kingy75 wrote:- The Nord fixed split point thing seems rather limiting but I'd love some user opinions if anyone has any.
It
is limiting if you're used to something like a Kronos or Mainstage, where you can easily assign a sample to a single key somewhere on the keyboard. It's not "that kind" of a keyboard. While you can build custom samples in the Nord Sample editor and assign individual sounds to different keys there, the Nord really is built for more "broad" strokes than surgical programming — Strings in this region, horns over here, and a piano layered up to about here, with an organ for the chorus under everything; that kind of thing.
The addition of Split Crossfade in the Stage 3 is a huge thing for me, as you can set a split point to be a hard cut, a quick fade (over +/- about three semitones) or a soft fade (+/- about six semitones), which means that you can gently transition from one string sound to another, or add flutes or another sound over a region and have them appear without harshly cutting in or out when you play past a certain point. It makes for extremely organic playing.
If I need the "surgical" programming, with single note samples and forty layers in a single song, I use MainStage, rather than the Nord.
kingy75 wrote:- Does the sound cut off when I change sounds?
Stage 3 added seamless transitions, finally.
kingy75 wrote:- Can I create a bank of sounds for quick access on a gig (e.g. using a few different patches/splits/layers during a song)?
In addition to the song mode mentioned by Martin, I've found it *extremely* flexible in another manner:
Because a Nord Stage program ALWAYS includes two organs, two pianos, two synths, (one of each on Slot A and Slot B) and a full set of effects for each slot, even if they are switched off, or the slot isn't active, you get a lot of options even from one single program.
Example:
My go-to piano patch is just a single grand piano on slot A, with reverb and some EQ. Whenever I need a little padding, I already have a subtle synth pad with stereo delay on the same slot, that I can just switch on for the second verse for a little magic.
But the bridge needs some thick strings, too — so I switch to Slot B (seamlessly), where the same piano is already layered with strings from the synth engine.
And then I can add an organ for the final chorus just by switching it on — because it's already there.
All from a single program.
Having only two engines of each on only two slots is, of course
extremely limited compared to something like a Kronos, but I've actually been in the middle of gigs and decided to add an organ to the next chorus on whatever program I was playing at the time, so I set it up as I was playing the verse and had it ready for switching in by the chorus. I wouldn't
dream of trying something like that on another machine.
kingy75 wrote:Also how many samples can I store in the keyboard at one time? If I use a wide variety of sounds would I need to load a different set of samples before each gig?
The sample format is pretty compact, so you can get a lot onto the machine. The machine is "instant on" with full access to all on-board samples right after boot (about ten seconds). Loading samples onto the is pretty slow. The sample memory for the synth engine is entirely separate from the piano memory, and pianos are proprietary and cannot be created by the user, so there is no "mix and match" if you run out of sample memory. Memory is a special kind and is soldered on, so it is not expandable.
