nord stage ex midi

[sawcreatives]

I currently have an apogee duet and am currently looking to possibly pick up either a nord stage ex or nord stage 2. I was curious what the best way to play sounds from logic on the nord is? Can I just use something like the m-audio midi uno? And go straight into the computer and then use the apogee for my audio out?

I am not entirely sure how the MIDI differs from the nord stage ex from the nord stage 2, so I am not sure what my limitations are with wanting to use any sounds I have from ableton / logic with the nord.

[jazzystu]

I have an EX. The Stage 2 is a better board soundwise, the EX has a better action. I think the EX is better value and you can still pick them up new if you look hard.

[mjbrands]

Can I just use something like the m-audio midi uno?

That would work fine for MIDI; on the Stage 2 you wouldn't even need that, since it has a built-in MIDI-over-USB interface.

And go straight into the computer and then use the apogee for my audio out?

If you mean using the line-in connector on your Mac you could (using the right cable, 2 x 1/4 inch mono jack to 1 x 3.5 mm stereo jack), but the quality might not be as good as it could be with a better audio interface (like your Apogee). If you happened the have the inputs free on your Apogee, that would give you better sound but I can imagine you might be using those to connect a microphone and maybe a guitar or something like that.

I am not entirely sure how the MIDI differs from the nord stage ex from the nord stage 2, so I am not sure what my limitations are with wanting to use any sounds I have from ableton / logic with the nord.

As mentioned by Jazzystu, the Stage 2 has a slightly better organ emulation and a few features in the piano section the EX doesn't have (like string resonance, if I'm not mistaken - might also be pedal noise, in combination with the triple pedal). The effects implementation is somewhat different (different algorithms maybe?) so they sound somewhat different; whether you prefer those on the EX or Stage 2 seems a personal preference. The synth section on the Stage 2 is more capable (pretty much a dressed-down version of the Wave), while the EX has a more basic Virtual Analog for the synth section (based on the Lead 2X?).

While in use as a MIDI controller, the Stage 2 and EX are probably fairly comparable. The biggest difference in sound is probably the synth section of the Stage 2, but since you'll be using Logic I doubt that'll really be an issue, since EXS24 is a great sampler and ES M/ES2/EFM1 should more than make up for the more limited synth section.

In your scenario, getting an EX that is in good condition might make sense and free up some budget for other things.

Btw. when using it as a controller or as a 'plugin' for Logic, I suggest setting Local Control to off which lets Logic perform latency compensation on play back (i.e. when pre-recorded sending MIDI to the Stage).