Nord User Forum

Hello all - first time poster and delighted to be part of such a knowledgeable group

My query - I was due to purchase NS3 Compact a while back but change in finances prevented it. In the interim, I bought a second hand Roland VR 730 (mint condition) for a really good price. I wanted to get the feel of waterfall keys mainly.

During the pandemic I have been mainly using a Roland FA 08 piano (Ivory feel, weighted) which is really nice but quite heavy, so it may have affected my judgement.
I find playing pianos on the Roland VR 730 a bit awkward tbh (synths and pads etc are fine) and wanted to know if any of you have had experience of both the NS3C and the Roland VR 730 - are their keybeds quite similar ? Or are they similar but sprung differently ?
I feel I would struggle playing any piano solo with this type of waterfall keybed.

I know that the only way is to get hands on, but local music store had NE6 and NS3 HP on display but has no NS3C in stock.

Grateful for any thoughts

Cheers

If you can get hands on a NE6D, I'd say, it must be very close to the NS3C action. While I was rather convinced that it's exactly the same action when selecting my Nord S3C (all sellers I tested let me play the NE6D instead for being the same action), other forum users reported (a year later) that both actions would differ in the trigger weight - which might have changed meanwhile, but I still find improbable. You might ask that question to the British distributor via the Nord support form and add that there are different opinions on the Nord User Forum.

I only briefly tried a VR730 at a Guitar Center and thought it was fine. I own a S3C and it's clearly a semi-weighted waterfall keyboard - it's fine for doing some piano but obviously not a fully weighted keybed.

I agree, try an Electro. I had one briefly (arrived damaged so sent back) and then got the S3C instead and it was for all intents and purposes exactly the same except for the Stage having aftertouch which would affect the feel at the bottom of the key press. Otherwise they are both Fatar TP8/O keybeds.

Thanks everyone for the very quick responses - very kind of you.

Given what you’ve said about the similarities with NS3C and NE6 keybeds, I’ll get myself in to the music store and have a go at the NE6D and hopefully get a feel for it.

Thanks again

Just to be clear: An Electro 6 HP is veeery different. You can compare the Stage 3 Compact only to the Electro 6 D (whether 61 or 73).

FZiegler wrote:Just to be clear: An Electro 6 HP is veeery different. You can compare the Stage 3 Compact only to the Electro 6 D (whether 61 or 73).

Good catch.

From what I've read, VR-730 uses the same Fatar TP/8O action as the Nord Electro 6D and Stage Compact. There may (or may not) be some difference in amount of resistance (spring tension), but broadly speaking, the Roland should feel similar to the Nords. For piano playing, they are not great, but as semi-weighted (as opposed to hammer) actions go, they're not the worst (also not the best). That older VR-760 mentioned earlier was probably better, as was the VR-700 I played.

In terms of current semi-weighted boards with 9-drawbar organ engines, IMO, ones that feel better than Nord's for when you must play piano on them include Yamaha YC61, Vox Continental 61/73, and Kurzweil PC4-7. Though none of them have organs that sound as good as Nord's.