NAMM 2022

[MarkJames]

This gatekeeping that "Clavia should be different and prevent any communication with their users and that is right because they are different", in no way improves the user experience of their products...

Smaller and bigger companies do that

I completely agree with you, very well said!

Also, I don't agree with the opinions about Nord taking so much time to update libraries are okay. Why would it be? Clav samples are 12 years old, EP-s also old (still sounds great thats for sure but there is always something to improve) and the pianos before Royal Grand just sound useless to me.

I would have no problem with all these "issues" but we are talking about 4000-5000$ hardware and in this price category I cannot accept it. Thats why I canceled my NS3C order and leaning toward a cheaper/better sound quality option: Spectrasonics Keyscape + Omni + midi controller + sound card since I already own an M1 Macbook

I have that option as well - it’s good to mix and match hardware and software.

[analogika]

This time I have to agree with Analogika. I have owned several keyboards of many a different make, but half of them were Korg. Well, I'll let you in on a secret: Korg never updates anything substantial, they simply don't care aside from their Kronos/Nautilus flaghships (but would anybody here seriosly contend the Kronos' library is bigger than Nord's?) and the occasional bugfix a few months or a couple years after the product was released, at most. One of the reasons why I switched to Nord was that my currently-sold Korg boards' (especially the KingKorg, the potential of which Korg never bothered truly valorise) syncing and editing software was never updated to x64 Mac binaries, thus breaking compatibility with all Mac OS iterations from Catalina onwards. And that's absolutely unacceptable, not only because we're talking about products they still sell but also because it's frankly ridiculous to neglect the most common OS amongst musicians (especially back when Apple still only used Intel CPUs: even a Wine package would have been an acceptable stopgap measure).

Likewise, Yamaha rarely releases significant updates for their keyboards (even the Montage's last update dates back to 2020). The only big manufacturer I can praise is Roland, but that's only because they've started adopting a common platform for their digital keyboards (Zen). Want to talk about smaller companies? Viscount hasn't updated their Legend organs since 2018 and the updater was never made available for Macintosh either. Crumar does update their lineup frequently but, concerning their Mojo organs, no real improvements were made since 2017-2018: and certainly the Mojo 61 can't even compare to the Electro for anything that's not pure Hammond tones.

Finally, it's hard to complain about the Wave 2 if it isn’t affected by any bugs: well actually, the arpeggiator not sending MIDI messages definitely sounds like a bug, but has anybody tried writing Nord? They often reply and might genuinely be unaware of this strange issue. Some of you might have heard of Korg releasing outstanding updates to their hybrid analogue-digital synths, like adding oscillators and such: that just means they shipped an incomplete product to save money and sell as "updates" what's simply the full capabalities of their machines. This doesn't hold true for the Lead series but I can't recall a single manufacturer that strives to let its userbase enjoy the latest samples a decade after: there's people still gigging with a Wave 1 or old Electro and Stage models, but no pro, and very few dedicated amateurs still play keyboards from more than a decade ago (and when they do you can clearly feel they sound "old": the Kronos might be the only notable exception).

Sorry for the screech, but my point is: the grass always looks greener on the other side, keyword here "looks". Nord's been less active than it used to be but they're not alone: I believe we should wait another year before we can start taking stock of their committment and financial status. They can still get back on track despite taking so long to release the 4.0 Library: and even if Nord just went and wound up (highly unlikely) our keyboards would still hold their value much better than most competing products.

[analogika]

Considering their size (<40 employees IIRC) and the sickness ratio caused by Covid in any company in recent times, it’s a wonder the company is still functioning at all, frankly.

[maxpiano]

Considering their size (<40 employees IIRC) and the sickness ratio caused by Covid in any company in recent times, it’s a wonder the company is still functioning at all, frankly.

Good point to remind and anyone can easily guess how many in that number may be R&D/Product development resources.

[Miguel2202]

On paper Clavia as a company are doing better than ever in 2021, they had a small dipp in 2020, but are back in 2021 stronger than ever, they are a "aktiebolag" as we say in sweden so there are alot of info online regarding there revenue.
They are probably just working on the new stuf

https://www.bolagsfakta.se/5590607114-Nord_Keyboards_AB

[maxpiano]

On paper Clavia as a company are doing better than ever in 2021, they had a small dipp in 2020, but are back in 2021 stronger than ever, they are a "aktiebolag" as we say in sweden so there are alot of info online regarding there revenue.
They are probably just working on the new stuf

https://www.bolagsfakta.se/5590607114-Nord_Keyboards_AB

Yes, but Nord Keyboards AB is only the commercial company (0 employees) so you need to look for Clavia DMI AB (operative company) to see employees data https://www.bolagsfakta.se/5562463769-C ... Aktiebolag (43 in 2020)

[DJKeys]

I also think that part of the recent frustration lies in the fact that, regardless of their size, Nord has spoiled us (11 years for me) with timely updates and product releases. We have just come to expect a lot. I have owned 6 of their instruments, and the 4 I sold commanded far higher prices on the used market than any product by Korg, Yamaha, or Roland ever has for me.

-dj

[neomad]

This time I have to agree with Analogika. I have owned several keyboards of many a different make, but half of them were Korg. Well, I'll let you in on a secret: Korg never updates anything substantial, they simply don't care aside from their Kronos/Nautilus flaghships (but would anybody here seriosly contend the Kronos' library is bigger than Nord's?) and the occasional bugfix a few months or a couple year after the product was released at most. One of the reasons why I switched to Nord was that my currently-sold Korg boards' (especially the KingKorg, the potential of which Korg never bothered truly valorise) syncing and editing software was never updated to x64 Mac binaries, thus breaking compatibility with all Mac OS iterations from Catalina onwards. And that's absolutely unacceptable, not only because we're talking about products they still sell but also because it's frankly ridiculous to break compatibility for the most common OS amongst musicians (especially back when Apple still only used Intel CPUs: even just a Wine package would have been an acceptable stopgap measure).

Likewise, Yamaha rarely releases significant updates for their keyboards (even the Montage's last update dates back to 2020). The only big manufacturer I can praise is Roland, but that's only because they've started adopting a common platform for their digital keyboards (Zen). Want to talk about smaller companies? Viscount hasn't updated their Legend organs since 2018 and the updated was never made available for Macintosh either. Crumar does update their lineup frequently but, concerning their Mojo organs, no real improvements were made since 2017-2018: and certainly the Mojo 61 can't even compare to the Electro for anything that's not pure Hammond tones.

Finally, it's hard to complain about the Wave 2 if it doesn't have any bugs: well actually, the arpeggiator not sending MIDI messages definitely sounds like a bug, but has anybody tried writing Nord? They often reply and might genuinely be unaware of this strange issue. Some of you might have heard of Korg releasing outstanding updates to their hybrid analogue-digital synths, like adding oscillators and such: that just means they shipped an incomplete product to save money and sell as "updates" what's simply the full capabalities of their machines. This doesn't hold true for the Lead series but I can't recall a single manufacturer that strives to let you enjoy the latest samples a decade after: there's people still gigging with a Wave 1 or old Electro and Stage models, but no pro, and very few dedicated amateurs still play keyboards from more than a decade ago (and when they do you can clearly feel they sound "old": the Kronos might be the only notable exception).

Sorry for the screech, but my point is: the grass always looks greener on the other side, keyword here "looks". Nord's been less active than it used to be but they're not alone: I believe we should wait another year before we can start taking stock of their committment and financial status. They can still get back on track after despite taking so long to release the 4.0 Library: and even if Nord just went and wound up (highly unlikely) our keyboards would still hold their value much better than most competing products.

And that is another reason why I am seriously thinking on dropping on hardware synths. I been programming patches for many cover bands since ... 14 years in Korgs, Rolands, Yamaha's, Nords... and I am tired of it. I believe that Gigperformer or Camelot will do the work, and program the patches once for all.

[Gambold]

To be sure, we can only speculate on what's going in Stockholm. They are a private company and no-one here appears to be an employee, and if they were they couldn't say anything anyway.

I think we can and should move on from letting Covid be an excuse for anything. It's been here for years, not months, vaccines have been available for almost as long, and all of us, private citizens, governments, and companies, should have adapted by now. Plus a good deal of research and development can be done remotely. As for supply-chain issues - I'm getting pretty tired of hearing those used as an excuse for sloppy customer service. I'm sure they exist here and there, but it's too easy for any company to use that as an excuse for not getting their act together after the Covid hiatus.

What might be more pressing at Nord is that we are at a turning point with keyboard tech. More and more people are moving to software-only interfaces for synths and samples. I posted earlier that I think the Electro is pretty much played out as a platform - we might see some more memory and maybe a better screen, but what else can be added on? At this point all they can do with the Electro is fix some of the long-standing issues with it - the Rotary sounds, the preset numbering scheme, the limited split points, the inability to layer samples - etc.

I don't know enough about the Stage to comment, although based on the release history an EX version with more memory is overdue. Someone pointed out that they hit a ceiling with the 32gb - the Stage could also be a platform that has maxed out its possibilities.

The 2022 NAMM videos of musicians playing at the Nord booth could have been filmed four years ago. That may be an admission from the company that they are at the end of the road with these product lines.

[analogika]

You’ve patently explained, with dates, exactly how Nord has been doing better than most other companies in the last two years, and now you’re confusing „making excuses“ with „explanation“, despite the former — as per your own argumentation — being unnecessary?

Doesn’t get more disingenuous than that.