Nord User Forum

Valpurgis wrote:Also had the NS3 for a month after buying the NS4, my experience was no degradation in sound for the NS4. Getting rid of the panel philosophy and getting independant effects for the layers alone has made me not miss the NS3 for a second. Personal opinion/experience of course.

Same here, sold my two NS3s.

I have both NS3 and NS4.

I am glad I did NOT sell my NS3 because "gigwise" my NS4 is practically useless in my setup because all those MIDI issues.
Since May I've been waiting for them to be fixed. This is just another perspective to this comparison. Soundwise I am very happy about NS4 and frustration comes from the fact that I cannot have those nice new features which NS3 do not have. What comes to Midi and external control NS3 works perfect and is flexible. Unfortunately you can’t say that about NS4.

I have been programming both for a while now and am gradually thinking the 4 has better quality

Well this personal, but, in my opinion, I believe that you probably will enjoy NS4 someday if you keep it...
I my personal experience, I had the NS2 compact and bought the NS3C. I was so desapointed with the pianos sounds that I wrote a lot of stuff here in forum about how the Piano sound Weak, Thin, 2D, hollow, and without Harmonics on NS3.
Some guys made a very "scientific" analysis with both and by that people decide they sound the same.
Well, I repected that but, not for me. Ok, I moved on, but even today everytime I play on a NS2 I think the pianos still sound so much better. So much realistic, full body, 3d image.
Even so I kept the NS3 because of synth section and bigger piano memory.
Today I can't go for NS4 because I have 340 sounds for all my gigs, so buying a NS4 Would be useless for me.
I Still miss the piano sounds on NS2 but it was wise to keep the NS3 and today I'm really glad with that. If you buy NS4 someday (maybe more than a year) you will get used to that and you'll never think about NS3 anymore... I guess...

I’d sum my view this way: I believe you’ll probably love your NS4 if you only use it standalone and not with other MIDI gear. On the other hand more you connect it and more complex your MIDI setup gets more likely you’ll disappointed. (And I am talking about its current state; I am not saying that this will be like this forever).

Based on my email exchange with Nord they were did not carefully think thru and test this new NS4 architechture and how it might be problematic in some setups.

aureliopenna wrote:Well this personal, but, in my opinion, I believe that you probably will enjoy NS4 someday if you keep it...
I my personal experience, I had the NS2 compact and bought the NS3C. I was so desapointed with the pianos sounds that I wrote a lot of stuff here in forum about how the Piano sound Weak, Thin, 2D, hollow, and without Harmonics on NS3.
Some guys made a very "scientific" analysis with both and by that people decide they sound the same.
Well, I repected that but, not for me. Ok, I moved on, but even today everytime I play on a NS2 I think the pianos still sound so much better. So much realistic, full body, 3d image.
Even so I kept the NS3 because of synth section and bigger piano memory.
Today I can't go for NS4 because I have 340 sounds for all my gigs, so buying a NS4 Would be useless for me.
I Still miss the piano sounds on NS2 but it was wise to keep the NS3 and today I'm really glad with that. If you buy NS4 someday (maybe more than a year) you will get used to that and you'll never think about NS3 anymore... I guess...

Version 6 pianos sound great on the Stage 2 EX88 for sure.Kept mine and I'm happy with it.
Three XL grands,three XL uprights,three XL Rhodes and Clav and Wurli all sound fantastic on the Stage 2EX.
I really have no use for Nord synths,they are OK but I have WAY better sounds from thirty and twenty years ago,Roland XV3080 still Rompler of choice,since 2000.
Roland Integra in a different league than Nord for sure.

20 a month to have unlimited access to Roland's flagship is a good deal PERIOD!No more hardware EVER!