Newbie To The World Of Nord

[MarkT56]

Hi,
just wanted to say hello as a new member to the Nord Forum. I am a complete beginner to piano having played guitar since I was a boy. I currently have a Roland RD2000 and I am awaiting delivery of the new Stage 3 which should be here sometime next week.
As stated I am a total novice on piano and I am currently working my way through the various Learn to Play Piano books and having lessons. I originally purchased a Korg Kronos 2 to learn on (and some may say that it is similar to buying a Ferari to learn to drive lol) but I had the money at the time and I wanted an instrument that I could grow with and which would last me a long time. Having said that I have found the Kronos to be mind boggling and due to the fact that I do not have a degree in computer science I found it to be way to complex for my limited understanding. I have therefore part exchanged it for the new Stage 3 but can't help but wonder if I have done the right thing. Although when playing three blind mice my requirements are very basic I found it an incredible arduous and complicated process to change the sound on the Kronos with all its sub menus and signal paths etc which to be honest I just don't begin to understand.
I do have many questions regarding connectivity for example how do I connect the Nord to the Roland so that I can play the Nord pianos via the RD2000 and vice versa, any guidance would be much appreciated.

Anyways just wanted to say Hi and put myself out there.

Regards

Mark

[analogika]

Welcome! I used a Kronos on the job for a year and passionately despise its interface.

The Nord is the COMPLETE opposite. It is fairly potent and quite complex, but extremely accessible. Virtually everything you can do is right there on the front panel - very hands-on. Grab a knob to see if it does what you need - no sub-menus, no nine different VSTs and an extra "common" section with a mixer and a whole sequencer.

The biggest thing to be aware of is the basic structure:

On any program, you ALWAYS have two organs, two pianos, and two synths - one each on Slots A and B - for a total of six engines. These are always "there", even if you only have one slot activated or have only a single piano patch, with synth and organ switched off.

That goes for the live slots as well.

If you keep that in mind, it becomes absolutely trivial to create a layered sound or a split.

The organ section is a modelled organ.

The piano section eats Nord .npno samples.

The synth section can be virtual-analog oscillators, classic FM algorithms, but it can also play samples (in .nsmp3 format), so this is where samples go (you can NOT currently load your own samples, but you will be able to in October, when the Nord Sample Editor software is updated to support the Stage 3).

The effect section is fairly self-explanatory - you can set which source each effect will work on.

That's basically the machine.

There's a bunch of functions and details and features, but if you've got that in your head, you're all set to explore and have fun.

[MarkT56]

Hi Analogika,

thank you for your reply and for giving me an insight into the Stage 3. Having extensively scoured youtube on all subjects relating to Nord I think my only concern is the quality of the Keybed and the issues I have seen relating to the quality of the product, broken mod wheels, non working keys and the general quality control of Clavia. But I will await my stage 3 and hope that there are no problems with it.

[lordy]

Technicians pro have much more work with roland and most of all yamaha keybeds, lots of keys break, he said to me that fatar was the best keybed we can have. 25 years working this guy.
After, fatar can have troubles too but...

[Quai34]

@Lordy:
Does your tech guy has an opinion on Kawai Keybed like the MP11...I might be about to but one....

[baekgaard]

... I think my only concern is the quality of the Keybed and the issues I have seen relating to the quality of the product, broken mod wheels, non working keys and the general quality control of Clavia ...

Don't waste your time worrying unnecessarily up-front

As I mentioned in the other thread, the NS3 keybed itself is very workable and is -- to me -- quite nice to play. I agree that the keys have to be/are a compromise, since they need to support both acoustic and electric pianos, clavinets, organs and a large range of other (synth/sampled) sounds, so depending on what your main instrument is, you pick your model (HA88, HP76 or SW73) favouring some of these more. But at the end of the day it is also a matter of personal preference and what you're trained on. When you have spent your 10.000 hours practicing a Yamaha S6, you may prefer that to e.g. a Kawai SK7, or a Steinway Model D, or you may prefer your piano technician to adjust your grand to a certain weight and touch... or if your other instrument is a road-worn Rhodes Suitcase or a Clav D6, you may prefer a lighter touch and would find a large grand to be quite heavy to play

I guess many of us, out of necessity, have to play a large range of instruments that are not always optimally adjusted, and I think it's a good aspiration to be able to play whatever is in front of you, and adjust to that.

On the quality side: Most boards appear to have their issues. My Nords are actually the ones that I've so far had less problems with. My Roland synth has a partly broken pitch bender, the keys of my Yamaha stagepiano wore out and I had to replace 30% of them, my Roland stagepiano had the surface go completely scratchy and dusty within a few months and got a completely new set of keys installed (on warranty). My Yamaha upright had to go through several adjustments when new to fix some "releaser" issues, and my old grand piano has had several overhauls, including a technician working on it a few days to re-intonate (and it needs more work still).

My Electro 3 is still going strong with no issues until now, and the NS3 (even if only some 6+ weeks old) works fine apart from the known software bugs -- but none of them have prevented me from playing it live, with no issues so far.

[MarkT56]

Hi baekgaard,

once again thank you for your reply and the information that you have provided. You have helped to alleviate my fears and I thank you for that. I will await my NS3 and update you if I have any issues.

[analogika]

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