Nord Stage 4 Announced

[AnotherScott]

 

1 hour ago, stoken6 said:

2 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

Since you've already got the CT-S500, for gigs where you don't want to deal with the weight of your Kronos, you could also use the NS3 to trigger two sounds within the CT-S500

USB Host box required. (Casio 🤬)

 

Oh yes. With Kronos on my brain there (one of the few keyboards that itself serves as a host for USB controllers) I didn't think that through, the Nord doesn't have that. So yeah, you have to add something. Since the Casio comes with bluetooth, and bluetooth can be fast enough for MIDI, I'd probably add a CME WIDI device to the Nord, as the simplest solution. A WIDI Jack or WIDI Master should do the trick.

[stoken6]

3 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

the Nord doesn't have that

Yet? (We'll know tomorrow).

 

Cheers, Mike.

[AnotherScott]

2 minutes ago, stoken6 said:

Yet? (We'll know tomorrow).

Okay, well HIS Nord doesn't have that. ;-)

[stoken6]

1 hour ago, MAJUSCULE said:

told myself I’d own my Stage 3 for a good 8-10 years… bought it in early 2020

Got my Stage 2 in 2012. Eleven years baby!

 

Cheers, Mike

[stillearning]

So far, (from what little I’ve seen), the 4 won’t do anything my Stage 3 88 can’t already do, for my needs as an all-in-one. I don’t like setting up multiple board rigs anymore, too much work, so when the price dropped on the 3 recently, I bought a second one just for a long term backup. For $4k, it was worth it to me. I was always a little bit on edge doing weddings and corporate gigs w/o a competent backup.
 

And yeah, a better rotary sim would be welcome, but the Nord’s is more than adequate for live gigs in my book. Who uses a Stage for anything but live gigs?

[EricBarker]

Agreed, I have a Mojo for studio and live gigs that are Organ/EPiano only. One band I play with (one of many) is a throwback 1960s psychedelic band. Buncha young guys, crazy into King Gizzard (good band to be crazy about), all originals. For that, the Mojo is PERFECTION: Rhodes, Vox, B3, and a bunch of stomp boxes. Only way I'd use the Nord for that group is if it's at a festival and I've double (or triple) booked with a band that needs it, not uncommon. I hear the Nord's Vox isn't that great though.

[MathOfInsects]

I've mentioned before that while, if I were to buy a single-use board for organ, it wouldn't be the Nord, I also suspect that those who complain about the organ haven't spent any real time tweaking settings. It is possible to get a VERY good organ sound from the board, you just have to dig a little for it. It might be the digging that represents the biggest difference; organ-centric boards bring most of those features to the front.

I do hear some instability in higher partials, as @analogikaonce pinpointed, if I really want to listen for them, but that always feels easy enough to adjust to on the fly with drawbars. 

The old Nord "muddiness" isn't really a thing now, to the same extent, though bumping mids and lo-hi's in the EQ definitely helps. 

 

The rotary sim is pretty good. Quite good actually, except I personally find the fast too fast and wish I could manually pull it back a few RPM. It's just that we live at a time when EVERYONE's (within reason) has gotten good. And again, these are tweaks you have to spend time with. It is not as good as my Vent was, but close enough that I stopped bringing a Vent years ago. 

Perc is good!

OD is fine, but Nord's effects-section OD is gorgeous, you just have to be ok with it where it is in the signal chain. 

Key click all the way up, always. IMO that's maybe 70% of what we associate with "real" organ--that thunky initial attack. Maybe more than 70, come to think of it.

And that's all on the Stage 3, which was a giant step up from the Stage 2. So even starting at the same place would be fine, but any improvement is going to make a huge difference. I don't think Nord likes the whole, "there's real organs and then there's Nord," thing. I wouldn't be surprised if this panel got some love again.

 

[EricBarker]

6 minutes ago, MathOfInsects said:

...

 

Great advice, man. I'll be sure to dig in when mine arrives. I even found this to be the case with the Mojo. The default OD did NOT sit well with me at first until I ramped up the "Feedback" setting. That gave it The Glue for me. I figure putting a touch of master OD after the Leslie will achieve a similar effect.

[jeffincltnc]

There is going to be zero agony over this for me.  Stage 4 73 HA is exactly what I'm looking for.  I just sold my YC88 looking for something in the 73 size for space considerations and would have otherwise grabbed a Piano 5 73 or Kronos 2 73 and still kept my Stage 3 Compact.

 

I think I am going to pull the trigger on a preorder and sell my Stage 3 Compact when it gets close to landing.  I don't really have to overthink this one at all.  I think it's the right size/weight/action for me, a lot of what I know, some extra capabilities on the synth side which is great for a person in an 80's new wave band using a Stage 3 Compact,  I can rebuild those patches really quickly in another Nord and am already flying around on Wave 2.  Some nicer reverbs like spring, chorale and effects routing improvements over my Stage 3.  This is a no brainer as I don't really want more keyboards, just the right ones.

 

I think I'm as ready to preorder tomorrow as I will be and have some cash in hand from selling my YC88 to fund major chunk of it.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

3 hours ago, MAJUSCULE said:

Told myself I’d own my Stage 3 for a good 8-10 years… bought it in early 2020. I’ve gotta hold the line, damnit!

 

 

YOU CAN DO IT

[cphollis]

Things I like so far?  Beefed-up, modular FX section.  I've always liked the sound of Nord FX, but the architecture could force some hard choices.  I also like having the volume levels exposed for the two engines with bright green LED bars.  As @analogikamentioned, it can be a pain to flip back and forth between A and B to adjust individual voice volume levels (damn, that synth is too hot!), and -- of course -- it's easy to mess up in the heat of a gig.  I'd need a few more bells and whistles to move from NS3, as no word yet on the organ engine or USB which are on my list

 

Not gonna get into the pricing discussion, as the marketplace has a good way of sorting things out ...

[cphollis]

6 hours ago, jeffinpghpa said:

There is going to be zero agony over this for me.  Stage 4 73 HA is exactly what I'm looking for.  I just sold my YC88 looking for something in the 73 size for space considerations and would have otherwise grabbed a Piano 5 73 or Kronos 2 73 and still kept my Stage 3 Compact.

 

That makes total sense to me.  I upgraded to the NP5 73 + NS3C combination a while back and couldn't be happier.  If I were doing it again, I'd do the NS4 73 HA and a synthy midi controller.  If it's the same keybed as the NP5, you may be in for a treat, as I find it quite nice.

[U.Honey]

Looks like the A/B panel concept has changed from what it was before. Now there's a volume slider for Panel A/B instruments, and you can control the volumes without toggling the panel A/B switch. (Or that's if I interpret the picture correctly). That is definitely a nice feature to have. How many times have I tried to adjust the volume of an instrument just to realize that I have the wrong panel active.

[Mighty Motif Max]

Sweet looking board! Interested to hear if they've expanded the piano memory any further. You can fit a lot into the existing 2GB, but more would be nice, especially if they release some new pianos/EP's with larger sizes, as has been the trend.

 

Looks like there will be a new triple pedal and a new single pedal as well. The NSP2 single pedal description mentions allowing pedal noise, which has been a complaint about the existing single pedal implementation in Nord's products (no pedal noise without the triple pedal unit).

 

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TriplePedal2--nord-triple-pedal-2

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/NSP2--nord-nsp2-piano-style-sustain-pedal

[Mighty Motif Max]

Pages are up on an Italian site.

 

https://www.algameko.com/it/tag/nord-stage-4-la-nuova-generazione-delle-tastiere-da-palco-evolute

https://www.algameko.com/it/pianoforti-digitali-stage/nord/stage-4-88

https://www.algameko.com/it/pianoforti-digitali-stage/nord/stage-4-73

https://www.algameko.com/it/pianoforti-digitali-stage/nord/stage-4-compact

[Mighty Motif Max]

A few notes I've picked up: 2x sample memory space, Layer Scenes feature is really interesting, foot-triggered sidechain feature (sounds like fun), no mention on piano memory increases yet. Still fixed split points it seems, no mention of audio interface capabilities. But that's because there's no specs section I've found yet, so it could be there.

[CyberGene]

19 minutes ago, Mighty Motif Max said:

no mention of audio interface capabilities.

That's the biggest disadvantage to me. Although it can be argued how important it is for an instrument that already has all that is needed in terms of sounds but for me it would be the decisive factor to just sell my CP88 and two synths (Hydrasynth and Take 5) and replace them with a Nord Stage (and a Macbook where I run drum loops and additional synths/fx) which would admittedly offer everything in one board.

[Spider76]

The piano and organ sections are essentially the same, I can see no mention of meaningful differences except the new pedals for better piano expressivity.

Unfortunately the connectivity appears to be the same too: no USB audio, no proper Audio In, no XLR connectors etc.

The big improvements are concentrated in the synth and effect sections, which are totally new and MUCH more powerful: we have 150% more synths (3 layer instead of 2) and 300% more effects (6 sections instead of 2)!

 

And finally we have new keybed actions: no more compromising with the infamous HP action!

I wonder if the 73 will cannibalize the 88: having exactly the same high-quality action (and if the Nord Piano 5 is any indication, almost exactly the same price), how many will be willing to lug around the bigger and heavier 88?

[zephonic]

https://www.nordstage4.com/

 

https://www.nordkeyboards.com/products/nord-stage-4

 

 

 

Probably just me, but drawbars look weird on an 88...

 

Teaser music very "Anomalie"...

[stoken6]

6 hours ago, cphollis said:

That makes total sense to me.  I upgraded to the NP5 73 + NS3C combination a while back and couldn't be happier.  If I were doing it again, I'd do the NS4 73 HA and a synthy midi controller.  If it's the same keybed as the NP5, you may be in for a treat, as I find it quite nice.

If you want:

- Sprung action above hammer

- and keyboards close together

I would get the NS4 Compact and a hammer-action underneath. Like you're doing today.

 

An HA Nord does allow you to take it to solo piano bookings, though.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[ProfD]

2 hours ago, zephonic said:

Teaser music very "Anomalie"...

Yep. Maybe J3PO. That sound/flavor is his bag. He does quite a bit of Nord endorsement too.😎

[Dockeys]

Just curious….did Nord create any new patches or voices for this board? Or is it the same samples they’ve been using in previous iterations? I know they have an extensive sample base online that’s added to regularly but is there an overhaul of the organ or elec pianos on this newer model?

[vonnor]

3 hours ago, Spider76 said:

I wonder if the 73 will cannibalize the 88: having exactly the same high-quality action ...

Ah yup...

"Nord Stage 4 88 with a fully weighted Triple Sensor keybed (A-C) with aftertouch and Physical Drawbars with LED indicators.

Nord Stage 4 73 with a fully weighted Triple Sensor keybed (E-E) with aftertouch and Physical Drawbars with LED indicators."

 

~ vonnor

[vonnor]

5 hours ago, Mighty Motif Max said:

A few notes I've picked up: 2x sample memory space, Layer Scenes feature is really interesting, foot-triggered sidechain feature (sounds like fun), no mention on piano memory increases yet. Still fixed split points it seems, no mention of audio interface capabilities. But that's because there's no specs section I've found yet, so it could be there.

Is now...

 

https://www.nordkeyboards.com/products/nord-stage-4/specifications

 

~ vonnor

[jeffincltnc]

Preorder prices on Sweetwater in USD:

NS4 73 Compact: $4,899

NS4 73 HA: $5,399

NS4 88 HA: $5,699

 

I'm pretty reasonable about what these were going to price but for me these MAP numbers came in as a deviation outside the most I'm willing to pay (this is a totally personal thing) so I will more likely just pause this announcement cycle and wait for the B-stocks from NAMM and open box returns to come up and pull the trigger then.

 

The Stage 3 clearance prices look good right now and if the Stage 4's were in line with those + a few hundred dollars I would have already ordered this morning.  Instead I will probably wait and shop around.

[1203]

1 hour ago, Dockeys said:

Just curious….did Nord create any new patches or voices for this board? Or is it the same samples they’ve been using in previous iterations? I know they have an extensive sample base online that’s added to regularly but is there an overhaul of the organ or elec pianos on this newer model?

As they wrote on their website, it seems that once again there will be only „enhanced“ EP‘s… the last really new EP sample was in 2016… 🙄

[jeffincltnc]

1 hour ago, Dockeys said:

Just curious….did Nord create any new patches or voices for this board? Or is it the same samples they’ve been using in previous iterations? I know they have an extensive sample base online that’s added to regularly but is there an overhaul of the organ or elec pianos on this newer model?

 

No new samples, pianos/EPs as far as I know, but the NS4 will use the newer v4 sample library which supports round robin samples.  These have been available previously only in the Nord Piano 5.

 

There are definitely new programs in the factory sounds out of the box because there has to be.  Can't load Stage 3 programs into Stage 4.

[Phil Aiken]

18 minutes ago, 1203 said:

As they wrote on their website, it seems that once again there will be only „enhanced“ EP‘s… the last really new EP sample was in 2016… 🙄

It is the Wurly for me that is a glaring weak spot and needs new content.

[TomKittel]

• Obviously they omitted the song mode.
• Still no class compliant audio over USB?
• Still no decent audio in?

Hey Nord folks, what century is this? I am out. I don't see any benefit of replacing my trusty NS3 compact with a overpriced successor. NS3 compact may well become a sought-after classic in the future.

[Mighty Motif Max]

27 minutes ago, Phil Aiken said:

It is the Wurly for me that is a glaring weak spot and needs new content.

They did recently update these to allow the Dyno ep filters to work. That has helped from what I’ve read.