Nord User Forum

So I just ordered a Electro hp 73.

My experience with keys has been:
Several roland
Yamaha cp4
Korg Kronos

So in my search I've been looking for something that does piano pretty well (love the yamaha cp4) but I also need EP's and some organs and the occasional pad, strings, horns. I am after a lightweight board with at lease 73 keys but need weighted.

Roland's boards are nice but the action is a bit heavy to me. I love the CP4's piano but not the rest and thought the montage would be it but I just wasn't digging those sounds. Tried the kronos (omg it's heavy) and the pianos I thought were just very ok. The other sounds I liked better than Roland.

So here I come Nord... Going lightweight took me to this one but I'm hoping it fills my other needs.

It arrives Monday and I can't wait to fire it up in my studio and see how she does in my little real world.

What kind I expect from Nord? Any intro that might help me with the board etc?

Dave

1. Take the time to download and install the latest piano samples if they aren't preloaded, particularly Royal Grand and Nefertiti Rhodes.
2. Take the time to get a couple acoustic piano patches EQ'ed to the particulars of your amplification. The acoustic piano samples sound great in headphones, but may need some EQ depending on what you're using to amplify.
3. Explore the sample library, both at the Nord website and the .nsmp forum here for useful sounds. Remove the samples you don't need, maybe archiving the ones you think might be useful someday.
4. Customize the piano and sample synth, and presets the way you want them. The ability to tailor the sample set (piano and .nsmp) to your needs is one of the keyboard's great strengths. Don't be afraid to replace stuff.
5. Educate yourself about B3 drawbar settings (if you aren't already), and spend some time playing around to create the organ sound you like.
6. Have fun!

Hi,
I know that a lot of people say that you should delete the samples/Progams that you don't need but how could you know in advance that you will need them...The factory presets on the Stage 2 are good and I'm almost inspired by all of them...So, what I did is
1) First, using the room left by samples to download samples of the songs that I will going to play (Downloaded from this amazing website we are currently on...)
2) If space is left, look at what you already have with your other keyboards and dowload them as Orpheus said. For Example, I had downloaded a lot of Prophet 5 samples at the beginning but as I bought later a Prophet 08, I'm not using them that much now, so, I can decide to skip then if room is needed...But I keep some Minimoog Bass, because I don't have any Moog in my arsenal, even If I don't use a lot of Synth Bass sounds.
Other example, when I find a good Oberheim sound that I like, I try to find the equivalent in my Matrix 1000 (Which I usually find...), then, I could also save space in deleting the redundant ones...
3) For programs, I did the same: I created mine until I don't have any more room, then, I started to erase, one by one only, the programs that I,m pretty sure not to use...But I did that after two years and for example, having bought a Nord C2, I erased all Organ programs and samples as I will always have the C2 with me and the Stage 2 at a gig.
4) Now that I know way better my stage 2 and understanding how a program is made (Because I've created quite a lot, 100 maybe, for my personal ones...), I start to use just right away on some songs the factory program....
So, it's up to you...Organize everything at first or keep factory programs as long as you can, deleting them step by step when you are sure not to miss them? Your choice...

So it came yesterday instead of Monday. Yea!

I downloaded the sounds you suggested. They are nice.

The EP's & organs were terrific. The pianos were ok. I fired up my Yamaha cp4 and was worried that it was going to blow it away in a A/B test. Surprisingly it wasn't a crazy difference. Though I do really like the CP4's S6. It's like you can hear and feel the hammers hitting the strings so vividly on that one. Anyhow, it's a piano I may be able to live with.

I then tried it through monitors instead of headphones. It surely needs some eq tweaking out of the headphones.

So to go live, is there a mono setting or do I need to come out of both the left/right outputs?

The board seems quality made and it is SO much lighter than the 73 key kronos. To me it kills the kronos. The Montage has nothing on it either in my eyes/ears.

If I can be long term happy with it I'll be tickled. At worst I may keep the CP4 and at least ditch the kronos.

So I guess I may need to get used to seeing red...

lol! I am looking forward to some gigs and recording with it.

I got my Nord Stage II EX recently and I've been jamming with it, basically on the fly without really studying everything that it can do just yet.

I do wonder though, is it possible to erase all the present and just upload the sounds I want? I know there are a lot of sounds that are linked to others and such, but do they matter? Aside from being a preference issue. I'm just wondering if I can delete a majority of sounds and put in my favorites and not worry about linking sounds together or what have you.

What do you guys think?

If you know how to use Nord Sound Manager and restore the factory settings, then it's no problem erase all and build your own library. If you feel lost after a while - then just load everything back in.
Another approach is to listen to most samples and decide who is going out. In my case I am not using much horn, brass, string machines etc so I cleared a lot of space taking them out.
Nord Sound Manager tells you if a sound(sample) is missing from a program, so that is not a big problem...

Nords don't sound ideal through headphones.... you need a good speaker set to really hear how amazing they sound. Or good studio monitors, preferably with a sub (especially for the Rhodes stuff). I was "ehh" about the pianos AT FIRST.... but then I was like.. oh my GOD. They truly are tremendous. The uprights especially blow me away. I have more uprights in my Stage 2 EX than I do grands.

Grands-- Lady D, Grand Imperial, Velvet (probably the best of the best) and the Studio Grand 2 (also best of the best)... try them with acoustics and string resonance (at least medium-sized samples)... MMM. For uprights-- Rain Piano is sick. I also LOVE the Black Upright, Baldwin, Grand Upright, Romantic, Mellow... all of 'em.

I have all the Rhodes models installed but use 2 (Ideal Close) the most. It sounds the most like Radiohead, London Grammar, The Album Leaf, all the good Rhodes stuff.

Spend time with it.. trust me... the pianos will make you smile, every time.... but not at first. That's what's weird about Nords....

iamdave wrote:So it came yesterday instead of Monday. Yea!

I downloaded the sounds you suggested. They are nice.

The EP's & organs were terrific. The pianos were ok. I fired up my Yamaha cp4 and was worried that it was going to blow it away in a A/B test. Surprisingly it wasn't a crazy difference. Though I do really like the CP4's S6. It's like you can hear and feel the hammers hitting the strings so vividly on that one. Anyhow, it's a piano I may be able to live with.

I then tried it through monitors instead of headphones. It surely needs some eq tweaking out of the headphones.

So to go live, is there a mono setting or do I need to come out of both the left/right outputs?

The board seems quality made and it is SO much lighter than the 73 key kronos. To me it kills the kronos. The Montage has nothing on it either in my eyes/ears.

If I can be long term happy with it I'll be tickled. At worst I may keep the CP4 and at least ditch the kronos.

So I guess I may need to get used to seeing red...

lol! I am looking forward to some gigs and recording with it.