Nord User Forum

Hi! Sorry that I brought another Stage 3 vs Piano 5 thread into the world. I shall seek my punishment after writing this. I do have some very specific questions though, so hopefully it's a reasonable thread that will tell me what all the other threads haven't yet been able to answer.

Ok, so I'm a session guitarist with a piano background taking my first leap into the professional keboard world with some major artist tours coming up where I'm supposed to play both piano and synth and all combinations. This is entirely overwhelming when it comes to selecting gear, and I would really like some help.
So I've decided that from a sound perspective, I really want a Nord as a piano, and a Prophet Rev2 as a synth. I think this will be the perfect combination for me, but I'm stuck selecting between the Stage 3 or Piano 5. These are my questions as a keyboard noob who knows how to play well, but hasn't explored the synth/keyboard world:

1: Would I be able to hook up the Prophet Rev2 (keyboard version) via midi to both the Stage 3 and Piano 5 so that I could layer the Prophet over say a piano sample, and then play both on the Nord? And would I be able to use aftertouch with both Nords in this configuration so that the aftertouch controls the Prophet just like you can the synth section of a Stage 3?

2: The reason I'm thinking a Nord Piano 5 first and formost is that I've done an A/B comparison on a colleagues rig on a Nord Stage 3 (or maybe 2) and his Prophet Rev2, with a simple saw wave and some patches he created on both that were supposed to be exactly identical, using his knowlege of both instruments to compensate for how they both work, and the result was a resounding huge win for the Prophet regarding sound quality in a way I never expected, so I really want to just not use the Nord synth part of a Stage 3, and would really prefer it and the organ engine just not being there in the first place, and just have the Nord work as a simple but high quality piano with neat and powerful layering capabilities and instead rely on the Prophet for all synth work to keep things clean and achive optimum sound quality and a simple, non cluttered workflow.
That workflow advantage of not having two synths (one of which I wouldn't use) cluttering up the place, and the more piano-like action of the Piano 5 is what pushed me to the Piano 5, but if I can't layer the Prophet on top of the piano in the Piano 5 and be able to control it with aftertouch, I don't know if I would be capable of doing what I need to on a Nord Piano 5, even though I won't play either the synth or organ part of the Stage 3.

So what do you guys think? Hope I made sense, and that I didn't just clutter the forums with another "which one should I choose" thread

Hi Samuel and welcome to the forum!

Take a look at the specs on the Piano 5 to confirm but I don't believe it has aftertouch.

Barnaby

be lee vit wrote:Hi Samuel and welcome to the forum!

Take a look at the specs on the Piano 5 to confirm but I don't believe it has aftertouch.

Barnaby

Thanks Barnaby! Ok, that's a bummer. But would it be possible to use something like an expression pedal or similar to recreate the effect? Remember, I know nothing of the keyboard world, so I have no idea what is possible. I don't even know if you can play the Prophet Rev2 through a Nord keyboard, I'm just guessing there is some kind of tech to facilitate this, but I really have no idea.

As far as I know, there is no aftertouch on NP5.
You can hook a expression-pedal to the Prophet (I’d believe) and do the changes with it.
The Prophet can be hooked to a NP5 via MIDI

Apologies I am not very knowledgeable or experienced on the Midi stuff. I'd have to do some research to answer your questions. I will say that I believe if you intend to have the piano sound from the Nord layered with the synth sound from another keyboard you will need to be using the audio outputs from BOTH keyboards. An important thing to realize is that Midi signals are not audio signals. There is a good resource on this forum to learn about midi...here's a link to download it: The Nord Stage MIDI Tutorial

Maybe some other forumites can chime in with a more detailed answer.

Hello, and welcome to the Forum as well! To your first point, the Piano 5 does not have AfterTouch, a Mod Wheel, or Pitch Bend to control your Prophet 5 - the Stage 3 gives you those plus an "Extern" section specifically for controlling other synths via MIDI including program changes. Regarding your second point, I love the sound of the Prophet 5 and know hands down it would win over the Stage 3 on a side-by-side comparison of analog sounds, however in a live setting some of that will be lost. If I had to choose between the two as my only keyboard, I'd pick the Stage 3, however my synth and overall keyboard needs might be quite different than yours. Good luck to you.

I have a Rev2 desktop module and control it from my Nords…but do it via Gig Performer as the intermediary.

And yes, a Rev2 should complement a Nord nicely.

I've recently owned and heavily used a Stage 3 in performance. It has a reasonably capable synth section especially for sample playback, effectively two synths that can be controlled from the local keyboard as splits or layers, and also two more capable piano and organ, two for each section. It might even be sufficient for you, by itself, without the Prophet. It has an "External" that can control another synth, using the Stage's keyboard and other performance controls, so it works very well as a master controller.

I now own and use a Piano 5 rather than the Stage 3, and use it with a Hammond XK-5 dual manual organ on stage. While the Piano 5 is a top tier stage piano and perfect for my needs, it is really piano-focused, with a limited synth section and no organ capabilities beyond, eventually, sample play via the synth section. More importantly, it has no performance controls other than the keyboard, sustain (and soft and sostenuto) pedals and a continuous control pedal. A further limitation of the Piano is that is has only one externally addressable MIDI channel, so connecting it to an external keyboard with a simple MIDI cable would only let you play the Piano's sounds from an external keyboard as if you were playing the entire Nord instrument with its own keyboard. With my limited experience using MIDI, If I used a combination of my Nord piano with the Profit Rev2, I would treat them as two separate keyboards and not bother trying to connect them via MIDI. So... with your piano background, I'd recommend the Nord Piano 5 (or earlier models) only if you plan to use it and the Prophet as separate instruments, but I think you would love the Piano 5 as a piano; and it has some useful synth capabilities (and maybe all of those that you need.) If you are set on the Prophet and intend to connect it with a Nord keyboard via MIDI, I'd recommend the Stage 3 88 rather than the Piano 5.

I would use the Stage 3 and the Rev2 together. The Stage 3 has aftertouch, mod wheel, pitch bend and master controller section to control the Rev2. Plus, you would have two synths and could layer the NS3 synth with the Rev2 (or play them separately). In a laboratory situation, an analog synth will outperform a VA any day, but listen to some of the programs done by WannitBBBad an others, I think you will be surprised by the flexibility and sound quality of the NS3 synth. Having those two would be a very capable rig-

-dj

Regarding the Prophet 5, one other thing to think about is the polyphony. If you intend to have the Prophet provide sustaining pads behind a piano, you might need to think about a Prophet 10, as the Prophet 5 will only cover the last five notes you play. Consider your backup options on tour as well. It's possible if you have a problem and don't have your own backup, that you'll need to get with a backline supplier in whatever city you are playing (this post has some more on that post151107.html?hilit=backline#p151107). A two-keyboard setup with each being able to cover a night on its own would be optimum. The Nord Sample Editor 4 is an incredible tool for expanding the sounds available to your Nord. On the Piano 5 you could play samples of your Prophet 5 but with limited capability to modify them; on the Stage 3 you could also play samples of your Prophet but have a lot more flexibility to modify them in real-time or use the two internal synths on their own. A lot to think about I know. Take care.