NS3 Compact Heavy Touch (Return Springs)

[Ivan Jochner]

Hi guys,
Its been 6 months since i purchased NS3,
and from day one i spotted very heavy touch on Compact 3 + All sharps were squeaking as hell.

(Being piano technician myself i could lubrucate those rubbing sharp keys to acceptable state.)

But still i am finding touch is too heavy for me.
I have mesured the Down weight and its almost 80 gramms !!! When normal weight on piano supposed
to be 45-50 gramms.

For some piano stuff i play my hands are suffering..

Even Deep Purpl organ stuff is treaky.

Yes i fully understand that its a synth action but even in comparasing with NS 1 or NE2 that their keys are less stiff.

When i opend NS3 for lubrication i had noticed that return springs were somhow made of different metal material and a bit shorter to NS1 Compact springs.

Its a just general observation and no need for repair or anything else.
Of course i would be glad to obtain Fatar longer/less stiff springs for replacing.

But is it OK with other NS 3 Compact users regarding TOUCH ?

(on the photo Left- NS3 spring Right-NS 1 spring

[NoDirection]

For the first time in my life I returned a Nord product - I bought a Nord Stage 3 compact last week - but after some hours testing I concluded that this keybed-action gives me no satisfaction to play. I own a Nord Electro 61 so I presumed the action on the stage would be the same or hopefully better than the Electro, but I felt it was very different and worse to play.
I guess it's the aftertouch on the Stage that makes the action stiffer, and the distance the keys moves down when pressed seems much shorter than on my Electro.

I guess you can get used to all kinds of action, but the satisfaction playing on my Nord Stage 2 HA 76 is 200% better than this SW.

Besides the keybed everything else on the Nord Stage 3 was great so I feel sorry to return it to the store.
I wish Nord could produce a Nord Stage 3 76 HA instead of the heavy HP action...

[Ivan Jochner]

I guess it's the aftertouch on the Stage that makes the action stiffer, and the distance the keys moves down when pressed seems much shorter than on my Electro.

The actual key dip of the NS3 C. is quite normal = 10 mm but ( 12 years old NS 1 = 11 mm due to the wear of the rubber stop strip).

I can live with the Aftertouch but my down weight ( i was wrong it is actually 75-80 grams)

So i placed 58 gramms of Piano Technician weight + 15 gramms of extra weight.
Some keys are barely moiving!


(Motif Xs = 52 Grams)

[23skidoo]

I'm totally fine with my NS3C for action. They lighten up considerably after some good heavy use, I find. They're a nice compromise between a piano and synth/organ action, not perfect for either, but there's a quick enough return for the sorts of playing I do. Now, I'm not a hammond shredder so I can't comment on that aspect, but for overall fun playability, they're pretty good as far as I'm concerned, and I'm using them for building hand strength doing the Hanon exercises. I play on a LOT of different keybeds, and frankly I'm not terribly picky about what I play, I just adapt. Sure, a perfectly regulated Bösendorfer feels lush, but I wouldn't want to play synth/ep/organ on it! And I use aftertouch all the time, so you just can't get the same bounce with an AT equipped board. For what this board is intended to be, perhaps slightly lighter keys would be fine with me, but too much lighter and you'd lose whatever decent compromise there is for piano style playing. And with my experience with Fatar actions, they'll loosen up a little after the first year of heavy playing/touring/practice to about perfection.

[DJKeys]

I personally think the NS3 Compact has one of the best semi-weighted keybeds I have ever played. It seems tighter and has less throw than my NS 2 did. The other two (which I think are both Fatar) were the Kawai K5000s and the Access Virus TI2.

To each his own, I guess-

-dj

[kbmatson]

As i posted on the other thread - unless there is actually something wrong with your specific keyboard ... well ... uh .... hmmmm ...

NS3 waterfall keyboard is GREAT for organ - not springy-toy like many synths, and quite adequate for casual/band piano. I actual prefer it for synth - gives me something to dig into a little.

[Ivan Jochner]

If Clavia makes the same Fatar Waterfall keyboards like they were on NS1 C and N Electo 2 i would be happy!

[23skidoo]

I think this just reemphasizes that there's no such thing as a universally perfect keyboard, for anybody, for any purpose. It's enough, now, to say that there are people who love it, people who are satisfied with it, people who are unsatisfied but find it acceptable, people who dislike it, and people who hate it. You could say this about probably every Fatar action in every situation - that's just the nature of the beast. It's a keyboard, some like it, some don't. Clavia didn't f**** up by putting it on the synth, they chose a useful and proper compromise which works for the majority of people very satisfactorily and is designed to continue being satisfactory for many decades of hard playing ahead, too. It's also not perfect. The end!

[Frantz]

This means once you have a good feeling with a board, keep it.

[aureliopenna]

The end!

The matter of fact why i arose this question that all my friends who owning Classics Compacts,Electros tried my NS3 C, and admitted ALL, its heavy and did not like the feel.

Another dadicated thread i found here.

nord-electro-forum-f9/changing-keyboard ... 13455.html