Nord User Forum

[Spider]

My music PC is a 2008 Windows XP laptop, which I cleaned up of everything except Audacity and a few other music-related programs and drivers. Solid as a rock, still plenty of processing power for all my needs.

Same with my keyboards. Most of them never received any update, yet I can use them just as well as the day I bought them.
Korg and Novation have been quite good recently with new firmwares for the Minilogue and especially for the Bass Station II, which turned those boards into almost completely new instruments.
But in my experience, nobody beats Clavia in keeping their instruments as up to date as technically possible.

It's true, sometimes there is a big transition which puts the older instruments out of reach of the new updates (the old pianos in the Electro 2, older boards not compatible with Nord Sound Manager, etc). But it happened only 2-3 times in the 30-year history of the company, not too bad I'd say. And I imagine there will be technical reasons underneath, old instruments probably just don't have enough memory or processing power to handle the latest updates. Or maybe their code is written in such a way that it simply cannot be made compatible. Who knows.

I have a Stage 2, so I'm among the ones left behind. Not completely, as I can use 6.0 samples, but will never get advanced EQ, effect and filter options.
Still, my instrument is better, more powerful and more useful today than when I bought it with the 1.xx OS.

By definition, there will never be a winner in the race for latest and greatest. I try to make the most of the instrument I have, and will change when it no longer does what I need. But as of now, that moment still seems a long way in the future.

[ajstan]

I'm currently plugging away on a 2010 laptop (with an '8' button that I have to push really hard to work), and as I read your above response, I have to ask...

Where's Gambold and what have you done with him?

You don't see it? This is vintage Gambold. With one, brief question, the focus of the entire thread was derailed and taken in a completely different direction! (An entertaining one I might add.)

[Schorsch]

Hah, next up people will start bragging about how many miles their car has. "It's got 140,000 miles and it still runs fine." You've heard them, and all you can do is look out at their aging, dated rustheap forlornly parked on your driveway and smile politely at their penny saved, penny earned.

Old electronics are like old underwear - yes, you can still use them, and I'm sure they "meet your needs," but they are old, dated, and not up to the the challenges and opportunities of today. Yeah, I'm talking about underwear too, ask your lovers. No-one wants to see the jockeys you bought twelve years ago next time you drop trou.

SO - if you want to keep the wallet closed and keep playing last decade's technology, that's of course your call - but don't expect to keep up with the new innovations and options.

[Rusty Mike]

Gamboled, thanks for the laugh tonight. A very poignant analogy.

I’ve made this point in the past, but the release of a new product, sample or software update does not instantly make your older stuff sound like crap. Yesterday, before the new sample or update was released, I’m sure people were happy with their Nord keyboards. That lovely sound is no different today.

You have a choice, you can either make music with what you already own or trade up so your FOMO* itch is scratched.

* Fear Of Missing Out

[cgrafx]

Yeah, I'll keep my 1953 Hammond and Leslie 122, and my 1980's Yamaha C3 Grand, thank you very much (they are still the gold standard by which all the new stuff is still trying to match).

As for electronic keyboards, I'm still using my Alesis QS8.2 (circa 2004) along side my NS3 because in context of playing in a band it still stomps over most of the new keyboards. I prefer its pissy little 8mb piano sample to pretty much everything else I've tried and I'm not limited by budget. (Actually I own three of the Alesis QS keyboards a QS61, QS71, and QS82.

It does splits and layers, does instant patch changes and doesn't drop notes from the previous patch when you do change patches.

Old doesn't mean outdated

[Gambold]

>I'll keep my 1953 Hammond and Leslie 122<

Yeah, we, or at least I, aren't talking about THAT kind of equipment. Just the stuff that fills electronic landfills every year. The backlot of our sullen digital age.

[Schorsch]

>I'll keep my 1953 Hammond and Leslie 122<

Yeah, we, or at least I, aren't talking about THAT kind of equipment. Just the stuff that fills electronic landfills every year. The backlot of our sullen digital age.

That doesn’t apply to musical instruments today any more than it did fifty years ago.

My SY77 is certainly a viable keyboard, and my Electro 2 is, as well.

A lot of lesser or less special keyboards from the 70s and 80s fell by the wayside, while a Stage Classic is still a great board, even if it doesn’t get the new pianos.