack of pitch‑bend and modulation wheels, a joystick or some other method of performance control is another limitation that has always existed on the Piano series. This was irrelevant at first because the original Piano 88 was what the name implies — a piano. But the lack became apparent when the Sample Synth was added and now, with dual Sample Synths and increased synthesis capabilities, it’s reached the point where it matters. Sure, there are nearly 70 MIDI CCs controlling almost all aspects of the sound generation and effects, but the fact that the Piano 5 has no physical controllers and still doesn’t respond to pitch‑bend or modulation messages over MIDI seems crazy to me.
Another shortcoming is the lack of independent MIDI channels for the four layers in a Program. Again, this wasn’t really an issue before, but the Piano 5 would be far more flexible — indeed, four‑part multitimbral — if they could be accessed independently.
The Piano 5 still looks, feels and sounds like a Nord Piano, retaining the simplicity and immediacy of previous versions despite its extra capabilities, and very nice it is too.
Third Impressions
The Piano 5 is solid, robust and designed to a level of quality rather than to meet a price. But despite remaining instantly recognisable as the successor to the Piano 4, its sound generation has taken a significant leap forward. It’s not cheap, but Nords tend to hold their secondhand values very well and, if I were the owner of an earlier model, I would think seriously about upgrading. Having said that, I might also be tempted to wait to see whether Clavia released a Nord Grand 2 with the same capabilities. Sure, it would be less appropriate for stage use but, for me, its Kawai keyboard would overshadow any minor inconveniences. Either way, I wouldn’t buy any Nord that wasn’t compatible with Sample Editor 4; once in a while one encounters something a bit special, and this is one of those times.
But having extolled the virtues of the Nord Pianos and their software tools, it seems to me that they’re no longer as far ahead of the competition as they once were. What the Piano 5 does, it does extremely well, but the likes of Yamaha, Roland, Korg and Kawai have released some excellent stage keyboards in recent years and, while some would argue that none of these are as immediate or as stylish as the Nords, one can’t deny that there’s a breadth of options today that didn’t exist a few years ago. Furthermore, the dividing line between dedicated instruments and fully featured workstations is narrowing, with the latter generating piano sounds that are leagues ahead of those we once expected to hear (and hoped to avoid) in previous generations. At some point, Clavia’s designers will have to decide whether future Nord Pianos remain primarily pianos or continue to evolve into something more powerful but potentially less focused. But for the moment, the Piano 5 still looks, feels and sounds like a Nord Piano, retaining the simplicity and immediacy of previous versions despite its extra capabilities, and very nice it is too.
Meet The Family
Clavia sells five families of keyboards based upon four types of sound generator: digital synthesis of various types, sample‑based pianos, the Sample Synth, and organs.
The simplest is the Nord A1 virtual analogue synthesizer. More complex is the Nord Wave 2, which combines virtual analogue, sample‑based, FM and wavetable synthesis. Next come the Nord Pianos, which combine the two sample‑based engines, the Piano and Sample Synth. Moving up a level we reach the Nord Electros, which add Clavia’s organ emulations to the piano and sample synth engines. Finally, we come to the Nord Stages, which combine four engines — virtual analogue and sample‑based synthesis, plus the piano and organ engines — in a single instrument.
Unfortunately, the dedicated Nord C‑series organs are no longer manufactured and the Nord Lead name has been retired. Given the esteem in which these instruments were recently held, let’s hope that they reappear sometime in the future.
The Rear Panel
Nord Piano 5 rear panel.
The Piano 5’s rear panel is sparse, offering just left and right audio outputs and a headphones socket that echoes the main outputs. Alongside these, there’s a 3.5mm audio input that’s routed to the L/R outputs as well as to the headphones so you can use it for backing tracks and similar purposes.
Analogue control is provided by quarter‑inch inputs for sustain and volume/control pedals, the first of which accepts the Nord Triple pedal. This offers half pedalling, Una Corda and sostenuto and, I’m pleased to report, is now supplied with the Piano. (This wasn’t the case with early versions.) The second input can be used to control the volumes of the Piano and Synth sections, the amount of the tremolo and pan effects in the Mod 1 section, plus the wah’s filter frequency and the rate of the ring modulator. Digital control is provided by 5‑pin MIDI In and Out sockets, and you can use USB for MIDI, software updates, instrument downloads and backups.
The final socket is an IEC power connector. While I’m delighted that the Piano 5 has an internal power supply, I was bemused that the review unit accepted (nominally) 230V mains only. In these days of universal power supplies, this seems an odd deficiency.
Nord Piano Monitors
The Piano 5 is compatible with the Nord Piano Monitors, which can be mounted via brackets onto the keyboard itself (as they can to the Piano 4, Nord Grand and the heavier Stage 3s). The speakers comprise 4.5‑inch woofers and three‑quarter‑inch tweeters, so they’re not going to move much air or offer you the depth or experience of a grand piano, but they could be useful for a self‑contained rehearsal setup.
Big Sounds In Small Memories
While the Piano engine’s polyphony has remained the same at 120 voices, its sample memory has doubled from 1GB to 2GB (as it did on the Grand), which means that there’s room to install more of the XL Models that sound so good. Similarly, while the Sample Synth polyphony appears to be about the same (it’s now quoted as 40+ rather than 46 voices) its sample memory has increased from 512MB to 1GB.
Having acknowledged the improvements, I have to point out that these remain tiny numbers in an era of massively sampled pianos and 1TB memory sticks that cost little more than a large pizza and a couple of beers. But does one require gigabytes to emulate grand pianos? This question was brought home to me during the course of this review when, for quite unrelated reasons, I had occasion to liberate my Kurzweil K250 from storage. Is it as realistic as the Nord? No, of course not, although it’s still admired by many players. But here’s the point... the revered Kurzweil Grand Piano is stored in around a quarter of the 2MB of ROMs that contain the underlying samples for all of the K250’s sounds, which is around 1/4000th of the memory available in the Nord’s piano section!
But far from suggesting that the Piano 5 doesn’t need the 3GB it currently offers, I’m going to argue that an even larger memory would be a significant improvement because it would make it possible to load all of Clavia’s Piano and Sample Synth libraries simultaneously. There must be a technical reason why we’re still talking about single‑digit gigabytes rather than single‑digit terabytes when discussing the Piano 5, but don’t ask me what it is. I don’t know.
Pros
- It’s a stylish, solid and manageable instrument that will grace any stage or studio.
- Four layers are much better than two.
- Its sample memory has doubled when compared with the Piano 4.
- The sample libraries on which it’s based continue to grow.
- The Sample Synth is more flexible than before.
- The Sample Editor has evolved into a superbly usable and effective tool.
- It’s simple to use and satisfying to play.
- The Triple Pedal is now included as standard.
- It can sound superb.
Cons
- It lacks balanced analogue outputs and digital audio I/O.
- It lacks separate outputs for the Piano and Sample Synth sections.
- It has no performance controllers and does not respond to pitch‑bend or modulation over MIDI.
- The Sample Synth has lost its velocity‑sensitive filter.
- Although its sample memory has been doubled, it’s still tiny by modern standards.
- It responds to a global MIDI channel rather than a channel per layer.
- It has reverted to the Fatar keyboard of the Piano 4.
- It’s not cheap.
Summary
The Piano 5 remains an excellent solution for performers who require a simple source of excellent acoustic and electromechanical pianos, Clavinets, and other piano‑like keyboard sounds. In addition, its Sample Synth is now more flexible and has evolved into an excellent player for one’s own sampled instruments. Whether Nords continue to justify their premium prices is something that you’ll have to decide for yourself but, given their visibility on the stages of the world, it’s clear that many players feel that they do.
Information
Nord Piano 5 73 £2479, Nord Piano 5 88 £2549. Prices include VAT.
Nord Piano 5 73 $3299, Nord Piano 5 88 $3499.