Nord User Forum

[anotherscott]

I just can't understand why they haven't put together a memory expansion box for the NE3/ Wave. Even at the same price as this new drum controller, it would be lapped up by E3 and Wave users, wouldn't it? Surely its a no-brainer for Nord?

Not only is it not a no-brainer, it's not even possible to add an external memory box. It would be like trying to add RAM to your computer by plugging in an external box. That's just not the way processor/memory architecture works, and no port is fast enough.

If they wanted to make an external box that would let you play back more samples, the way they could do that would be to make a tabletop or rack-mount sample playback sound module. But it wouldn't be just a box of memory... it would have to also duplicate the other electronics, the effects, the front panel controls, etc. of the keyboard. It would be a self-contained sample player that you'd trigger over MIDI.

[omvibraphone]

Ah, then I guess I must be a 'no-brainer'

From what you say though, you'd be looking at the equivalent of a 'rack' version of the Electro, but without the panel controls? So it is viable then? I would guess a table-top unit which could sit on the end of the Ne3/ Wave etc would seem most appropriate.

Still seems to me to be a comparatively simple way to extend the various product lines, in comparion with the new drum module, which seems to hark back to 1992 or something.... but then again, maybe refer back to the first line of this post...

[anotherscott]

From what you say though, you'd be looking at the equivalent of a 'rack' version of the Electro, but without the panel controls? So it is viable then? I would guess a table-top unit which could sit on the end of the Ne3/ Wave etc would seem most appropriate.

Yes, a rack version of the E3 (or even some portion of what the E3 has) could be a very nice product, and I've seen people on other forums bemoan the fact that Nord seems to have no interest in marketing such a device. Maybe the rack version of the E2 just didn't sell well enough, or maybe they feel it just doesn't fit into how they want to position their various other products... As to whether it would need its own front panel controls, that's more complicated. There would have to be *some* way to set it up, and if not by its own panel controls, then by computer and/or some kind of designed integration with their keyboards; and to some extent, that might vary with whether they want it to operate *only* as an extension to a Nord Keyboard, of if they want Yamaha/Korg/Roland/etc. owners to be able to add a Nord module to their setup. But since they seem to have abandoned the rack/module approach, the conversation is kinda moot.

[ButtonMasher]

The small amount of memory was inconvenient but workable. Although I wish they had a way to play the sounds on the desktop to audition them before transferring them over. I found it tedious auditioning the sample library. I also wished I could use the piano section for nsmp files.

What ultimately made me return the electro was the octave buttons not sending over midi out. I'm really confused why this isn't supported and really wrecked my ability to use the electro 3 -61 as a controller as well. I keep checking in hoping for an update. The new piano 2 might work tho, and it adds delay.

[jazzystu]

SHHHHHHH!!! The Electro 4 will be along shortly. With a bit more memory.

[Minburn]

As a new E3 owner, I'd agree that presenting some type of memory expansion would be greatly appreciated by users. I thought the memory thing wouldn't be that bad, so bought it and finding now that despite some fantastics sounds (a few of which were the prime reason I purchased the unit), I am frustrated by the memory limitation. I don't use it live very much, so the time in changing out is not uber-critical. But using it as a source of sounds for composing can lead to frustrating times when just that particular sound may be right, but is not currently in the unit, so you crack open a laptop and set up the several minute transfer of the sounds to the unit.

I'm seeing the E3 as kind of niche instrument that way. I see it as a unit set up for live performance - all programmed just as you want, and that the ideal unit for the task.

[David_M]

For studio work I keep all sounds on my laptop to load as required although it can sometimes be a bit slow. For live work I put together the sounds on the Sound Manager and load prior to the gig. A bit more memory would be useful though for some live gigs.

[hammondking]

I don't know what type of special memory Nord uses, but I have trouble imagining why it would be much different from the type in a USB flash drive or a solid state hard drive (SSD), both of which give you somewhere over 100 MB per dollar and are permanent but rewritable. And by the way, neither one of those takes 15 minutes to write 68MB.

In my (completely uninformed) opinion they don't put more memory in the E3 because they need a few differences in features between the Electro and the Stage. They could put leather seats in a Chevy for a few hundred dollars but then you wouldn't buy the Cadillac.

Unfortunately it appears that the E4 doesn't get extra memory. Too bad, that would have put me over the top to buy one, as it is I'll stay happy with my E3.

[mon8169]

I don't know what type of special memory Nord uses, but I have trouble imagining why it would be much different from the type in a USB flash drive or a solid state hard drive (SSD), both of which give you somewhere over 100 MB per dollar and are permanent but rewritable. And by the way, neither one of those takes 15 minutes to write 68MB.

You may have trouble imagining it, but it is akin to asking why 16 gb of RAM for your computer costs $100 when you can get a THOUSAND gb hard drive for that same $100. And the hard drive doesn't even lose its contents when you turn it off! We must be nuts paying so much for RAM! But, of course, storage and RAM are not interchangeable.

Cheap NAND flash technology is, essentially, a kind of storage, whereas expensive NOR flash technology functions as RAM. It gets confusing because the word "flash" is used to describe both, which leads people to believe they are the same thing, but they are not.

In terms of price, NAND flash chips (which function as storage, and are used in USB flash drives and SSD drives) are cheaper than standard RAM chips. NOR flash chips (which function as RAM, except with the additional advantage that they don't lose their contents when powered off) are more expensive than standard RAM chips.

This may help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memo ... NAND_flash

Writing to NOR flash, unfortunately, is slow. You almost have to think of it more like burning a disk. But that's the price we pay for a kind of RAM that does not lose its contents when powered down.

[hammondking]

Ok thanks, got it, appreciate the informative link. However, from what I can see looking at spot prices, 32 GB of NOR memory would have a supplier cost of around $13 (vs. about 1 GB of NAND for the same price). So, adding another 100 GB would cost Nord around $40-50. So, mark that up to $200, or whatever, that's still pretty affordable vs. the upgrade price for a Stage 2. Even just another 100 GB would make it a lot more reasonable to have some of the bigger Piano models installed. I do, though, get that a price point $200 higher for the Electro would have an impact on affordability.

I still submit that the Chevy/Cadillac model is a big part of the reason why we don't see higher capacities. If Nord sold memory upgrades for $200-300 I'm sure they'd sell, but I bet the sales of Stage 2's would drop. Consider that they've actually increased the price of Stage 2's this year by about $200...