Nord User Forum

Hi there, I'm new to these forums and was looking for some guidance. Dating myself pretty bad here but it's been almost 35 years since I was last connected to the music/keyboard world, I played a Roland Juno 1 and a D-50 high school garage band style in the mid/late 80s and then slowly my attention and energy went elsewhere. A few weeks ago, after now enjoying seeing my daughter get more and more interested in playing/singing and my falling in love with the Nords at a local Guitar Center, I decided to go head first into the deep end and get a Stage 3 with every intention of re-learning to swim with her along for the fun. I've done a fair amount of research already but the world has apparently moved waay beyond my relic gear and Cakewalk floppy disk. I was hoping someone here could help suggest any [cost-effective/somewhat-novice] essentials to do some light recording around the house. Primarily, looking for suggestions on
1) keyboard monitors.. looking at presonus 350s?
2) software.. I have garageband but this part of the world seems to have changed the most.. other suggestions that are not overly complex to learn from scratch? Love to do some sound editing as well as recording
3) tutorials (both playing and for the nord).. youtube is vast, I've already discovered Marc Larochelle and a number of other great Stage 3 videos but anything else you can recommend (particularly if you think a clever 14 year old would absorb) most appreciated.
4) anything I don't know I need or could use

*[edit: just found the amp faq here which has dozens of reviews about the monitor side, but still obviously love opinions for current home-amateur level use]

Thanks very much!

Monitor well for just they piano or do you play and run a mic for singing. The answer to that will determine if some small studio monitors will work or you need something with microphone input too.

Garageband is about as simple as it gets if you want something that has backing built in. If you don't want the backing and just plain recording then most computers come with basic audio recording like on the Mac Quicktime is what I use all the time for basic recording. I haven't used Windows in awhile so I don't remember the name of the audio app, but sure it has one. Also there is free software called Audacity you can download that is a simple recording software many people use.

Lots if tutorials on YouTube on everything, most if them suck, but there are good ones if you look around. Main thing is spent some time trying to do things on your own first, better to ask question in the form of "I tried this and it doesn't work" it shows you put some effort into it.

Just be patient and experiment a lot. I played guitar and bass all my life and decided to learn keyboard at 70 year old so a lot of to learn even on the gear side. I started with a Kronos and the learning curve was killing me, so I got the Nord Stage 3 and so much easier to get around. So read the manual and experiment and enjoy making music again.

Hey there, I'm not well-versed in areas 1 and 2, but for 3 you should definitely check out MyKeysToMusic. Very in depth and should help you in areas you need to know.

As for 4, don't forget to get an expression pedal if you haven't have one already.

However for 1 I think you need to be more specific is this for monitors in stage or for monitors in your own room for practice. For the latter I use JBL 305.. it works enough for me. For the former I usually just rely inhouse because I can't be bothered to bring my own monitors.. and thankfully I tend to work with the same sound engineers so they can easily give me what I want (most of the time). I do think the former has more room for improvise as there are many choices and situations to consider. Good Luck.

2) As far as recording software goes, my situation seems a tiny bit similar. I was using sonar cakewalk on a Windows platform. Then I went about 10 years without doing any kind of recording. A couple of years ago, I got back into it. By then, I was on a Mac for both home and work. I ended up getting Logic Pro X. It seems like a pretty fantastic deal to me. I played with GarageBand a bit, but if I recall correctly, its fatal flaw was that it won’t output MIDI. I’m a pretty lousy keyboard player, so anything I want to record requires recording the MIDI, inevitably fixing a few notes (pitch and timing) and then replaying the MIDI out to my external hardware to capture the audio with fewer bad notes. Some part of that process was impossible with GarageBand. Logic Pro has worked well for me. It has a few quirky aspects that make me a bit insane at times, but googling typically solves that problem. Probably the same for any DAW.

My situation was similar to yours, albeit in 2008. I came back to music after nearly 20 years away, mostly inspired by my son.

I use the Presonus Eris E5's as my home studio monitors. I think they represent a good value. I also have a pair of Eris E3.5's at my work computer. Again, good sound and value.

DAWs are kind of personal choices. I prefer the more linear approach as opposed to the modular modes from tools like Ableton. You can download free trial versions of a lot of different things to see how they work. I settled on Cubase Elements. Not expensive as DAWs go, but very capable. I've mixed and mastered full big band recordings with it.

Another piece of software I rely upon heavily is Band In A Box by PG Music. I use it for daily practice, sketching out arrangements, creating reference tracks for recordings and creating backing tracks for duo work. It's an incredibly valuable tool for me. Comes in various sizes and prices. I started small and added on over the years.

Others can give you better advise than me on items 3 and 4. I do agree that good pedals are important. If you're going to record, you'll need a decent audio interface (at least 2 channels) and a reasonable quality pair of headphones. Oh, and a light for your music stand LOL.

Welcome, @msomm. Here is what has worked for me:

1) +1 on the JBL 305P MKII.

2) Since you mentioned GarageBand, I'm assuming you have a Mac. There is an educational bundle for $199 that includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage. Great stuff to try out Audio, Video, and Soft Synths.

https://www.apple.com/us-edu/shop/produ ... -education

3) The Marc Larochelle "My Keys to Music" series is what I'd recommend.

Other Notes/Qs:
- Feel free to check out my signature for my other equipment, most of it purchased via recommendations from this forum. Questions are welcome.
- Do you have a keyboard stand and speakers?
- While pricey, the Radial Key Largo serves as a keyboard mixer/DI and a USB/MIDI recording/playback interface for your computer, but if you want to record vocals, then a less expensive mixer and a Focusrite interface may be a better option, but you'll still need a MIDI interface if you want to play a soft synth and/or send MIDI to the NS3.
- The Moog EP3 expression pedals work well for the expression and organ swell ports. A simple Yamaha FC5 can work for sustain and rotor on/off, but you can also upgrade to a piano-like pedal if your NS3 didn't come with one.