Nord User Forum

I’m seriously considering purchasing a Nord Stage 4, but have been quite concerned reading that a lot of people have found the transformer in the power supply to be very noisey.

Is anyone able to provide examples of recordings of this noise?

Is it like this?

Hi,

My NS4 88 is silent.

Greets

Eumel

I had two (and still have one ) different NS4_73HP in my homestudio - both silent...

Greenplant wrote: ↑07 Sep 2025, 04:40 I’m seriously considering purchasing a Nord Stage 4, but have been quite concerned reading that a lot of people have found the transformer in the power supply to be very noisey.

Is anyone able to provide examples of recordings of this noise?

The Nord Stage power supply is not noisy in general, but maybe you are referring to people complaining about "noise" (AC hum) captured by guitars (single coil pickups) if/when they are played very close a Nord? If you don't plan to be in that situation, you should have no worries anyway.

maxpiano wrote: ↑07 Sep 2025, 12:42 The Nord Stage power supply is not noisy in general

It seems like there a lot of topics about the power supply being physically noisy and humming (though this noise not coming through into the audio). That's what I'm asking about. Though some of these threads are older and for different models.

viewtopic.php?t=16244

viewtopic.php?t=21512

viewtopic.php?t=9069

viewtopic.php?t=25779

even more threads linked within the ones above.

But I can't find many examples of the actual sounds people are talking about.

maxpiano wrote: ↑07 Sep 2025, 12:42 maybe you are referring to people complaining about "noise" (AC hum) capturer by guitars (single coil pickups) if/when they are played very close a Nord?

Not too worried about the AC hum captured by guitars, as I don't play with a single coil pickup and won't be using both at the same time. Does seem annoying though, I found a video on instagram that demonstrates it well

Eumel wrote: ↑07 Sep 2025, 08:55 Hi,

My NS4 88 is silent.

Greets

Eumel

+1 silent for me (NS4 73HA)

MrLeoMadrid wrote: ↑07 Sep 2025, 19:31 +1 silent for me (NS4 73HA)

Silent for me as well (NS4 88)

Was able to check one out in a music store today.

Couldn’t hear any noise over the power supply area.

There was a very faint whine over the LED screens if I put my ear right up to it (like a weirdo), but couldn’t hear it from any distance.

Issue Solved. I was getting considerable hum from the transformer of my Stage 2 whenever I had a high gain guitar near it so found a local keyboard repair company in Chapel Hill NC (USA) called Mystery Circuits to take out the transformer and put it in a box on the floor which cuts down the hum by about 80%. However the cable-run can only just barely reach the floor or the unit cycles on/off. It works though and I thought I would share:

“I do have a question for you as I’m putting the Nord all back together. Since I had to put the power input closer to the
main board, and the plate I cut out with the CNC is now just a blank, I went ahead and put the spare parts back inside
the Nord. I know you’ll never sell it, but if you ever did, the parts will be available to easily convert it back to the original.
When I was troubleshooting, I went ahead and purchased a new 10 pin ribbon cable since I had to use the one in there
for the new connectors. Do you want to purchase that so I can put it with the other spare parts inside? I’ll just charge
you what I paid, which was $8 total. It’s the original 10 pin cable that goes from the power supply to the motherboard.
Here’s where we are with pricing:
Parts:
- 7.38 x 4.7 x 3.07” Black aluminum box…. $34
- Power switch… $4
- Fuse Holder… $2
- IEC connector…. $3
- (2) 5 pin maile Aviation connectors… $7
- (2) 5 pin female Aviation connectors + cable… $8
- Metal plate… $4
- Shipping + tariffs… $12
Parts total $74
Labor:
- Remove power supply, remove original power switch, AC input, and fuse holder
- Mount power supply into aluminum box and install new switch, IEC input, fuse holder, and 5 pin connector
- Install 5 pin connector onto Nord and wire to existing ribbon cable
- Cover holes in Nord with custom CNC plate
- Make custom length cable
- Paint plate
- Label box
Labor total $225
Subtotal before tax $299 (+$8 if you’d like that ribbon cable). Tax is 7.5% and if you want to pay with credit card, that’s 3% extra.
Maie sure you always have tue power off until all connections are made or you could damage the keyboard. I also put a 300Ma fuse in the power supply box to protect the unit so pick up an extra one to bring with you to gigs.”[/img]