May be time to get new gear

[mircolord]

Hi!

I'm a really happy owner of a NS2 (73SW) from july 2015, NS2 that proudly solved my gigging problems with its light weight and great sounds.
I got years of flawless service, despite occasional involuntary mistreatments (unexpected humidity, dirt, bumps).
Couple weeks ago, it freezed for the first time.
I was briefly remembered that nothing lasts forever, so I started looking around 'cause I stopped looking at new keyboards from that july. I'm not trying to retire my NS2 but I feel the need to try something else.

Music centres near me don't have many keys to look at (just electric pianos and couple nord instruments).

Some things that I'd like to have in my next gig companion (not necessarily, I lived without some of them 'til now):

• I'm used to what my NS2 offers so I'd still want a nice hammond emulation (my main sound)
• velocity layered sounds (I had a funny Korg X50 whose infinite menus allowed this).
• Speaking of infinite menus, I don't mind a little more menu digging.
• Again, that X50 had a really customizable arpeggiator. (but s****y sounds imo. Anyway, it broke)
• I rarely felt limited by the 2 piano 2 organ 2 synth of the NS3, but sometimes it would have been nice to layer more sounds.
• I love the semi-waterfall keyboard feeling, so it would be a nice thing to have.

Vaguely keeping in mind what I'm looking for (they are not strict requirements), which are your favourite keyboards from other manufacturers?

Thank you!

[catosim]

My first choice: Nord Stage 3
Second option: Yamaha YC88 (or 73)
Third option: Korg Kronos (second hand)

[neomad]

Roland Fantom 0 on a budget
Nord Stage 3

YC 73 is not having waterfall keybed, only 61. I have both, and it is a very limited keyboard even though it does the job.

[maxpiano]

NS3 would be my first suggestion too, but I add to the list the Kurzweil PC4-7 (if you like its sound and particularly its KB-3 hammond emulation, of course) or the Hammond SK-Pro 73 (same considerations)

[Tasten-Bert]

Ciao mircolord,

I can very well understand your lovings, be it the NS2 for its fine organ along with light weight or the korg X50 for its versatility. I love my electro 5D for being an easy to carry fine organ and piano, and I still play and love a korg X50 I guess since 2006 or 07, it‘s still working. Maybe because I have a standby second power supply with me, the original one doesn‘t break. Fingers crossed.

If I were you I‘d consider a two board setup with an electro 6D 73 and a korg kross 2.

And, because you are talking about the korg‘s sounds: I love the brass and string sounds, I like many of the synth pads, and even the pianos and e-pianos are at least good enough for rehearsals or less important gigs. Only the organs, while being used to nord, don‘t really compete.

Cari saluti dalla Germania

[mircolord]

Thank you all! I'll dig into them.
More suggestions are welcome.

brass and string sounds, I like many of the synth pads

I really forgot those, they were in fact nice. I was thinking only about organ and piano sounds (which I used more often).
Is the Kross sound engine improved from X50? (I guess "yes" but maybe you have first hand experience on it). Saluti!

NS3 would be my first suggestion too

What improvement from NS2 you like the most?
My mind lives in a different time and I still have a vague belief about the buggy firmware, despite knowing years have passed and things improved. Is it stable now?

I'll try to put my hands on a PC4-7, or at least reading the manual for understanding the capabilities.

Hammond looks nice! Btw it doesn't seem to offer more flexibility than NS2. Would try anyway, as all others mentioned.

Roland has a vocoder! What a great time we live in.

The challenge now is finding a store with some of them to try them out.

[maxpiano]

NS3 would be my first suggestion too

What improvement from NS2 you like the most?
My mind lives in a different time and I still have a vague belief about the buggy firmware, despite knowing years have passed and things improved. Is it stable now?

It is overall stable now, yes, as you can see in the release history many critical bugs have been fixed and some improvements made, even though some additional improvements may be nice to have (see the NS3 wishlist thread); what I appreciate most compared to NS2 are seamless transition, piano EQ, extended polyphony of piano and synth, the 2GB for Piano memory; at the moment the only downside is the MIDI flexibility, but not a critical one for me.

[mircolord]

at the moment the only downside is the MIDI flexibility, but not a critical one for me.

....so MIDI inflexibility! [insert 80's sitcom laughing track here]

As in? I took a quick glance at NS3 manual and i see no differences from NS2. Maybe it's because I used MIDI on 2 single occasions.

[Hlaalu]

at the moment the only downside is the MIDI flexibility, but not a critical one for me.

....so MIDI inflexibility! [insert 80's sitcom laughing track here]

As in? I took a quick glance at NS3 manual and i see no differences from NS2. Maybe it's because I used MIDI on 2 single occasions.

In (very) short: on the NS3, you can't assign different MIDI channels to each sound engine, only to entire panels. This is the biggest downside.

[maxpiano]

at the moment the only downside is the MIDI flexibility, but not a critical one for me.

....so MIDI inflexibility! [insert 80's sitcom laughing track here]

As in? I took a quick glance at NS3 manual and i see no differences from NS2. Maybe it's because I used MIDI on 2 single occasions.

In (very) short: on the NS3, you can't assign different MIDI channels to each sound engine, only to entire panels. This is the biggest downside.

As Hlaalu says, but on the other hand DualKB mode has now the possibility to assign a single section to it, which partially compensates this.

Ah, I forgot another plus (for me): the introduction of physical drawbars (on the SW73 version)... if mircolord means what I think, then I guess you may be interested in that too