Nord User Forum

Hi,

maybe somebody from NORD can answer this: Will the "Seamless transitions when changing programs" from the new Stage 3 also be available with a software update to the NE 5?
This would be a really great easter egg

Regards
Carsten.

It has been reported elsewhere that it will not. As it was described, the Stage 3 has basically "phantom" hidden slots , so there is always "buffer space" to be able to hold the current slot info and the previous slot info simultaneously. That hardware to essentially be able to "hold" an entire duplicate set of sounds/settings/effects doesn't exist in the NE5.

If all such improvements were available to older keyboards only by updating the OS, I guess they would never sell the new products...

I would like that though

Well, ok. Explains of course the price gap
Would have been nice though. The NE5 is newer than some KORG or Roland Keyboards which have had this function for years... So I thought there might be a chance that the processor could handle this.
Live goes on Have a happy easter holiday!
Best wishes
Carsten.

cki69 wrote:Well, ok. Explains of course the price gap
Would have been nice though. The NE5 is newer than some KORG or Roland Keyboards which have had this function for years... So I thought there might be a chance that the processor could handle this.

I don't think it's a matter of having a powerful enough processor, I think it has to do with the basic architecture of the design of the entire board. There were boards that had this function, I think, even last century! And some simple, low-cost boards can do it too (I think even the cheapest Casio pianos, for example). Nord's design makes the Nord well capable of doing some things other boards don't do very well or at all, but may make it more complicated to have it do some other things that other boards can do more easily...

I have a hard time swallowing the fact that you can switch programs seamlessly on a $600 beginner piano, while I just paid close to $3,300 (plus trade) for a keyboard that doesn't do that. I'm NOT slamming Nord! I love my 5D and intend to use it until the ends turn brown .

Nord makes some of the best gear on the planet. What I don't understand is, companies in general, with all their trendsetting technology, that create amazing gear but sacrifice the most basic benefits we've enjoyed for years. That makes no sense at all and mimics the morons at Microsoft. Don't even get me started on their business model!! Everyone knows how pathetic they are already .

If the advanced level features on the 5D come at the cost of eliminating the most basic functionality we've enjoyed for years from lesser keyboards, then no company has the right to release said product until it's ready - period.

Lee Batchelor wrote:If the advanced level features on the 5D come at the cost of eliminating the most basic functionality we've enjoyed for years from lesser keyboards, then no company has the right to release said product until it's ready - period.

Any company can release any product they like. You're not forced to buy it. If you don't like the way it stacks up against a cheaper product from the competition, buy that one. Simple. (BTW, nothing was eliminated - the Electros never had this feature)

Lee Batchelor wrote:I have a hard time swallowing the fact that you can switch programs seamlessly on a $600 beginner piano, while I just paid close to $3,300 (plus trade) for a keyboard that doesn't do that. I'm NOT slamming Nord! I love my 5D and intend to use it until the ends turn brown .
...
If the advanced level features on the 5D come at the cost of eliminating the most basic functionality we've enjoyed for years from lesser keyboards, then no company has the right to release said product until it's ready - period.

But if they refused to release the Electro until it had seamless transition, you wouldn't be loving your 5D today, nor would all the other people have enjoyed their Electros for the past umpteen years. It probably didn't seem important to design it into the original Electro (based on it being a monotimbral instrument with nothing but piano and organ sounds), and it's not always easy to shoehorn new capabilities into a platform that wasn't originally designed for them. I'm glad the feature is coming to the Stage 3, and I would not be surprised to see the tech filter down to the Electro 6, but in the mean time, the E5D is still a great board for lots of people.

Whenever I feel myself starting to get bogged down in obsessing over feature lists and upgrade fever, I remind myself that these keyboards are tools to make music, and really it's the music making that I should be focusing on.

Every single tool has its limitations, and sometimes you need a new tool, but there are people making amazing music with tools far more limited in capability than the E5. To keep comparing the tool in front of you with a hypothetical ideal tool is just going to make you crazy.

For me, a patch remain functionality would be nice, but that situation doesn't come up often enough in the music I'm playing to have prevented me from buying the E5 when I knew it didn't have that capability, so it's pointless to get angsty about it now.

Maybe that will change in the future, and if it does, I'll make the financial, and more importantly time sacrifice to upgrade to a Stage 3, or a Yamaha Whizbang 7000, or whatever. To me, the best feature of the Nord design philosophy is that sound palate is constantly getting upgraded and is customizable and tweakable by a player, without necessarily requiring a computer programmer's expertise in software based parameter editing. Do I really want to invest all the time I'd need to customize a Stage 3 right now, having already invested a fair amount of time getting the E5 where I want it? Am I really going to learn how to program an A1 from scratch, as cool as that is?

For the moment my answer is "no," because the Electro is serving me very well as an overall lightweight gigging board. I reserve the right to change my answer in the future, but I'm not going to spend a lot of time worrying about what my current keyboard might have been in the interim.

All that said, I realize these forums are the exact place for people to have fun poring over feature lists and design choices, and for others small design compromises can be deal breakers, etc. Not trying to spoil anybody's fun, just offer my own perspective.

Cheers,

ONY

In the year or so I've been on this forum, I think I've seen more discussions about this issue than any other! (close seconds: rhodes sounds, keybeds, distortion on B3s)

But I've never really understood what the use case is for seamless transitions. Like most weekend warrior keyboard players I know, I generally take two keyboards (the NE5D and another one that suits the gig) out with me. If I need a sound to sustain whilst I change another, I do that with a sound on each keyboard. On the odd occasion I just have the one keyboard with me (sometimes for gigs where I'm doubling guitar) I can use a split to do it if I really need to. It's very much an edge case for my music though... I can only think of a few songs I play regularly where I might need to think about sustaining one sound and changing another.

So if anyone can talk me through where they would use such functionality in a live situation, I'd be delighted to learn. I feel like I might be missing a whole other world of sound design...