Stage 4 Owners - Any impression?

[analogika]

Justmusic in Berlin has a Stage 4 set up and ready to try. I'm not in the market, but I'm sure somebody is.

Jan's Musikladen in Hamburg, as well.

[Hlaalu]

The LEDs on the Sliders do change with each program to show the saved level. Motorized sliders, in my opinion, would be a complicated, expensive, and unnecessary addition. I have the Wave 2 which has the same architecture, and it is no problem at all to adjust the sliders up or down when changing to a new patch.

The "problem" with the NS4 implementation is not so much that you can't see the actual value (because you can, as you say), but rather than you can't adjust them gradually. As soon as you touch the slider, the value will jump from where it was to where the slider physically is.

As it's already been discussed, a "catch" setting would solve this problem.

[mozart999uk]

I have an NS4 88. First Nord. I do really like it . Lots and lots of positives. One of the most inspirational keyboards I've ever owned (and I've had a few!). Just makes me want to sit down and noodle!

A few negatives for me:

3. I was really disappointed in the packaging. The item arrived in the original nord box but with very little internal packing - no internal box for example. Just three polystyrene spacers and a polythene bag. This may well have been the fault of the Uk supplier rather than nord though - I don't know
————-

Every Nord keyboard I’ve purchased was packed this way (an Electro 6 and 2 Stage 3s). While they’ve all come undamaged, I was never impressed by their skimpy packaging for something so expensive and intricate. My point of comparison would be Yamaha with their superior packing technology.

Thanks that's interesting. I bought a casio PXS a coupla years back. The packaging was amazing. Inside box, loads of foam , poly etc.....That was £700. Kinda thought for £4500 they would have taken more care ..

[DJKeys]

The LEDs on the Sliders do change with each program to show the saved level. Motorized sliders, in my opinion, would be a complicated, expensive, and unnecessary addition. I have the Wave 2 which has the same architecture, and it is no problem at all to adjust the sliders up or down when changing to a new patch.

The "problem" with the NS4 implementation is not so much that you can't see the actual value (because you can, as you say), but rather than you can't adjust them gradually. As soon as you touch the slider, the value will jump from where it was to where the slider physically is.

As it's already been discussed, a "catch" setting would solve this problem.

I have been working with the NW2 for a couple of years, and once I have a Program saved, I rarely have to tweak an individual layer within a program, as I have already determined the correct balance of sound sources. In addition, a single layer adjustment has never given me any unacceptable "spike" or "dip" in the output-

-dj

[spradders]

Here's an odd one ... I'm so used to drawbars and rotary controls that the new Volume sliders seem to work backwards to me! I mean they're the same as on every other keyboard where you push them up to increase volume, but the drawbars are (obviously) the opposite. So I expect to pull the volume sliders DOWN to increase volume. I'd love it if this was a system setting, although maybe I'm the only person who feels this??

[docbop]

Since the sliders aren't automated they don't make a lot of sense to me because you move them the start with the current value of the control not the value that the LED's are showing. I'd like the LED strip, but would rather have a rotary encoder knob that adjust up or down from the current value the LED's are representing.

[DJKeys]

Since the sliders aren't automated they don't make a lot of sense to me because you move them the start with the current value of the control not the value that the LED's are showing. I'd like the LED strip, but would rather have a rotary encoder knob that adjust up or down from the current value the LED's are representing.

Yes, but this has never presented any type of problem for me personally-

-dj

[Hlaalu]

Since the sliders aren't automated they don't make a lot of sense to me because you move them the start with the current value of the control not the value that the LED's are showing. I'd like the LED strip, but would rather have a rotary encoder knob that adjust up or down from the current value the LED's are representing.

This is how the Stage 3 is, except that the LEDs aren't aligned but circular. In my opinion rotary encoders are also ergonomically more comfortable to use for fine adjustments. Things like drawbars are obviously more comfortable being sliders, as they are.

I am not sure why they opted for sliders with the NS4. It might be just a matter of panel layout design. Having sliders makes them more comfortable to be dragged simultaneously.

[uhura]

Whenever I need a smooth increase/decrease in levels with my NS3, I simply morph them. .

Thats true, but the problem is that if you forget to physically reset the wheel or pedal (which i often do ) , the selected patch will sound wrong.
So an option to reset the wheel/pedal when switching the sound (like on my YC61) would be very useful.

[anotherscott]

Morph is something you have to set up in advance. And in every patch. Plus if the wheel is set for one thing, it can't be set for another. To me, the real beauty of morph is for manipulating multiple items at once. But to just be able to grab any synth knob, at any time, and have it work smoothly without a jump if you want to tweak it from its current value, would be, well, valuable! It's what endless encoders with LEDs do, while also immediately showing their current values, which is great. But the last Stage that had them for anything more than volume was the NS2EX. And the last Nord that had them for lots of things was the Lead 3.

On the NS4, how do the knobs under the display work? Are they endless?