NORD STAGE 4 officially announced for February 16th 2023

[Swampfox]

I know it's really blurry but I don't see an envelope panel in the synth section. Am I missing something? I guess we'll know tomorrow.

[Gambold]

At least someone fixed the drawbar colors.

[brammh]

Anything about motorized drawbars, or is that too ambitious?

[anotherscott]

Anything about motorized drawbars, or is that too ambitious?

Nah. If they were motorized, there would be little need for the LED indicators to indicate current positioning.

[docbop]

post from another keyboard site.

[redisred]

So curious what the envelope situation for the synth is, it appears to have no physical controls, which would be a bummer. But they usually come up with a great solution so I'm stoked to see demos.

[cphollis]

Hi everyone, my congratulations to the Nord OSINT community here that has discerned much of the new announcement

What I like so far?
- direct control of voice levels without having to switch panels (yay!)
- modular FX section for the win!
- extern section now more fully integrated into synth section, meaning more control, maybe even processing external signals via USB
- most, but not all, of my prior programs should be able to come forward as what I see is a superset of the NS3 capabilities
- didn't take much of anything away that I can see, but lots of new options to try

What I don't like?
- it won't be cheap, at least at the outset
- I have two NS3s, one for backup
- we won't see them in the wild for a while

No problem, as I have plenty of keyboards to keep me busy for the time being! That being said, I can see where I could kick it up a notch or two if this all materializes.

[ericL]

I have similar sentiments as cphollis, and also am the owner of two NS3s (plus still holding onto one NS2). Seeing the photos of the NS4 panel is helpful and I do really like the apparent simplification of access for each of the sound engines from a single panel. That strikes me as a very intuitive improvement to the workflow and live use of the instrument.

Looks like a triple Synth/sample panel, which is the main sonic uplift I'm seeing from just the early photos, not knowing what else they are changing under the hood. This MIGHT justify an upgrade on its own.

Otherwise, I am thinking that the Organ and Piano sections will be evolutionary and likely not a huge jump from the prior models. Looks like all the rear panel jacks are pretty close to the same configuration as before (NS2 and NS3 were basically identical).

The panel is simpler in general - fewer knobs than the NS3 and the addition of the LED sliders in each section seems like a cool thing. The effects look like a really nice update, if in fact there is one dedicated for each of the various sections - this would open up a lot of new options and sonic territory.

Overall, this seems like a well-conceived successor to the NS4. Will I need to immediately jump on one primarily to see better synths and effects, plus a simpler UI? Not likely to be urgent. I'll definitely scope it out very much and can't wait to play one at NAMM in April! Maybe this one will have fewer OS instability issues and bugs compared to the NS3. It's a bit blurry now, though I recall something like about a year break-in period for the NS3. Nord has the benefit this time of extra time they gained by not doing a NS3 EX in between the NS3 and NS4.

[analogika]

I know it's really blurry but I don't see an envelope panel in the synth section. Am I missing something? I guess we'll know tomorrow.

I assume the grey panels all default to the three encoders below the display. So selecting the amp envelope will give you ADS controls displayed on the screen.

[Gambold]

AND...it's the White Grand. Sigh. Too bad they wasted time and resources sampling the Pearl if they don't have a new Grand to pair with this next-generation Stage.

I suppose they could be keeping one under wraps - like the still-hidden sample updates for the Wurly. Looks like we are sticking with the A11-44 preset scheme too. Double Sigh.

>- it won't be cheap, at least at the outset< Yeah, I'm getting the feeling that the 88 is going to be higher than my predicted $5399. All those pretty lights...