Nord Stage 2 88 Or Korg Kronos 73

[barrydmd]

I know that this is a "do my shoes fit" questions which can only be answered by me because it is largely subjective.
I am not really a very good piano player, but that is what I mostly play with occasional left hand bass and layers
with pads or strings. I only play at home, and will be replacing an aging Korg T2 76 key workstation with semi-weighted
keys.
My main need is a good acoustic piano sound, but I also like to play around with EP's and B3 patches. I have been
auditioning the Stage2 and the Korg Kronos X. I know that they are apples and oranges since the Nord is more of a
performance keyboard, and the Korg is a workstation.
I haven't been able to A/B these keyboards in the same store, so my observations are from memory. My thoughts are that
the acoustic pianos are similar in quality, the EP's are a little better on the Nord and the B3 sounds are definitely better
on the Stage.
If I were making my decision on sound quality alone, I would buy the Nord, but I also like toying with the Combinations
on the Korg.
barrydmd

[anotherscott]

My thoughts are that
the acoustic pianos are similar in quality, the EP's are a little better on the Nord and the B3 sounds are definitely better
on the Stage

The Korg acoustic pianos use a much larger sample set (over 4 gb), but which is better is very much a matter of opinion. Many people (myself among them) prefer the Nord pianos despite their much smaller sample size. OTOH, it is possible to load custom pianos into the Korg (i.e. if you have software pianos you like, you can sample them and bring them into the Korg) so you have some other possible options there for different piano sounds.

EPs are an area where I prefer the Korg to the Nord.

I'm not sure about the B3 comparison, I actually liked the Korg's CX3 engine quite a bit (it's certainly more tweakable), and now Korg has just released a software update to to improve the Kronos organ which I haven't heard but people have been very positive about. Even before that, if you put a Neo Ventilator on them (which improves either), I think people who would otherwise have preferred either one over the other would then find to be comparable.

I like the lighter weight and greater operational simplicity of the Nord, but if you really want to get deep into it, you can do a lot more with the Korg.

[Diego5150]

I know that this is a "do my shoes fit" questions which can only be answered by me because it is largely subjective.
I am not really a very good piano player, but that is what I mostly play with occasional left hand bass and layers
with pads or strings. I only play at home, and will be replacing an aging Korg T2 76 key workstation with semi-weighted
keys.
My main need is a good acoustic piano sound, but I also like to play around with EP's and B3 patches. I have been
auditioning the Stage2 and the Korg Kronos X. I know that they are apples and oranges since the Nord is more of a
performance keyboard, and the Korg is a workstation.
I haven't been able to A/B these keyboards in the same store, so my observations are from memory. My thoughts are that
the acoustic pianos are similar in quality, the EP's are a little better on the Nord and the B3 sounds are definitely better
on the Stage.
If I were making my decision on sound quality alone, I would buy the Nord, but I also like toying with the Combinations
on the Korg.
barrydmd

Hey Barry,
I have owned the Kronos 73X for over a year now and I will be purchasing the Nord Stage 2 in less than 2 weeks. The Nord Stage 2 pianos with the string resonance is by far imo the best piano sounds bar none. I have only played the Stage 2 once for about an hour and a half but I really enjoyed the Nord. I liked the Pianos, Synth and the organs in that order. As far as the organ section goes the Kronos's are pretty great as was the Nord. The Synth sections for both are pretty nice but I feel the Kronos is a little deeper. But again I have not dug into the Stage 2 enough yet to truly say.

The Kronos is a workstation and a very deep and somewhat complicated or as some say steep learning curve. While the Nord is a stage piano loses nothing if you are using a DAW. It is a matter of preference when it comes down to it though.

You cannot go wrong with either one but the best advice I can give would be research the (2) boards, play them a few times each if you can and try to find a deal like interest free financing for 18 months - 2 years. Sweetwater is a good place to purchase once you know what you want. Good luck.

PS if you go with the Kronos, get the X version. It is a little more $ wise but it comes with 1 GB more memory.

[analogika]

If you're going to be building your own sounds and you enjoy programming, the Kronos is great. The organs are better on the Stage.

The Stage is a straightforward musicians' keyboard. Wonderfully programmable, but extremely accessible and WAY faster to edit for individual sounds (for me) than a Kronos or — even worse — a Motif.
The Kronos has a very deep playlist mode and a great patch organisation — once you get your head around it and build a set-up.
It also allows you to layer more and different sounds, giving you a mixer with faders to change parts live and on the fly.

OTOH, the Nord has morph, which allows for some really awesome transitions and flexibility while playing. It's somewhat more limited, but WAY more "musical" IMO.

I program, I design, and I edit as needed for the job, but there's a reason I prefer the knobbed single-layer interface design of analog hardware when appropriate. The guys at Clavia know what they're doing.

If you're more after instant gratification and quickly throwing together combinations of sounds and tweaking them/playing with them as you play them, the Clavia is going to be more fun.

[Merlimau]

I load into my stage 2 the “Grand Imperial XL” version to check if the piano sound “improves”. My wife as a good piano player runs and fetches her Mozart sheets to start with playing. The sound comes close to our grand piano. The heights are more detailed then our Grand. Limitations in the lower are probably the loudspeaker. I plugged the Stage 2 into a Denon stereo amplifier and then to B&W (Bowers&Wilkins) loudspeaker which only goes as low as ca. 50Hz. The keys are a little bit to “light” she claims. The right hand “runs” sometimes away.

I too like the sound of the “Grand Imperial XL”. It’s much smoother to play and the sound is really nice. But you have to play louder, like a Grand does to hear the piano and fortissimo.

I think the amplifier and the loudspeaker are as well important for the sound quality no matter if you have a Nord Stage 2 or a Korg Kronos.

Merlimau

[Gustavo]

If you only play alone and like to fool around with combis using drum tracks, arpegiators and sequences. Then go for the Kronos. If you are willing to spend the big bucks then that's the best one you can get. If there is some kind of price concern, I think you cannot go wrong with the Korg Krome 73. I have a Korg M50 and a Nord Stage 2, and sometimes when playing just for fun the M50 has a better satisfaction factor due to that drum track and the ability to arpegiate the bass and just leave it there while going crazy on the Nord.

Something you could consider too is getting some of both worlds like this:

Prices in US Dollars, made in Sweetwater's webpage.

prices.PNG (139.42 KiB) Viewed 13814 times

You are already familiar with Korg's architecture so the Krome should be quite familiar. On Contrast the Electro would provide a great organ engine, and superb pianos, along with sample capabiliites (like outstanding mellotrons).

Saludos,
Gustavo

[barrydmd]

Thanks. Gustavo, your suggestion was very helpful. I'll probably get the Kronos because of the Combinations.
Your post reminded me of how much fun i can have with the Combinations, since I am an amateur.
Also, I have a two tier Quicklok stand and will have my monitors on the top tier, so I don't have room for the 2nd keyboard.
barrydmd

[anotherscott]

I have a two tier Quicklok stand and will have my monitors on the top tier, so I don't have room for the 2nd keyboard.

Many QuikLok stands have a way to attach a third tier, so you might be able to add that to what you have. (Otherwise, of course, you could consider replacing the stand with a 3-tier stand at some point as well)

[Gustavo]

Thanks. Gustavo, your suggestion was very helpful. I'll probably get the Kronos because of the Combinations.
Your post reminded me of how much fun i can have with the Combinations, since I am an amateur.
Also, I have a two tier Quicklok stand and will have my monitors on the top tier, so I don't have room for the 2nd keyboard.
barrydmd

You welcome!! Nords are in my opinion the best keyboards but they are not for everybody! Sometimes its more fun to have a sequencer on board.

Yesterday I was just experimeniting with my Korg M50, I wanted to play something funky and under 10 minutes I managed to set up a combi with a drum track with a funk pattern, a bassline with a funky pattern, and a wah guitar doing rhytmic things. I could change the chord being played with the 4 chord trigger buttons and with the keyboard itself I would "solo" with an EP. It just amazes me how easily one can do complex things if you know how to set it up. Its specially fun when you have none around available to jam with you.

But then on a band context going up to the nord ... it simply sounds better!!

[orangefunk]

I own a Kronos 61 which I used to trigger from a RD700GX. I sold the RD700GX as I was moving across country and felt I needed to get rid of a lot of gear (in the end I probably should have sold a lot more off!). I have also played the Stage 2 88 quite a lot (sessions, gigs) so here are my thoughts.

Pianowise... I think the Stage 2 has a fuller sound... though more shrill at the top it is somehow more like a real piano to me. The Kronos is more like what you would expect of someone like Lyle Mays off a Pat Metheny CD. Really nice, smooth, a lot of detail around pianistic noises, but somehow not as satisfying to me.. maybe I have just gotten bored of my Kronos sound though... I fell in love with the Dark Japanese grand sound when I first heard it... just superb..

Epianos on the Kronos.... a lot of people rave about them, but I really don't like them... yes they are modelled and expressive but the initial attack is so unlike my Rhodes that it really just isn't cutting it for me. The Stage 2 has a much nicer sound but suffers from a lack of dynamic response. However, I found a little overdrive helps to overcome that problem...

I think of the Kronos like an ideas machine... tons of sounds and possibilities... I have delved into the Combinations and its a rabbit hole basically, esp with all those engines... however I feel better and more intuitive results can be had in other ways (I love Reason 7 for instance and its piece of cake to put combos together in that). programming the Kronos is a bit of a pain due to the rather terrible 1997 style Java Swing Form GUI employed on many of the engines.... You can get good results though.

The sampler on the Kronos was opened up in OS2.0 to support user streaming... this means you can make your own GB sample libraries and have them stream off the flash drive. Really nifty, although a lot of confusion reigns in setting that up... I sampled a lot of my Oberheim Matrix 12 patches and DSI PolyEvolver note for note 15 second samples... strangely still not sounding as good as the real thing but a very good compromise for live play...

So Kronos or Stage 2... well I personally would wait a few more weeks and see if there is a Stage 3 about to come on the market.