Nord User Forum

Hello there.

I bought a nord stage 2 about 12 years ago, mostly because I could afford it and probably also because the salesman knew his job. Last 12 years I used the nord stage 2 simply as it came from factory, choosing presets and playing with them, sometimes not even knowing what all those knobs and buttons are doing. So I got a few "unsorted" questions for you, simply to find out more about the options I got with my piano...

1.) Live-Perfomance: For a live performance, it's important to change presets within seconds during a song. So far I just know a five button live function. Is there only this option to perform live or do you know other ways? How do you perform with Nord Stage 2?
2.) Presets: There are a lot of Presets on the piano I never use. So far I hesitated to overwrite something (and the memory seems to be protected, which I could change as I assume), but meanwhile I see this as an option to organize my piano so I can perform better (see 1). Pretending I overwrite preset D:09:1 with an organ on bank A and a slightly louder and stronger organ (for soli) on bank B, and preset D:09:2 for song xy with something else e.g. a wurlitzer, can I also programm the volume? Avoiding volume jumps during the performance? Or is this the wrong attemp for a live performance?
3.) MIDI: Made some experiences with Reason 12 years ago, so the software is here and I wonder how I could use it. I can synchronize the masterclock of the nord stage, or I could use the nord stage to play some sounds from the reason using it as a master keyboard. If I play the sounds of the Reason, I should be able to "command" 16 midi chanels - if I understood it right. Didn't find out yet how to set it up in Reason, but if possible: Is there a way to change midi channels in a fast way on nord stage? Am I understanding this mystery box called midi wrong? Thanks for anything in this topic here..
4.) Electronic Music / Master Clock: Is the nord stage 2 an appropriate Instrument for electronical music? E.g. to sync the master clock, playing with some friends, all with plugs in their ears? I realized that a delay, arpeggiato etc. is still dependend from "my time". Want I want to say, when I press the key, it starts playing in the right tempo, but if I am a bit too late, it plays also offset. Maybe for that kind of music is it just better to use it as a master keyboard and play the sounds from reason? Am I able to adjust filters, lfo etc. with the knobs from Nord?

Well these are my "first" questions, maybe some friendly guys will give me some inputs. Links to documentations, youtube tutorials are also welcome.

[Edit: Just found a pdf from Henrik Larsson on this site. Will read that soon.]

Hello, here's my perspective on a few points:
Live-Perfomance: Options include using the Nord Sound Manager to set up your programs in the order you will be playing them or using an app to manage your setlist including sending the program changes to your NS2. There's been a lot of discussion on that lately at Song Mode

Programs: Managing the levels of programs is done for the most part by trial and error where you want to leave some headroom in some programs for other programs that should be louder. The Master level helps for overall adjustments. For many of my programs, I morph levels to a Yamaha FC7 control pedal for additional flexibility.

MIDI: I'm the last person to cover MIDI as I don't use it live, however if I wanted to use some sounds from another app or keyboard, I would first consider creating samples using Nord Sample Editor 4 and do everything from the Nord if I had an open synth panel. There are quite a few posts on this forum regarding MIDI and use of apps of your preference is to work with Reason live, including this post HERE.

I hope that helps, good luck.

At first:
I would recommend you study the really fine and well written manual. You can download it in different language versions here: https://www.nordkeyboards.com/downloads/nord-stage-2

Concerning working with programs:
You do not need for every sound a specific program: you have on 1 program access to 6 sound sources, which you can switch, layer, split on the the keyboard, morph or fade via modulation wheel or foot controller etc. (see manual for details)

Concerning the organ:
You can play the organ module like a real hammond organ player: control the volume via foot controller (mode "expression", see manual) – and since the volume control is before the simulated amp it increases also the drive – real fun to play!
In addition you can thicken your sound during a solo with the drawbars and change quickly thee rotor speed via the sustain pedal (must be activated in the system menu, see manual). All in all no need for a separate program.