Nord User Forum

It is a compact, portable keyboard and great on stage or in the studio.

You see Nords everywhere now.

The designers got the weight right so I am able to move this keyboard around by myself and still have a good piano action.

I am older and appreciate that - after having lugged around B-3's and CP-70's and Kurzweil Midiboards .. I've done the heavy lifting and found who my friends were at the end of the night. I appreciate the Nord size and weight. A lot

I do a range of gigs and the Nord Stage can handle them all. While there truly has never been "one keyboards that does it all" - the Stage comes very close.

For Blues and Rock gigs I have piano, organ, clarinet and electric pianos. For other gigs I have a world of useable, playable synth sounds at my fingertips.

I can tweak sounds on the fly which helps out the live sound man or woman. The sounds are all over recordings now, so me and the band sound contemporary and usually signature keyboard sounds can be closely duplicated.

In the studio for recording I can go sonically anywhere and am still discovering where the Synth section can take me. Adding another keyboard or module is easy.

I've been around keyboards my whole life and the Stage is a true INSTRUMENT in the way the Minimoog is an instrument.

Anyway, wanted to just give my thanks and appreciation. I had a Nord Rack before which was quite good. The Stage 88 EX is astounding. Hadn't it just over a month. Is used, but new to me. Love it.

Plus, nice bunch of people in this forum.

You remind me of when I first got my Stage 2 SW73. I took a couple days off and became acquainted with it in no time. I was slightly intimidated because of the sheer amount of knobs, but they are placed in such a way somehow it all makes sense. I could see how the shift button was placed in close enough proximity to the master clock button as to where I could sync the arp to the master clock with one hand and continue playing with the other. The thought that went into the layout is genius.

I got my first Nord in 2000-2001. The Nord Electro had exactly what I wanted for a blues/rock bar band: an authentic B3 sound and the vintage EP sounds.

It took me a while to appreciate the unique nature of my Stage 2. I have Nord Electros, I have Nord Pianos -- what's the big deal?

In a word, flexibility. My first phase with it was simply doing splits and layers with pianos, organs and samples. Not much with the synth. I could set up playlists for each band I played in, simply advance to the next song and everything was set to go. Unless the bandleader decided to call an audible, then I'd be sort of screwed.

A few weeks ago, I started to get into the synth section, more from curiosity than any specific need. Jeez, there's a lot you can do with it! I'm now bringing a few "sonic surprises" to my rehearsals and gigs. The other band members don't know quite what to make of me.

Anyway, a wonderful board that keeps getting deeper and deeper. My next project is exploring the "morph" function in all its glory.