Nord User Forum

I don't know you but there is so many new plugins, VST, all "In a Bix things" that I start to be under the impression that I will be one of the last to like real instruments in the next 10 years, instruments that you cold still take under your arms (into your arms?) and play them, even sell them...and imagine if I would have been a guitar player....with nothing really new since the fender/Gibson "new design" of the 50's....

I almost envy guitar players.

Don't be disappointed. In your way, I am old, too! I hoped for a kind of Electro 6 or 7 with real HA-Keys (and not TP100) and lower prices. But what did they present: Software and - especially Nord - a monitor !!!!???

As far as I'm aware unless a manufacturer makes their own electromechanical key actions (like Kawai, Roland, Yamaha...) everybody on the market is pretty much dependent on a variant of the TP100, no? Would be nice to see a competitor focus on selling just the action, but it's not likely that you'll see much different from what's already out there unless somebody's willing to invest the R&D into a totally new action - and then they have to be sure to pay it off with future sales. Fatar might, but so far there's not much impulse for them to do so it seems. And Roland etc... might not see enough sales in their future to completely reinvent the action - or maybe they've all done it and for the cost/weight it's not as significant an improvement over what they have now to be worth even trying to market.

Making a good keyboard action is in fact quite a challenge since people learn and play all kinds and thus the demand is highly fragmented, the production costs are high, and the "more acoustic like" actions get quite heavy, and thus lose the sales to people for whom single-handedly transporting them is the ultimate priority (which I gather is the bulk of the stage keyboard market).

I would really not hold your breath for any kind of real HA keys that are an improvement on the TP-100 unless you already know of some existing in a currently shipping product. And with the Electro line being specifically focused on keyboards that never had an HA action to begin with, it's even less likely coming from Nord to be found in that particular instrument/engine, since portability is a major segmentation differentiator for that line.

Not trying to rain on your parade, but it helps to have realistic expectations so you're not disappointed every year.

Quai34 wrote:I don't know you but there is so many new plugins, VST, all "In a Bix things" that I start to be under the impression that I will be one of the last to like real instruments in the next 10 years, instruments that you cold still take under your arms (into your arms?) and play them, even sell them...and imagine if I would have been a guitar player....with nothing really new since the fender/Gibson "new design" of the 50's....

Behringer is showing their versions of the TR-808, Pro-One, SH-101, VP-330, Odyssey, and is prepping a 909 and various other stuff…

Moog just introduced another new synth after introducing, what?, three new synths last year.

Hammond is showing a new Leslie prototype.

And most of the hardcore synth stuff won't be really featured until Berlin.

Hardware is *so* not going away.