Spider76

But as far as I can tell, it lost the DIN MIDI ports. It was the only light and portable piano with a good action and MIDI in-out, pity that it lost this feature differentiating it from the competition

We are living the worst global crisis since WWII. Pandemic, disruption of global supply chains, war in Ukraine with the very real risk of a WWIII, and the almost certain famine that will hit half of the world (Ukraine is the world's biggest food producer). Things will get much worse before they get better, and when they do eventually improve again, it will be in a different world. We will definitely never go back to life as we knew it until 2019. I think lack of new keyboards should be the last thing to worry about.

The Nord monitors are not mounted on the stand, but on the keyboard itself. Which in turn is not just sitting on the stand, but it's mounted on it. So the whole system becomes essentially one big piece of gear. Nice for the studio, a mess for gigging.

Can't believe nobody mentioned In My Life yet?

I loved this article https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/may/27/andrew-fletcher-the-pop-loving-everyman-who-held-depeche-mode-together

Mahogany wood (MOAR WOOD!) 9 "virtual" contacts Screen (presets?) Pipe and transistor organs On-board effects USB to host and to device Seems like a pretty big upgrade, before even knowing if the B3 engine itself has been improved. If only they ditched those awful "LEGEND" engravings on the sides and the gargantuan full-moon switch...

That show is not live: the "wow" effect comes and goes but he only uses one hand, without touching the sliders. And the Odyssey doesn't have aftertouch so it's impossible he's modulating parameters with pressure. And then he changes to a different sound without changing any parameter. So it could be an Odyssey or any other synth in the recording, really. That said, the Odyssey is definitely able to generate that effect: sounds like a simple high-speed LFO modulating the filter at medium-high resonance.

Same impressions from me. Is it a "wow!" instrument? Not at all. Does it get the job done? Absolutely yes. Will it stand the test of time? I have no idea, I've only used it for two years of sparse post-covid gigging. But it's a Yamaha, so I expect it to last more or less forever. And it's tiny, light, has more than acceptable sound and action, I got it used for next to nothing and it has already more than repayed itself. So yeah, it may not be a fancy instrument but it's a great, great tool of the trade.

Only one, and it stays home: the Kawai console DP in my living room. For gigging, I moved to 73-keys boards only: Nord Stage 2EX Compact and Yamaha P-121. Couldn't be happier with this setup.

Black and gray panel...it most definitely looks like that Ob-X reissue the web has been talking about since Dave trademarked the name.

Yep. Exactly all the issues that Anotherscott outlined in his post. And which make a dual manual waterfall-hammer action controller commercially unviable. I doubt that any possible future solutions will be much smaller, lighter or cheaper... Back to the B controller, I doubt that it will ever become a reality, at least in that form and features. Quite simply because the Arturia Keylab is different 🤣

That nobody will ever buy... especially the ones who clamour for it on the internet. How many on this forum bought the ORLA Jamkey? 😁

Nord Stage 2. I've owned three of them: NS2 HA88, NS2EX HA88, and now a 2EX Compact. For me, it's simply the best combination of features, sounds, playability, interface and portability. No other keyboard I've ever owned comes even close (disclaimer: I haven't tried the NS3 and the latest YC line). Even after 10 years, I sometimes step into a "wow, that's nice!" moment while trying to circumvent the board's limitations, and every time I discover it's not as limited as it looks. The Compact is just amazing for its size and weight. Even when (if) I eventually move on to another model, the little red Nord will always stay as a backup-rehearsal board.

Here in EU (Italy) it's definitely Nords and Yamahas, with Rolands and Korgs not even close. Other brands are almost unseen, there will be the occasional Casio lately, thanks to the great price/quality ratio of the newer Privias.

While aknowledging that the "hot chick in sexy dress playing covers on YT" is a widespread trend (not just on piano, on all instruments really) and like it or not, it's likely here to stay, I found this somehow related article very interesting: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/19/fashion-fabrics-and-fishtails-why-we-need-to-talk-about-what-female-classical-performers-wear

There's sax players. And then there's The Big Man. 😍 And then, unfortunately, there's Kenny G. 😆

Haha dude, it looks like you really had a bad time with your Nord! Morphing and aftertouch are usually very high on people's list of reasons why they love their Nord Stage. I agree that the "shift+button" functions are not ideal, but at least on the Stage you have a proper screen to guide you through that (on other Nords you don't even have that convenience). The red color is of course a matter of taste, while Nord's reliability and customer support is normally considered another one of their strong points...but it depends a lot on the local service and distributor: in my country it works great, maybe in the US the situation is different. But I agree that a global giant like Yamaha will always have several advantages over a small boutique company, especially with capillary distribution, availability and aftersale service

This is interesting. I was always taught (by several classical teachers) that wrists should be more or less level with the keys, with the fingers cupped more or less like holding a tennis ball. Wrists above or below the keys were always a red flag. Maybe it's a classical thing? Are jazz teachings any different?

For me, the key is one word: SHOULDERS. If I notice tension building up, it always starts from the shoulders, then neck, jaw, back, and all the way down the arms and forearms to the fingers. And before I know it, I'm completely stuck and unable to do any serious technical passage. When I think "Relax your shoulders!!!", magically all tensions disappear. Paradoxically, the reverse is true for the lower body: abs, lower back and legs should have a minimum of tension, to sustain the upper parts. When I notice tension building up in my shoulders-arms, at the same time I notice that my lower back and legs are flopping and I'm slowly turning into a formless ball of slime. I straighten up my legs and back, and magically my shoulders are able to relax and go back to business.

Saw it and while it made for great entertainment, it leaves me with several doubts. Being Hollywood, the first obligatory question is not "Can it possibly be fake?" but "Can it possibly be real?". After all, we're talking about a guy who won an Oscar a few minutes later. He'd surely know how to act a few seconds of madness. Honestly, to a non-US citizen this smells a lot of "Superbowl wardrobe malfunction". Even if it WAS real, what are we talking about? A lame machista joke about a woman who doesn't look like real women are supposed to look, and an ultra-machista reaction from the offended husband. If I was the wife, I don't know which would've offended and saddened me the most. Quite a sad scene, really.

Check out Gator's Pro-Go (G-PG) series. They're much cheaper than the Nord bags, and are great value for money.

I use this Quik Lok stool. https://www.quiklok.it/en/quik-lok/dx749 Big and heavy, but really solid and has an ample range of height settings, from really low to really high for "almost-standing" gigs

That was my first thought too. And I was also picturing a guy arriving at the gig hauling a huge thing wrapped in a blanket...is he a homeless? A murderer with a corpse? Santa Claus out of season? And SURPRISE! Out of the blanket comes a shiny red $4K keyboard. So maybe he WAS Santa, after all...

Nord Stage 2 EX Compact. Had the NS2 88 and NS2 EX 88 before, I loved them but they were big, heavy, I wasn't too fond of the action and I never really used the whole 88 keys. When I switched to the Compact it was one of those "Why didn't I do it before?!?" moments

You're welcome, no problem. YEs I think it's very important to remove all debris from drilling, and in general clean the inside of the instrument once you take the trouble to open it. First of all, any small particle can get inside the bubble contacts of the keys. Every key has two contacts that regulate high-low trigger point and velocity. If one of those contacts is inactivated by something getting inside it, you will lose one of the two trigger points and velocity for that key. If both contacts get dirty you will lose all functionality from that key. About metal filings, absolutely get rid of them! Anything small and metallic can go around the insides and end up on exposed circuits, possibly shorting them. While dust and non-metallic particles can at worst silence some keys, metallic/conductive debris may kill your whole instrument for good!