NAMM 2022

[neomad]

https://www.steinberg.net/vst-live/

To add more to the discussion...

[MarkJames]

https://www.steinberg.net/vst-live/

To add more to the discussion...

Interesting all in one solution. I’m happy with Gig Performer but new entrants to this space are always good.

[bluetrain]

Edit: I stand corrected. I made some hasty observations about there being only smooth jazz. I just heard a couple of cookin' tunes that I would not call smooth jazz, but I still wonder about the prog rock not being represented.

[tsss27]

I know it's been said already, but I wanted to echo the fact that Nord seemed to be rather TOO monomaniacal about the smooth jazz! I love jazz -- ALL KINDS!!! - and SMOOTH jazz is certainly NOT the best kind of jazz. God! Lounge lizard! The musicians were all incredibly talented, and their music sounded good, but...after a while.....

And like has already been said, what about OTHER styles of music?! Rock N' Roll is still very much alive, metal, gospel, blues.....repeat, repeat....

I definitely heard a lot more than smooth jazz in those performances, but to each their own!

[bluetrain]

I admit I probably haven't heard all of NAMM 2022's lineup, but the overwhelming first impression I got is what I stated above.

I would say that prog rock/metal, which are still relevant in Sweden, and Scandinavia and northern Europe abroad, like Flower Kings, Opeth, Green Carnation, Porcupine Tree, Riverside. The Tangent, etc. could be well demonstrated/up-sold at a trade show, if they wanted to. And I, for one, would be more interested.

[tsss27]

I would say that prog rock/metal, which are still relevant in Sweden, and Scandanavia and northern Europe abroad, like Flower Kings, Opeth, Green Carnation, Porcupine Tree, etc. could be well demonstrated/up-sold at a trade show, if they wanted to. And I, for one, would be more interested.

To be fair I don't think that is the market Nord is looking towards. Even with their current synth, the Nord Wave 2, the distortion is awful and you'd need that to cut through prog styles for leads and such. It seems that most of their players are either gospel or jazz musicians of one form or another and Nord products are very popular within jazz, gospel, funk, etc. Some of the Jesus Molina stuff is very proggy in terms of composition though obviously in a much softer jazzier form, but overall I don't think that is an area Nord has explored in general and at least here in the USA those who primarily play rock and metal seem to be using other brands. Of course there are exceptions (I'm sure there are some on this forum!) and I'm not against them trying something new at all, just explaining why it might be the way it is currently.

[bluetrain]

Richard Barbieri plays a Nord (among other things).

[taxman]

I would say that prog rock/metal, which are still relevant in Sweden, and Scandanavia and northern Europe abroad, like Flower Kings, Opeth, Green Carnation, Porcupine Tree, etc. could be well demonstrated/up-sold at a trade show, if they wanted to. And I, for one, would be more interested.

To be fair I don't think that is the market Nord is looking towards. Even with their current synth, the Nord Wave 2, the distortion is awful.............

This is my main issue with the NW2, the distortion algorithm is very weak. If Nord would just fix this, I would be grateful-

-dj

[StrangeAeons]

In my opinion it's not really about prog, which is always underepresented because it's a niche genre (again, God bless Rachel Flowers' phenomenal performances she used to do for Nord). It's about, as bluestrain and some of us pointed out, literally every other genre. I agree it's not all smooth jazz but it's still just all kinds of jazz, more or less (fusion and jazz-rock fall into the category). Besides, there's a significant part of Nord's sounds library which only/mainly appeals to late 60s and 70s' rock such as the whole Mellotron collection, the Yamaha CP-80 and so on. Another thing I didn't like is the fact that we heard little to no Hammond which, again, it's supposed to be one of the main features of Clavia's keyboards. I get it, they have some of the best digital pianos in the world and they want to show them. But I truly hope they don't aim at becoming a company which focuses exclusively on pianos and Rhodes with almost everything else as an afterthought (like Yamaha): they have the means, expertise and brilliance to up their game on non-piano stuff too!

P.S. is the overdrive on the Wave 2 that bad? The A1's is an acquired taste (not as distorted as you'd expect but quite analoguish-sounding and "natural") but the Electro's great: one of the things I love most about Nord's Hammond simulation compared to the Legend is the distortion (the Legend features a lot of different overdrives, each worse than the other: and that really showed whenever I played Deep Purple solos).

[Hlaalu]

I agree it's not all smooth jazz but it's still just all kinds of jazz, more or less (fusion and jazz-rock fall into the category).

It's not even all kinds of jazz, but one specific kind of jazz. Go to 0:49 of this clip:



That is what I'd summarize as the "Nord" genre of music.

Now what they decide to showcase on their clips isn't representative of what the keyboards can do, so one may well respond with a "so what?". Which would be fair enough, except that it wasn't representative but it does seem like it's becoming so. As you say:

Another thing I didn't like is the fact that we heard little to no Hammond which, again, it's supposed to be one of the main features of Clavia's keyboards.

Who knows if it's any longer. The C series is officially "legacy", and until the next product (Stage? Electro? Piano?) comes out, we have no idea if they are still counting on organ sounds as one of their main strengths. The Hammond sound has been featured in the "Nord" genre occasionally, but always as a sort of background pad mixed with other things, for which you don't need a dedicated organ engine, because a sample played by the synth would be enough.

The current product line does definitely allows for virtually any genre, but their choosing to associate their name with the "Nord" genre only makes one wonder whether that's the sonic direction they are heading towards for the future. Personally I hope not but each company has its vision and policies... If they go that direction, I guess for each customer they loose there is another to gain.