Clavia have made their best‑in‑class stage piano even better.
I reviewed the first incarnation of the Nord Grand in 2019, and it’s fair to say that I was impressed. This wasn’t because it was the most flexible digital piano available (it wasn’t) nor because it was the most affordable (it wasn’t) but because I found it to be eminently playable, and it allowed me to perform harder and more intricate passages than I could on the keybeds of lesser instruments. So while I would probably have opted for more features per wotsit and accepted certain compromises if I were spending my own money, I would almost certainly have chosen a Nord Grand if someone else had offered me my choice of a dedicated stage piano.
Five years have passed since then, and I suspect that the designers at Clavia will have spent at least some of that time asking themselves, “How can we improve the Nord Grand still further so that people will choose it as their primary instrument? Moreover, how can we do it without turning it into a half‑arsed workstation and ruining the original concept?” As it happens, the answers to both of those questions were to be found in the latest incarnations of the Nord Piano and the Nord Stage.
So, What Makes It A 2?
In 2021, the leap from the Nord Piano 4 to the Nord Piano 5 (SOS October 2021) was a significant one, and nowhere was this more obvious than in the replacement of the two sample‑based sound generators (named Piano and Sample Synth) in the earlier incarnation with two Layers, each of which comprised a Piano and a Sample Synth. But it was two years later that this architecture reached maturity, with each of the sound generators in the Nord Stage 4 (SOS November 2023) gaining its own effects chain. Notwithstanding a global reverb, this made the instrument truly multitimbral in precisely the way that most other keyboard instruments are not. Today, Clavia have mashed these concepts together, marrying the dual‑layer architecture of the Nord Piano 5 with the individual effects sections from the Nord Stage 4 to create the Nord Grand 2. This architecture is a huge step forward from that of the original Nord Grand and allows the new model to create much more useful sound combinations than before, without demanding that the player deal with the greater complexities of a workstation operating system.
The original Nord Grand felt solid and robust, and so it is here, but the two instruments are not physically identical. You may not notice the differences, but the Nord Grand 2 is quoted to be 6mm higher and 9mm deeper than the original. These are small increases, although you may find that it’s a tight squeeze to fit the Nord Grand 2 into an existing flight case, or you may have to trim the foam to allow it to fit. The new model is also slightly heavier, but only by the weight of a large bar of chocolate, so that’s not an issue. Then there’s the slight change to the angle of the control panel. I don’t mind this. There’s something reassuring and piano‑y about having something that sticks up behind the keys of a piano — whether acoustic or digital — and the new model feels just as good in this regard as before. But it’s when you look at the panel itself that the real differences between the two models become apparent.
The Nord Grand 2 measures 1286 x 396 x 174mm and weighs 21.3kg.
Most obviously, you now have the two Piano generators with their associated level faders and two Sample Synths with their level faders. You can select from the four sources in any combination: in isolation, both Pianos, both Sample Synths, your choice of three or even all four simultaneously should you wish. I particularly liked layering my favourite Bösendorfer Grand Imperial XL piano with two layers of strings and brass to create quasi‑orchestral arrangements but, whatever your tastes, it will probably offer you something that you love. Of course, the amount of control that you have over the sounds is small when compared with a polysynth or workstation, but that’s one of the things that most distinguishes the Nord Grand 2 from its putative competition. If you want to be able to burrow into sounds, edit them in detail and then distribute the results across the keyboard in complex ways, you’ll need something like a Korg Kronos or one of the recent flavours of Kurzweil, or something else beginning with the letter K. But if you just want to tweak library sounds to taste, add some magic sauce from numerous effects sections and then play, the Nord may well be more to your liking.
In addition to having twice as many sound generators, there are several improvements in the engines and effects themselves. Starting with the Pianos, these now offer Dynamic Compression, which reduces the amplitude range as you play from the softest to the loudness notes, but doesn’t limit the range of timbres that you obtain. This evens out the loudness of your performance, which may not be appropriate when playing solo in a concert hall but will be welcomed by anyone trying to create a consistent mix for a rock band. The second is Unison. This is a fascinating feature that takes the samples from neighbouring keys, transposes them to the notes you’ve played, and then layers them with the played notes to create anything from a subtle chorus to some obviously detuned timbres.
Alongside the Pianos, the library for the Sample Synths has been further extended, most obviously with the addition of the Spitfire String Quintet sounds, which feature a more natural release than before. In addition, the Sample Synth engine now offers the Bright/Soft options, delayed vibrato, Unison and mono/legato/glide options introduced on the Nord Piano 5. The last two of these are useful for monosynth duties, making the Nord Grand 2 much more adept at producing lead and bass sounds than was the original version.
Next, there are the enhancements in the effects sections. In addition to offering independent chains for each Piano and Sample Synth in each Layer, these now offer several new effects culled from the Nord Stage 4. It would take too long to described all of them here, but notable additions included the Spin rotary speaker effect that appears in the Mod 1 section, extended and updated amplifier models in the Amp section, plus feedback filtering and a ping‑pong effect in the Delay section. The global reverb has also undergone a facelift, with pre‑delay options, new Spring Reverb and Cathedral settings, and a Chorale effect that modulates the pitch of the reverberated signal and contributes to a more spacious effect. Don’t underestimate the value of these changes. Even if you limit yourself to a single Piano and Sample Synth as in the original, these can conjure sounds that you haven’t heard from a Nord Grand before. Guitars through a rotary speaker? Lovely! A grand piano in a huge acoustic space with Chorale? Fabulous! Of course, these sounds are hardly unique to the Nord, and any self‑respecting sample‑based synth or workstation can do the same thing. But the Nord Grand 2 does it particularly nicely, and with amazing ease. Anybody can select an appropriate sound and dial in the wanted effects, not least because there are no menus to dive into, and no routing to worry about.
Finally, the Program memory has been tweaked to provide 12 banks of 36 Programs rather than 16 banks of 25, resulting in an increase in onboard storage from 400 to 432 Programs. There’s also a 20‑percent increase in Live Programs, but that’s just my pompous way of saying that the previous provision of five slots has been increased to six.
Of course, much has also remained the same, and I won’t re‑review the underlying sample libraries that form the basis of all Nord Grand 2 sounds, nor the Nord Sound Manager, nor the Nord Sample Editor, nor Seamless Transitions (which ensure that existing notes continue to sound with their effects unmolested when you select a new Program), not least because I have discussed all of these in previous articles.
In Use
Because of the speed at which updates are released in the early days of a new instrument’s life, Clavia’s review units are almost always delivered to me with superseded firmware. This occasion was no different; the Nord Grand had v1.02 installed, and the current version was v1.08. So I downloaded the updater to my MacBook Pro, connected the keyboard to the computer, ran the software and in just moments the Nord Grand 2 restarted itself and declared that it was now running v1.08. To be honest, I noticed no differences, but a quick glance at the update history on Clavia’s website revealed that there had been changes to the way that notes were allocated and Unison applied in the Sample Synth, a bug was fixed in the Unison modes, and the behaviour of one of the pedals was updated. When I think of some of the huge updates that have been released while I’ve been reviewing other instruments (a few of which were, in my opinion, launched long before they were ready) it makes me realise how good a job Clavia’s developers and testers did before they shipped the Nord Grand 2.
Having brought it up to the current specification, I started to play. I immediately noticed that the action of the Nord Grand 2 felt different from that of its predecessor. Since I didn’t have an original Nord Grand to hand, I couldn’t put my finger on what the difference was, so I contacted Clavia to ask whether there was a reason for this. It turned out that the new feel is a consequence of several physical changes within the instrument. Most significantly, Kawai have modified the damping of the key action using revised felts to reduce mechanical noise. In addition to this, there are modified supports between the top and bottom of the instrument, new foam components, plus a stabilising board at the bottom of the chassis, all of which have been introduced to reduce physical resonances. As I became accustomed to the Nord Grand 2, I realised that the difference is no greater than that between two models of acoustic grand piano; it’s neither better nor worse, and in no way does the instrument feel less playable or responsive than before. What’s more, you can play the Nord Grand 2 with real gusto, pounding away without ever feeling that the keybed or the case in which it’s mounted is going to suffer. At the other end of the scale, softer playing doesn’t result in an uneven response or occasional dropped notes as it does on some other stage pianos. Sure, purists should be aware that there is no tangible feeling of an escapement (the faint tactile feedback you get through the keys of a grand piano as the hammers leave the strings) but this was introduced to make it possible to repeat notes more rapidly on acoustic pianos than might otherwise have been possible, so its absence here doesn’t bother me because you can do so on the Nord Grand 2 without it. Ultimately, I find that — with the possible exception of Kawai’s own top‑of‑the‑range digital pianos — the playability and response of the Nord Grand 2 remains superior to every other stage piano that I’ve played.
It took me less time to become accustomed to the new control layout. Perhaps this was a consequence of having reviewed both the Nord Piano 5 and the Nord Stage 4 but, whatever the reason, I found that the addition of the new facilities had done nothing to impede the accessibility and ease of use of the Nord Grand 2, and I soon became quite adept at setting up different combinations of sounds in the four slots to allow me to perform in a way that isn’t possible on the original version. For example, I inserted a Clavinet into Piano 1, the Bösendorfer XL into Piano 2, a synth bass into Synth 1 and Mellotron violins into Synth 2. With Piano 1 and Synth 1 played below the split point, and Piano 2 and Synth 2 above it, I was able to set the pitch of each part appropriately and then play all manner of proggy nonsense with no more than a quick flick of the level controls. But this isn’t the only way to use splits because you can choose a given sound (or sounds) to range across the whole keyboard while others are constrained to lie above (or below) the split point. So, if you to play an 88‑note grand piano with cellos below the split and violins above it, that’s also possible once you have loaded the appropriate Sample Synth instruments from the Nord library. Unfortunately, as before, you can’t choose your own split point, you can only choose between those offered by Clavia. I have no idea why this is so, and it’s about time that the company changed this on all of its keyboard instruments.
Inevitably, it’s not the most portable of digital pianos or synthesizers. It took two people to carry it safely up the stairs into the studio and, even when cased, I could see it getting banged and scraped when transported and used live. This would be a crying shame, because the finish is lovely, but the same is true of the Steinways that some artists and bands once used to try to impress their audiences... which brings me to another point. Whereas a miked‑up grand piano might have remained the instrument of choice when the digital alternatives were the likes of the Kurzweil K250 and the original Roland RD series, this is unlikely to be the case today. While nobody sane would suggest that, in isolation, the Nord Grand 2 is superior to £150,000 of Concert Grand, it is likely to be superior to the sound obtained from the same Concert Grand on stage when you’re trying to cope with mic spill and all of the other problems of using an acoustic piano in a very noisy environment. And that’s not to mention the cost of the acoustic instrument, its transportation, and having to pay to have it tuned before every performance! You may wonder why so many performers now use dummy piano cases with a digital piano slid into position where the original keyboard would otherwise be, but you shouldn’t. The first is to create an image, the second is to maximise the chances of everything working properly and sounding right on the night.
Further Thoughts (For Now)
So, are there any other features that I would have liked to see added that haven’t appeared on the Nord Grand 2? Perhaps the most obvious thing would have been an increase in the sample memories for both the Piano and the Sample Synth, which have been stuck at 2GB and 512MB (respectively) for five years or more. I have no idea whether this is a consequence of a hardware limitation, or because Clavia’s powers‑that‑be deem this to be sufficient, but it feels time that they were increased because this would allow us to load more of the XL models in the Pianos plus more and longer samples in the Sample Synth.
Another thought (or, more honestly, an afterthought) was that — given the new nods in the direction of monophonic synthesis in the Sample Synth — some performance controls might now be appropriate. I realise that this would narrow the gap between other Nord instruments and the Nord Grand concept, but it might have been worth considering. Hmm... now that I’ve thought about it more, I’m not sure that this doesn’t blur the lines a little too much.
I would also exhort Clavia to continue improving their existing sample libraries as well as adding new content. As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews of Nord products, some of the Sample Synth’s instruments are excellent, while others still exhibit unevenness as you play up and down the keyboard. There’s nothing stopping you from using the Nord Sample Editor to create new (or replacement) content for your Nord Grand 2 but, since its whole philosophy is slanted toward ease of use, it would be nice not to have to do so, especially since you may not have immediate access to the 16th century Krumhorn that you need to sample for your next composition.
There’s a reason why you see big red slabs of Swedish keyboard on almost every major tour and every festival stage; if they do what you need, they do it extremely well.
Conclusions
I like the Nord Grand 2 a lot. Sure, it lacks the multi‑coloured flashiness of some other keyboards, but it provides a well thought‑out set of facilities and a great sound in an eminently playable package. Given how much more flexible it is now, I could also use it in a wider variety of situations than before, although it’s still unable to replace the workstations that I currently play on stage. On that note, we should bear in mind that there’s a lot of high‑quality competition in this area — mainstream companies including Roland, Kurzweil and Korg offer numerous workstations that include highly usable piano emulations, and they do so alongside numerous stage pianos that provide considerable synthesis capabilities. Nonetheless, there’s a reason why you see big red slabs of Swedish keyboard on almost every major tour and every festival stage; if they do what you need, they do it extremely well.
It’s not for everyone — indeed, its target audience is quite small — but if I were ever asked which dedicated stage piano I would like supplied for a tour (and someone else was prepared to lug it around) I would still ask for a Nord Grand. It’s just that it would now be a Nord Grand 2 rather than the original.
The Wooden Stand
The review unit was supplied with an expensive matching wooden stand that, when assembled, allows you to place the Nord Grand 2 on top of it at grand piano height and attach the Nord Triple Pedal (which is supplied with the piano) to a metal plate that holds it in position. There’s also a matching music stand, the price of which will also make you wince. When assembled, the result looks much like a domestic digital piano such as the Roland F‑110, but redder. Although the Nord lacks the integrated speaker systems of the Roland pianos, it would make an excellent — if extravagant — living room piano, especially when used with the optional Nord Piano Monitors. However, were I to use it like this, I would want to see two changes. The headphone socket and the power switch really ought to be somewhere more accessible at the front of the instrument!
The Rear Panel
You might expect the rear panel of the Nord Grand 2 to be the same as that of its predecessor. I did, but it’s not. All of the previous sockets are available — quarter‑inch left and right outputs, a quarter‑inch stereo headphone output, a 3.5mm monitor input, quarter‑inch sustain and volume/control pedal inputs, plus MIDI in and out, and USB. But to these you can now add a footswitch input that can control Synth Vibrato on/off and Program up/down functions, and a dedicated input for the Nord Triple Pedal 2, which, in addition to sustain, offers Una Corda, Sostenuto, Synth Vibrato on/off and Program up/down functions. An IEC socket is again provided for its internal PSU but, as with its predecessor, the rear panel reveals that the supply in the demo unit accepts only 230V (or thereabouts) mains power. This implies that there are different models for countries such as the USA and Japan, which seems both unnecessary and a pain in the arse if you’re on an international tour.
But the biggest disappointment is those stereo outputs, which, with the dual‑layer, four‑part architecture, are now an even greater limitation than before. The Nord Grand 2 is crying out for separate output pairs for each of its Pianos and Sample Synths, both in balanced analogue and digital formats. These would allow you to mix the sounds separately — whether on stage or in the studio. If there were ever a thing that might stop me using a Nord Grand 2, this would be it.
Pros
- As a pianist, I play better on a Nord Grand than on other digital stage pianos, and I think that you will too.
- The dual‑layer architecture is a huge step forward from the original Nord Grand.
- Both sound generators and their effects sections have been extended in useful ways.
- You can tailor the instrument by loading alternative instruments from Clavia’s sample libraries.
- The sound quality remains superb.
- It feels very robust.
Cons
- An instrument of this price and quality deserves more outputs (I would favour eight)...
- ... and I think that they should be available in both digital and balanced analogue forms.
- The Sample Synth memory remains tiny by modern standards.
- You can’t select your own split points.
- The power supply appears to be region‑specific.
- It’s expensive, and so are its accessories.
Summary
The Nord Grand was great. The Nord Grand 2 is significantly better. If it does what you need, you’ll need to start saving.
Information
$4499
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