Is a stage 2 worth buying in 2021?

[Xiuno]

Hello friends!

I am looking to buy my first REAL keyboard and have been really enjoying NORD's work.

De stage 3 is a bit to expensive for me at the moment so my eyes went to the stage 2 but I was wondering if the is still worth it in 2021.

I am not that knowledgeable wen it comes to all this stuff so I hope I have come to the right place for advice.

I believe you can put the samples from the Stage 3 on the stage 2 that would definitely be a plus.

I'd love to hear back,

Jeremy

[anotherscott]

See general-nord-forum-f29/stage-2-still-re ... 20467.html

[Xiuno]

Hi Jeremy,

you are not the first to ask this question. Maybe this thread is interesting for you: nord-stage-forum-f3/nord-stage-2-detail ... 20452.html Or even this one: nord-piano-grand-forum-f10/piano-3-in-2021-t20473.html

If you want us to give an advice, we'd need to know what you want to do with it. All those instruments are tools for certain tasks - there are different types of hammers or tongs/nippers/pincers, too.

What use would it be for? Studio, stage, living room? Use it standalone or with computer sounds?

[Xiuno]

Thank you for you swift response! I will definitely check out those threads. I am mainly looking to play in my living room and use it for my home studio. I am mainly interested in the piano sounds but the bells and whistles are a nice added bonus. Most of the time I would use the standalone. I also want to keep the keyboard for at least a couple of year because I have had to save up for a long time as a college student!

Would you maybe know what a Stage 2 HA88 in good condition is worth in 2021?

Thank you very much for the help!

[cookie]

I would say the NS2 is still a very good board for the money today.
Main issue will be that all the new samples are in nsmp3 format not compatible, eventhough nsmp can be generated from the latest sample editor.

They are also very reliable, therefore the price drop is always less than other brands.
Price range for standard 2 (not EX) 88 is between 1800 and 2200 euros.
Not that many Stage3 88 on the market yet : they go for 2600-2800 euros.

Fred

[Normski]

I would say the NS2 is still a very good board for the money today.
Main issue will be that all the new samples are in nsmp3 format not compatible, eventhough nsmp can be generated from the latest sample editor.

They are also very reliable, therefore the price drop is always less than other brands.
Price range for standard 2 (not EX) 88 is between 1800 and 2200 euros.
Not that many Stage3 88 on the market yet : they go for 2600-2800 euros.

Fred

I've seen a few post recently stating that the Stage 2 is not compatible with the latest downloads. This is misleading.
The Latest sample additions are in both nsmp3 and also nsmp.
Also all of the latest Piano's are compaitble with Stage 2 including the White Grand and the Enhanced EP's, only thing different that you may or may not have access to the Dyno Filters.

[catosim]

The Stage 2 is still relevant, and very usable keyboard. There are a bunch of excellent user-patches available on this and other forums.
Main disadvantages would be the less memory compared to the NS2EX and NS3. 500MB memory for pianos and 380MB synth-samples, VS 2GB piano and 480MB synth on the NS3.
The less 100MB in the synth-sample section is somehow tolerable, but the less piano-space is more notable.
You will have to do some priorities, and probably avoid some XL-versions. Also, at some point (impossible to estimate) the OS-updates from Nord will cease.
This meaning that in the future, maybe the NS2 will not be compatible with newer releases of pianos/grands etc.
In my point of view, it`s not necessarily a big loss. The available libraries as of today is more than sufficient.

[analogika]

Also all of the latest Piano's are compaitble with Stage 2 including the White Grand and the Enhanced EP's, only thing different that you may or may not have access to the Dyno Filters.

The Stage 2 does not have the Dyno filters.

[Falcon2e]

I have been using my Stage 2-73 since 2012 and I hope it lasts for years to come. I’m sure the newer versions are fantastic, but it still does what I need it to do, at home and on stage. I wouldn’t mind buying a second one if the price was right.

[Spider]

I had a Stage 2 HA88 since early 2013. In 2017 I upgraded to the Stage 2 EX, thanks to the arrival of the Stage 3 and a massive blowout discount (1000€ cheaper new from the shop, not even a B-stock!).

Now I'm thinking of getting a used Stage 2 Compact, as a relatively cheap and portable backup board with which I could still use all of the sounds I've programmed in years of use, while still getting almost all the functionalitites of the latest Nords, except the piano filters.
Of course I'm aware of all the new offerings by Nord and other brands, but none seems THAT much better to be worth the money, time and effort to switch to a new system and re-program everything.
So yeah, I'd definitely say that the 2 is still perfectly capable as a great all-around board. Also, the 2 still had the old knobs with metal shafts, which felt much stronger than the plastic ones in the 2EX and newer models, and will probably last a lifetime.