Nord User Forum

Hi,

In short, is it possible in Stage 3 to browse (by turning the dial) the user presets or songlist contents in alphaphetical order? I'm used to have song spesific user presets in my Stage 2 and find it quite convenient to this way find patches on the fly during gigs.

Somehow I cannot get it how everyone is so exited about "song list" features of modern keyboards nowadays. At least for me it's rare luxury to have a predefined gig list for normal gigs. Or even if it exists, it's usually ditched after the 2nd song. Instead, need to pick up songs fast on the fly, based on the mood of the audience (and the band).

I have been reading the Stage 3 manual and also spent an afternoon in local music store playing Stage 3, but cannot get this figured out. The assumed lack of this feature is the thing keeping me from upgrading..

Jyrki

What you can do is put in everything you want in any order, then using list mode put them in any order you like, including alphabetically. It works really well.
I use this for song set ups for a show I'm doing. I missed out one of the scene change setups by accident, put it in at the end, then moved it to where I want it to appear. Works great!
Issue solved-Now you can upgrade!

The point isn't that you can sit down and sort everything alphabetically.

The point is that he needs to find a patch, FAST, within the twenty seconds between singer's decision and count-in.

I played in a band with about three hundred songs, and we'd often pull something extra into the set list on the fly when it seemed appropriate. There is no way to react to such a situation properly with the Stage 3 — except with an extra tool like Set List Maker.

Hi,

Yes, I suppose you can always arrange songs in alphaphetical order in the song mode, but that calls for dedicated effort every time you add a new preset/song. Stage 2 does this arranging automatically - just save the new preset as user preset and it's in the right place when presets are browsed.

Oh my, I quess you just can't get everything. My main motivator for upgrade would be to combine my current setup, Stage 2 and Lead A1, into one keyboard and make setup&transportation easier while maintaining the main soundsets. But maybe some patience will pay back and Stage 3 learns alphaphets via a SW upgrade one day. I recall it wasn't supported by Stage 2 since day one either.

Jyrki

analogika wrote:I played in a band with about three hundred songs, and we'd often pull something extra into the set list on the fly when it seemed appropriate. There is no way to react to such a situation properly with the Stage 3 — except with an extra tool like Set List Maker.

Well perhaps that within the three hundred songs you do on your gigs, and having no knowledge of the type of music your band play, the vast majority may well use a piano, el piano, strings, organ or pad sound, so there will be a massive amount of repeat patches with different song titles?
I do appreciate what you're saying, but coming from early Kurzweil and Roland stuff, Song Mode and set list mode are pretty cool.

Well,

Everyone has his own preferences and that's sure ok. But I like to tailor sounds for different songs. Of course a piano is a piano, but still it may have different, song specific eq and effects. And what's the point of having a versatile keyboard like Stage if you use the same pad sound for every song calling for a pad? Synths are meant to be tweaked - otherwise you could buy a basic rompler or stage piano instead.

And an other benefit of having a dedicated preset for each song is that the preset also changes the song specific patches in my other keyboard (A1) via the ext section. Again, this helps when the singer has just made up her mind and the drummer is already counting..

But as said that's just my way of working and apparently Stage 3 is (at least yet) not for me.

Cheers,
Jyrki

solmaster wrote:Well perhaps that within the three hundred songs you do on your gigs, and having no knowledge of the type of music your band play, the vast majority may well use a piano, el piano, strings, organ or pad sound, so there will be a massive amount of repeat patches with different song titles?

That's my situation as well. There are maybe two dozen key sounds... if I can get to them quickly as I need them, I can play hundreds of songs with no further prep. (I can probably play 80% of them with just a stock set of half that many sounds.) But then there are also some special sounds I program just for particular songs.

And like some others, I don't always know what song we'll be doing next. Because quick random access to saved sounds on the fly is not a Nord strength, I think this is an example where adding an iPad or whatever for patch selection could make sense.

Jyrkik wrote:t I like to tailor sounds for different songs. Of course a piano is a piano, but still it may have different, song specific eq and effects. And what's the point of having a versatile keyboard like Stage if you use the same pad sound for every song calling for a pad? Synths are meant to be tweaked - otherwise you could buy a basic rompler or stage piano instead.

Good question... why have a Stage in the situation I described, if I rarely customize a particular piano or a particular Rhodes to a specific song? Speaking as someone who sold the NS2 to get an NE5D and now intends to sell the NE5D to get an NS3, I'd say the Nord has a lot of other strengths compared to that basic rompler or stage piano, even if you're not intending to work from set lists of pre-customized sounds. I don't think there's any other board (certainly one as light as the 22 pound NS3-Compact) that has pianos and organs that sound as good, plus real drawbar operation, and the synth expressivity of the pitch stick and aftertouch and real-time knob-tweaking/morphing. Seamless sound transitions are nice, too. And lastly, even if 90% of the time I'm using my same stock sounds, for that other 10% when I really do want to customize a sound, it's easier/faster to do it on a Nord than on most other boards which are less knobby and require all kinds of menu-diving. Ditto for the occasional need to load a custom sample. I may not use a feature like that all the time, but it's nice for it to be easy for those times it's really useful.

Agreed. The Stage 3 sounds are of course top end, with a top end price to match. I bought this for the sounds, the access to new sounds for free, plus the ease of use. I have used it in musical theatre as the one and only keyboard, as a solo instrument, as an accompaniment for a solo singer, and in a function band for 3-4 hour gigs. Never lacking for a moment.
A Boss Up/Down pedal switcher is well worth buying to speed up the seamless changes. The Stage 3 delivers in all areas that need it for.
We can tweak the sounds all day and set up dozens of sound variations, but no-one in the audience will notice, or care. They want to hear the songs they know and they don't care what you are using to create that sound. I know we love to knob twiddle, but ultimately it's about the music and the performance. It's easy to set up 20 or so patches which cover 90% of my needs, but appreciate that's not enough for everyone. No regrets, it's an awesome piece of gear and so easy to use.

solmaster wrote:

analogika wrote:I played in a band with about three hundred songs, and we'd often pull something extra into the set list on the fly when it seemed appropriate. There is no way to react to such a situation properly with the Stage 3 — except with an extra tool like Set List Maker.

Well perhaps that within the three hundred songs you do on your gigs, and having no knowledge of the type of music your band play, the vast majority may well use a piano, el piano, strings, organ or pad sound, so there will be a massive amount of repeat patches with different song titles?
I do appreciate what you're saying, but coming from early Kurzweil and Roland stuff, Song Mode and set list mode are pretty cool.

I understand.

I have about 100 different programs and splits programmed for the material. The vast majority built in MainStage, though, and controlled by Set List Maker on an iPad (where, of course, I can spontaneously add any song to the set from an alphabetical list).

I’ve only recently begun building song-specific patches on the Stage 3, so I mostly mentioned this to illustrate a scenario where alphabetical browsing would be really helpful.

Its somewhat inconsistent or maybe a compromise to be picky about piano sounds access vs. better, more, longer, larger samples in the stage 3.