NORD STAGE 4 officially announced for February 16th 2023

[JackD]

Just to bring a different experience, I never used Song mode much, as I have been using an app like Setlist Maker (or lately Camelot Pro) on a tablet for my live setlists management (when needed) since the times of Nord Stage Classic and those Apps allow a flexibility in organizing Songs/Concerts/Setups that is hard to replicate in a Song mode implemented on the single keyboard.

Of course everyone's mileage may vary but I wonder if Nord had something like that in mind when deciding to drop Song mode.

How does the software work? Does it connect real time to the NS3 so example.. I move around patches in my tab so it syncs in the Nord as well?

From the fx panel, looks like at the Amp Sim effect you can decide to send the signal to the rotary as well

[analogika]

The piano and organ sections are essentially the same, I can see no mention of really meaningful differences except the new pedals for better piano expressivity. There's an interesting "Angle" option for the Leslie, probably to adjust the angle of the mics directly from the front panel. Not a huge thing, but nice to have.

Pretty sure that’s for adjusting the angle of the horn in Stop Mode.

The Leslie sounds completely different when the horn is pointing towards the opposite side from the mics rather than blaring directly at one of them (only one horn is open; the other is there for counterbalance only).

On a real Leslie, you can just grab the horn and turn it to where you want it.

[Spider]

The big improvements are concentrated in the synth and effect sections, which are totally new and MUCH more powerful: we have 150% more synths (3 layers instead of 2) and 300% more effects (6 sections instead of 2)!

maybe I don't see it right but NS4 has not 6 section instead of 2 on the NS3.
That is not a fair comparison imo.
They placed it all under the tag 'layer effects' while on the NS3 it is placed separately.
NS4 has more delaytypes and more reverbtypes.

And what about the rotary? No assignment to piano and synth anymore?

In the NS1-2-3, each effect could only be assigned to one instrument (either piano, organ or synth). So you essentially only had two effect sections, one per panel/slot. And reverb and compressor were only global.

Here, EVERY instrument can be assigned its own effects, only the organ is global. So you can have independent effects for organ, two pianos, three synths: 6 total.
It appears that rotary is assigned to organ by default, but you can reroute it in the effect section (there is a "to rotary" option in the amp/EQ panel).

[analogika]

Prices Sweetwater
NS4 HA88: 5699 USD
NS4 HA73: 5399 USD
NS4 Compact : 4899 USD

I really hope for better prices after a while. Normally prices here in Norway are lower than the US

https://www.sud-claviers.com/produit/no ... 4-compact/
The infamous sud-claviers lists
NS4 HA88: 4599 EUR
NS4 HA73: 4299 EUR
NS4 Compact : 3999 EUR

WHAT? 4,899 USD for a Nord 4 Compact? That would be 40 percent price increase. Ridiculous! Sweetwater lists the current Stage 3 Compact at 3,499 USD.

Go, get a Stage 3 while you can! I bet that this will be the a sought-after classic very soon.

a) that price is including VAT.

b) I'm pretty sure the Stage 3 Compact was well over 3000€ when it first hit the market in 2017. Corrected for inflation, 4000€ today is the equivalent of about 3150€ in 2017.

[Copia]

Rotary, it appears, is still assignable to piano and synth via the effects section. I expect that is the case.

Song mode is a huge loss, easily my most used feature of the Stage 3 in organizing sets of sounds for quick use. Detuning pianos was nice too, but I suppose I can do without that. Definitely excited about the extra synth and reverbs, although I wonder if the the multi synth configuration matches the flexibility of the stage 3 synth configuration, where the Wave 2 stripped the options down some.

[JackD]

Honestly, I am really excited about this new product and I'm trying to understand how the logic will change, starting from a Stage 3 prospective.
But by now, as STAGE 3 88 owner, I feel the FX routing of the new Stage 4 much more complicated.
I love Stage 3 because is very straightforward.
Not sure if so many new functions would be really that easy/immediate to manage.

Of course I'm happu about the new HA and the phisical drawbar!

[Patozzi]

The level of enthusiasm or disappointment obviously depends on how one uses the instrument. I'm one of the disappointed ones - in the organ section, where in my opinion NS3/4 is now a bit behind other instruments, basically nothing has changed. And the price of NS3 Compact vs NS4 Compact is 3500 vs 4300 EUR.
Now I'm curious about NAMM.

[Arsenio]

It really feels more like a Stage 3 EX rather than 4.. guess I'll wait until 2029!

[pips09]

https://www.nordkeyboards.com/products/ ... ison-chart

[cphollis]

Quick take?

No song mode or set list function? No audio over USB in 2023? YIkes!

Other than that, a great, predictable upgrade to the legendary NS3, which now becomes more attractive in my eyes. And the NS3 now looks way better in the bang-for-buck department. Although those volume sliders would be nice!