Nord User Forum

Hey there!

I’ve always used my Nord Stage 3 88 as my bottom board, with a Hammond SK1 on top for years, and last year made the choice (possibly mistake!?) to trade in my Hammond SK1 for a Stage 3 Compact, as I thought it was mental to have a top board that only did one thing well… and thought I’d get so much more use out of the Stage 3 Compact on top, and in the studio etc.

Whilst the Nord Stage 3 Organ is arguably as good (if not a more pleasant warmer sound than the Hammond SK) I’m finding in a live setting, it simply doesn’t have that POWER that the Hammond SK had. I feel like I’ve got to have all drawbars out , with EQ treble all the way up, to even stand a chance of cutting through a band (bloody guitarists) when “going for it” where as with the SK1, I felt like any drawbar setting really cut through nicely. I’ve been playing with various settings such as EQ, drive etc. Trying to decide what it is that isn’t giving me the cut through “bite” I want/need. Is it the internal Leslie that’s causing the issue? Is it the sound colour of the drawbars themselves? I want to persevere with it as I say there’s so many more options a stage 3 compact can give compared to a Hammond SK1 (or even the new Hammond sk pro!) but at the end of the day I always used to use my top board to do some screaming Hammond which would cut through and “impress” an audience when doing all the typical bashing and sliding etc. And it’s just not translating on this Nord, and I can’t quite understand why. In the studio, the Nord Hammond sounds just fine! But live it’s just not having that presence. Maybe cutting through the mix is the wrong term, because that implies a horrible shrill sound, but the SK1 had the ability to come through without that problem.

What do we think? Any tips advice much appreciated, as I’ve never used my stage 88 for Hammond sounds really… other than the occasional gospel thing where I’ve layered a warm Hammond organ pad under my piano, so the need for cutting through hasn’t been too essential!

Much appreciated everyone!

I would suggest playing around with the rotor/horn balance, placing more on the horn, and setting the Piano a little further back in the mix so the Stage 3 can be turned up more. Typically in my programs I set the Pianos at most about -2db to provide a little more headroom for the B3 when both are used. Good luck

You didn't mention the compressor. I use it along with some drive and EQ, and rotor balance (60/40) to get a pretty powerful sound, one that bites and cuts through the mix.

aL

Yes to compression. The "drive" knob on the far right is your friend. I find it much more useful than the "drive" associated with the leslie control. The speaker sims can sometimes help. Using an external sim (vent II) can help a bit with bite but is not worth the hassle for me. I will also cheat by mixing the organ engine with some basic synth and samples to get a more impactful sound, e.g. a nice square wave at 8' gives it some good grit. Amplification can help as well.

I play with louder electric bands. Trust me, everyone can hear me quite well when I'm ripping it up on organ. If anything, I tend to over-cook it, and then have to back down. A big palm smear can catch the guitarists off guard.

My next rig will use the Hammond B3-X software on an iPad. If you haven't heard that emulation, you should.

Instead of fighting to cut somewhere through, keyboardplayers all around the world should unite and teach the guitar-guys how to behave in a band. Not only good for keyboard-players, but for the whole band.

I own a 1959 Hammond B3 and 122A Leslie and have spent considerable time adjusting the NS3 sound settings to try to closely match the characteristics of my real Hammond and Leslie which has been fully retubed and recapped and cab go from a nice bright clean sound, to a warm growl to a full scream.

Here are my NS3 sound settings that closely mimic my B3/122 combo when recorded in stereo.

B3 Org Tonewheel Mode : Vintage 1
B3 Organ Click Level : Normal or High
B3 Org Key Trigger Point : High
Rotary Speaker Type : 122 Close
Rotary Balance : Bass/Horn: 40/60
Rotary Rotor Speed : Spd Normal, Acc Normal
Rotary Horn Speed : Spd Low, Acc Low

Drive : 4.3 (Slightly overdriven with full drawbars and full swell volume)

I typically leave the Rotary Speaker drive set to 4.3 for all patches to mimic my 122 overdrive and for added bite, I'll add more drive using the AMP SIM / EQ section (I typically set to 2.0 for most programs and will increase to 4.0+ for heavy rock organ sounds). For further bite, I add +5db to +10db of 2.5 Khz EQ and 5.0 of compression to smooth out the sound. For most patches I have the AMP SIM / EQ section programmed with the above settings but saved OFF, so I can easily turn it on for added bite during solos or lead riffs. Also, I find that the Vibrato/Chorus does add some additional boost to the top end and I generally play with C1 ON and change to C2 when I want more prominent chorus which closely matches the C3 setting on my B3 (I find the C3 to be too deep).

My typical blues/rock drawbar settings are:
Jazz/Blues 888000000 Vibrato/Chorus ON C2, Percussion ON Soft/Fast/Third, Leslie Slow
Blues/Rock 1 888600030 Vibrato/Chorus C1, Percussion On Soft/Fast/Third, Leslie Slow/Fast
Blues/Rock 2 888865300 Vibrato/Chorus ON C1/C2, Percussion On Soft/Fast/Third, Leslie Slow/Fast
Rock 1 888600000 Vibrato/Chorus OFF, Percussion On Soft/Fast/Third, Leslie Stop/Slow.Fast
Rock 2 888844444 Vibrato/Chorus ON C1/C2 and Percussion On Soft/Fast/Third, Leslie Slow/Fast
Sweet Full 868686868 Vibrato/Chorus ON C2 and Percussion OFF, Leslie Fast
Full Bars 888888888 Vibrato/Chorus ON C2 and Percussion OFF, Leslie Fast

Here's a link to the post I just did with the above settings for my NS3 and an A/B comparison with the Neo Ventilator II.

nord-stage-forum-f3/ns3-rotary-speaker-vs-neo-ventilator-ii-a-b-comparison-t21202.html

Hope this helps!

Hi SuperStage,

thanks a lot for the information and the comparison between the NS3 sim and the VentII in the other thread. Can you post the details of the settings used for the VentII and the HoF as well?

Schorsch wrote:Hi SuperStage,

thanks a lot for the information and the comparison between the NS3 sim and the VentII in the other thread. Can you post the details of the settings used for the VentII and the HoF as well?

TCE Hall of Fame and Neo Ventilator settings are:

My TC Electronics Hall of Fame settings are;
I am running it in Mono In and Mono Out Pre Neo Ventilator II

Reverb Type : Spring
Decay : 12:00
FX Level : 10:00
Tone :7:00
Pre Delay : Short

Neo Vent II

Main Functions
Fast Speed : 12:00
Balance : 2:00
Drive : 9:00 for all sounds and 3:00 for Hard Rock
Mix/Dist Lo : 1:00
Mix / Diet Hi : 3:00

Secondary Functions
Slow Speed: 10:00
Accelleration : 3:00
Mode : 5:00
Remote : 7:00 (Ventilator Remote II)
Level : 3:00

Hope this helps!