This is the right place if your topic concerns different Nord Keyboards, you are not sure which one is the right one for you, etc.

Re: Nord Stage 3?

Postby magpie85 » 02 Dec 2016, 13:40

I love all these comments. I agree that we shouldn't be fixated on getting the 'perfect' sound from the recording, and we should play the instrument rather than produce a sound.

That said, I work with a number of different band leaders at church, and I usually don't know the songs until 2 days before the Sunday. With this in mind I like to give the band leader the option of pointing me in the direction they like before the rehearsal (wishy washy pads, lots of strings, a couple of leads might be useful, just stick to a piano and pad mix or even go all out on that organ). This is very different to achieving an exact copy of a recording though.

For this reason I tend to bring my laptop with me and load in a variety of sounds into my NE3 in advance. That way we can quickly agree on the best sounds for the feel we are trying to achieve.
Nord Electro 3HP... dreaming of a Stage :keyboard2:
magpie85
 
Posts: 111
Joined: 31 Mar 2015, 15:46
Country: Great Britain
Has thanked: 12 times
Been thanked: 17 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Electro 3

Re: Nord Stage 3?


Sponsor
 

Re: Nord Stage 3?

Postby GeeDeWee » 02 Dec 2016, 14:50

Well, there is nothing wrong with trying to get the best sound for a song, of course. Playing around with my Stage2 synth section is really fun, as is trying to recreate a sound used in a particular song.
But playing it 'right', that's the real fun IMO.

To the OP: The Stage 2 (EX) is a great board.
I bought my Stage 2 HA88 right after the EX was announced, which made the Stage 2 price drop a bit. I personally don't miss the extra 512 MB.
Buying a Stage 2 second hand might be an nice way to save some $$ and own an amazing board. The 'pain' when the Stage 3 is announced might also be a little more bearable :)
GeeDeWee
 
Posts: 165
Joined: 24 Apr 2015, 11:41
Location: Groningen
Country: Netherlands
Has thanked: 51 times
Been thanked: 37 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Stage 4

Re: Nord Stage 3?

Postby harmonizer » 23 Dec 2016, 16:32

There is a point of view expressed in this thread against splits. I am on the other side of the coin.
Keyboards are not my main instrument - sax and harmony vocals are still my strongest skills. I started playing keys because our band wants to cover songs that require some keys parts. I don't do this reluctantly - I enjoy being able to add sounds that enable our band to cover songs that we like playing.

One example is "Cake By the Ocean" - I have nailed that single G "twang" note sound, while playing another strings-based sound in my right hand. These sounds are produced on my Roland, with my Electro 3 serving as a MIDI controller to it. I use a split on my Roland synth for similar reasons on "You're No Good", where I need a Rhodes sound and a strings sound at the same time.

Any keyboard player who wants to play organ and acoustic piano at the same time, or organ and EP at the same time, needs a split function (unless they have two keyboards). This is not an uncommon need.

These cases above are typical keyboard split use cases. The Electro 3 can't do them (unless you build a sample), but the Electro 5 can. I think it's good that Nord added the split capability to the Electro 5. Perhaps my point of view is different because keyboard is not my main instrument, and I see my keyboard rig primarily as something to allow me to add additional noises to songs, so our band can cover songs we want to play.

Some of the splits I use are extreme cases. I play my sax on the bridge of "The Letter" ("well she wrote me a letter ...."), but we still need piano chords to be played there. So I use my Roland PK5a footpedal controller, and I set up custom splits in the Roland so I can play three different chords by pressing a single "white key" on the footpedal controller for each chord (white keys are the only ones easy to reach with your foot, while standing and playing the sax). Even the Stage could not handle such a case. I doubt that Nord will ever produce a product that handles this case, and I am ok with that - there is probably not a large demand for it.

But what really struck me as I have exercised the split functions on my Roland is that its designers did not make any assumptions about how a person would want to use the functions, and as a result they did not allow limitations to get into the implementation based on such assumptions. The result is that they allowed me to use my imagination and do something that is not typical, which for me is fun and satisfying.
Last edited by harmonizer on 23 Dec 2016, 16:33, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
harmonizer
 
Posts: 505
Joined: 25 Dec 2012, 17:10
Location: NJ, USA
Country: United States of America
Has thanked: 72 times
Been thanked: 128 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Stage 3
Your Nord Gear #2: Nord Electro 3

Re: Nord Stage 3?

Postby mistral_73 » 24 Dec 2016, 13:22

Hi

emartin149, you are RIGHT, specially with cover-bands!
Example of usual conversations in mine:
"Guitar & lead singer: Hey, for our next wedding, someone asked for "Night in white satin". I get the lyrics & chords and it's OK for me. Keyboardist! Are you OK with the end? (whole symphonic parts...)
"Keyboardist: OK Guys. I have all the symphonic sounds splitted on eight area on my single keyboard. If four members come in front of my keyboard, side by side, we could play that right. Drummer on the timpani!
(Lazy)Drummer: OK for playing side by side on your keyboard, but what about playback? could you replace your eight sounds with one sample?"
etc.
etc.
;)

On the other hand, playing with a sound close of the record can be very enjoyable. I rediscovered Supertramp thanks to Nord Wurlitzer sounds...

Merry Christmas
Last edited by mistral_73 on 24 Dec 2016, 15:05, edited 1 time in total.
mistral_73
 
Posts: 66
Joined: 23 Feb 2012, 23:52
Country: France
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 17 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Stage 3

Re: Nord Stage 3?

Postby weremole » 25 Dec 2016, 10:06

I'm also in a cover band. Producing the samples with the tools I have available and then making it workable in a live setting is the challenge for me. The songs themselves aren't that difficult to play, especially the key parts (depends on the song ofcourse). Recreating and mapping of sounds is the challenge for me. I cannot recreate sounds to be identical and the band understands that. However I'm usually not satisfied until I've got something that fits the song right instead of making something wholly different than the original. Even more so than the others care.
weremole
 
Posts: 75
Joined: 22 Jun 2015, 10:33
Country: Netherlands
Has thanked: 12 times
Been thanked: 20 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Stage EX
Your Nord Gear #2: Nord Lead 1/2/2x

Re: Nord Stage 3?

Postby analogika » 25 Dec 2016, 14:32

mistral_73 wrote:Hi

emartin149, you are RIGHT, specially with cover-bands!
Example of usual conversations in mine:
"Guitar & lead singer: Hey, for our next wedding, someone asked for "Night in white satin". I get the lyrics & chords and it's OK for me. Keyboardist! Are you OK with the end? (whole symphonic parts...)
"Keyboardist: OK Guys. I have all the symphonic sounds splitted on eight area on my single keyboard. If four members come in front of my keyboard, side by side, we could play that right. Drummer on the timpani!
(Lazy)Drummer: OK for playing side by side on your keyboard, but what about playback? could you replace your eight sounds with one sample?"


I used a Kronos for a while. Hated the interface, but the multi-layered orchestra patches were KILLER for that kind of stuff. Really awesome.
The Nord giveth; the Nord taketh away…
"The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement“ (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk)
The Drawbars — off jazz organ trio
User avatar
analogika
 
Posts: 3288
Joined: 21 Nov 2013, 10:02
Country: Germany
Has thanked: 1126 times
Been thanked: 1398 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Electro 2
Your Nord Gear #2: Nord Stage 3

Re: Nord Stage 3?

Postby JackCarlile » 08 Jan 2017, 17:41

I bought a Stage 2 EX in the end! It's a beast. Never owned something so awesome and I am still trying to work out what all the buttons mean haha! Thanks for all your replies :)
Attachments
Screen Shot 2017-01-08 at 15.38.33.png
Screen Shot 2017-01-08 at 15.38.33.png (1.57 MiB) Viewed 1681 times
JackCarlile
 
Posts: 2
Joined: 30 Nov 2016, 22:53
Country: Great Britain
Has thanked: 0 time
Been thanked: 0 time

Re: Nord Stage 3?

Postby Quai34 » 09 Jan 2017, 01:53

Hi,
I also play in a cover band. What I like about the Stage is that, when my guitarist is on the same mood described below (Style, "OK for you the Keys to do on your own, organ+piano+brass+"Gling Gling" on the last 8th note of measure 42 before the break that give the song all its charm....?) is that the split and layers are done very fast. So, anytime they (Bass+Guit+Drums) come ready and say "just try", I,m able to get it quite right in few minutes...Usually they say "Yeah, you get it", knowing for me that I will have to work a lot on Splits/sounds/configuration with setlist maker if I realy want to get it the way it should...But most of the time, my challenge is to make the song sounds even better that the recording just because you add your own (maybe more "In Front"...) sound to cut through the mix during the gig, or some extra 7th or 9th (Jazz notes in a rock songs etc...). With the Stage, it's very easy to do it. However, I use a lot my D50 as a 2nd keyboard, so...
Stage 2/C2/NL2X+TC Pedals, 2XMatrix, EMU P2K, TX802, DSI P8/Tetra+H9, P12+TC HoF, D50+PG1000, XV5080,AX keytar, Streichfett, Drumbrute.Ibanez SR1200 & 2605 basses, Artstar AS153,G&L L2000,Legacy HSS,Asat Blueboys,Asat Deluxe Savanna.genelec 8040A.
User avatar
Quai34
 
Posts: 1874
Joined: 01 Jan 2012, 23:02
Location: CANADA WINNIPEG
Country: Canada
Has thanked: 114 times
Been thanked: 305 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Stage 2
Your Nord Gear #2: Nord Lead 1/2/2x

Previous

Return to General Nord Forum



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 36 guests