Anyone also disappointed by the W2?

[DanLong]

I got a Wave 2 a couple weeks ago. I also have a Stage 3C and a Lead A1. I don't have any real complaints so far. I've put a fair amount of time into programming the sounds I need and have done a couple rehearsals and a gig with the board. I love the keyboard feel. It's super easy to program. I play in a Floyd tribute, and I programmed from scratch all the sounds I used on my Lead A1 in a couple hours and that was getting used to the flow of the operating system as well. Now I can start from a blank patch and dial in what I want in minutes.

The detune thing was a little bit of a hurdle, but I just took the same sound and put it in 2 layers and detuned the layers, and it sounds fat.

I haven't used a stock patch for anything yet, and I'm basically overwriting them with my own programs as I create them.

This was exactly my experience when moving from the A1 to the NW2. The Wave 2 is super-easy to program and can make some great sounds with just a single layer.

-dj

I set up both my Stage 3 and the A1 and then dialed in the sounds on the Wave by doing an A/B compare. It was so easy. I have a huge minimoog sound for Any Colour You Like with 3 layers set up like a 3 osc Moog, it's so fat sounding.

[cavstef]

I received the NW2 a few days ago. Excellent keyboard (slightly heavier than the NS4 Compact). I don't like the keyboard split system, the one on the NS4 is much easier.

[Matt-new]

Hi, I'm new with the NW2. The split zones are very uncomfortable compared to Stage 3. I can't layer two sounds over the whole keyboard and additionally sound 3 on the lower and sound 4 on the upper part. No seamless transitions when changing programs, I'm missing something like a song-list mode, when I select a new sample, the settings start again from zero and don't keep the previous settings, pending load missing, no MIDI Soft Thru...

in addition: I can pitch -24 down but only +2 up maximum.

Why is in the forum no section with Nord Wave 2 programs?
Thanks
Helmuth

[LFOlogy]

the split zones are a bit clunky. Depending on which of the three you select, you should be able to use it ok. But it's not very intuitive.

I've made lots of sounds on mine both with and without using the yorick tech expander module and my own pre loop scanned wavetables (as samples). Some I did fill multi sampling others I just did a quick version to get them in using c4.


There is a way to adjust the pitch bend wheel. Though I'm at work right now I can check later on. It should be possible to get +/- 24 if that's what you want .

[LFOlogy]

Ok so the way to adjust pitch bend to plus and minus 12 on the wave 2 is to hold shift and long press the pbend button. Then use the value dial to the desired pitch bend extremes.

+/-12 is one of the options. But you can't do +/-24 though. Only way around that is to use pedal expression or modwheel to those boundaries.

[RogerMusic]

I LOVE Nord keyboards, however I had to return my Wave 2.
The weight of the keys were really hard on my hands. I was actually having a hard time playing this key bed.
The Sound Presets did seem like an after thought. The initial string pad was excellent, many others were lacking.
I felt the price was high for this keyboard.
I hope they fix the keyed for version 3.

Hello, I have the same issue with my Wave 2. Its a outstanding synth, but I 'm used to a "typical" synth (workstation) keybed, like the ones of the montage or the Kronos. My fingers are used to that, and from that perspective I was disappointed by the semi-weighted waterfall keybed, which is too "weighted" for my taste , maybe good for piano players, but not good for me as a synth player. The keybed of my electro 5D is also semi-weighted waterfall, but feels easier and "quicker" and more fluently to play. By the way, I hade the same issue when I wanted to change from my electro 5D to a stage 3, the keybed of the stage 3 was also more "harder" compared to my electro. Maybe this comes from the aftertouch capability this keybeds have. So I sold the stage 3 again and still have my electro 5D. I still have the Wave 2 but as a matter of fact the keybed of my montage feels more comfortable and faster to play - any thoughts ?

[tsss27]

There have been discussions about replacing the springs on Electro keybeds to make them lighter and more responsive. The Wave 2 should have the same Fatar keybed, so it's worth researching those threads. Otherwise I'd say the action is a little stiff.

[AllenPage]

Hey, I can totally understand your frustration. I’ve had similar issues with the Wave 2 in certain areas, especially the clock drift and some of the bugs you mentioned. It’s definitely not as polished as some of the other Nord gear, especially considering how well the NS3C works.

I agree on the detune and effects front those were key features for me on the Stage, and the Wave 2 doesn’t quite hit the same mark. Presets also felt less inspiring compared to other Nord instruments.

That said, I’m hoping a future firmware update might address some of these issues, but I’m honestly surprised they didn’t iron out more of these kinks before release.

Has anyone else found any workarounds or fixes for these bugs?

[miglio77]

I’ve owned a Nord Wave 2 for almost six years now.
I’ve programmed a lot of patches on it, used it extensively live, both in setups with Nord Stage 3 88 and with a Roland Fantom 6.

Let me start with the obvious:

Best strength: on stage, it sounds
It cuts through the mix beautifully, it’s immediate, solid, and very “Nord”. In a live context, it does its job extremely well.

Worst weakness: where do I even start?

My biggest disappointment over time has been realizing that Nord basically did nothing to expand the single-oscillator architecture.
This is, honestly, a real shame.

One of Nord’s historical strengths was always the clarity and completeness of basic synth building blocks. On the Wave 2, this philosophy feels strangely abandoned.

Some examples:
• It’s absurd that to get a basic synth configuration like saw + square, I’m forced to use two slots.
• It’s absurd that splits are so limiting and rigid for a performance-oriented instrument.
• It’s absurd that LFOs cannot be synced. For a synth in this price range, this is hard to justify.

Now, to be clear:
Can you do great sounds with the NW2? Absolutely yes.
If you know what you’re doing, you can still pull out huge, expressive, musical patches. I’ve done it myself many times.

But that doesn’t change the fact that the overall architecture feels unnecessarily constrained, especially considering the price point.

At around €2500, having such fundamental limitations simply doesn’t make much sense anymore. And maybe that’s also why you don’t see many Wave 2s on stage compared to other Nord products.

I still like the instrument, I still respect what it does well, but I can’t help feeling that the Wave 2 is a missed opportunity.
With a few architectural improvements, it could have been something truly outstanding.

[NiCoX]

I completely agree, I feel the same way (both the positive and the less positive aspects).

It wouldn't have taken much effort to make it almost perfect (in its category).