Nord User Forum

Hi, please give me a quick reply for this. I am just testing instrument Nord Stage 2 to review it for Polish Magazine and maybe to buy it - I was trying to find the best hardware electronic piano possible on the market. Being piano player and a film music composer I am usually disgusted by sound of most pianos available on the market around. For now for me the best pianos are software pianos like Steinway Galaxy II or Ivory Piano.

1.I have NordStage 2 here with Revision B os v.1.32 which is strange, because on your webpage the latest version is 1.30! Please explain it to me.

2.Your webpage says " The Nord Piano OS has been updated to version 1.40. This update addresses a few display issues, improves pedal up/down voice allocation and adds a new feature to the Nord Piano: the Long Release from the Nord Stage 2 and Nord Electro 3 HP. The Long Release can be activated globally in the Sound Menu and works on acoustic and selected electric pianos version 5.3 or later"

Is Nord Stage 2 as well updated to be able to use String Res and LongRelease? I was downloading the latest versions of pianos and there is NO WAY to activate it, nor pedal noise and so on. What can I do about that? Is it only available in Nor Piano not in NordStage? As far as I remember when I looked at this instrument in London it was possible to activate it. I wanted to test NordPiano but by accident I've been sent TheNordStage2, so I am going to discover all its possibilites.

4.Is it possible somehow to adjust volume of headphones out and main out independently? (let's say to have a better control during concert situations?

with best regards

Hello mcmaklin,
Welcome to the forums!

Some of the staff over at Nord read this forum, but the forum isn't affiliated with Nord.
For the quickest and most concise answer please contact Nord directly at the following link:
http://www.nordkeyboards.com/main.asp?t ... al_support

One other member has reported receiving a Stage 2 with the v1.32 OS in it, although the Clavia website still shows version 1.30 as the latest.
The pedal sounds are only activated by the Nord Triple Pedal accessory.

The headphone volume can't be controlled independently of the main volume.
I believe that the Long Release and Resonance are turned on and off via the "Acoustics" button in the Piano section of the control panel.
It's function may also require the pressing of the Shift button too.
In the event that the currently selected piano sample does not support these features, it will have no function.


I hope this will at least get you started until you get a better answer.

Cheers, Hanon

thanks it helped me a lot. I have emaild Nord by this webpage.I have the 1.32 version.
Does string resonaince work on 1.30? Should work I think. What is wrong here?
Instrument without this is not as good as I thought. BTW while testing it in London it worked but maybe there were a previous OS version

mcmaklin wrote:thanks it helped me a lot. I have emaild Nord by this webpage.I have the 1.32 version.
Does string resonaince work on 1.30? Should work I think. What is wrong here?
Instrument without this is not as good as I thought. BTW while testing it in London it worked but maybe there were a previous OS version

Hello,
String resonance does work with OS v1.30
You may also want to confirm which (size) piano sample that you are using. The XL and L versions have greater ranges of string resonance.
The following is copied from the Clavia site:

The Extra Large versions are fully mapped accross the keyboard which increases the size a bit.
The velocity layers are the same as on the other sizes.

The Large versions have String Resonance samples all across the keyboard, providing you with a very full sound.

The Medium versions have String Resonance samples in the important middle region of the range, but omit these in the lowest and the highest areas. This gives you a good ratio of functionality and size.

Sml is the version that uses the least amount of space in the piano memory, but still carry a big and powerful punch. This version does not contain any String Resonance samples at all. If an Sml piano is selected in the Nord unit, the String Resonance feature (if applicable) will be disabled.

I have emailed my US rep for any information regarding OS v1.32.
As soon as I get something useful, I will post back with it. Please do the same.

Cheers, Hanon

I did, I know they are helpful, I've emailed them the same

With SHIFT? Those LEDs with string reso are on, pianos updated to the latest versions but no difference in sound.
BTW it is so expensive instrument that such situation shouldn't have happened. I hope they will give me an exact answer:) Thanks
All my piano versions are the biggest and the latest

mcmaklin wrote:With SHIFT? Those LEDs with string reso are on, pianos updated to the latest versions but no difference in sound.
BTW it is so expensive instrument that such situation shouldn't have happened. I hope they will give me an exact answer:) Thanks
All my piano versions are the biggest and the latest

Hello,
I'm not 100% certain about the requirement of the shift button, however, if the LEDs are illuminated, the corresponding function is active.
I'm certain that Clavia will give you an answer.
Sometimes, with any new instrument, there are growing pains "glitches and bugs in the OS releases".
I have found that Clavia is very receptive and responsive to the needs of their customers.

I have been an avid Nord user for over 10 years, and I am currently in the process of selling my NE3 and NSEx to fund the purchase of a Stage 2.
I provide support for the forum members without any compensation. I don't have any special relationship with Clavia and receive no favors.

As to the expense of the instrument, I feel that it is justified due to the quality of sound, and unrivaled customer support.
On a personal note: I'd prefer for there to be a level of exclusivity to the instrument (not everyone should have one, if the higher price helps enforce this, I've no complaints).

Cheers, Hanon

Yes I do agree but the main thing for me is to know how to activate the option. I have still no answer from Nord

Like Hanon said, you must have the triple pedal connected.

the single sustain pedal that comes with the Stage 2 will not activate the pedal sounds.

Can you confirm which pedal you have?

The Triple pedal does come included with the Stage Piano

robcollins wrote: ...the single sustain pedal that comes with the Stage 2 will not activate the resonance ...

sorry, but the pedal has nothing to do with resonance.

mcmaklin,

You don't need "shift" to activate String Resonance or Long Release. The functions labeled above the buttons are adressed directly with the buttons, the functon labeled below the button is activated in combination with "shift", so for activating Pedal Noise, you have to use "shift".
If the corresponding LED is lit, the function is active.

The pianos delivered with the factory set above V5.3 are able to work with acoustics function, however, try the CP80 or the Baumgardt, String Resonance will not work, so you can't activate it, the LED will not lit. The E-Pianos will not work with the acoustics also.

Testing string resonance is easy: just press a key *very* slow and keep it pressed in a way, you hear no sound. Then hit another key very hard and shortly, the resonance can be heard very clearly. This works best with a key of the same note as the initial pressed key, e.g. one octave higher.

The Long Release is very subtle, as told in the manual "... will add a slightly longer release ..."
To test this, just hit some notes very short and switch between the two states, you should notice a "slight" difference.

To test Pedal Noise without the triple pedal from Nord, you may send sustain controller data from a sequencer via MIDI, which is able to set such controller data by hand. Just insert some sustain values less than value = 127. A value "0" means sustain off, a value "127" means sustain on (full). Any value greater 0 and less than 127 will produce pedal noise, more or less.

cheers,
Bernard