Nord User Forum

[Mr. Marko]

I have everything I need to do a gig without this step backward in functionality. If they don't plan to make the NS3 work in non planned gig environment, I just want to know that... I will leave this thing at home or sell it.

Nord may have good reasons for moving away from tried and true non menu diving performance keyboard, but I do not.

I had no way of knowing this when I placed my order thinking "no more patches will cut off" only to find that my ability to keep playing the patch I need would be cut off while I get ready for the next tune as I have been operating with 3 previous purchased Nord Stage models.

Please do not assume I am disloyal to the Nord brand... I have 8 of their pieces in my collection and use 2 in live situations 50 times a year.

[Mr. Marko]

@Marko:
Could you describe a situation where you don't have a Setlist? I thought the 3 P's of a musician was Plan, prepare and perform? How could you not plan and not prepare? If you are alone, like in a Piano Bar situation, ok, you decide what you play but as soon as you play with others, how could you expect them to be ready for what you decide or you to play what they decide? You come and play whatever goes through your Mind? Not any critical question, it's just I' m would like to know when you don't use a Setlist and expect ALL musicians to play at their best....

Our band makes a piss load of money by floating from one tune to another...the planning phase amounts to this = if you can't show up to play a tune from a YouTube link sent in a group text, you will not be in the band very long! There has never been a setlist... But rather a master list that has evolved from day 1. If PENDING LOAD is deleted from the NS2 in a future OS upgrade it will have to be replaced by another brand.

This is a 5 piece band that plays a wide mix of tunes. Two nights ago we pulled out tunes from Roger Miller (corny country) to Jackson 5 to Tool...the band leader calls the tunes on the fly... And the band starts without me if my rig can't fly with them.

I know this is unusual...so I don't expect everyone to agree that this missing feature is a lost treasure.

[Quai34]

Ok I understand, I was close to write yesterday that finally, it's just because we have been asked nowadays to play everything on top of keys and sometimes all sounds but real keys....When my bandmate complain about the time between songs, and it's really short when everything is prepared, just sometimes, few seconds to change the midi channel on the D50 controlling the Stage or another modules, my answer is, I will play only Piano, E. Piano or Organ and I will even be ready faster than he guitarist or bassist who always need the time to re-tune....But they expect me to do EVERYTHING but guitars...Even Claps and Percussions in songs like Santana's are on me....
So, I understand your point and I understand the way to adjust yourself for that request, so, yes, pending load is important for that and it was logical for Nord to add this feature to provide a tool the keys player needs nowadays knowing that his "load" is heavier that in the old days.
But do you ask them to retune when playing????
Do you ask your bassist to play and at the same time, changing his bass for the one tuned in D?..
In the old days, I was writing on each of my charts, the name of the program's needed for the songs, easy to just dial a number on a keypad....But it was just two sounds, not the very complicated things we've been asked to do...On that note I agree with "Gambold" when he says, "just tell them you are a piano player, then they get the Piano and that's it".
So, I was proposing some workaround because "ditching" a stage 3 just for that reason seems a bit a pity for me with all the extra features that this board offers...
Could you have the "pending load" option with MainStage? You scroll down your list and you still can play on the Stage 3. I propose that but I don't have mainstage...

[Quai34]

Ok again, but the band leader is the guitarist or the singer right? They start without you? Would they accept you start without him when he has to tune up his guitar? I'm sure not....I understand that you want to stay because of the money but still, I think he doesn't pay a lot of attention to your needs as the keys player as well....
So, you know by heart 300 tunes that could be called at anytime? He knows them by heart without needing to switch the charts from his book or from his ipad? Ok nice, I read music and that's why, again, like you, my band leader adds/changes our master list all the time just when he's pissed off about a songs and had many times asked me to learn/be ready with the exact right sound with 25 new songs in two months..
I'm not a pro meaning that we just do that for fun, so, I need charts...and some preparation for sounds....If I use only 20 basics sounds, he's not happy because it's not the exact sound/sample/little noises in the song....
Could you play Uptown Funk with just a basic sound and not having all the Doos, hotdammn, sirens, claps etc...with one of your 20 basic sounds? I don't think so...
Maybe we have some band leader that are quite "harsh" with the way they treat keys player but because you make a lot of money with him, you adjust again....
Could he play any "real book" tune among 300 just by heart or just with a grid of the real book? Mine cannot, he doesn't even know all the time in what key is playing...Which brings funny story when he's just one fret down or up....
But that's another story, I understand your position but still think that it's really unusual and unfair to put that charge on you...I'm pretty sure the singer has to flip through his book or ipad to get the Lyrics...

[Quai34]

Last question sorry to be out of the topic so long:
A piss load of money is how much for you? 200$ Per memebers for a two hours gig? 300/400$ per members?

[analogika]

Ok again, but the band leader is the guitarist or the singer right? They start without you? Would they accept you start without him when he has to tune up his guitar? I'm sure not....I understand that you want to stay because of the money but still, I think he doesn't pay a lot of attention to your needs as the keys player as well....
So, you know by heart 300 tunes that could be called at anytime? He knows them by heart without needing to switch the charts from his book or from his ipad? Ok nice, I read music and that's why, again, like you, my band leader adds/changes our master list all the time just when he's pissed off about a songs and had many times asked me to learn/be ready with the exact right sound with 25 new songs in two months..
I'm not a pro meaning that we just do that for fun, so, I need charts...and some preparation for sounds....If I use only 20 basics sounds, he's not happy because it's not the exact sound/sample/little noises in the song....
Could you play Uptown Funk with just a basic sound and not having all the Doos, hotdammn, sirens, claps etc...with one of your 20 basic sounds? I don't think so...
Maybe we have some band leader that are quite "harsh" with the way they treat keys player but because you make a lot of money with him, you adjust again....

Look, it's really quite irrelevant whether he's doing it for the money and has no problem being treated badly by a jerk leader, or whether it's actually a great gig with people he loves hanging with and a fun job that has grown along with him over the past fifteen years, or all of those things.

Fact is: He has/had a tool that suited his needs, and for all the great new features the Stage 3 offers, it no longer fulfills this basic need.

Though for his particular situation, a Stage 3 with a Bluetooth MIDI plug and an iPad mini running something like Set List Maker or a librarian app might actually be an improvement over the previous setup, even if it adds some complexity.

[Quai34]

+1 on any Librarian Apps, I respect his decision, it's just for me a pity to just skip on the Stage 3 for just one missing feature when there is workaround....If he's all good with the way his band works, yes, as you said, an Ioad and Librarian could do the trick....

[anotherscott]

If I use only 20 basics sounds, he's not happy because it's not the exact sound/sample/little noises in the song....

Ah, yeah, that's a different kind of band (and I do some of that stuff too)... neither approach better or worse, just different. For my wedding band, there are a handful of songs I have custom sounds for, but I manage with just the 20 or so basics for 98% of it. But I know some people want each sound to be more authentic to the recording, that's fine too. For me personally, if my goal was to nail each sound and call up everything by song, I'd be inclined to use a Kronos if possible, I think it excels at that, with its extensive programmability and Set List screen. To me, grab-and-go immediacy is a big reason to pick a Nord in the first place.

Could you play Uptown Funk with just a basic sound and not having all the Doos, hotdammn, sirens, claps etc...with one of your 20 basic sounds? I don't think so..

We get by. We sing the doos (I may double it with something on keys to give it more body, but the character comes from our voices). For the siren, I do a chromatic scale up with a synth sound with some portamento on it. The effect is there. The arrangement is not the utmost in authenticity, but it serves our purposes. But different bands will have different approaches.

p.s. - My workaround for the Nord not being able to do everything I need is simply to use two boards! But I understand why people would like more of these things to be able to be done more easily within the Nord too.

[Mr. Marko]

Last question sorry to be out of the topic so long:
A piss load of money is how much for you? 200$ Per memebers for a two hours gig? 300/400$ per members?

3-4 each

[Mr. Marko]

I love this band... Nobody is a jerk... We play our asses off. It appears I bought a keyboard that can't hang without pissing around and adding a friggin Mac computer?

Sorry...I mean no disrespect... The NS3 is filled with enough other bugs it's not going on stage with me anytime soon, glad Nord designed a NS2 that is ready for live work.