nord rig

[Assaf]

Hi all ,

In the last few months i started to play keyboards again after 10 years break.
I bought a Nord electro 3 HP and I love it ! (Stage 2 was to expensive for me)
I have joined two bands , one of them is Beatles tribute.
Now I need more sounds and options (split, Layers) then the Electro can give me.
I would like to hear your opinion about how to expand my sounds :
Should I make the effort and upgrade to a Nord Stage, or I can find
a 2nd Hand Nord Lead / Wave to cover the sounds I need.

Thanks,
Assaf

[anotherscott]

Should I make the effort and upgrade to a Nord Stage, or I can find
a 2nd Hand Nord Lead / Wave to cover the sounds I need.

Assuming you're perfectly happy with the action and piano/organ sounds in the 3HP, I'd say the Wave would probably be the best option there. There are pros and cons, but compared to a (presumably weighted) Stage 2, the combination of the E3HP+Wave will be easier to carry around and it will give you access to both a weighted and an unweighted action. As for the Wave vs. Lead, I'd go with the Wave. The Lead has some synth advantages, but the Wave is still very strong there (and also stronger than the NS2), and I think you'd benefit more from having access to the sample library, which the Lead doesn't have. (Yes, you have access to the sample library in the 3HP, but not at the same time as piano or organ.)

[Assaf]

Agreed - having the additional sample playback capabilities will be key for anything mellotron-heavy. I've spent a lot of time trying to work out splits and layering things and even with the Stage 2's enormous capabilities there are times having another keyboard solves the problem quickly and easily.

[thom0720]

i'm using a Nord E3HP and a Nord Wave, great combo. It's really nice to have two different keybeds, one synthy and one weighted - In the wave you can do so many cool things, besides using it as a sample player for Mellotrons and Brass and all that stuff, it's also a great synthesizer, pads, leads, effects all that, and it's totally programmable to your own needs - Which you will have to dive into deeply to get the full benefits.

[smullins]

I think it depends on what kind of sounds you need. I recently tried to replaced my Yamaha S90ES and Electro 3 with a Stage 2. Although I really like the Stage 2, I almost immediately came to the conclusion that I still needed a second keyboard, so I got a Yamaha MOX6. One reason was to have an unweighted keyboard to drive the Stage 2 organ. But the bigger reason is that there are certain areas where the Nord sample library is very weak. For example, I use a lot of bass and guitar sounds when I play in my duo. The Nord library has almost no guitars and the basses are sub-par compared with those available on most of the current crop of ROMplers. (As a test, go to a store and listen to the Acoustic Bass on the Nord and the "Velo Growl" bass on any of the Yamaha XS line of synths (XS, XF, MOX).....it's not even close. The yamaha is so much more expressive.)

The good news is that you can evaluate this for yourself because you can try out the samples on your Electro. If you find that the library is missing sounds that you need, then buying the Stage 2 (or Wave for that matter) is not going to help from that perspective. Let's put it this way: You could add a MOX6 or Korg Krome to your Electro HP and the combination it is still cheaper (and arguably more flexible) than a Stage 2.

On the other hand, if you are more interested in pure synthesis stuff than ROMpler sounds there are other options in addition to the Wave: (Mopho x4, Novation Ultra, etc.)