NAMM 2022

[analogika]

I don’t know what the state of the Nord Wave 2 is — any major bugs that need fixing? If not, you’re complaining about no updates for a product that…doesn’t need updates?

And of course the Nord Stage 3 is a shipping product. Nord isn’t like Korg. They can’t afford to discontinue a product before the successor is ready to ship, the way Korg could with the Kronos.

If Nord had discontinued the Stage in 2021 with the assumption that the successor would ship immediately, and that didn’t come to fruition due to Covid constraints or whatever, they’d simply be out of business.

[davisjj]

I don’t know what the state of the Nord Wave 2 is — any major bugs that need fixing? If not, you’re complaining about no updates for a product that…doesn’t need updates?

And of course the Nord Stage 3 is a shipping product. Nord isn’t like Korg. They can’t afford to discontinue a product before the successor is ready to ship, the way Korg could with the Kronos.

If Nord had discontinued the Stage in 2021 with the assumption that the successor would ship immediately, and that didn’t come to fruition due to Covid constraints or whatever, they’d simply be out of business.

My main hope/ask for the Wave 2 is that they add Library 4.0 support. I have no idea what’s under the hood, but hopeful that it has similar capabilities to the Piano 5. It has Chorale reverb like the P5, so I’m hopeful.

[Mrniceguy76]

Their presentation at NAMM it's just more of the same. I have failed to find a single one using the Nord Wave 2! Kind of a shame.

Companies continuously implement and update their hardware to their maximum possibilities (e.g. Roland, Novation, AKAI, even sequential synths that couldn't be more hard wired, like the OB6, get updates). Yet, one instrument that has so much potential is left abandoned. It's the hardware of the Nord Wave 2 really being completely utilized? Not even QOL updates?

This gatekeeping that "Clavia should be different and prevent any communication with their users and that is right because they are different", in no way improves the user experience of their products...

Smaller and bigger companies do that

[analogika]

The Sample Library 4.0 just finally went online a few weeks ago. They’ll probably want to add support to the Electro 6, Wave 2, and Stage 3. That’s a lot of coding, and they’ll probably want to release it simultaneously.

Last time, when they added 3.0 support to the stage 2 and Electro 5, they did so after the new machines had been released IIRC.

So we may be waiting for a while yet.

At any rate, all the talk of Nord leaving us in the lurch or being close to dying is probably WAY overblown.

[MarkJames]

I don’t know what the state of the Nord Wave 2 is — any major bugs that need fixing? If not, you’re complaining about no updates for a product that…doesn’t need updates?

And of course the Nord Stage 3 is a shipping product. Nord isn’t like Korg. They can’t afford to discontinue a product before the successor is ready to ship, the way Korg could with the Kronos.

If Nord had discontinued the Stage in 2021 with the assumption that the successor would ship immediately, and that didn’t come to fruition due to Covid constraints or whatever, they’d simply be out of business.

I have no issue with Nord not coming out with new hardware this year. I also realize that Nord is the antithesis of Behringer, who will announce and “launch” products based upon photos and brochures.

However, in these trying times, it would be smart of Nord to keep existing products maintained. I think you and I have different ideas of what “updates” mean.

While there are definitely bugs that need fixing, I’m unaware of any showstoppers that cause major issues with the Wave 2.

Look at the update history -

https://www.nordkeyboards.com/products/ ... te-history

Major fixes and improvements from 1.0 (4/20) through 1.1 (6/20). I’m assuming the product really didn’t ship until 4/20 with a 1.0 release.

Then, 5 minor releases. And nothing since 10/20.

If this was an old-school hardware analog synth they can’t update things, but here? There is the potential for new waveforms, tweaked parameters, better/new FX, etc.

Look at other synths manufacturers like Moog, Korg, etc. OpSix got a 2.x update in 2021 after coming out in 2020. My Minitaur was released in 2012 but got a V2.2 update in 2017. My Rev2 came out in early 2017, and the latest update was shipped January 2022.

The only other keyboard I’ve looked at that feels as abandoned as the Wave 2 is the Prophet X, and even that had a firmware update 2/22. *correction* - my Integra-7 is still being sold and hasn’t had a firmware upgrade since 2015.

[analogika]

Again: what need is there for updates? Is anything buggy or broken on the Wave 2?

If not, why do you feel you are entitled to an “update” for a product that properly does everything it was sold as?

I assume we can expect Sample Lib v4.0 support eventually, but beyond that, why do you care how long ago the last update was?

My Yamaha SY77 never got a single update. The JX-10 shipped broken and was never fixed.

[MarkJames]

Again: what need is there for updates? Is anything buggy or broken on the Wave 2?

If not, why do you feel you are entitled to an “update” for a product that properly does everything it was sold as?

I assume we can expect Sample Lib v4.0 support eventually, but beyond that, why do you care how long ago the last update was?

My Yamaha SY77 never got a single update. The JX-10 shipped broken and was never fixed.

One is syncing LFO and vibrato across layers. I’ve read about others. And no, they aren’t showstoppers. I also agree I’m not “entitled” to anything, but in today’s environment where synths are largely computers under the hood, it’s easier for companies to ship updates. So during a time where chips are harder to get and new models won’t be released, why not provide other updates?

Sample Lib 4.0 will be great and it makes sense to support it on more than Piano 5. News of that was leaked more than a year ago.

To compare to a SY77 is a bit silly though. That’d be like me complaining about the firmware on my Oberheim Matrix 1000. Same comparing a JX-10 to my Ensoniq ESQ-M. These are hardware synths without user-upgradable firmware (although people have made mods for the Matrix 1000).

Ultimately this is all speculation. Nord could be coming out with amazing new sounds, patches, keyboards and other stuff next week. Or they could be going bankrupt or selling themselves to another vendor. Despite my criticism, I definitely AM happy with my instruments and enjoy playing them, and nothing will change that.

[Mrniceguy76]

This gatekeeping that "Clavia should be different and prevent any communication with their users and that is right because they are different", in no way improves the user experience of their products...

Smaller and bigger companies do that

I completely agree with you, very well said!

Also, I don't agree with the opinions about Nord taking so much time to update libraries are okay. Why would it be? Clav samples are 12 years old, EP-s also old (still sounds great thats for sure but there is always something to improve) and the pianos before Royal Grand just sound useless to me.

I would have no problem with all these "issues" but we are talking about 4000-5000$ hardware and in this price category I cannot accept it. Thats why I canceled my NS3C order and leaning toward a cheaper/better sound quality option: Spectrasonics Keyscape + Omni + midi controller + sound card since I already own an M1 Macbook

[analogika]

That’s awesome. I run a MainStage rig, too.

I use the Stage 3 for everything I can get away with.

MainStage whenever else.

Setting up a laptop, interface, controller and all that hoopla introduces so many additional points of failure and complexity, but also adds SO MANY possibilities, that a single keyboard that boots up in under ten seconds just doesn’t compare.

If the temporary lack of support for round-robin samples -and natural vibrato (and that’s basically all that Sample Lib 4.0 brings to the Stage) is enough to have you cancel the order, I’m a little confused.

Or does that just mean that you’ve cancelled your order and will make do until Nord Stage 4 is released? That’s a bit of a disingenuous argument, because it merely means that Clavia isn’t currently offering a product that satisfies your particular needs.

Which is fine, but really not their problem.

[DJKeys]

Again: what need is there for updates? Is anything buggy or broken on the Wave 2?

If not, why do you feel you are entitled to an “update” for a product that properly does everything it was sold as?

I assume we can expect Sample Lib v4.0 support eventually, but beyond that, why do you care how long ago the last update was?

My Yamaha SY77 never got a single update. The JX-10 shipped broken and was never fixed.

There are actually a number of things that should be fixed on Wave 2:

1.Both EQ and Filter drive algorithms are weak and thin, unlike the NS3 or A1.
2.As mentioned, LFO and Vibrato does not sync with multiple layers programmed identically.
3.Delay and Reverb amounts are tied to volume, change the volume of a layer, effects change as well. This does not happen on NS3
4.No Midi soft thru.
5. Arp does not send midi.

Sure, none of these are show stopping bugs, but certainly addressable.

-dj