Is the Nord Stage 3 a good fit for me?

[jfish930]

Hello everyone,

Just seeking some advice/opinions. My background is primarily 40 years of piano playing. I did gig back in the 80s using a Yamaha DX7 and a Korg DW8000, but primarily I used the existing presets. Occasionally I would edit them to my liking.

Technology is my weakest point, where as musicianship and piano playing is my strength. Because of this, I am thinking the ease of use with the Nord 3 may be a benefit for me. I primarily play at home and compose (still need to learn to use a DAW, just haven’t invested the time to do so). I will be purchasing a Korg Nautilus 88 also and was thinking of pairing it with the Stage 3 88, but am concerned about redundancy.

So, I am definitely getting the Korg Nautilus (was a past Kronos owner) but am not sure if I should go the route of the Stage 3 or one of the Prophet synths to pair with the Nautilus. I’ve played Prophets and for me I am thinking it will be a lengthy learning curve. I already will have a learning curve with the Nautilus and my hope is that the Stage 3 will be more user friendly

Thanks everyone!

[tetra]

I’m not sure if it is useful at all, but your description of experience and apparent interest in keyboards has some overlap with my background. I have also played piano for 40+ years (close to 50 if you count the years my parents forced me to play piano while I hated it). I’m also weak in the music technology area, although I am a software developer so have some affinity to that aspect. I bought a Korg Karma about 20 years ago (whenever they came out) and loved it and still own it. As a result I have some love of Korg keyboards. And while not really relevant but maybe interesting because you mention the DX7, I acquired one a few months ago and brought it back to life for nostalgia reasons (our church had it sitting in the attic for years and gave it to me since I am the “nerd” keyboard guy ... and because I asked about it).

The potentially relevant bits: I have owned a Prophet 6 for four years and a Nord Stage 3 88 for a little over half a year. I am absolutely enthralled with both of them; I think they are just wonderful. They are the two only keyboards I have hooked up and running currently. After a multi year hiatus from playing with DAWs, I have recently gotten back into it attempting to record some music. For me, it is a great hobby and a fun learning experience. The NS3 88 and the P6 seems to complement this activity/hobby really nicely; they are good sound sources for external synth/piano/organ input and also really good musical controllers from a musical sense.

If you are truly set on the Korg Nautilus, it feels to me like the NS3 would have too much overlap. But based on your description of your background, I kind of wonder if the NS3 might not be a better fit. I have never considered myself a synth programmer at all, but I find the NS3 to be an extremely satisfying instrument in terms of tweaking and playing. I have put together a couple customized “patches” with piano and synth that give me great joy to play (I can waste hours of time). It might not be a fair comparison, but I never got close to creating anything that spoke to me like that with the Korg Karma. I suspect that a Kronos or Nautilus would be the same for me. The Nord has a simple intuitive interface that lends itself to “playing” as opposed to programming.

If the Nautilus is the choice for you, it seems to me something like one of the Sequential Prophets would be a better companion to it over the Nord Stage. Or maybe a Nord Wave (but I have no experience there ... just kind of want one). The Prophet 6 “feels” to me similar to the NS3 in terms of ease of use. I want a change in sound, and I twist the appropriate nob and can get there; it is not that hard to learn and has a wonderful hands on vibe.

[Klondyke77]

As a NS3 owner and having seen a quick review of the Nautilus, I would say the Nautilus can do everything the NS3 can do - and much more. So I agree with tetra: You would have a big overlap with the NS3.
But I love the NS3 piano sounds and IMHO Nord still has the best sounding piano engine in the market. But I think Nautilus is not far away.
For me the NS3 is the most inspiring Keyboard I ever had. Never could I build complex sounds so quickly easily. But the "live-concept" limits the possibilities. But for me that's ok.
If you tend to use existing presets than NS3 is not a good advice. NS3 presets are "the first step on the ladder". They are not bad, bur in my eyes just to show how things can be done. They are build to be modified to your intentions. NS3 is build to tweak sounds! (because it's sooo easy!)

To learn more about Nord Stage 3 I would recommend https://www.youtube.com/c/MyKeysToMusic/featured.

[jfish930]

Hi jfish930,

you already had a talk on this forum about half a year ago: post127370.html#p127370 . Things don't seem to have changed much. Why do you start a new quest while not mentioning that?

You'd like to shorten learning paths. But I don't understand where you want to get with lugging 4 heavy schedules around at the same time: DAW, Nautilus, Stage 3, composing.

I got my Stage 3 Compact in February and really need to take some more time to advance with it so that it won't end up dust covered. I got mine for playing on stage, so that's a bit of a problem anyway at the moment. I try to learn to play drawbar organ music and would like to learn to comp. Not to mention the synth engine on the Stage. Enough tasks for the next years with only one new instrument. I'm trying to get around with some literature, but it will take its time.

Maybe you shouldn't look after another instrument but a synth playing or composing teacher.

[WannitBBBad]

In my opinion, if technology is your weakest point as you stated, you might want to consider purchasing the Nord Stage 3 88 that is much easier to grasp in programming and has a much wider range of great pianos, and utilize computer-based products for your DAW/composition needs. Software is ever-changing, made easier and easier to use with more capabilities, so locking yourself into one solution (Nautilus) may be limiting in the future. If you're convinced Nautilus is the way to go, folks tend to pair an 88-key weighted keyboard with a smaller non/semi-weighted synth keyboard, so going with an 88-key Nautilus and Nord Stage 3 Compact, or an 88-key Nord Stage 3 and 61-key Nautilus, are options to think about. Good luck to you.

[anotherscott]

Technology is my weakest point...Because of this, I am thinking the ease of use with the Nord 3 may be a benefit for me...I am definitely getting the Korg Nautilus (was a past Kronos owner) but am not sure if I should go the route of the Stage 3 or one of the Prophet synths to pair with the Nautilus. I’ve played Prophets and for me I am thinking it will be a lengthy learning curve. I already will have a learning curve with the Nautilus and my hope is that the Stage 3 will be more user friendly

Prophets vary a lot in complexity. Stick with a Prohet 5 or Prophet 6, and I think you'll largely avoid a long learning curve... In fact, for synth sounds, I'd actually say the Prophet is simpler to use than the Nord Stage 3. Though also remember that they do some different things... for example the Nord lets you use samples (Nord's or your own) as oscillator sources, you can't do that in these Prophets.

I will be purchasing a Korg Nautilus 88 also and was thinking of pairing it with the Stage 3 88, but am concerned about redundancy.

Korg Nautilus/Kronos covers so many bases, it is pretty much redundant with ANYTHING you might pair it with. BUT other boards may beat it in the quality of some particular sounds, or in real-time control, or in the ease of accomplishing some tasks. So looking at those three things in order:

* you may (or may not) prefer the sounds of Nord's piano or organ over those in the Kronos. If you don't, that becomes perhaps one more reason to prefer a Prophet over the NS3, adding true analog synthesis which neither the Nord nor Korg have, but not getting different pianos/organs which you may not care so much about.

* Nautilus provides relatively little real-time control compared to Kronos or NS3, or Prophet if you're just talking about the synth section. The exact comparison varies depending one which of those boards you're comparing to, but things the Nautilus lacks that one or more of the other boards have include physical 9-slider drawbar control, aftertouch, and lots of knobs for instant sound tweaking.

* Similarly, Nautilus may not give you as much ease of use in setting up some of your sounds. NS3 allows you to instantly route any sound to any of a variety of popular effects with their own dedicated controls, and more easily create 3-way splits/layers, for example. NS3 and Prophet both give you all the hard synth controls, which is a different experience from a touchscreen.

[jfish930]

Hi tetra,
Thank you kindly for your response! Yes, you and I definitely have some things in common; you have an edge when it comes to technology.
Your input makes sense to me too; I was thinking there’d be too much overlap between the NS3 and the Nautilus. Leaning towards the NS3 now and perhaps a Prophet Rev2 or something like that to compliment it . Going to play a NS3 on Monday, so that will help as well in regards to the best decision.
Thanks again for your input! Greatly appreciated!

[jfish930]

Thank Klondyke77! I’ve been checking out the My Keys to Music videos too, thanks for the tip.
I definitely have some thinking to come but am now leaning towards either the NS3 or the Nautilus (not both) and a synth to compliment it.

[jfish930]

FZeigler,
Fair enough, you are correct that I posted 6 months or so ago and not much has changed. However, it is my understanding that a forum is just that: a place to seek advice and exchange ideas without judgement. Which is why I created a new post.

Obviously, a post is just a general description without all the details; maybe I should have added that I “enjoy” the learning experience of a new keyboard/synth and consider it a journey of fascination, not one of frustration

[jfish930]

Thanks WannitBBBad!

Good advice, but I am now leaning towards either the Nautilus or the NS3 and a synth.