Nord User Forum

[ericL]

I may have not been clear enough.
My question concerns the difference in feel of the sw waterfall organ keyboards of the E5D (no after touch) and Stage 2 compact or Stage 3 compact (after touch).

I've owned both and they feel slightly different. The NS keys bottom out softer than the NE5 due to the after touch strip, which cushions it. It feels a tiny bit more elegant, but it's subjective. I like both keyboards.

[BuckW]

Thanks!

How does layering work on the Electro compared to the stage?

[ericL]

Thanks!

How does layering work on the Electro compared to the stage?

The NS2 is way more flexible, essentially 3x the capability of the NE5. That said, it is possible to use the NE5 as a bit of a "poor man's" NS2, with some creativity.

I invite you to read my review of the NE5, in case you had not seen it. I get into more detail on layering here.

http://www.keyboardmag.com/combo---do-a ... ewed/53863

[anotherscott]

How does layering work on the Electro compared to the stage?

Electro allows you to layer an organ sound with a piano sound, an organ sound with a synth/sample sound, or piano sound with a synth/sample sound. Stage allows you to layer any two sounds you want. Also, stage allows more flexibility in effects between the two sounds, any effect can be used on any sound, compared to the more limited combinations of simultaneous effects supported on the Electro.

[NorfolkPaul]

ericL, just read your review, which I found helpful as an NS2 SW73 owner who is wondering about the next purchase in the wake of the NS3 release, and always been curious about the more recent Electro series.
I love my NS2 and have never had an issue playing pianos on the SW keybed, and always appreciate how light the board is for logistics.

Regarding the point of aftertouch: I recently had a play on the E5D ( - same day I had an excitable visit to the store to try the new NS3HA88); I thought the E5D had a more solid feel, compared to my NS2. I could definitely notice the after touch strip was not present, and I thought this felt nice for organ playing, maybe also for other sounds too. Without that "cushioning" of the aftertouch strip it didn't feel spongy when playing with a bit more force. I think I need a bit more time on it to be sure. It did sound great of course.

[onthecorner]

Thanks to everyone for weighing in. As it turns out my decision was made for me, as the Stage 3 is backordered and I need something now. My NE5D arrived last night and I'm very happy with it so far. Seems like you can get around the a lot of the splitting or layering limitations by working in the sound editor - for example I wanted a piano and rhodes sound (think Glamour Profession by Steely Dan) and I was able to cobble one together by grabbing an EP sample sound. Not quite as robust as the built in electric piano patches, but it sounds fine layered underneath the piano.

With that said I may end up returning it and grabbing the Stage 3 at some point ... if I'd bought one originally, I wouldn't have needed to upgrade, and maybe more limitations will reveal themselves. But for the next few weeks, at least, I'm happy exploring the NE5.

[criss]

Some new electric piano patches were uploaded on the Nord site.

[Janatuinen]

The NS3 gives you a lot of things over the Electro besides just the synth. Much more split/layer flexibility, aftertouch, a lot more sample memory, the ability to process sampled sounds through the synth, more flexible output routing, a lot of MIDI functionality, the cool pitch stick, seamless sound transitions, clav EQ, visual split point indicators, more effects controls...

But if you're not committed to having everything you need in one board (since you talked about adding pitch bend via a second keyboard), there are lots of things you can do with the combination of an NE5D and a second keyboard... maybe not everything an NS3 can do but also probably things the NS3 cannot do. And there are some other advantages to adding a second board to an NE5D, like the ability to have piano-action for piano sounds, more total real estate (you don't have to worry about the piano section of your piano-something split having enough keys for what you want to play), backup to get through a gig if a board fails (which is not simply a matter of reliability... boards can gets dropped, have something spilled into them, whatever).

I’m new at this forum and I have some questions about Electro 5 and Stage 2. I have at the moment quite old Roland FP-2 stage piano with good enough keyboard action but I don’t like its piano sound. That’s why I’m looking for the new equipment. My plan is that I use Roland FP-2 as a MIDI controller and buy Electro or Stage 2 for primary sound generator. Questions:

1) I’m quite poor with MIDI issues. What should I consider when using Roland as a midi controller? Is it totally suitable for playing piano sound of the Electro or Nord?
2) With Electro 5D 61 I would get better piano sounds but also good keyboard action for organ playing. Just to make sure, is it possible to play simultaneously Electro 5D’s piano sound with Roland’s keyboard and organ sound with 5D’s keyboard? Meaning that no need to change or press something when changing sound from piano to organ.
3) I think that I don’t need the synth section of the Stage 2. Is there some advantages in Stage 2 which I probably would need compared to Electro 5D 61? I play piano, electro piano and organ sounds. That’s it.

[ferdibinger]

Some new electric piano patches were uploaded on the Nord site.

where can I find them?

[criss]

Some new electric piano patches were uploaded on the Nord site.

where can I find them?

http://www.nordkeyboards.com/sound-libr ... igigrand-1
and
http://www.nordkeyboards.com/sound-libr ... ballad-ep1