Which Nord?

[Gustavo]

I think a Stage 2 is out of reach TBH, when you say the the electro line is monotibral, do you mean you can't split the keyboard and have say organ on one half and strings on the other?

Yes. Although you can have and organ split.

[skyeladder]

ok, thanks.

Can I just say that you seem a knowledgeable and friendly bunch on here

[pablomastodon]

Slight correction, Gustavo:

While the sound-producing aspects of all Nord Electro 4s are the same, the memory complements are not. Prospective buyers of Nord Electro 4 should be made aware that the 4D has substantially less memory than the 73-note models, both for samples and pianos.

Thus, the trade-off becomes drawbars or expanded memory; can't have both at once.

Bless,

Pablo

so which would you say was the best if I wanted to store plenty of sounds on it?

umm...if you want to store plenty of sounds, then bigger memory will be better than smaller memory. Keeping in mind that "the 4D has substantially less memory than the 73-note models," I'm thinking that one of the 73-note models, SW or HP, will be better for you than the 4D.

Bless,

Pablo

[Gustavo]

+1 to what Pablo said.

The Nord Electro 4D is aimed at Hammond B3 purists who insist on physical drawbars. From what I can conclude, you are not one of those persons. For that reason alone, it is better for you to have more sounds than physical drawbars, specially since the "draw buttons" work very well.

But if you play primarily piano, I'd incline for the HP version, since playing very delicate piano passages becomes more dificult in the more springy action of the SW. Yet it is nothing that practices can't overcome.

Saludos,
Gustavo

[whitenoise]

I have both Nord Electo 4d and Nord Stage 2 SW73. Both are great instruments. If you want everything and all buy a Nord Stage 2 (if you wife is classically trained get a HA version). If you can't afford Stage consider other brands. I don't say Nord Electo is no good. I like it for portability, physical drawbars, excellent Hammond sound but it has no split, layer possibility which makes it difficult to use in some cases.

I don't know if a portability is a key for you but some Kurzweils could do for you.