Nord User Forum

Elias wrote:I bought my first Stage 3 C, key resistance was really unconsistent.

Switched it to another one, MONITOR IN -port is loose and buzzy…

Best sound ever. Best user interface ever. The best All-In-One solution for many, many keyboard players.
But still. 3000€. Its been the most expensive and least reliable piece of gear that I have owned.

Just sharing my honest experiences, because you asked for it.

You are is absolutely right. Couldn't have said it otherwise.

Rene67 wrote:[
Thanx. I bought the nord from an official dealer and this is theire quote :

"I find it very annoying that things are going so badly and I want to do the maximum to help you properly.
Exchange is very difficult. Of course I have already discussed this with Nord several times. Nord's policy in this is that they unfortunately never do this.
Even in these two situations I have deposited that again at the factory, they do not offer any support in this."


So I don't think this would be the last word on this.

Can you return it, get your money back and buy from a different dealer? It doesn’t seem fair to be sent a piece of equipment that is defective right out of the box, then be left on your own to fix it.

It looks like the lesson here is to understand the warranty and return policy before buying from a dealer. If you can’t return it, best wishes to getting it repaired as quickly as possible.

Rene67 wrote:

ajstan wrote:It seems like the preponderance of these types of situations are with distributors outside of the US. It sounds frustrating. Here, with authorized retailers (at least the ones I deal with), it's a quick swap for a new unit if there are any immediate issues - there is no need for a customer to send a new unit out for service. Plus, we have Pablo to help us diagnose issues and determine the best course of action.

I'm not knowledgeable of the options you have in your country, but it's always worth it to me to pay a bit more to work with a reputable dealer for purchases of a meaningful amount. It's good to be confident that you are getting a new, unopened item and the retailer will make things right. Quality control won't catch 100% of all production issues, so it's good to have a safety net.

Good luck. I hope you get your issues resolved soon so you can focus on learning how to use your new NS3!

Thanx. I bought the nord from an official dealer and this is theire quote :

"I find it very annoying that things are going so badly and I want to do the maximum to help you properly.
Exchange is very difficult. Of course I have already discussed this with Nord several times. Nord's policy in this is that they unfortunately never do this.
Even in these two situations I have deposited that again at the factory, they do not offer any support in this."

So I don't think this would be the last word on this.

Can you please check within your country's trading and retail laws regarding sale of goods, returns acts and matters such as "fit for purpose" please.

There must be governing laws which protect you as a customer. You say it was purchased before Christmas, With Christmas affecting certin issues, then by rights as of week commencing 1st week of January onwards, they should be providing you with the support possible. From a legal perspective, you have a manufacturer's warranty, this covers manufacturers defects, etc, these issues are classed as such and cannot be denied, as when the product is shipped from Nord in Sweden, via it's shipping companies, then passed through distribution networks to retailers, the legal onus is on both Nord and the retailer. The distributor has a legal involvement and as such can be requested to resolve this matter.

I advise you now take this process by official email and by letter in the post, to the dealer, CC the distributor and also Nord. Here are the email addresses for Nord which are available from the website, so I'm not breeching any rules or laws here.

email for your retailer,
email for the distributor for your country
support@clavia.se,
marketing@clavia.se

Send the letter as well officially to the retailer for the Managing Director's attention, also the distributor for your country, again for the Managing Director's attention. Then to Nord Head office for the attention of

Mr. Hans Nordelius.
Clavia Digital Musical Instruments AB
BOX 4214
SE-102 65 Stockholm
SWEDEN

In the letter, don't change the letter, add within the letter the email you received from the retailer.

you state that the equipment purchased is not fit for purchase and as such it is your legal right to reject the goods and demand a refund of the item. If the item is not serviced to the standard to which it is fully usable and does not produce failures, then the product is not fit for purpose and as such cannot be used for it's true needs. You hereby advise each party to resolve this matter within a 14 day period, failure to do so will result in legal proceedings through the country of residence's court for trade / retail based matters. Any costs will then be incurred by the listed parties if this matter is not addressed.

The retailer cannot legally refuse you a replacement or repair within the 1st year of purchase. Your warranty covers repairs due to manufacturer defect and as users have discussed various faults, I've even gone through this with a few machines in the last year, there are clearly QC issues, shipping issues and no signs of improvement.

In the letter, state that you are a loyal customer, you purchased this instrument as it's an instrument you rely on and as such you are deeply disappointed by the actions of the parties in question and the defects within the instrument. Make it clear that you are aware of multiple instances where Nord products have had issues worldwide and as such these matters need addressing.

State that you either wish for a direct replacement which you are legally entitled to by law, a full service within the manufacturer's warranty, or if this is not suitable, then a full refund.

Please include PDF copies of invoices, receipts, etc as proof of purchase, this stands as your legal proof of warranty. print these to include in the letters as emails can be deleted.

Good luck.

My advice above is based on my own experience in retail and knowledge of trading laws. If a company tries to do the dishonest thing with me, they find I can do particular things to enforce that the matter is dealt with, then they act. With certain acts including previous Nord purchases, I have been forced to take legal action under UK trading standards Act governance with retailers and won. I do not let things lie until I have a satisfactory answer.

If for any reason, you need my help, PM me and I will give you all the assistance I can give you.

lew

It seems like another batch of nords is having QC issues. Yep even I've gone through it and guess what, even my two new machines have issues. the monitor in prt on both is loose, headphone port on the stage 3-88 boots with a weird slow left ramp up right off, then balances to stereo monitoring on headphone. I've given up sending these back and forth. I'll just route both sources out to a master mix and that's it. I'm tired of carriers and the UK distributor. I don't want to leave Nord products as there's nothing else out there that covers what I need. All I can say is this. Nord needs to sharpen up and shape up it's attitude to it's customers, because between what I and others here have experienced, Nord is not exactly known for communication with customers, in fact, bad manners, then distributors such as in the UK who treat you like a naughty 3 year old, it's not acceptable. I think Mr. Hans Nordelius needs to be made aware of such actions and quite frankly treat us as customers like gold and not dust.

lew

Sorry to hear of your issues.

My 3c suffered from the loose mod wheel connector (first batch), but since fixing that, it’s had no issues whatsoever.

LewTheKeysGuy wrote:It seems like another batch of nords is having QC issues. ...

The monitor in port doesn't work well with the typical iPhone-like mini-jack cables. If you can, try to find a cable with a more solid (a little wider) connector; some more pro-like audio cables have that, as far as I know.

As for headphones output, are you using an adaptor from jack to mini-jack to your headphones? Some of them are known to be a little "weird", so it might be worth trying another one out, just in case.

baekgaard wrote:

LewTheKeysGuy wrote:It seems like another batch of nords is having QC issues. ...

The monitor in port doesn't work well with the typical iPhone-like mini-jack cables. If you can, try to find a cable with a more solid (a little wider) connector; some more pro-like audio cables have that, as far as I know.

As for headphones output, are you using an adaptor from jack to mini-jack to your headphones? Some of them are known to be a little "weird", so it might be worth trying another one out, just in case.

hey there,

firstly I'm using professional audio cables for the monitor in port 2 x TS 1/4" to 3.5mm with solid barrel body. Also, headphones wise, I'm using. a very expensive pair of Adam SP5 reference headphones. I love these and highly recommend them to anyone, snug fit, no spill, just pure heaven. fault doesn't happen on the grand, just the stage 3..

the 3.5mm jack sockets are not right for these instruments, they're of a poor grade and to be honest should be replaced with2 x 1/4" sockets for inputs, a professional spec.

whilst saying this, as these are stage instruments, etc, why the heck haven't nord installed XLR connectors for outputs? come on, get with the times nord, other manufacturers like Korg, Roland, Yamaha, etc have XLR's for stage monitor outputs.


lew

Lew, you are obviously entitled to your opinion on what connectors Nord should use.

I was just politely trying to point out that many minijack connectors of the type that works well with eg a modern phone appear to have a loose fit to not only your Nord but to all the Nords I've come across, so if want to use the connector, you may have better luck with another cable. It probably won't help to send the Nord back for repair.

As for your headphones, even if they could be more expensive than your Nord, they could still come with a minijack plug that requires a converter, and many problems with headphones are caused by a faulty converter. That may not be your problem, of course, but just in case you had not considered that to be a possible error I mentioned it here to help you to diagnose possible causes of problems.

Welp, sorry everyone about your issues. Yes, gear issues can be a pain in the rear. i get that. I've had my share, albeit not with Nord.
Lots of bogus headphone adaptors out there. I've been burned ...

On the other side of the discussion, I've owned a bunch of Nords over the years. I consider them exceptionally reliable. Like, I'll be playing them 20 years from now. The only issues I've had is when they've experienced physical trauma, and then easily repaired.

My take? If Nord is having QC issues with suppliers or whatever, it's gonna be temporary.

They're not going to stand for that. These people bring game.

My advice would be to get through it, and get back to making wonderful music.

baekgaard wrote:Lew, you are obviously entitled to your opinion on what connectors Nord should use.

I was just politely trying to point out that many minijack connectors of the type that works well with eg a modern phone appear to have a loose fit to not only your Nord but to all the Nords I've come across, so if want to use the connector, you may have better luck with another cable. It probably won't help to send the Nord back for repair.

As for your headphones, even if they could be more expensive than your Nord, they could still come with a minijack plug that requires a converter, and many problems with headphones are caused by a faulty converter. That may not be your problem, of course, but just in case you had not considered that to be a possible error I mentioned it here to help you to diagnose possible causes of problems.

Hey, it's ok. I'm not just a keys guy, etc I am a qualified Audio Engineer / Technician, so I'm used to this lol.

I ran tests with a number of sets of headphones on the stage 3, compared to the nord grand, Nord grand, no issues on headphone output, stage 3, each power up cycle caused the same symptom, where no audio to right, slow volume up ramp to left, then slow phase equalised volume change bringing right channel normal, this is any patch. I can put up with that. had that on a previous stage but the replacements before that didn't have it.

If you insert a pro audio 1/8" jack into the monitor in port, you'll notice there isn't a solid hold, because the socket is open from the rear and not an enclosed contact socket, hence "wiggle room. the way to resolve that is a fine plastic probe to gently touch and push the contact to apply a little more tension to the socket, but if the socket is doing that, then clearly it's a poor part being installed.

with reference to me saying about XLR connections. Over the many years, keyboard players, professionals in the industry, etc have been asking manufacturers to provide XLR outputs for monitors / recording sources, a number of manufacturers have done so, I'm just surprised more than anything that Nord isn't one of them, after all the Grand and Stage are used on stages and performances, so it would make better sense to remove any noise point contact issues. TRS / TS cables move within the socket, fibre build up from metals cause line noise to the sockets hence when you rotate a jack in the socket you get distortion, an XLR connection is static and a permanent contact point, reducing this noise issue.

lew