Nord User Forum

Hi all. I’m looking for some help dialing in better organ sounds on my Nord Stage 4. Right now, my organ programs tend to sound overly sharp or piercing, and I’m also having trouble with inconsistent volume across different settings or songs. I’m aiming for something warmer and more balanced overall. Any recommendations for a solid go-to rock organ program? Settings (drawbars, EQ, amp sim, effects, etc.) that help tame harshness? Also looking for a good organ sound for Grateful Dead or Phish – maybe a little rounder, less aggressive, more vintage. I'm not very good with morph wheel but I'm willing to give that a try. If we could add a layer for solo that would be super. Thoughts anyone?

Part of the issue is that the NS4 organ engine attempts to emulate the B3 precisely -- warts and all. Most people got used to hearing Hammond sounds through lo-fi speakers that are long on midrange and skimp on high end -- which leads to that nice warm sound.

Fast forward many decades, and we have nice speaker systems that accurately reproduce the entire frequency range -- warts and all. So that "accurate" Hammond engine sound has to be softened a bit to make it fit in better.

Things I do to get a nice B3 sound (including GD material)?

- Learn from the presets from the factory, they are mostly there to demonstrate different features.
- Use the speaker emulations (e.g. Twin etc.) in addition to the Leslie
- Use both the Leslie drive (pre-amp) and Drive in the FX section (power amp) to add the required midrange grit
- It's soft, slow percussion for me for most material
- Go easy on those upper drawbars
- Roll off high-end EQ using the FX section
- A bit of chorus doesn't hurt
- Consider a lo-fi speaker system, such as the CPS Spacestation V.3 (sounds glorious!)

It took me more than a hot minute, but now I *like* my organ sounds once I understood what was going on.

Thanks. This is really helpful!

I have a fully rebuilt 1959 B3 and 1964 122A Leslie and a NS4C and have spent many hours trying to closely emulate my B3.

I have never been happy with the NS4 rotary simulator so I run my NS4 through output 3 into a Neo Vent II and a TCE Hall of Fame reverb and then back into the Aux Input on the NS4 so the organ with effects comes out of output 1/2.

If you are using the internal rotary simulator, here are some tweaks I made to the Sound section to get it to closely match my b3.

A Swell Pedal is a Must! I use both the Boss FV500 (for sitting) and the Yamaha FC7 (for standing)

Sound Settings
Organ Keyboard Trig : High
B3 Organ Tone-Wheel : Vintage 2 (Vintage 1 for less leakage)
B3 Organ Click Level : Normal
Leslie Mic Distance : Close
Rotor Bass/Horn Level : 60/40 (Slightly less bright than 50/50)
Rotary Rotor Speed : Normal
Rotary Rotor Acc. : Normal
Rotary Horn Speed : Low
Rotary horn Acc. : Low

Organ Section
I have my the Preamp Swell Trim set fairly high on my B3 so I get lots of grown at full swell pedal so I always have the Organ rotary drive set to at least 2.5 depending on drawbar registration.

Rotary Drive : 2.5 - 3.0 (more growl at max swell)
Vib/Chor : C1/C2 (I find C1 is close to C2 or B3 and C2 is close to C3 on B3)

Effects Settings
Reverb : Spring 1.5 - 2.5 Dark (Reverb is pre-rotary sim so I use the spring reverb).
Wheel Morph : Amp Sim Drive from 0 to 5 (this allows to add more drive using the Mod Wheel)
EQ Bass : -0.5 Mid : 500k +1.0 Treble -1.5

I've created a bunch of my own organ presets and am happy to share if you are interested.

Hope this helps!

Graham

I just tried posting my 30+ organ presets in The Nord Stage 4 Program area and I receive a message that the file format (ns4o) is not recognized.

@admin, is there a way to upload piano, synth and organ presets to The Nord Stage 4 Program Forum or can you add another forum so users can share presets?

Hi, this is a known issue with a couple of file formats, the way is to create a zip file from this, which can be uploaded here

Hi,
Added the ns4o format to be allowed as upload.

Thanks

Johannes wrote: ↑01 Aug 2025, 11:18 Hi,
Added the ns4o format to be allowed as upload.

Thanks

Thank you Johannes! Can we also upload piano and synth presets?

I posted 30 of my favourite organ presets in the Nord Stage Sound Program Section

Nord Stage 4 Organ Presets

Enjoy!

Graham

JStec wrote: ↑30 Jul 2025, 22:08 my organ programs tend to sound overly sharp or piercing

An easy first thing to try is to just turn down the treble.

JStec wrote: ↑30 Jul 2025, 22:08 I’m also having trouble with inconsistent volume across different settings or songs.

Unlike most other sounds, organ is at the same volume no matter how hard or soft you hit the keys, which makes it pretty much impossible to fully balance against other sounds, like piano. You'd kind of have to have to decide "which" piano level you want your organ sound to match, and then you can set its volume level accordingly. There's no right answer, it's a judgment call and can vary depending on the song.

And then the volume of the organ sounds themselves will vary with your drawbar settings. Plus, unlike piano, organ is designed to have its volume adjusted via expression pedal as you perform. If you're not using a pedal, organ sounds will always behave as if the pedal is set at full. If you want the organ sound to be quieter, lower its volume on the front panel, and Store it at your new preferred volume.