Nord User Forum

AlQuin,

Yes, thats what I thought was going on to be honest! But thanks for clarifying.

I think what annoys me is the principle that synths of 20 x years ago had the ability to set the PB RANGE to practically anything you wanted! As a saving grace, NORD could have at least implemented AFTERTOUCH BENDING which, again, was available on many synths of yesteryear!

Anyway, this is just my personal opinion and I don't want to hijack the thread or cause any annoyance here.

Ta,

Paul

Monsterjazzlicks, FWIW I completely agree with you.

Hi AlQuinn,

AlQuinn wrote:Monsterjazzlicks, FWIW I completely agree with you.

What does FWIW mean please!?

Cheers,

Paul

I'm sorry. FWIW means For What It's Worth.

DJKeys wrote:...the Nord Pitch stick is so sensitive (much more than a wheel, in my opinion) and has a much more narrow throw that the designers may have thought too difficult to control the sound effectively over a 1 or 2 octave range.

Other NORD instruments, the LEAD A1 for instance, do have a wider range !! So it is possible with the pitch stick on the STAGE/-EX/-2/-2 EX !! I've asked NORD several times to increase the range for the STAGE 2, but untill now there was no upgrade ! It's a pity and a shame !! NORD, please help !!!!!!!

Interesting, was not aware of that.

Thanks for the clarification.

-dj

Hi Wizard,

Keys Wizard wrote:Other NORD instruments, the LEAD A1 for instance, do have a wider range !! So it is possible with the pitch stick on the STAGE/-EX/-2/-2 EX !! I've asked NORD several times to increase the range for the STAGE 2, but untill now there was no upgrade !

I think it is quite obvious that NORD do not listen to their customers!

Well, if they can implement it on one device, they should be able to implement it on another!?

Cheers,

Paul

monsterjazzlicks wrote:if they can implement it on one device, they should be able to implement it on another!?

This is not necessarily true. Mercedes Benz makes little two-seater cars and big rig trucks, but can't install massive diesel engines into SL model. Your comparison is not fair.

The architecture of the Stage and the Lead are radically different. The Lead only has to worry about 18 notes of polyphony. The Stage has a great many more functions to deal with on its plate. I happen to agree that it kinda stinks having PB range limited to +/- 2 on the Stage, and I would really appreciate having extra PB range, but my desires don't trump the engineering realities of the instrument design. There are CPU limitations. My knowledge base is not sufficiently sophisticated to go into details about this, but what I do know is that there are some things which Nord could try to shoehorn into the NS2 platform but have avoided because doing so would compromise other features of the instrument. Sometimes there are trade-offs involved.

There is a reality in some areas of American corporate culture in which accountants may for example calculate the cost of fixing a faulty ignition switch in 4 million vehicles versus paying off the families of those few unfortunate souls who might perish if this is not done. This is not Nord and it is wrong to perceive Nord through those glasses. It is misguided to think that Nord takes glee in pissing off their customers, or even that they do not listen to their customers. A quick look at the NE5 feature set should quickly dispel that notion. But they do have to deal with engineering realities, economic realities, and a worldwide customer base which has very different wants/needs. This results in a balancing act and inevitably not everyone will be perfectly pleased all the time.

Of course I could choose to thumb my nose at them and build my own keyboards, but I shudder to think what some forum commenters would have to say about anything I am capable of producing. Is the Nord perfect? No. But for me and my musical purposes and needs it's a great deal better than anything else out there. Negativity feeds upon itself and so does Positivity. I choose Positivity.

Bless,

Pablo

Al,

AlQuinn wrote:I'm sorry. FWIW means For What It's Worth.

It's ok, I am just not up to speed with text-talk!

Paul

Hello Pablo,

I hear you loud and clear mate and that was a very informative answer, thank you.

I always wondered if it was because NORD thought that most musicians buying the 88 x note (or 76) STAGE models were buying it, primarily, first and foremost because they were either home pianists (ie the type of person who would purchase the likes of a Yamaha Clavinola), or because they were gigging muso's who wanted a bottom/piano keyboard (ie the type of person who would purchase the likes of a Roland RD700) but with the addition of a few Clav's and Organs thrown in.

Therefore, in this instance, NORD may have viewed the PITCH BEND as being somewhat redundant because (arguably) the average player would only really use the PB on SYNTH engine sounds. However, I use it on EVERYTHING (except ORGAN) and that includes acoustic PIANO (weird I know, but to me it sounds great!). So anyway, perhaps they just bunged it in for good measure and thought: "well better to have it than not, but we will only make it 2 x semitone RANGE".

I think you know what I mean here.

Cheers,

Paul