Nord User Forum

[Ecaroh]

Am I the onlyone here feeling that it has been very quiet in the development of Clavia?

Ok, we got those new synths but Nord Piano, Nord Stage and Nord Electro lines are becoming outdated. Maybe (and hopefully) this is calm before the storm and we'll see updates in those great products and sounds too. Clavia has proven us that they can make great instruments, especially vintage type, but Stage 2 isn't the greatest stage piano forever, that's for sure.

[davidlamb]

It seems clavia will update the line with a stage 3.
Everybody is talking about it (musicians of course)
Im pianist, and i need a true weighted piano keyboard.When i play in my stage 2 feel a very good sound but actually i notice that something is missing...its the auntentic piano touch like yamaha or kawai what im talking about.
Id like clavia piano sounds were comparable in terms of software and dont have only the best pianos available for hardware equipement.
We need too a bechstein, shigeru kawai, much better steinway...
What do you think about it?

[Ecaroh]

@davidlamb:
I cannot agree more. I have NS2 (76) for gigging and it's perfect for that, cause it sounds good and it's so portable. And it's ok to play but quite far from best Kawais for example.

But as I said, NS2 is quickly becoming outdated, if you compare its specs to for example Kurzweil Forte (15 GB flash, color LCD etc.) which is about same prize. I am not saying that Kurzweil beats NS2 but it looks more interesting "on the paper".

IMO Nord Piano 2 was quite cosmetic update to NP1. So many piano players did not want oversimplified sample player, they wanted to get better keyboard for playing piano. I hope we'll get that in future. There's still big challenge for that cause they seem to be stuck with Fatar...

[martyman]

I've been waiting for a new Stage 2EX/3 for about six months now. I want to upgrade my old Yamaha S80 for something lighter as a main gigging board. As soon as the price dropped I thought that it can't be long before an announcement but so far nothing..........................My guess is they are clearing all stock of the NS2's before there will be any official hint at a replacement.

As much as I personally find the Nord Stage 2 piano sounds beat everything else (I'm not counting software), there are other features that just seem to be lacking compared to boards a third of the price. Unlike most, I really like the keybed on the NS2. But in 2014 not enough memory (for me anyway), non-user programmable splits, slightly limited effects routing, velocity curve settings and a few other small niggles are putting me off given that a Stage 3 is due if you historically look at the upgrade path for the Stage series.

They should have had the option to add extra memory though!

I tried a MOXF8 last weekend but the piano sounds just came over as slightly dull and the overall plastic build quality let it down - it just seemed too fragile to gig with. Both the Korg Krome 88 and Kronos 88 are just a bit too physically big, the Kronos is far more flexible but just leaves me a bit cold. The Roland FA08 keybed I felt is really spongey and the Roland RD800 piano sound was just a bit lacking - in fact other than the Korgs, none of them seem to have the crispness and clarity that the Nord Stage has. The Motif XF8 is way too big and heavy and the only other one I can see might be worth looking at is the new Kurzweil Forte when they finally start hitting the shops (the Artis just doesn't seem to sound anywhere near as good as it should from the online comparisons to the F8, NS2 and Kronos).

I'm holding out for the Stage 3 for now........

[tomzi]

My biggest wish would be a more "pianistic" keybed for a new nordstage.
….don´t know if those videos make sense, but if anyone is interestet in here is a comparison video:

Watch on youtube.com

[Ecaroh]

Everything is relative and mostly matter of taste of course. I am a pianist too and I must say that after I got Kawai CS-7, I have barely played my Stage 2 at home. Don't get me wrong, there's no substitute for NS2 for gigging, but when it comes to grandlike piano touch, CS-7 is a clear winner. In fact I feel that I nowadays play better with NS2 when I practise with heavier and more accurate CS-7.

It's mostly about touch, NS2 sounds great. I wouldn't say which one is better CS-7 vs. NS2, they are just different. I am pretty sure that Nord sound performs better on stage, sounds more "acoustic". On the other hand CS-7 sounds more even, there's no looping or perceivable velocity switching, but same time it might sound little "sterile" on live usage. Same is with EPs, if you compare those two.

[Cute James]

I tried a MOXF8 last weekend but the piano sounds just came over as slightly dull and the overall plastic build quality let it down - it just seemed too fragile to gig with. Both the Korg Krome 88 and Kronos 88 are just a bit too physically big, the Kronos is far more flexible but just leaves me a bit cold. The Roland FA08 keybed I felt is really spongey and the Roland RD800 piano sound was just a bit lacking - in fact other than the Korgs, none of them seem to have the crispness and clarity that the Nord Stage has. The Motif XF8 is way too big and heavy and the only other one I can see might be worth looking at is the new Kurzweil Forte when they finally start hitting the shops (the Artis just doesn't seem to sound anywhere near as good as it should from the online comparisons to the F8, NS2 and Kronos).

[cough]Kawai MP7[/cough]

[trumelpuut]

The Nord Piano 2 / Nord Stage 2, outdated ?

Point any better sounding keyboard to me !

Granted, there are a few competitors, but then it's a matter of taste, open to debate.
I can't see any keyboard frankly tramping the Nord series yet... At least for piano, which is my specialty -- and I suspect as much could be said for the organs ! (As for the synth section... well, there are so many competitors out there, but at least Clavia practically invented virtual analog. But now how do you want to compete with all the real-analog synths coming back into fashion ?)

I may sound like a Clavia fanatic, but it ain't so. There are some of their products I dislike (the Triple Pedal, for example, is both an academic case of proprietary hostage-taking and a not very well built item. Also I don't like their obscure policy about sound formats: why can't we know more about the specs ?), but some other of their products are just the best on the market, and there's no denying that (the Pianos just sound astounding !).

Also, what I do like about Clavia is that, when you have any question, you get to email chat directly with an engineer from the factory. Try getting that from Yamaha or whichever other brand !

Just my 2 cents anyway.

[sourwookie]

The biggest development I would love to see may not be very popular with others: I would love for them to essentially take the Stage guts and shoehorn them into the C2 chassis so any two patches could be assigned to different manuals. I know it would be heavy and expensive yada, yada, yada, but I can't help but think of how convenient it would be compared to schlepping two keyboards to every gig.

[Dave Ferris]

I think I have a buyer for my NP2. I've used it exclusively the last two years until back in May when I acquired the CP4. It has served me very well and I still really dig the NP2 piano sounds, particularly the XL Fazioli.
If I were rich, I'd hang onto it...but I'm simply not using the NP2 enough these days to justify keeping it around when I need other stuff.

After prolonged periods on the CP5 & CP4 and then switching back to the NP2, the Nord is simply harder to be expressive and get around on in general (specifically for jazz) because of the lackluster action.

I feel to cater to more serious acoustic piano type of players - jazz in particular- Nord needs to use the highest quality Fatar action (which I can honestly say I've never played) they can license from Fatar. Even if it adds an additional 5-8 lbs. I think people like me would bite the bullet and still spring for one.

They could still keep the same action for the NS3 and everyone would be happy. Most of the more serious straight -ahead jazz, fusiony acoustic based piano players around LA that I've been running into the last few months seem to be turning to the CP4 when they can't play an acoustic piano.

Here's hoping they *up their game* in that area. I think it's a great company that makes wonderful instruments. Just please take into consideration players outside the pop/rock/blues/funk "band" world....even though I know we take up a very small percentage of the market share