NORD STAGE 3 EX or wait for the next one...

[Valpurgis]

Probably several reasons to hope for an updated Stage. As already mentioned for me mainly two reasons:
i) Better B3 model; better Leslie simulation and chorus. Basic B3 model seems a bit static and compressed
ii) Sample player with more than a single velocity layer

[LeftyBass68]

Totally variable split points are a must for me to ever 'upgrade'. '3' not a huge upgrade to the '2'.How little can Nord get away with improving for lots more money, is the Modus Operandi and mantra of the Nord Stage models.
The main 'upgrade' in the Stage3 lineup is a low E instead of F on the Compact.Kept me away from the Compact for over ten years.And many other key 'bass' players.
B3 still sounds better on the StageEX or '2' to my ears.I own Hammonds and Leslies,not thrilled with the Stage3 organs.The C2D sounds WAY better!

Improved memory and pianos,the rest is just window dressing and hype IMO.Favored the units pre OLED. I fear the next one will be more 'screen' than substance.Should make Korg fans happy.Nord have run out of ideas as of about 2017.
Nord stumbled through the OS updates like a pollster who read the polls wrong. Lost quite a few customers on that alone. FOMO will never again get my wallet out for Nord.
Slick websites,endorsements,swag only get you so far.Time for Nord to rethink the Stage series altogether.

They've already conceded the 'piano' keybeds on Stage3 aren't great,and use Kawai third party for their keybed on the Grand.Outsourcing 'quality control' is were the buck stops with this 'boutique' company.
Whatever is next will be touting upgrade upgrade upgrade as usual.Mostly hype we can see right through though,yawn. 500 dollar triple pedals,250 dollar music racks,300 dollar+ gig bags,700 for this C2D stand?
"Here's our chance to OVERCHARGE for useful items players actually need".That are NOT manufactured in house. Don't even ask me about the Nord halfmoon switch,April 1st was a week ago!
No thanks,won't be wearing Nord T-shirts or baseball caps either.Nord will have to find another 'endorsee',will continue use of other brand names.

Overall the Stage 3 is a great performance keyboard ,but Nord seems headed the opposite direction in quality and features.Stage 2 external midi features superior to a 3,IMO.
Glaring downgrade there,and one of the ONLY reasons to put that stupid OLED on it in the first place.Now the main memory IC's of a Stage3 are no longer available,the architecture of the instrument.
When those IC's are used up,there will be no more Stage3's.

[LeftyBass68]

The main 'upgrade' in the Stage3 lineup is a low E instead of F on the Compact.Kept me away from the Compact for over ten years.

Nord stumbled through the OS updates like a pollster who read the polls wrong. Lost quite a few customers on that alone.

Overall the Stage 3 is a great performance keyboard ,but Nord seems headed the opposite direction in quality and features.Stage 2 external midi features superior to a 3,IMO.

FYI, the Nord Stage 2 EX Compact had the low E and this keyboard was available within a few years of the original NS2. I had one and loved it. I still love my NS2 88.

I agree that the early NS3 OS issues did take a long while to settle. I intentionally waited a year or more to get a NS3 while all the early bugs were being identified and fixed. I have no regrets with the NS3 these days, though I still find myself missing the Pending Load feature that didn't make it over from the prior instrument. I'm guessing that Seamless Transition replaced it and I've grown to really love this feature.

I agree that the NS3 is a great performance keyboard. I also agree that its MIDI features aren't as good as the predecessor and while NS3 has the dual OLED screens, there are fewer endless LED rotary knobs, which I like a lot on the NS2.

Getting back to whether we'll see a NS3 EX from Nord, or will they skip it and deliver a NS4? Only Nord knows. Just a few weeks ago on their social media site, they posted a new photo of a bunch of NS3 units being produced, which seems like an indicator that they are still making them currently and could be a longer wait for something new. Who knows, maybe they will surprise us. Either way, I would approach a new version (particularly a NS4) in the same way I made the transition from NS2 to NS3. Slowly and patiently.

Last point that I have made in the past - even if Nord announces something new in the near future, it will still be months and months before the thing ships and is available to be purchased.

[LeftyBass68]

Single shot samples are adequate in most cases.Nord should improve this. AT not mappable. The first Nord Stage to come up with programmable aftertouch to keep AT vibrato away from some zones on a single panel will get my attention.
One size fits all is not a great aftertouch,just an 'adequate' AT.Again,being stuck with factory selected 'zones' for splits/layers not ideal.Still miss the synth EQ of the original Stage,a must for dialing in any basses quickly.Not a fan of running bass through the 'twin reverb' or 'jc120'.At least offer an Ampeg bass amp sample,have NEVER used the 'built in Wurly' speaker modeling.Waste of memory IMO.
Bring back pending load OR 'seamless',I prefer BOTH! Keep those OLED's small if kept at all.Reverb pre or post Leslie sim.FX sends with separate routing (an FX loop insert).
Piano action bottoms out with heavy playing on 88,the 76 plays horrible,the Compact is adequate and sprung heavier than the older Compacts.

In the time it took the Canadian distributor to respond to my concerns when the pitch stick failed on this Compact3,Syntaur shipment had already arrived with the part.Two weeks to respond is TOO LONG in my world.
Between cheaper dials that fly off the machine,and slow response to address my issues,Nord is not currently in my good books.
This Roland JX8P will be 40 next year,still working great......

[analogika]

I don’t know what’s up with your JX-8P, but mine has a new display flyback transformer (virtually unobtainable), new aftertouch, the output switch at the rear was shot (as on all of them), new power supply, one new fader, and some DCO support chip, plus a replacement front panel (though the old one was functional; just had a hole in it).

To claim that these ancient instruments are “still going strong” while pretending that they don’t have a service history is mostly disingenuous at best.

Not to mention the big brother JX-10, the actual flagship model, which was utterly defective out of the gate and NEVER fixed: MIDI just outright didn’t work. There was a whole section of the manual that was simply wrong, because the machine was broken (until Fred Vecoven fixed it more than thirty years later).

[LeftyBass68]

This JX8P has a newer AT rail,four naturals(D),two sharps(Eb),and that's about it.New memory battery twenty years ago.Chugging along fine plays great like always.Missing cover of membrane '32' doesn't change how the machine works,looks a little funky.Besides the Yamaha DX7 it's the best built Japanese synth I've ever owned.

I like Nord,and wish they would add some older features missing on newer models.Will be enjoying the C2D this evening.The Stage3 88 pianos are more than satisfactory,will enjoy them too.Synth: for me to enjoy has always been a stalemate between Yamaha and Roland.Forty years ago had a Prophet5 spend as much time in repairs as on a stage,replaced with a 'lesser' synth,the JX8P which is still in use.Still use a TX7 for the tines pianos and a few other things.

[analogika]

Hah! It was patch button “32” on mine, as well!

[Mr_-G-]

I have a JX8P which only had a cleaning of the aftertouch strip several years ago (which improved it). It still has the original battery (!) and plays fine.
I regret not buying the original PG-800 at the time (could not afford it). There is also a hack described somewhere in the net where changing a single resistor makes the aftertouch more sensitive.

[M1tsos]

By the way just for the history almost all videos from nord that introduced a new instrument uploaded on youtube at april and usually monday or tuesday..

[Spider]

By the way just for the history almost all videos from nord that introduced a new instrument uploaded on youtube at april and usually monday or tuesday..

M1tsos, you post your "predictions" on here pretty often (daily/weekly/monthly?), as well as on the Nord groups on Facebook. Do you truly have an insider connection with Nord? Or are you just doing this often enough so that when something happens, you can proudly say "I told you so!" even if it was random luck that you happened to make a prediction about the NS3 EX or whatever?