NORD STAGE 4 officially announced for February 16th 2023

[DJKeys]

It would make sense that they would use the architecture of the NW2, as it is more intuitive than the Panel A/B approach. Perhaps it is not a Stage 4, but the first in a new line of instruments!

-dj

[maxpiano]

By the way I do hope it's a tentative picture because they messed up the color of the drawbars!!!

Hahaha I didn’t even notice! 7&8 are switched, heh.

Maybe that's part of the NS4 innovations?

[Schorsch]

For drawbars it's a different matter, since the haptics have the priority there and should come first no matter what. I see the addition of LEDs there as a nice thing to have, but this is a case where you need the physicality of sliders.

True motorized drawbars could help a lot, but will increase the price even further

[DJKeys]

Honestly, I don't see much usefulness in having more than 2 organs and/or pianos.
Instead I was hoping for 4 synth layers, or two simple "sample synths" (like on the NP5) and two "real synths"... you can never have enough of them!
But still it looks like a major update, let's see the full specs in a couple of days!

I agree with this, I have never needed two pianos or two organs. One piano, one organ, 4 synth would have been great, although we don't know the architecture for sure yet-

-dj

[Spider]

Don't you get "parameter jump" with drawbars though?

Or maybe you move the drawbars to match the LED points before they then takeover?

How does it work in the Wave 2? Does the volume of each layer jump when you touch the fader, or is there a "catch-up" or "pass-through" mode?
I agree that for volumes having instant jumps would be inconvenient, it seems like an easy fix.

[alex78]

I believe it's 2 synth layers and a separate one for samples. Do not forget it's the new sample format that may have different controls from the standard synth oscilators, so an indepented section for samples makes sense.

[Spider]

Honestly, I don't see much usefulness in having more than 2 organs and/or pianos.
Instead I was hoping for 4 synth layers, or two simple "sample synths" (like on the NP5) and two "real synths"... you can never have enough of them!
But still it looks like a major update, let's see the full specs in a couple of days!

I agree with this, I have never needed two pianos or two organs. One piano, one organ, 4 synth would have been great, although we don't know the architecture for sure yet-

-dj

I sometimes layer pianos, to get the best of two samples (a very bright one plus a very full, dark one, for example) or for some special effects (AP plus EP or digital, or clavinet...).
I have NEVER layered two organs.
I agree, let's wait and see hwat the new architecture will be

[DJKeys]

I believe it's 2 synth layers and a separate one for samples. Do not forget it's the new sample format that may have different controls from the standard synth oscilators, so an indepented section for samples makes sense.

I hope they don't add this as I see it as an unnecessary limitation. Sample Synth player is much less flexible than a synth panel that can load samples, and the last updates hinted at support for v5 samples across the current line-

-dj

[florence]

We need a 2nd picture from the right side

[Benis67]

As is known, the DSPs of the Motorola/Freescale/NXP 56K family have been out of production for years and sooner or later even the Nord Keyboards will have to use an alternative generation of DSP/CPUs for synthesis (presumably ARM-based).
Will NORD STAGE 4 be the first of this new family? And if so, will the differences in sound generation be perceptible?