StudioLogic Numa X Piano

[lkingston]

This is basically a lower cost competitor to the Nord pianos, but I really like it. StudioLogic is part of Fatar, which makes the keybeds that Nord uses, so there is no quality difference with the most important part.

Like the Nords, the pianos in particular sound really good. You hear undampened strings resonating when you press the damper pedal. You hear the soft thud (adjustable) as the dampers come down when you take your foot off the pedal. You hear the resonance of the top octave of undampened strings when you play the lower notes. The sound is very close to a good VST instrument on a DAW.

There are some differences. On the Nord pianos, the damper pedal resonances are sampled. On the Numa X Piano, they are modeled. The electric pianos are sampled on the Nord. On the Numa X they are modeled. Both approaches sound good, but I think I prefer the modeled EPs.

The Nord Pianos have a 2GB allocation for pianos, and 512MB for synth samples. The Numa X Piano has 2GB total. There is a key difference though which I think gives the advantage to the Numa X Piano even though the total is less. That is that the factory sounds on the Numa X Piano are not subtracted from this 2GB. On the Nord, they are subtracted. The Numa X Piano sounds are really good, as are the other sounds. This means that you have 2GB actually free for additional sounds.

I have two of the Numa X Pianos: the GT model which has wood keys and an incredible action, but is almost 50 pounds because of this. The 73 key model which fits in a 61 note slim keyboard case and is half the weight. I play the GT at home and will gig with the 73. Both together still cost less than a single Nord!

[DrVonnegut]

Thank you for this write-up! I am considering a stage piano and have been spoiled by being able to play some nords owned by friends. So now anything that feels less responsive and frankly gorgeous bums me out. The NUMAS have really caught my eye, and I came to this part of the forum to look for keyboard reviews and yours answered some really key questions of mine! Thank you!