Nord Stage 3 second hand - what to check ?

[robbieuswain]

Hi,

I'm in the run to get a second hand NS3 88 (few months old) - anything in particular I should pay attention to when testing NS3 88 out before buying ?

Thx


P.S. yes I owned one - sold it - miss it - getting one back

[Yernez]

Test each key for dynamic response and all 3 sound engines, other than that you need to know that NS3 is very unreliable keyboard for live usage at the moment, thats the main reason people are selling it . Lots of bugs and random stuff that goes wrong. Id wait a few months if you got some other peace of the gear if not just go for it and bare in mind that crazy things can happen.

[robbieuswain]

ok - thx - live use for the moment would only be the piano part so looking at the actuals bugs I probably won't even notice it.
I could wait but 2999 € seems like a pretty good deal and would still be under warranty ... I currently have a Roland fp-30 as an intermediate and is relatively ok for study work but not for a live environment. Also I prefer the keybed of the nord stage 3 88).

Any other thoughts / advices ? Thx

[baekgaard]

I think the unreliability part may depend on your use case.

I've been playing mine for almost 6 months now (I got one of the first ones shipped) and have used it live every week and never had any issues with it; it has delivered nicely on all occasions. I frequently layer stuff, use seamless transitions, use both piano, organ and synth parts, etc.

YMMV.

[Gospelkeys]

Test each key for dynamic response and all 3 sound engines, other than that you need to know that NS3 is very unreliable keyboard for live usage at the moment, thats the main reason people are selling it . Lots of bugs and random stuff that goes wrong. Id wait a few months if you got some other peace of the gear if not just go for it and bare in mind that crazy things can happen.

Couldn't diagree more with this statement. Although there are some remaining issues to be addressed nothing I have seen affects live performance. I got one of the first ones in the USA. I have been performing regularly with it every week. Not a single issue.

[Yernez]

Couldn't diagree more with this statement. Although there are some remaining issues to be addressed nothing I have seen affects live performance. I got one of the first ones in the USA. I have been performing regularly with it every week. Not a single issue.

Do you use your nord3 as a midi host, do you use morph pedal, swell pedal, sustain pedal, leslie pedal ? Do you use a lot od wheel morphing ? Do you use aftertouch morphing ? Do you use pedal on synth section trying to control vibrato ?

There is many instabilities in upper mentioned usage of NS3, of course when using it just to play sounds as single keyboard with maybe sustain pedal ther's no noticeable problems for you, but for very advanced usage there is....will upgrade to 1.28 tomorrow and see if anything got fixed.

[Gospelkeys]

Couldn't diagree more with this statement. Although there are some remaining issues to be addressed nothing I have seen affects live performance. I got one of the first ones in the USA. I have been performing regularly with it every week. Not a single issue.

Do you use your nord3 as a midi host, do you use morph pedal, swell pedal, sustain pedal, leslie pedal ? Do you use a lot od wheel morphing ? Do you use aftertouch morphing ? Do you use pedal on synth section trying to control vibrato ?

There is many instabilities in upper mentioned usage of NS3, of course when using it just to play sounds as single keyboard with maybe sustain pedal ther's no noticeable problems for you, but for very advanced usage there is....will upgrade to 1.28 tomorrow and see if anything got fixed.

All of the above except for switching leslie with foot pedal.

I have a laptop in my rack I use for specialty sounds with the extern section ( omnisphere, Mr sax T, minmonsta and others ). Aftertouch I use for vibrato with synth leads. I use the control pedal for organ swell, controlling wah effect and morphing volume with layers ( like strings and piano ).

[baekgaard]

Also use the pedals and wheel and morph a lot...

[Yernez]

All of the above except for switching leslie with foot pedal.

I have a laptop in my rack I use for specialty sounds with the extern section ( omnisphere, Mr sax T, minmonsta and others ). Aftertouch I use for vibrato with synth leads. I use the control pedal for organ swell, controlling wah effect and morphing volume with layers ( like strings and piano ).

Than we probably don't have same keyboard, or mine is broken, or nord ships better versions to USA. On my NS3 88key keyboard next stuff is happening randomly:
1 Midi out from NS3 stops sending data after random time
2 Midi out is not sending sustain pedal data, never
3 Morphing wheel, randomly stops working for a certain program after many sound switchings ( must be something with seamless sound transition since i use that all the time )
4 Reverb get stucked - not changing when switching programs, randomly after many sound switching, probably same reason as 4
5 Some synth sounds loudness and character are randomly changed when you switch in to program, might again have something to do with either SST or Morphing wheel
6 hammond loudness is like 30% quieter than piano and synth, so I need to adjust max volumes of synth/piano sections
7 hammond key click level can not be set

cant remember anything else since im on vacations.

[baekgaard]

1 is probably fixed in 1.28.

2 positively works on mine. Also checked with a MIDI monitor.

Maybe your wheel is faulty. It could posibly explain other weirdnesses?

Dont get med wrong - just trying to help.