Nord User Forum

Ecaroh wrote:Quick update:
My local repair service verified my problem (I am not imagining things ) but could not find any cause to it. Now it goes further to a repair company which is mainly responsible of Finnish Nord warranty services. Let's see if they can do more. Anyway it seems more and more likely that I won't keep this HP76. I'll try to replace it to HA88-model. Hopefully it's better.

Don't discount the Compact. The 73 keyboard feels great (weighs less than half as much.)

The HP mechanism (aka Fatar TP100) seems to suffer a bit from inadequate lubrication, which causes the noise. My Electro 3HP had the problem, and I'm starting to hear it a bit on my Stage 2EX 76, which I purchased new last October. You hear it mostly when practicing alone at home, but it's quiet enough to be inaudible when playing with a band.

I described my disassembly and re-lubrication of the Electro's action in a thread a year or two ago. In short, I took the whole thing apart and re-greased every single key with a proper lubricant. It made the problem go away completely. Once the warranty expires on the Stage, I will most likely do the same thing.

The weight difference between the 76 and 88 is just too great for me.

@KyleM
At the moment I am after a double setup: Compact 73 for pop gigs and HA88 for more pianistic ones. Earlier I had NS2 HA76 for the first and NP3 for the second. Both old Nords are sold away. (Btw my NP3 suffered also from keyboard problems, so I am quite worried about actual quality of new Nord line)

@Rusty Mike
In fact I was thinking the same: maybe HP76 was lacking a proper lubrication
I don't need those extra keys of HA88, only thing I need is to have decent keyboard action. At first 76 felt great and very quiet. After more hours with it, it started to feel not that much like a piano action (some springiness) and then those mechanical "clonks" started sound. All this plus all the negative I've read about it, I finally had enough. Of all those NS3-models, somehow I trust most the keyboard of Compact 73. I had earlier one and had no any kind of problem with it. It's good as it is, it's not trying to be a piano.

Very difficult for me to play piano effectively on the SW keys. I also own an Electro 4D, and it's a lot of work to get the velocity scaling down effectively. Some of that is because I don't play it as much as the Stage, and use it mostly for organ anyway. But I do use it for quick/small gigs, and will play more organ and EP on it.

Hi guys, is there any news from NS3 76 users here? I had the problem with my NS2, it got replaced AND repaired, but in the end it kept on returning. Decided to get rid of the problem by changing to a NS3, but after having it now for 6 months, the problems starts again. Really annoying. Is Nord aware of the problem and doing something about it? And is it indeed fixable with the right glue method?

Really don't know what to do now...

It's disappointing to hear that users of the Nord Stage 3 HP76 are experiencing unwanted mechanical noise problems from some of the keys on their keyboards. Given that a lot of users of the older Nord Stage 2 HP76 (myself included) have had similar problems, you'd have thought Nord would have tried to sort it out on the newer model. Imagine if a lot of drivers of a particular model of a premium car like a BMW were experiencing annoying squeaks and rattles, the least you'd expect would be some kind of product recall to try to resolve it. It's such a shame because, apart from this, I love my NS2 EX - hoping someone from Nord quality control is reading this thread!

As I stated in another thread, this is a Fatar issue and not a problem created by Nord. Fatar manufactures the TP100 action and supplies it to Nord, who make no physical modifications to it. I do not know if Nord has a QC process for the Fatar-supplied actions.

The noise is not a mechanical defect, and you are not damaging the keyboard by playing it.

Nord does do some sort of QC, but it's mostly calibration and a quick play-through test according to their production video. My guess is that, like any keyboard mechanism, they need a little TLC after long storage and transport, and it's possible that Fatar doesn't lubricate enough at the factory. Not something Nord has a lot of control over other than to increase costs further to do what should be Fatar's job in the first place.

I take on board what you say 23skidoo, but I'm not convinced by your argument. Surely Nord has overall responsibility for all the components used in the products they sell, especially the keyboard itself? If something isn't up to the job (and reading the various threads, a lot of users seem to be having issues with the HP keyboard), shouldn't they be looking for a different manufacturer? I've owned many different keyboards in the past (mainly Korg, Roland and Yamaha) and the only time I experienced a problem similar to this was on a budget Casio, my first 'proper' synth. The Nord Stage, as we all know, is not a budget keyboard. Fair enough, after prolonged use any keyboard is going to need servicing and maintenance, but surely not in the first 12 months? I love everything else about my Nord Stage - the sounds, the intuitive user interface, even the feel of the HP keyboard itself. But, even though I'm learning to live with them because I don't want to be without my Nord, the clicking and squeaking noises are so disappointing.

There really isn't another third party manufacturer for keybeds that's anywhere close to Fatar... that's the problem. Yamaha make their own but don't sell them to other vendors (from what I'm aware)... same for Roland. Everybody else buys Fatar or cheap Chinese stuff.

Trust me, just lubricate your Fatar like Rusty Mike says and it'll be great for a lifetime.