Buying a keyboard

[Chummy]

Hey guys I am new here. I have an ancient Roland Ep760 Digital Piano that I got like 7-8 years ago when I started playing. Thing is it's now in kinda bad shape and I kinda got better for it, I mean I need something more... professional. I narrowed down my choice of keyboards to two: Fantom G, and Nord (I have no idea which product; Electro 3 or Stage yet). So I would like to know better about Nord before I consider upgrading to any keyboard. Note that I am completely ignorant about keyboards because I have been using an awful one so please don't talk big words to me just try to make me understand and talk to me as a newbie.

-What are the differences between Nord Stage and Nord electro?
- Differences Between Stage EX and Stage 2? and no I have no idea what is the memory, polyphony and all that stuff for and what they mean so yeah...
- In which ways Nord is better than the Fantom G and in which ways the Fantom G is better than Nord.
- when does the nord stage 2 arrives on stores? where I live they don't have it yet... I think (at least looked at the distributer's site and they don't)
- Any way there are more sounds other than piano organ and clavs? like the fantom G?
- What is in that update they release for the nord? what's it for and what does it do?
- What is the synth section for? What does it do?
-any more things I should consider? please tell me!

Thanks in advance. I need the keys mainly for the band but heck if it can do other things other than live mode be my guest and tell me what

[Hanon_CTS]

Hi Chummy,
What kind of music do you play?
what kind of music do you want to play?
What keyboardist inspires you most?

[keego19]

Differences between Stage and Electro? The Main difference is the Electro is not multitmbral which means it can only play one sound at a time. Where as the Stage cna play sounds layered or split over the keyboard or be used as a Master Keyboard. Ex and 2? Stage 2 has has more ROM so can therefore load larger Piano samples, also Stage 2 has user sample ROM like the electro so can load from the Nord sample library, the EX cannot do this.The synth section on the stage 2 is taken from the Nord Wave series but has only 1 oscilator to the Wave's 2.

[Chummy]

@hanon_CTS

hey , nice to meet you too mate :) I play mainly rock, rock'nroll and with the band we do also mainly melodic (80s/90s) rock but I like to jazz it out sometimes XD. I am trying to figure out exactly what I need because we had two gigs (yes, small ones but hey the band is brand new we just started playing like 3-4 months ago) also I need it for rehersals. Thing is I have no idea what is a synth, what's the diff between synth and digital piano (?) and what are the options of a synth :( I would really like a rookie guide book to all that pro stuff. Regarding keyboardists, I'd say I like a few people here in my country (I saw one w/ Nord that's how I come to know them) but from america I don't know many TBH but I like Bearkeys alot, he plays a fantom X tho.

@keego
what do you mean by load more piano samples? what are samples for and what do they do? can the stage 2 import sounds as a general purpose keyboard have? oscilator? damn I have no idea what it's for and what is the synth section for anyway. I plan on visiting the store tommorow in the big city, hope it works out.

What equips do you guys have?

[Hanon_CTS]

Hi Chummy,
I've been playing for close to 40 years, and I've owned just about every keyboard instrument
there is. Through it all, the most important aspect of any instrument is: It should be the best vehicle
for your playing, and creativity. When you play, the instrument must communicate EXACTLY what's in your musical soul.

I started using Nord keyboards 10 years ago with the Electro. I now have the Stage EX 76
and the Electro 3 61. These are my main two live keyboards. I play vintage rock/ prog rock. For me, the Nord is my best vehicle, and always says what I'm feeling.

At my home studio, I also have a Korg M-3 88 with Radias rack for when I want to get my Jarre on;)

The Roland Fantom-G is a great board full of workstation/ music production "studio in the instrument" type features.
I have never been a big fan of Roland's sounds, and the last instrument of theirs that I liked was the Jupiter-8.

The jazz and rock genre has a lot of "great vintage instruments" like Rhodes piano, Grand piano, Hammond organ, Hohner Clavinet, Wurlitzer EP-200... Basically everything in the Nord.

The Nord instruments are all about authenticity of sound.
Simply put: They are the closest you can get to the sound of the great vintage instruments without breaking your back, or your bank account.

A "sample" is an industry term for a recording of a sound. The vast majority of electronic keyboard instruments today are sample based, meaning that the sound they make started off mostly as a physical instrument in a studio somewhere.

The more memory an instrument has, the more instruments it can have, and play.
The great thing with Nord is that they've released the software for users to have their own samples in the Nord, and Nord is always releasing new samples too. Many forum members freely share their samples in the forum.

Sampling isn't the only means of producing sound from an electronic keyboard instrument, it's just the most common. Physical modeling is another way. The organ sounds of the Nord, primarily, but not exclusively use this method.

Of course this is all just my opinion, and perspective.
I hope this helps with your decision.