Clavia Nord Grand

I hesitated a lot before buying the Grand, and could not make up my mind between the Nord Stage 3, Nord Piano 5, Nord Grand, and the Kawai NV-5 or even the NV-10.

In the end, I went with the Nord Grand because after checking countless online reviews of all these pianos, I liked the sound of the Nord the most, and decided that I would need: Good keyboard action, fantastic sound, and at least some decent synth sounds.

I had previously owned a Kawai MP11 SE, and also a Yahama grand piano.

My verdict after receiving the Nord Grand and playing with it for three weeks: It is the only electric piano that I really enjoy playing. I usually play using studio headphones (DT770 Pro with 250 Ohms work splendidly) and much prefer the new Royal Grand 3D sound - but I knew that from listening to all the pianos in reviews, using the same headphones.

With regards to the keyboard action, even though the MP11 SE is said to have the more realistic one, I have to say I prefer the action of the Nord Grand, though that may be in part psychological because the sound of the Grand is so much better, in my opinion.

The non-piano sounds of the Grand I do not use a lot, except for some synth that I add as subtle ambient, combined with the effects, the delay, and the reverb section, which I use depending on the type of music.
For classical music, I go with a clean piano sound and usually set the timber to "mellow".

Usability of the thing is ok, after you read the manual on how to disable the safety-feature that prevents you from storing a preset.

If I have to say something negative about the piano: Sometimes during playing I accidentally hit one of the control buttons. I would prefer them to be a bit farther away from the keys. So if at all possible, I will make sure to enable the "button lock", unless I had to change the sound on the fly during a song, in which case I would be a bit scared of breaking something while playing on stage.

I also like that the piano is pretty light, compared to my MP11 SE, definitely more stage friendly that way.

In short, I am happy with the piano and hope it'll last a long time.

I upgraded from the Roland RD800 because I was looking for the most realistic piano keys and sound. The keys on the Nord Grand are amazing to play and the piano sound is great. Only downside: the buttons are too close to the keys so while playing it happens that I press them unwillingly, which is annoying. You can't use the "panel lock" function all the time, especially in a live setting. Also it seems that the wooden top panel is not the best quality as it scratches easily. Otherwise great instrument, I'm really happy with it.