Manufacturer Clavia Synthesis type Sample-based synthesis Keyboard 88-key hammer action | Dates 2010 - present Velocity expression Yes | |
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The Nord Piano is a digital piano developed in Sweden, by Clavia. Although the Nord Pianos are sample players that can play any of the sounds in the Nord Sample Library, it is primarily intended as a replacement for the electronic or acoustic piano.
Contents
Models
The Nord Piano, released in 2010, has 88 keys with hammer action, an effects section with effects such as reverb and amplifier simulations. It also has some unusual features designed to make the piano sounds more realistic, such a simulation of unplayed strings resonating in sympathy with the played strings, and samples of the pedal noises. Up to 120 programs can be used in 24 banks, with a total of 500MB RAM available for samples.
In 2012 Clavia released the Nord Piano 2. The main differences are that the Nord Piano 2 adds a second section of samples dedicated to playing non-piano samples either layered with the piano sounds or by splitting the keyboard.
At NAMM in 2016 Clavia launched the Nord Piano 3, which includes an improved 88-key keybed and an expanded memory.
Reception
When reviewing the original Nord Piano, Sound on Sound reported that "In the interests of balance, I tried to find something about the NP88 I didn’t like, but had little luck". While the effectiveness of the instrument in Mono Output mode was questioned, the conclusion was "I won’t beat around the bush: I think the Nord Piano is fantastic."