New NS4 - WOW! The perfect board for Pink Floyd cover band

[jazzmonger]

I've had the NS4 for about a month now. I gotta say, without question it's the single best keyboard I've ever owned, and I go back to the 1980's buying pretty much every hot new keyboard that would come out. I've also had most all Nord keyboards at some point and Clavia's marketing folks won the battle over engineering folks this time around.

I love how user friendly the layout is, multiple instances of each section, volume sliders on all panels, man there are just too many things to list.
The timing is perfect on getting this board. I just joined a Pink Floyd cover band with the original drummer from Heart, and this board makes it all possible. I originally thought I'd have to have my Mac supplement sounds, samples, etc. But nope, the NS4 does it all. The Hammond emulation is even growing on me. Normally I'd have my XK5 as the sound engine for my Leslie 147, but the Nord is passable, even decent. The main trick is to turn OFF the Leslie sim section completely.

And the White Grand. Holy cow. It's HUUUGE!! I broke down and got a Nord pedal and the pedal resonance sound is just is the cherry on top.

I put a few Moises tracks together the other night cutting out all the keyboard & synth parts and using the NS4 instead. Nobody Home really showcases the White Grand.

https://soundcloud.com/user-265036940/s ... d-the-boyz
Note: These are all one take tracks. no over dubs. Im using the multi panels for all layered sounds,

When I get a little further I'm happy to post my presets. I'm still learning not only the music but how to really optimize the NS4 for this music. The song On The Run is just an absolute kick in the pants to play - you can control everything, and it was all done in the NS4, no post production anything. And with headphones, just wow.

Jeff

[Cremersoul]

Hi Jeff,

i just created an account to answer your post. I'm just about to pull the trigger on a NS4 (would be my first Nord) because i also joined a Pink Floyd tribute show And your post just confirms that this would absolutely be a good decision.

Actually i'm playing a Yamaha YC73, MODX 6+ on top and to the left an UHL X3-2 organ (2 manuals) which is one of the best Hammond Clones i know (only availabe in Germany as far as i know). But for smaller venues i would like to just have one key and the organ (or really just one key which can theoretically do it all - just in case).

I absolutely love Nord's "hands on" approach of their products. The Yamaha YC (and CK) line is also a joy to program but limited to the (very good) on board sounds. But sadly no own samples possible and only 3 layers. And i don't want to mess around with Mainstage or iPad Apps even if the integration is easy with the built in interface and the masterkey functions with 4 sections. But i just like hardware and their haptics As deep as i can go on my MODX+ and as simply it is (after a few weeks of learning) to get where i want to, it is not fun to use (and the keybed is awful). That's where the Nord comes to my mind. Pricy but if it sparks joy, it is worth it in my opinion. Just one thing that bugs me from reading the specs and listening to demos: The faders and knobs always "jumps" to the physical value of the knob. My Yamahas can enable "catch" mode for controllers which means, the value only changes after the physical knob or fader reaches the actual value of the parameter. Perfect and sadly missing in the NS4. Should be easy to add it via firmware ... but after 3 years on the market i don't think Clavia will ever add this feature ...

Nevertheless: I heard your examples at soundcloud. Great! "On the run" uses the original samples i guess? Or did you create the sequence with the internal arpeggiator?

Thanks for sharing your opinion and your examples!

Cheers,
Markus