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I know there are some Kronos / Motif / NS2 threads, but there still is one question left to be answered - for me at least.
So here goes. I currently use a Korg Kronos 88 as my main keyboard (a keyboard that I am very pleased with so far), and I am looking to buy a secondary keyboard to ‘pile’ on top of this in live situations mainly. I have access to a Nord Stage Classic (even though it’s not my personal asset), but the organs are not so good on there, nor are the brass sounds.
So here is my question: Nord Stage 2 or Yamaha Motif XF? I had a hard time choosing between the Kronos and the XF when I now recently replaced my Yamaha S90, and I went for the Kronos (which I don’t regret for a single second - hands down). So for me, the sounds of a pile-on-top semi weighted keyboard (that I’m looking to purchase) is more important than a bunch of features (e.g. the fact that the XF is a workstation compared to the Nord Stage 2). I will mainly use it for organs and brass, as well as some other lead sounds. So: XF or NS2? Thx!
Last edited by krslae on 31 Jul 2012, 12:30, edited 2 times in total.
krslae wrote:I will mainly use it for organs and brass, as well as some other lead sounds. So: XF or NS2? Thx!
Organ is stronger on the Nord. (You also have strong organs in the Kronos that you can trigger from a second board.)
Brass is stronger on the Yamaha, as it has velocity layers and articulations that are not available with Nord's sample library approach. However, you may find suitable brass on your Kronos (especially if you load the full EXs3 library), and again, you can MIDI the two so you can trigger the Korg's brass sounds off the Nord if you prefer, and you can even use the Korg's assignable outs so that you can still keep the sound unmixed with whatever sound you may be playing on the Korg at the same time, if you'd like.
Lead sounds, I'd go with the Nord, because of the hands-on knobby synth functionality. Though again, you can also use MIDI to trigger Korg lead sounds from, well, whatever board you put on top. Korg and Nord both have VA synth functionality that Yamaha does not.
Last edited by anotherscott on 31 Jul 2012, 12:30, edited 2 times in total.
My thought is that the Motif and Kronos are basically fairly similar. Having two boards that basically do the same job may be a bit redundant. My preference would be to choose a second board that does things your current board can't do, and give yourself as much variety and flexibility as possible.
Last edited by RedLeo on 31 Jul 2012, 12:30, edited 2 times in total.
There will be a good deal of redundancy no matter what, because the Kronos covers so many bases! In a broad sense, the Kronos does have all the Motif XF functionality and also all the NS2 functionality (and then some). What Nord offers is a very different kind of "hands on" interface (compared to either the Korg or the Yamaha) which allows you to access that underlying functionality in different (and generally more immediate) ways. So in that sense, yes, it is more "different" from the other two than those two are from each other... and so the desirability of that different kind of interface is worth considering in this decision as well, apart from the sounds. Though yes, all three of these boards has some sounds that are different from anything available on the others.
Last edited by anotherscott on 31 Jul 2012, 12:30, edited 2 times in total.
Thx!
