Nord User Forum

For many it's probably a compromise, especially if you play both piano's and organs a lot.
An alternative would be to buy a HA88 with a waterfall MIDI keyboard on top (or the other way around).

Personally I don't want a compromise when spending such an amount of money. I use a waterfall board on top of my NS2HA88 and it works great for me. You can easily 'turn on' a section within a slot on the NS2 (organ, synth) and control it with the other board, while this section is not responding when playing the NS2 keys (the section is 'on', but all the green leds are off). If you for instance only do this in slot A, you can select an other sound in slot B and play that on the NS2. Very handy if you need a lot of different sounds in a song without making splits. But most importantly no compromise in keyboard action!

Only downside is that you need to transport two boards, including an 88 one. Maybe I will change my mind if my back begins to hurt.

For me, the keybed are a bit like:

WF: Piano 0% Organ/synth 100%
HA: Piano 100% Organ/synth 0%
HP: Piano 50% Organ/Synth 50%

The 100% - 100% doesn't exist. Whatever solution you choose will frustrate you somewhere.
I went for the 50-50 because I'm not a specialist in either category and need both, because I can't play piano on WF and (mostly?) because it's 10kg lighter than the big one.

That being said, I'll try the NS3 WF if I get the chance. Maybe I'll change my mind when time will come to upgrade.

I don't think those "black&white" percentages work for all Ludovic, particularly I disagree with HP being 50% good for Organs, while best case it is on the same par of the HA (or worse) in that respect and HA is not 0% for Organs: you can play them to a good extent, same about playing pianos on a waterfall, for simple parts (like the ones many pop songs just neeed) you can still do it and get not bad results at all.

The percentages were more to be taken as an image rather than as scientific results
Never heard anyone being fan of the HA for organ playing.
Never heard anyone being crazy about playing the piano with WF.
Never heard anyone being crazy about the HP. It's more the 50-50 keybed... with other advantages (10kg lighter).

Definitely not a black or white thing I certainly agree. I wanted to express tendancies. Sorry.

LudovicVDP wrote:The percentages were more to be taken as an image rather than as scientific results
Never heard anyone being fan of the HA for organ playing.

HA is not ideal for organ, but it's way better than the HP.

Very roughly, my version of your chart would probably be something more like this...

WF: Piano D Organ/synth A-
HA: Piano A- Organ/synth C+
HP: Piano C+ Organ/Synth D

I am now the proud owner of ALL THREE of the NS2 actions - HA 88 (NS2), HP 76 (NS2 EX), and SW73 (NS2 EX). I have been using them side by side and actually rotating a bit for gigs and rehearsals (mostly between the HP and SW, purely due to portability).

The best action for me is the HA - I am very comfortable playing both piano and organ/synth on this board. I love playing organ on the SW. I can get by comfortably on the HP, particularly for piano. Organ on the HP is just ok. The best overall compromise for me remains the HP, even though I feel weird about that.

If I was grading them, it would be similar to anotherscott, but probably a bit more favorable. Giving it a directional shot, realizing this is all more of an art than a science :

WF: Piano C- Organ/synth A
HA: Piano A Organ/synth B
HP: Piano B Organ/Synth C

Looks like I'm wrong about the HA...
for your reviewed grades

Onother speculation from me. Since the HA action has been some how improved, or changed, in the Stage 3 ( compared to Stage 2 EX), can we expect any improvements of the HP 76 over the earlier versions?

It seems to me that Nord does incremental improvements to their keyed actions. The HP action on my newer Stage 2EX plays better than my Electro 3HP did. They don't seem to announce the improvements, however. That is not to say that there are improvements to the HA with the Stage 3, but if there are, you probably won't hear it from Nord.

Rusty Mike wrote:It seems to me that Nord does incremental improvements to their keyed actions. The HP action on my newer Stage 2EX plays better than my Electro 3HP did. They don't seem to announce the improvements, however. That is not to say that there are improvements to the HA with the Stage 3, but if there are, you probably won't hear it from Nord.

I agree with you on this.

I had the NE5 HP for a bit and it was definitely not as enjoyable to play as the NS2 EX HP - the NE5's action seemed a little noisier and less smooth (hard to describe). I think the fact that the NS2 EX has aftertouch may be a contributing factor in why it feels different/better.