Mr_-G- wrote:Why? the multi sample playing engine is already there! They need to provide a multi sample editor, which they must have, of course, otherwise how do they construct npno files?...What is exactly the advantage of not letting anybody else construct npno files?
As ajstan was saying, one possibility is that their npno sample editor may not be something suitable for public use. Internal software can be complicated, with a poor interface, and known bugs that need to be worked around. If it's for public consumption, all that has to be fixed, and supported. Another possibility: A lot of Nord's reputation is from the sound of their pianos. They may not want anyone to be able to check out a Nord and possibly hear someone else's substandard piano sound. Yet another possibility: If they released an editor, and someone created a piano file with it, it might make it more feasible that someone could reverse engineer Nord's file format and the way they've implemented some proprietary tech to make their pianos sound as good as they do in as small a file as they use.
fieldflower wrote:most customers are still devoted and pony up the bucks for the next model because they added just a couple of new things.
I don't think that's the case. I think most keyboard purchasers don't upgrade their rig as often as we fanatics on these boards do. And even among the folks on this forum, almost without fail, every new model of Electro, Stage, or Nord Piano is greeted by the
complaint that they did make enough improvements to make it worth upgrading. To which I'd similarly point out that existing owners of the previous generation is likely not the primary target market of Nord's new models.
fieldflower wrote:Zoom, Presonus and others make me a lot happier post-purchase than Clavia does, by improving my purchased product with each firmware update.
Nord has a far better record than most manufacturers of updating boards people have already bought. Look at all the update histories (which are not merely bug fixes), and compare that to what you'll find for most boards from Roland, Korg, Yamaha, etc. And of course, the whole philosophy of downloadable/updateable sounds. With almost every other board, if years goes by and you want the company's newer sounds, you have to buy a new keyboard. With Nord, you load the newest sound into your old keyboard. Post-purchase, Nord is at the head of the pack, IMO.
jazzundso wrote:And it would not make the entire more complex at the surface. A software editor to create these multi samples would be fine, no need to edit all this from the keyboard.
It's also possible that the underlying fixed architecture of the nsmp playback engine simply cannot support velocity layers. Though getting back to the OP, there might at least be a way around that by allowing the Stage to trigger different panels according to velocity. The Nord Wave permitted morph by velocity, for a similar example.