Feeling underwhelmed by the horns and strings

[LeftyBass68]

Out of the box strings are very bland indeed.Brass and woodwinds fare better not by much.Nothing a Roland Integra and a midi cable won't resolve though.
ETA for a Korg owner to disagree about ten minutes.

[hernjov1]

The Strings & Horns do need help on The Stage 3's..
Wish Clavia would update some samples to improve what is current!
Hey, what do you expect for 4 to 6 grand? Lol!

[KenNord4]

If you like your VST brass and strings, Why not sample them with the nord sample editor and load them into your Stage 4.
For me the sample editor is one of the best things about having a Nord. I think youll be surprised how well it all works. Its not too difficult to learn and the results for live use are extreamly good. No sample loading time, always part of a patch. can be part of a set list. Oh yeah i nearly forgot. Stage 4 doesnt have a set list.
Cheers Norm

[DavidSydney]

Question: is it advisable to get a separate USB-C Audio Interface for the mac, or is using the headphone out with a 1/4 adapter the same thing?

If you're running it into a mixer, the headphone out is fine. Just arrange it so the plug/cable setup isn't vulnerable to either being pulled out when you don't want it to be, or yanked or knocked so it damages the socket or pulls the Mac off its perch. My solution is a right angle Neutrik plug on a lead that's secured to my keyboard stand, with no loose cable between it and the mixer (also on the stand).

[creativespiral]

It's tough to design good string and brass sounds with the synth engine, due to the lack of a sustain stage that is normally present in other synthesizers... normally ADSR is available in just about every subtractive synth in the past 40 years. Nord Stage 4 only has ADR envelopes, with no sustain phase... its odd because the synth section is "based on Wave 2" which does have a sustain stage in Envs... hoping they can just add this in a firmware update, as its key to synth sound design.

Brass sounds have that characteristic quick rise and fall, then they sustain a level, until release. Same with strings and many, many other sound designs... nice pads really require a sustain stage as well. Right now, you pretty much have to rely on samples where the attack, decay and sustain section are baked into the sample, and can't use the synth sound design.

Please Nord, give us the 'S' in ADSR!

[baekgaard]

It's tough to design good string and brass sounds with the synth engine, due to the lack of a sustain stage that is normally present in other synthesizers... normally ADSR is available in just about every subtractive synth in the past 40 years. Nord Stage 4 only has ADR envelopes, with no sustain phase... its odd because the synth section is "based on Wave 2" which does have a sustain stage in Envs... hoping they can just add this in a firmware update, as its key to synth sound design.

Brass sounds have that characteristic quick rise and fall, then they sustain a level, until release. Same with strings and many, many other sound designs... nice pads really require a sustain stage as well. Right now, you pretty much have to rely on samples where the attack, decay and sustain section are baked into the sample, and can't use the synth sound design.

Please Nord, give us the 'S' in ADSR!

You're probably already aware of this, but just for the record: As the envelopes for the amplitude, oscillator and filter are separate, you can use e.g. the filter envelope to open up the sound briefly in the early attack phase or similarly use the envelope going to osc ctrl to e.g., add more overtones for a brief period initially. Then you can keep the amplitude envelope for the overall tone shape. Or you can of course use two layers with one taking care of the attack and the other the body of the sound.

It's not exactly the same thing as an ADSR amplitude envelope, but it you're prepared to think a little differently, then the NS series can actually give you a lot of creative power, although it may perhaps require a bit of adjustment coming from other architectures.

[creativespiral]

You're probably already aware of this, but just for the record: As the envelopes for the amplitude, oscillator and filter are separate, you can use e.g. the filter envelope to open up the sound briefly in the early attack phase or similarly use the envelope going to osc ctrl to e.g., add more overtones for a brief period initially. Then you can keep the amplitude envelope for the overall tone shape. Or you can of course use two layers with one taking care of the attack and the other the body of the sound.

It's not exactly the same thing as an ADSR amplitude envelope, but it you're prepared to think a little differently, then the NS series can actually give you a lot of creative power, although it may perhaps require a bit of adjustment coming from other architectures.

Yeah, I've played around with using multiple synth layers to fake it... having one layer with quick attack and decay, and another with slower attack and no decay (to sustain)... but that's not a great workaround... you're managing a crossfade between layers essentially, but have no control of the start time of attack of the "sustain layer"... It doesn't sound as good, plus when you make changes, you have to manage changes on multiple layers, and you're wasting layers to do what should be possible with a single layer.

I'm guessing it should be pretty easy for Nord to add a sustain stage in ENVs in firmware... since its based on Wave 2 sound engine, and ADSR/sustain is present in that engine... just a matter of finding where in the menus you have access to the sustain level... (by default, it would be set to 0 for all existing patches, as that's how it behaves currently)... I don't care if its buried in menu somewhere, just as long as we can access / set the sustain level. It's such a core aspect of subtractive synth sound design.

[analogika]

I keep getting compliments on my go-to string program, which is a combination of
Soft Strings Legato (volume at -11 dB, pedal morphed to add more velocity, 12dB filter all the way open, no EQ, velocity mod at 0)
and
StudioStrings Marc Vib (at -6 dB, 12dB filter at around 200 Hz, no EQ, velocity mod at 10).

The Soft Strings give the broad meat and padding (no dynamics), while the Marcato strings add the dynamics without getting too bright.

Compressor and reverb to glue them together.

Rich, unobtrusive, but really shines when adding a soaring string line in the background.

[SuperStage]

I keep getting compliments on my go-to string program, which is a combination of
Soft Strings Legato (volume at -11 dB, pedal morphed to add more velocity, 12dB filter all the way open, no EQ, velocity mod at 0)
and
StudioStrings Marc Vib (at -6 dB, 12dB filter at around 200 Hz, no EQ, velocity mod at 10).

The Soft Strings give the broad meat and padding (no dynamics), while the Marcato strings add the dynamics without getting too bright.

Compressor and reverb to glue them together.

Rich, unobtrusive, but really shines when adding a soaring string line in the background.

Can you share your program please?

[gsbe_com]

I'd love to hear an example of what a good horn section on a keyboard actually sounds like. I've experienced something like this with some VST's as they can split a chord automagically between a section, react to velocities with different articulations, etc. I'm willing to use a computer to get this level of automagic control onstage...what would you suggest is the highest quality horn ensemble samples for soul/W&B (think horns for Motown, EWF, Kool & Gang, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, KC & Sunshine Band, etc)