NORD STAGE 4 officially announced for February 16th 2023

[analogika]

It clearly escapes some people here that one can heavily compliment AND severely criticize a company and its products at the same time.

Obviously I love and use Nords or I wouldn't be here, absorbing a more or less continuous shellacking from fanboys and gatekeepers whenever I say something less than flattering.

Equally obviously I think that Clavia as a company has made some questionable moves and has spent the past few years in some kind of stasis. I'm sure some of my points have been silly. I'm equally sure some have been valid.

That's the problem with setting such high standards - you open yourself up to criticism when you don't meet them (in my personal opinion, of course). It's not a conflict for me to slam Clavia for some things and praise them for others.

I'm sorry if that's confusing for some of you. I'm even more sorry that some people choose to make the poster the topic of discussion, and not stick to the ideas and issues at hand.

Gambold

Exactly....it´s corny when a place gets like a cult..nothing can be questioned in the mighty "Nord Church" well, btw how "unusual"...

Let's see...I own six Nord products myself and have had personal contact with a Nord employee and one Nord sound designer.
I told them what I think about stuff and gave them suggestions without them whining or getting defensive.

Fanboy/girl-ism is of no use to anyone, least of all Nord

Please do allow for "fanboys" to at least correct misinformation without defaming them as a "cult".

[analogika]

I interpret this as Nord going more after the church/worship market, which is incredibly lucrative for a musical instrument manufacturer. This, to me, is why you see mostly worship-style musicians doing the demos (albeit dressed up in pseudo Neo-soul garb). I used to work with someone who played in a church praise band and the church owned several Stage 2's. There's money to be made there. Institutions are less sensitive to these high prices as well.

It's a model Hammond has been practicing for years. None of their stuff is cheap, and they have (I understand) a thriving market.

Arguably, Hammond has been practicing that since the 1930's.

[analogika]

The videos you call great should be posted next week or the week after
today the company should post videos about the unit itself
has anybody seen the comparison they put up on their own website about the stage 3 and stage 4?
It's hysterical
six years of wait for the few changes that they even admit themselves
forget about the price increase
but the fact that they had the nerve to put up that comparison which showed that they basically have done little to nothing in six years when it comes to something electronic
in this era
crazy

This is typically how Nord works, though...each model's updates are generally not groundbreaking, and are also usually behind their competition in terms of features. The model improvements have been slow and gradual over time. It's just what this company does. Is that how I would do it, no, but it's not my company so that's irrelevant. We can take it or leave it.

[analogika]

has anybody seen the comparison they put up on their own website about the stage 3 and stage 4?
It's hysterical
six years of wait for the few changes that they even admit themselves
forget about the price increase
but the fact that they had the nerve to put up that comparison which showed that they basically have done little to nothing in six years when it comes to something electronic
in this era
crazy

Check out the comparison they put up between the Stage 2 and Stage 3. Hysterical:

https://www.nordkeyboards.com/products/ ... ison-chart

Incremental upgrades and a handful of important new features, plus a synth engine carried over from the flagship synth.
Seem familiar?

Or maybe you were just expecting a completely new product line, while they were actually working on a new, updated version of their Stage series.

[Gambold]

Yeah, well, in the end: it came, we saw...and it's business as usual. The Stage 4 has some nice new features. It's missing things people hoped for. The tech is pretty much the same as it's always been. It's really expensive. It's not a game changer, it's not a new direction, it's not anything that's going to set the digital keyboard world on its ear. It's pretty much what we've been seeing for the past five years or so - steady, dependable, unexciting product.

They will sell a bunch of them and the 40th anniversary year will come and go with little fanfare. There doesn't seem to be any reason to expect that further versions of the Electro or Piano will be any different. Next time our anticipation will be considerably more tempered.

Selah, Gambold

[lucasdmacaluso]

six years of wait for the few changes that they even admit themselves
forget about the price increase
but the fact that they had the nerve to put up that comparison which showed that they basically have done little to nothing in six years when it comes to something electronic
in this era
crazy

this.

i've seen some folks highlight the ability for continuous sound/presets. that is useful, yes. but also, $5K gets you an M2 Macbook Pro and lots of VST program capabilities that can also do that with your existing Nord as a MIDI controller. More upfront research and problem-solving, not everyone wants to gig with a laptop--sure. This model by Nord just feels half-a**ed/money-grab/bleeding their fans dry.

[almost]

six years of wait for the few changes that they even admit themselves
forget about the price increase
but the fact that they had the nerve to put up that comparison which showed that they basically have done little to nothing in six years when it comes to something electronic
in this era
crazy

this.

i've seen some folks highlight the ability for continuous sound/presets. that is useful, yes. but also, $5K gets you an M2 Macbook Pro and lots of VST program capabilities that can also do that with your existing Nord as a MIDI controller. More upfront research and problem-solving, not everyone wants to gig with a laptop--sure. This model by Nord just feels half-a**ed/money-grab/bleeding their fans dry.

They missed on this one big time. Everybody that cares about synths has another synth. I have a stage for organ, piano, eps extern and pads/samples. Was looking forward to this 'cause of the 73HA, but 6000 after taxes and I still have to spend time picking and choosing between pianos samples and sizes. I'll keep my S3 88. And save 3k. Thanks.

[Copia]

I also am in the camp of really missing song sets that to me have become invaluable (and I know for others your disappointment is for other hoped for improvements). However, I am actually getting really excited about the possibilities of this iteration, anyway (I’m not selling my S3s). Instrument presets may end up becoming more useful to live tweaking for us live gigging musicians (despite the shock of losing song sets), IF the organization of it is fluid.

Imagine for instance one is playing a piano with pads under it. In a certain gig condition, it feels like a string would fill lighter or maybe a violin funkier or a Clav staccato tighter. Or maybe a driving Rhodes would cut better. Wham, quick change of parts, all curated for your style already with mods and effects. I could see this potentially being a fun and more tweakable stage. If it’s organized so all the prepared instruments are right there at a fingertip.

Where previously each patch would be prepared for different situations and changes would require dialing in and tweaking further or switching to another previously prepared patch, this update might allow more on the fly changes and instruments for the moment, and this is what I love about playing live. I’m very curious to see if this is how it’s implemented—-for quick access. It would take some getting used to not having the song sets. But it would make playing much more fun and responsive for me live if the implementation of instrument changes is fast and intuitive.

[dansnord]

I'm new to the Nord world. (But not new to the music world, and I work in technology.) Just bought my NS3-88 a couple of months ago and absolutely love it. I have to say, the NS4 unveiling is an odd sigh of relief for me. The $4,199 I spent on the NS3 is looking fantastic. No way I would *ever* have considered the $6k on an NS4. No way. And even the $5,100 the NS3 used to be was too much for me.

Unless someone shopping for a Nord Stage can articulate exactly why they will specifically use the modest new features of the NS4, they should be running out right now to buy an NS3 before they're gone. I'm very surprised the NS4 did not get a piano memory increase. *Very* surprised. That was the one thing I was bracing myself for as a piano-oriented player. But no change at all from my NS3. And the weight bump is also a deal breaker for me. I struggle to move the NS3-88 in the case by myself. The extra couple of pounds makes a difference. Overall, the NS3 is a fantastic, limited-time deal. I'm not even kidding when I say that buying one now to resell in a couple months when they're gone might even make people some money. Crazy. I'm sorry for those of you who waited years for this. Hard to see it as anything other than a modest upgrade for an incredible amount of money.

[almost]

I'm new to the Nord world. (But not new to the music world, and I work in technology.) Just bought my NS3-88 a couple of months ago and absolutely love it. I have to say, the NS4 unveiling is an odd sigh of relief for me. The $4,199 I spent on the NS3 is looking fantastic. No way I would *ever* have considered the $6k on an NS4. No way. And even the $5,100 the NS3 used to be was too much for me.

Unless someone shopping for a Nord Stage can articulate exactly why they will specifically use the modest new features of the NS4, they should be running out right now to buy an NS3 before they're gone. I'm very surprised the NS4 did not get a piano memory increase. *Very* surprised. That was the one thing I was bracing myself for as a piano-oriented player. But no change at all from my NS3. And the weight bump is also a deal breaker for me. I struggle to move the NS3-88 in the case by myself. The extra couple of pounds makes a difference. Overall, the NS3 is a fantastic, limited-time deal. I'm not even kidding when I say that buying one now to resell in a couple months when they're gone might even make people some money. Crazy. I'm sorry for those of you who waited years for this. Hard to see it as anything other than a modest upgrade for an incredible amount of money.

Waited 3 years, can wait another and buy it used. I think Stage 3 its going to hold value pretty well.