Nord User Forum

Nordolympia wrote:Given this news from Nord today, I am considering replacing the existing Rhodes EP's in my Stage 2 with the Enhanced versions. Any reason to go with the XL versions? The XL versions do offer full velocity mapping according to the Nord website, but I'm not sure how important that is on the EP pianos. Available memory is also a bit of a factor for me on my Stage 2.

Any opinions or advice would be most welcome. Thanks!!!

The XL EP versions does not offer full mapping, you must have misread this somehow, (the xl grands and uprights are fully mapped though) but the XL EP mapping is more narrow and not as streched. More like a mix of 2-3 semitones between. But now there are also more velocity ayers. These factors together makes a huge difference to my ears at least.
Why don´t you just try for yourself instead?

I will test it this weekend on the Nordstage 2 EX 88, do the update of OS to V3 and then will have a look/ear on the new enhanced EP's. It's really a pitty, that until now they didn't implement the filters also, beacause this always was the problem of the "old" EP'S, that you have to tinker a lot on the EQ-settings to get a halfway natural and good sound with the Nordstage 2. Clavia could implement it in the Amp-simluation area of the effects or in the "dynamics"-button or in the Clavinet-processing-area. Or perhaps somebody creates EQ-settings with the onboard possibilities, which sound like this filters and stores it as a program. Or they create different pianos for the 5 options.
Perhaps we can ask for an implementation in any way? What do you think, where is the place ("feature request"), where we could aks for this... I own two Nordstage 2 EX 88's, so I invested a little bit money and would be glad to profit from this beneftits also, so my binding to Clavia will be strengthened even more for the future...

If it were possible to have the filters and dyno on NS2 in sure they would have made it avaliable. It all has to do with limitations of the product.

Well done Nord! I spent this day comparing the eight original electric pianos, with the new v.6 upgraded ones: They sound sligtly different, and contain more velocity layers. So I replaced the old ones in my existing programs on my Stage 2EX. Now, if only Nord would add the option to set pitch bend range in the Stage 2 series with a firmware upgrade, like they've done on Stage 3... How hard could it be?

I did the same this weekend... small differences in sound, but it seems the sound is a little bit better differentiated. I have the same feeling like jocks1. I changed also all EP's. But it is a pitty, that Nord/Clavia did not find a way to include the filters... they perhaps could do it with the knob in the unused Clavinet-Filter-section, when uising an EP. I think the filters are very important for a good sound. I again tried to find a good sound with the EQ-section, mostly lowering the bass, increasing about 4 kHz and the trebles. But it never sounds like in the examples on the Nordstage homepage... The difficulty is, that the Nordstage EP's sound very different on different loudspeakers... so it would be fine to have basic filters, who imitate different sound of the origins, and then I only have to adapt the parametric EQ of every PA to get a similar sound on my ear...

I did a inquiry to Clavia-Germany, but until know it is not being considered to include the filters to the NS 2. But they forwarded the question to Clavia Sweden...