NORD STAGE 4 officially announced for February 16th 2023

[florence]

they received a phone call

[hernjov1]

Thanks Florence, I am now seeing that you have written about this situation before on the forum... Guess I'll just wait and see what might be able to be done if there's anything at all possible.
Thought I also seen something that said that you could transfer some of the samples or sounds through sound manager but still would have to tweak them to the new board. Would that be true?

[florence]

well even for the sample we need to wait, I assume the NS4 will use the new sample v4 format like the NP5. And the NS3 can still not read them, and maybe never if no new firmware is released.

But let's hope that NS4 will be able to import sample v3 used by NS3... Many people here use NS2 as backup and NS3 as main board, but need to manage two sets of programs...

[Schorsch]

well even for the sample we need to wait, I assume the NS4 will use the new sample v4 format like the NP5. And the NS3 can still not read them, and maybe never if no new firmware is released.

But let's hope that NS4 will be able to import sample v3 used by NS3.

That's what I expect to happen. Nord Sound Manager allows to convert user created .nsmp samples into the new .nsmp4 format since v7.60, and I think that they will add a conversion for .nsmp3 to .nsmp4 into it with the next release as well.

[hernjov1]

Being able to transfer from the 3 to the 4 would be huge!

[dcjams]

It looks fantastic.

I'm doing more and more stuff in software these days, especially niche/specialised sounds, despite having a rack of hardware.

The idea of owning just a single board that does lots of things very well (and software covering the remaining bases), that doesn't need a computer, and can be gigged, is extremely appealing.

[rockymtnnord]

From the photos, I'm not seeing ADSR/ADR controls for the synth engine. But I do see what look like three "universal" control knobs and perhaps a more detailed LED screen for the synth parameters. Synth could end up being a bit more menu-divey than before...

The synth filter has an on-off switch. Makes sense for samples where no cutoff is desired.

As people have noted, reverb seems more robust with new algorithms. There seems to be a "chorale" setting which I have seen on some aftermarket reverb pedals such as the Big Sky. The delay also looks far expanded -- wondering about the "space" setting on that one!

The FX section also has a "pump" effect. I'm wondering if that is a tempo-synced sidechain/duck effect ala Daft Punk.

[florence]

The FX section also has a "pump" effect. I'm wondering if that is a tempo-synced sidechain/duck effect ala Daft Punk.

Yes, the text description was saying that

[anotherscott]

True, there is no more an "External" section as such.
But I see the 3 synth sliders are labeled "Aux KB", and the synth mode can be set to "sample", "analog" or "extern". So it look like we have up to THREE extern sections controlled by the synth panel.

So it seems like they've gone from:
Stage 3 = two sample/synth sounds + two external sounds (total 4 sound sources, but max of 2 internal and 2 external)
to
Stage 4 = three sample/synth/expandable sounds (total 3 sound sources, which is less, but you can have all 3 be internal or all 3 be external)... even though it is "less" in total, it is probably more useful for most people. Okay, you can no longer have two synth/sample sounds AND two external sounds at the same time, but that is probably less frequently desired than the ability to use three synth/sample sounds, plus you also pickup the ability, if you prefer, to use three external sounds instead. Seems like a reasonable change. And Nords are often like this... the new version giveth, the new version taketh away. There are still ways the old Stage 2/2EX are the best of the lot!

All of the piano and organ sections have the same „Aux KB“ buttons, as well.

I was only talking about the Mode button, what seems implied by the "sample", "analog" or "extern" options. I wasn't talking about the "Aux KB" aspect shown elsewhere at all (which I'm guessing might be about whether you want that sound to be driven from an external keyboard, replacing the Dual KB function of the NS3).

[dansnord]

So if the NS4 uses the new NP5 sample format, and they release some great new grand piano, will they also release the same sound in the NS3 format? Historically, is that how it works? I understand whatever new features are in the new format (dynamics, controls, etc.) would not be available to the lower format, but the sound would be there. I bought the NS3 partially based on the idea that I get new samples in the future, knowing of course that my NS# memory will obviously limited. Do I have it wrong?