Nord User Forum

Even though, like many of you, I've been mystified and frustrated by some of the bugs, supply issues, build quality problems of the NS3 I like to keep things in perspective. I wasn't around in 2011 for Nord's last big product revision (I was playing a Korg SV-1). Was the launch of the NS2 similarly fraught with these kinds of initial hiccups before it found its footing? Or are the NS3's issues out of the gate actually unprecedented for Clavia? I'm relatively new to Nord, having bought my Electro 5D61 two years ago and had been very happy with it until I realized I needed more features in a keyboard. And I seem to remember the NE5D was pretty new at the time.

Fallboard wrote:Was the launch of the NS2 similarly fraught with these kinds of initial hiccups before it found its footing?

Here's the list of NS2 issues that were addressed, and when...

http://www.nordkeyboards.com/products/l ... te-history

And while it, too, looks like a lot, it's worth remembering that boards from other companies can have all kinds of issues/limitations too, but it is more rare that the companies address any but the most severe. In my experience with other brands, whatever doesn't get addressed in one or two updates (if that) will probably never be addressed. The only other company that often continues to update their machines is Kurzweil (and even they aren't good across the board, mostly just on their higher end boards).

My experience with Nord goes way back to the launch of the original nord electro, which was quite quirky. They really tried to stay true to the original instrument, which meant silent areas right or left for many keyboard simulations. This was a real issue, but Clavia released electro 2 which was only a software update for the original nord electro. It really grow to be one of my favourite boards all time, when I sold it, I really longed for a replacement ending up with an electro 4D, which is my travelling board. The 4D probably see more rehearsals than my stage.

Nord stage 1 and 2 where instruments which also really developed organically over time to the highly advanced and capable intstrument Nord stage 2 is. The sample library and my own sample libraries has grown over time and the functionality of the stage 2 was really the reason to update to stage 3. My feel is that the problems we see today are somewhat bigger than previous models, but that should be balanced with the fact that our expectations are much higher today with the release of the stage 3 as compared to the release of the original stage.

On of my relatives who is a fantastic church organ player also teaching music at the university here had quite few complaints on the first rendition of the nord C1. I think mostly due to lack of polyphony.

fjzingo wrote: My feel is that the problems we see today are somewhat bigger than previous models, but that should be balanced with the fact that our expectations are much higher today with the release of the stage 3 as compared to the release of the original stage.

And this is what I was wondering, though it's definitely worth noting the NS3 is a far more ambitious instrument, with its dual displays, updated synth, etc. But the technology is also such that hopefully there is plenty of room to fix these issues with software updates.

Im convinced Nord will push the stage 3 far beyond the stage 2 and we will laugh at all these discussions in a month or so. It will be really interesting to see what Nord does for the upcoming Namm.

Fallboard wrote:

fjzingo wrote: My feel is that the problems we see today are somewhat bigger than previous models, but that should be balanced with the fact that our expectations are much higher today with the release of the stage 3 as compared to the release of the original stage.

And this is what I was wondering, though it's definitely worth noting the NS3 is a far more ambitious instrument, with its dual displays, updated synth, etc. But the technology is also such that hopefully there is plenty of room to fix these issues with software updates.

based on my 7-1/2 years experience at being personally responsible for tech support for Nord products across most of North America (sans Mexico), including through introduction of Stage 2 and all models subsequent, I would say that the problems experienced with NS3 release are unprecedented both in number and in scope.

For the most part, I believe that Nord set their sights on some very ambitious targets and, as has been pointed out above in this thread, it may take them a little while to actually hit those targets.

In Jamaica they say "if yuh waan good, yuh nose haffi run."

Bless, Pablo

I started with the Stage EX. The transition to the Stage 2 was easy, because little changed about the functions that came from the EX, and a learning curve for the added synth was expected. The Stage 3 is different. It works differently, has different limitations that weren't in the Stage 2. That wasn't expected. It also has new features that, at least for now, cannot be appreciated until we've "adjusted" our setups and ourselves to work with what has changed. Because of past excellent history with Nord, I have confidence the problems will be addressed, and the anxiety and frustration we are now experiencing is nothing compared to Nord's hardware and software engineer's.