Nord Christmas Gift ?

[Schorsch]

>Clavia/Nord doesn't NEED $300 million revenue, nor do they want it <

I wonder if they'd like to sell the company to one of the bigs. Nordelius isn't getting any younger, and he doesn't have children on his "board." So he has to be considering the endgame - who runs Nord in five or ten years? With a big company like Korg it doesn't matter, the corporation has a life of its own. But Nord's decisions are pretty-much one person's.

Yepp that’s a likely scenario, amongst many others ….

[MarkJames]

You're completely ignoring that Uhl, for example, only makes organs.

Nord is not an organ company. They make the Lead and Wave synthesisers, stage pianos, and stage keyboards that combine those things with an organ engine, while making certain compromises (like the 9th drawbar cancel — which im my mind would only be really interesting if the percussion actually behaved like real percussion — instantly triggering when switched on while you're holding notes).

So while their organ engine is excellent, it's just one of the things they do.

I wouldn't be surprised if they abandoned the Stage 3 EX and are concentrating on the Stage 4 in response to the pressure from Yamaha's CP series (theough they are more competitive with the Electro series than with the Stage).

Thanks analogika, that may be right and I would appreciate this!
Could this strategy be the reason, why I cannot buy a new stage3 in germany since weeks and for minimum 5 more weeks?

More likely, that's just supply the chain issues that are affecting everything from Apple to Mercedes, Behringer, Yamaha, and every single manufacturer dealing with electronics.

Plus Nord being a boutique manufacturer can’t buy in volume and use leverage with their suppliers like the bigger players can.

[neomad]

But why so many theories about Nord current and future situation? Nord keyboards are built to last years... and I believe that most of us are happy with what we bought. For sure, there are lot of pending fixes and boards are not perfect, but which one is really perfect?

[Tracii]

there are lot of pending fixes and boards are not perfect, but which one is really perfect?

I think the sentiment is not that Nord keyboards should be "perfect" (or that others are, for that matter) but that Nord as a company has made some questionable decisions regarding their product lines in recent years. The boards I would consider buying are almost all in the "Legacy" section on their website.

[ericL]

there are lot of pending fixes and boards are not perfect, but which one is really perfect?

I think the sentiment is not that Nord keyboards should be "perfect" (or that others are, for that matter) but that Nord as a company has made some questionable decisions regarding their product lines in recent years. The boards I would consider buying are almost all in the "Legacy" section on their website.

I don’t have any judgment about “questionable decisions” and more of a slight worry over the perception of slowed products. I am satisfied with all my Nords and hope they are doing ok, perhaps ready to ship some new things soon.

[Spider]

Nord as a company has made some questionable decisions regarding their product lines in recent years. The boards I would consider buying are almost all in the "Legacy" section on their website.

Well, it depends if their choices are "questionable" by you or by the market in general. Everyone's needs are different: of course if you need mostly synths and organs, Nord's current lineup will be disappointing. But from a market perspective, their shift probably makes sense.

The organ market was not so crowded when the C1-2-2D where in production. Now there are lots of competitors, all with great organ emulations and most are much cheaper than Nord. A €3K pure organ like the C2D would have very limited appeal when you can buy a Legend for less, and a Mojo for half as much. While a multi-purpose "dual manual Stage", like the Hammond SKX Pro, would be prohibitively expensive. If Hammond prices are any indication, adding the second manual would cost around 1000€, placing such an instrument in the 4-5 thousands range. How many people would buy it?

In the synth department, the Lead line was a success because of the virtual analog concept, in a time when the market was dominated by digital synths: tons of features but only accessible through arcane menus, screens and lots of button pushing. The Lead went back to having less features but a direct, fast user interface.
Fast forward to 2022? The market is again flooded with real analog synths, and many of them are cheaper than the Nord Leads. Why buy an expensive "fake" analog when you can have the real thing for less? With this in mind, I think the departure from the traditional VA concept and the move towards the A1/Wave2 architecture makes sense. Take the strong points of Nords (fast, intuitive interface with as little menus as possible) and push it to the extreme in a market that doesn't need "virtual" analog anymore.

Of course this means it may not suit MY needs and preferences anymore, but for Clavia the important thing is that it finds its unique niche in a market that's become incredibly crowded and competitive in the last 5 years.
In the meantime, they actually satisfied many of the users traditional complains (better keybeds for synths and pianos, less limited Electro/Piano models, a follower to the Nord Wave etc) while expanding their stage piano portfolio, which is by far more lucrative and reliable than the organ or synth market.

Who knows, hopefully when the current crisis is over and the market expands again, we'll see a flurry of new organs and synths by Nord. Or maybe they will surprise us again with something totally unexpected, as they historically tend to do

[afroskully]

anyone else here besides me who checks this thread anytime there's a new post expecting a response along the lines of "Hey guys you won't believe it but after all our complaining There's A New Sample Up!!!"? (and of course the expected womp womp feeling)

[neomad]

there are lot of pending fixes and boards are not perfect, but which one is really perfect?

I think the sentiment is not that Nord keyboards should be "perfect" (or that others are, for that matter) but that Nord as a company has made some questionable decisions regarding their product lines in recent years. The boards I would consider buying are almost all in the "Legacy" section on their website.

I don’t have any judgment about “questionable decisions” and more of a slight worry over the perception of slowed products. I am satisfied with all my Nords and hope they are doing ok, perhaps ready to ship some new things soon.

Your comment looks like you know something else...

[SteveNordP3]

Nord has a niche and they are (in my view) the best at what they do. But I think every manufacturer in this space needs to be worried about iOS sound engine capabilities and/or create them directly (e.g., Korg Module). It’s not ready for prime time yet, but it won’t be too long before truly outstanding sounds are available on an Apple device that could be dedicated to the purpose and then the question is which keyboard controller(s) does the user prefer to assemble the components of his/her rig. While I love my Nord Grand and expect it to last the rest of my life, if I were a touring musician these days, I’d be very tempted to build my sound capabilities in that flexible manner rather than dedicated single purpose hardware/software. Everything ebbs and flows - a few decades ago it was all controllers and rack mounted modules, then fully integrated/dedicated units, and I think we’ll see a shift back to components but the majority of sound generation will be on iPad/iPhone/Android devices.

I sometimes play the Ravenscroft 275 from my iPhone controlled by my Nord Grand and it’s one hell of an experience! I also have a cheap and light MAudio 88-key controller - 13 pounds and feels terrible - but I can easily take it camping with me and play while traveling and I can use it to trigger the Ravenscroft, Korg Module with Ivory, PurePiano (when it next goes on sale) or anything else…

What do I know?

[Spider]

Just out of curiosity, this topic made me go back to the Nord timeline in the downloads section
Nord Keyboards Timeline

Nord timeline.jpg (100.49 KiB) Viewed 2050 times

it's interesting to clearly see how they started purely as a synth company, then made the big jump with the Electro and its organ and piano emulations, and then the logical next step was to put everything together in the Stage.
The original Wave introced samples to the Nord world, which were quickly incorporated in the new Electro and Stage generations, while their piano and organ engines were so successful to deserve their own dedicated instruments in the Piano and C line.
Since then it's been largely a consolidation and refinement of these very solid foundations, let's see what the future brings!