A second stage 2 or stage 3

[jpoelmans]

Hey guys,

I'm lusting for a second nord stage, so I can tweak my presets at home, without needing to drag it to and from rehearsal space each week (also play guitar, so have enough to carry...)

The thing is, I have a Nord Stage 2 88 (no EX). And as you al know the patches from Stage 2 are incompatible with the Stage 3.

So that leaves me:
* I can buy a second Stage 2 EX 88 used or B-stock (you can still find em here and there) for 2800 euros. But then I'm investing in deprecated hardware...
* I can buy a Nord Stage 3, which costs around 3500 euros, but that'll mean that I may find the same samples, I'll still have to manually program my patch into the other keyboard, or something that resembles it. I do get a Nord A1 built in, but if I'm using that too much, it wont be compatible anymore.
* I can buy 2 Stage 3's and sell my Stage 2, will cost me around 3500 + 3500 - 2500 = 4500 euros.... Pfiew, thats steep... Doable, but steep... isn't that a little bit crazy for playing some music as a hobby?

I don't know guys, what would you do?

[jpoelmans]

The cheapest way is to keep the Stage 2 EX 88 (assuming you are still fine with it and don't really need the Stage 3 features) and try to get a used Stage 2 SW73, Stage 2 HA76 or Stage 2 EX compact. All of them should be fine to create patches and tweak presets for your Stage 2 EX 88 since they are 100% compatible and should also be the cheapest ones out of the Stage 2 / Stage 2 EX range

If you want/need Stage 3 features I would go and sell the Stage 2 88 then buy a Stage 3 88 for your rehearsal space and a Stage 3 compact for home (available at around 2.800 Euros in Germany at least right now). Still some money to spent but a bit less than buying two Stage 3 88.....

[Bjosko]

Or do like me. I changed my NS88 to a NS3 HP, so it are easy to carry with me to and from rehearsal if I want.
In a lightweight bag ( I got the Fusion bag https://www.fusion-bags.com/collections ... -7-gig-bag ), it are lightweight, and fit on the backseat on a car.

Of course, you will need to adapt to the HP keyboard ( took me about 10 min), and at many shops there are a full return policy if you do not like it.
Miss the 88 some times, but that are until I try to move my HP for gigs or home.

[ericL]

I've gradually built up a stable of no less than THREE NS2 units!

I had one of the first NS2 units in the US as I wrote the review for Keyboard Magazine back around 2011. This was a NS2 88. Used it exclusively for about 5 years and it is still with me mostly in my home music room. I added a NS2 EX 76 in about 2016 to lighten the load a bit and also benefit from the increased piano memory. This was my primary gig keyboard for nearly 2 years. Then in 2017 after the NS3 was released, I took advantage of a deeply discounted NS2 EX Compact and I now switch between the two EX units for gigs and the Compact is always my rehearsal gig based on ease of transport.

The beauty of all of this is that I have 7+ years of NS2 Programs I've carefully created (hundreds of very customized setups) and they are compatible across all three of my NS2 keyboards. I can create sounds at home on my original NS2 88 and save those to the computer and transfer to my gigging NS2 keyboards. I often save off Banks of my Programs with date stamps on them to reflect minor edits I make and then if I ever need to get the most current set of Programs into any of my keyboards it is available.

I will probably get a NS3 eventually, but for now the trio of NS2 units serves me quite well!

[jpoelmans]

@ericL: Yeah, that kind of lurks me towards a seconds ns2, but then again i havent got that many exotic patches, it would still be manageable to transfer them to NS3 format. So why on earth would i build new patches on a deprecated platform. Oh yes... $$$

[Schorsch]

Well - what’s called deprecated now has been top-of-the-art about 1.5 years ago (don’t nail me down on the correct date when NS3 was released). I wouldn’t consider them less good just because a successor came out, the NS2s are still very great keyboards and haven’t lost any of their values which they have been praised for since many years just because the NS3 came out. Saying this I think it’s more than worth to build patches for these now although they seem to be “deprecated” - I would call them “advanced in years” instead

[jpoelmans]

Thats very true, its a piece of hardware that'll work for years te come. But by deprecated, I mean, all the patches which are posted here will sooner or later all be NS 3 format, but on top of that, you have tools to upload samples and patches which are compatible between the software on your computer and specific hardware. There will come a day that my mac OS 10.20 wont be compatible with an old version of the program editor still compatible with the NS2.

Here at work we had a similar issue: We have a surveyor total station, 9 years old, its tablet works still on Windows Mobile. No problem, the thing works fine. Last month however, we upgrade the surveyors laptop, windows 10 and all... Hint hint: some incompatibilities arrise. You then call Trimble, they say: well, we dont support that station anymore, think its time for a new one... Thats what I'm really afraid of. In the end, every computer-connected equipment faces this destiny (hence I think its stupid to for example connect your iOS to your house, your house will outlive iOS...), but the longer I can postpone that destiny the better. But at a price...

[Schorsch]

Agree that the number of future samples and programs coming from members of the forum for NS3 will increase. Does mean that the number of these for NS2 goes down? Hmm, maybe not since I think that there are a lot of NS2s still actively used for a couple of years.

Regarding compatibility: Sound Manager is still supporting the Stage Classic which is a really deprecated product, Sample Editor supports all products back to including Stage 2. Considering this would mean that at the time these products stop supporting NS2 all of the current products will be „deprecated“ as well, and especially computer/operating systems will have passed a much higher number of new versions. I think that Nord showed an impressive compatibility for generations of past products so far and am confident that this continues to be true.

[Mr_-G-]

Unless there is some issue I cannot see at the moment, it would be wiser to generate (and share) nsmp files in format 2, rather than 3. Those can be used by all the instruments able to play samples, plus there seems to be nothing that can be currently exploited from format 3 anyway, and there is no sample editor for format 3 either (you might also wonder what was the point for Clavia in doing so).

[AdamStage2]

I was in a similar predicament some time ago.

I wanted the Stage 3,but didn't want to lose my NS2 patches or spend time having to try and replicate them all over again,so decided to keep my Stage 2 88 and purchase the Stage 3 Compact,I didn't see the point in having another 88 Note hammer action,because I felt two hammer actions would be a little pointless,ok so there is a lot of sample/Function overlap between them but the way I look at it,having a second Nord stage(especially the 3 with larger Memory)has allowed me to have a large collection of samples between the two machines without having to swap in/out samples dependant on my needs which has been great and less of a headache,ok its not much hassle to swap libraries but still saved me a lot of time having to copy over programs.

I also didn't want to part ex my S2 against a S3 just to save a few £££ as I would have lost considerable value anyway trading in my Stage 2 and it is still a valuable part of my setup anyway.

Keeping my Stage 2 88 has also meant I could opt for the cheaper NS3 compact saving some cash rather than going for the larger more expensive 88 note model,if I need to play pianos with a Hammer action I simply midi up the NS88 to the NS3,infact I thought I would use the Stage2 88 Less and less once I purchased the Stage 3 and copied over the programs to the newer model then making the Stage 2 redundant but infact the two are quite a great pairing together,I haven't bothered trying to copying over the Stage 2 sounds I quite like the two of them together,If you can afford it keep them because although they be similar in functionality,there are things I would miss from the Stage 2 if I sold it.