Nord User Forum

baekgaard wrote:

swarupm wrote:In Indian Bollywood music, you will hear very rich Strings etc. And I am not a fan of carrying 2 keyboards. But seems like there are not much options.

You can also use the Unison effect (which has 3 levels) to enrich any synth sound (it adds more voices to your basic sound, slightly detuned and with some modulating phases, I think), plus you can add another oscillator (such as a saw wave) and mix that with the original sample even before it goes to the unison effect and gets doubled or quadrupled or whatever... and then you can add some chorus effect too. Take two of these sounds and stack them, and there would be a bit more strings/pad than I am able to digest Oh, and you could also use the organ as a soft tone in the background to blend in as a pad.

Now, I'm not familiar with the typical Bollywood soundtracks, so maybe you're after something else -- but I think you can get quite fat and rich sounds out of the Nord...

Yes, great ideas and thanks for sharing. I am just waiting for my local GC to get a floor model and I can try it out with the options. Seems like GC is not the best place for keyboards as they do with guitars. So many options for guitars and so less for the keyboards.

anotherscott wrote:

swarupm wrote:The only thing that holds me back is the lack of ability to layer more than 2 synths or samples. In Indian Bollywood music, you will hear very rich Strings etc.

The Nord is not the strongest at string sounds to begin with (just a relatively small collection of single-articulation, single-velocity samples), so layering more of them might not have gotten you what you wanted anyway.

swarupm wrote:I am not a fan of carrying 2 keyboards. But seems like there are not much options.

Remember that on the NS3 you can layer two internal synths/samples and you can also layer two more EXTernal synths or samples, which you can even get from an iPhone/iPad, so you don't have to carry around a lot of gear or a whole other keyboard to do get more layered sounds. (And if you want to get fancy, the external sound you layer could itself consist of multiple layers, as there are ways to layer sounds just using iOS apps.)

+1. Yeah, that's what my plan is if I decide to go the NS3 route. Extern the FA06 and layer them together.

Can you please suggest any good ios apps? Thank you!!

anotherscott wrote:

swarupm wrote:

ChillOnTheSun wrote:Try somewhere Kurzweil Forte.

Thanks!! But are the sounds better than Kronos?

This kind of thing is subjective, so yeah, you have to try for yourself. But if you're looking for orchestral sounds, by reputation, Kurzweil and Yamaha probably lead the pack. Though Kronos isn't bad, esp. if you load up some of the optional sound libraries. Similar to how the Roland FA's orchestral sounds are weak, until you load the expansion pack.

Yes of course. I tried out a Kurzweil board almost a year back and it sounded pretty good. But since I am not too familiar with that brand and the screen was not too intuitive, I did not spend much time with it. Maybe I should reconsider. I also tried out the Motif XF and the Montage. They both sounded good as well and I am still considering the Montage. Now, with Kronos, the synth and usability capabilities are very rich except the preset sounds are not much usable for Bollywood music. And I can't afford to buy the external libraries. They are probably the most expensive ones out there. I currentl own a Roland FA-06 and the expansion packs are awesome and free but the keybed is not that great.

Quai34 wrote:Do you have an Ipad? If yes, use it with Setlist maker which also gives you on tons of other features for sending program change, slow speed for listen and practicing....And a tons of Apps/Samples/Synths sounds for your extra sunthé/Strings layers....I know you don't want to use a second keyboard but I always use the strings or the pads in my D50 with the Nord....It gives me what I need like the very rich strings that you are found of....(Ok, Roland has always been very famous for their strings/Pads sounds as well....), so, do the same with the Ipad....
Ok, to be honest, even if I have looked at what an Ipad could give me, I have enough stuff to add to my stage 2 as hardware....It pisses my guitarist off because it takes me more time to set up but he's the first to sell us off when booking a gig in showing off my set up so...

Absolutely!! The Roland stuff is definitely great for strings and pads. The Junos and Jupiters are their strengths. I will try out the Setlist Maker and see how that goes. Thanks for sharing the idea!! I believe it's okay to carry 2 boards and an iPad if that's the need.

Quai34 wrote:+1 on Roland expansions pack.... I Know my XV5080 could seem outdated but the Orchestral SRX cards are great....Ok, they might not be at all at the same level of the super huge samples lbraries for people who make musics for movies, but it's really good enough for me in a live setting (If they would have been "Crap", I'm pretty sure Roland would not have loaded all of them in the Integra 7)....And no computer, no crash, no HD issues, always available, will be sill there in 20 years....I'm pretty sure all the big libraries of today's will never run on the future OS of any computers in 20 years....
I never used Kurweil though, when they started years ago, they were too much expensive for me....And I'm not sure they have the same level of support/Users forum as Nord....

Yeah exactly. Roland expansion packs are awesome and now a days they are free on Axial site. But Kurzweil is a great board as well minus the screen. They should upgrade the UI.

swarupm wrote:

anotherscott wrote:

swarupm wrote:The only thing that holds me back is the lack of ability to layer more than 2 synths or samples. In Indian Bollywood music, you will hear very rich Strings etc.

The Nord is not the strongest at string sounds to begin with (just a relatively small collection of single-articulation, single-velocity samples), so layering more of them might not have gotten you what you wanted anyway.

swarupm wrote:I am not a fan of carrying 2 keyboards. But seems like there are not much options.

Remember that on the NS3 you can layer two internal synths/samples and you can also layer two more EXTernal synths or samples, which you can even get from an iPhone/iPad, so you don't have to carry around a lot of gear or a whole other keyboard to do get more layered sounds. (And if you want to get fancy, the external sound you layer could itself consist of multiple layers, as there are ways to layer sounds just using iOS apps.)

+1. Yeah, that's what my plan is if I decide to go the NS3 route. Extern the FA06 and layer them together.

Can you please suggest any good ios apps? Thank you!!

I am using this hardware device from Korg to connect my iPad to a MIDI controller. Right now I amusing an old Kurzweil PC3x while I contemplate a purchase of the Nord Stage 3.

http://www.korg.com/us/products/computergear/plugkey/

I bought several iOS/iPad synths from Korg as well. I really like the Pianos in the iOS Korg Module App. There is an in app purchase that is extra from a company called Synthogy for extra pianos and I like those pianos a lot. I really like the iPad Electric Pianos/Clav/Wurly/Rhodes stuff from a company called Neosoul Keys. I think the product is Neosoul Key Studio.

The Korg iOS App Korg Module is found here:

http://www.korg.com/us/products/software/korg_module/

In the Korg Module there are some other in app purchases too - these are pretty cheap... There is something called "Triton" which has some decent bass/brass and other synth sounds.

I have the Korg iM1 app also - which replicates the old Korg M1 (I am reliving my youth from the 80's).

I have an iPad mini 4 that I use with the Korg Plugkey/iOS apps and the performance is good - no noticeable latency and good sound quality.

The iPad mini 4 is vintage 2015. I have noticed that how much polyphony you can get out of Korg Module on an iPad is related to how fast the iPad is. I have a 6th gen iPod touch and I did some testing that showed, IIRC, something like 18 not polyphony, but on the iPad mini 4 I was getting like 24, I think. This is a "worst case" scenario with Korg Module/Ivory pianos. Some Korg Module sounds like the Synths seem to use less CPU and I could not really detect an upper limit on Polyphony on those or the iM1 - which seems to have more modest system requirements. In short, if you have iPad as new or newer than 2015 I think you should be good. Also, note that some iOS music apps are "universal" and will work on iPod touch/iPhone/iPad - but some *require* iPad.

swarupm wrote:with Kronos, the synth and usability capabilities are very rich except the preset sounds are not much usable for Bollywood music. And I can't afford to buy the external libraries. They are probably the most expensive ones out there.

There are free ones available too. In fact, the ones I was specifically thinking of were the free ones that come when you buy it, like EXs3 - Brass & Woodwinds. They're already loaded on the built in SSD, but you have to manually install them. Or at least that's how it used to be. I don't have experience with the newest models.

HokieKev wrote:

swarupm wrote:I am using this hardware device from Korg to connect my iPad to a MIDI controller. Right now I amusing an old Kurzweil PC3x while I contemplate a purchase of the Nord Stage 3.

http://www.korg.com/us/products/computergear/plugkey/

I bought several iOS/iPad synths from Korg as well. I really like the Pianos in the iOS Korg Module App. There is an in app purchase that is extra from a company called Synthogy for extra pianos and I like those pianos a lot. I really like the iPad Electric Pianos/Clav/Wurly/Rhodes stuff from a company called Neosoul Keys. I think the product is Neosoul Key Studio.

The Korg iOS App Korg Module is found here:

http://www.korg.com/us/products/software/korg_module/

In the Korg Module there are some other in app purchases too - these are pretty cheap... There is something called "Triton" which has some decent bass/brass and other synth sounds.

I have the Korg iM1 app also - which replicates the old Korg M1 (I am reliving my youth from the 80's).

I have an iPad mini 4 that I use with the Korg Plugkey/iOS apps and the performance is good - no noticeable latency and good sound quality.

The iPad mini 4 is vintage 2015. I have noticed that how much polyphony you can get out of Korg Module on an iPad is related to how fast the iPad is. I have a 6th gen iPod touch and I did some testing that showed, IIRC, something like 18 not polyphony, but on the iPad mini 4 I was getting like 24, I think. This is a "worst case" scenario with Korg Module/Ivory pianos. Some Korg Module sounds like the Synths seem to use less CPU and I could not really detect an upper limit on Polyphony on those or the iM1 - which seems to have more modest system requirements. In short, if you have iPad as new or newer than 2015 I think you should be good. Also, note that some iOS music apps are "universal" and will work on iPod touch/iPhone/iPad - but some *require* iPad.

Thank you so much HokieKev!! This is awesome information. I will give it a shot and see how that goes. I have always been trying to stay away from the soft synths and focus on the hardware synths. But seems like the innovations are more towards soft synths now a days. But if I guess if you look closely at the advanced KORGs, they are like a built in computer inside. And yes, everything is memory or CPU dependent.

anotherscott wrote:

swarupm wrote:with Kronos, the synth and usability capabilities are very rich except the preset sounds are not much usable for Bollywood music. And I can't afford to buy the external libraries. They are probably the most expensive ones out there.

There are free ones available too. In fact, the ones I was specifically thinking of were the free ones that come when you buy it, like EXs3 - Brass & Woodwinds. They're already loaded on the built in SSD, but you have to manually install them. Or at least that's how it used to be. I don't have experience with the newest models.

Yes, I did try those free sounds. But they did not quite work for the Bollywood music. And I am awful at tweaking sounds . That's why I sold the Kronos. I somehow feel like the Roland presets are bit more close.

I know this thread is a bit old now but I was in a similar position and eventually, with a heavy heart, decided against the NS3. Just couldn't get excited about the synth potential (for the exact reasons you stated), which I might have got past if it didn't cost nearly £3K. I'm hoping the NS 3 Ex, if there ever is one, or NS4 when it comes, will see a significant upgrade in layering potential when it comes to synth.

Another thing that out me off was that, while the 2-series boards have all sorts of downloadable sound packs, these still don't seem to exist for the 3, despite it hardly being new anymore.

Yet another was the key action. This is obviously a highly subjective and discussed area but to me it was very soft, presumably because it has to suit organists too (even the 88 version).

That said, it's a thing of beauty and I'll miss most of all its emphasis on hands-on, tactile controls. In the end, for almost exactly half the price, I bought the new MODX8. Time will tell if that proves to be the right choice. The action isn't Yammy's best, and there's no aftertouch, but seems very impressive those two things aside in nearly all respects.

Did you get the FA 08 in the end? (I looked at that too but suspected it might be due a successor after 4-5 years, especially with NAMM approaching.)