Macsaint777

I don't have that many boards anymore, so not an issue for me.. but I'd just use adapters if I needed to. I sold my Ui24 and bought this and don't regret it at all. Ui24 can be buggy and just disappears from the iPad/Mac/iPhone at random... but I really like having the built in screen here, as well as iPad control. Sounds better too actually.

I absolutely love mine. I use it in the studio as my keyboard mixer.. but I have used it live for 5 events as well and it is solid. I'm so impressed, that I plan to upgrade all our Presonus SL series to A&H for all 4 Church campuses I oversee.

XK-5 doesn't sound as good to me. Nor is it as easy to adjust things. Leslie is not as good either.

I'm Sorry, I meant the Presonus Air 10. There is no 8.

There is no guitar center in Black Mountain - so I assume you mean Asheville? Either way... the salesman is an idiot. You will be perfectly fine with that EV, but I also highly recommend the Presonus Air 8. That line comes very close to the QSC K series for a fraction of the cost. I own both. Excellent speakers. Works great for Nord.

Did you just recommend a Bass amp for a keyboard player trying to reproduce piano and organ sounds?

RIGHT... and this makes it almost always the one I ignore in favor of my Stage 4.

I have had my Montage M6 since December. It SOUNDS amazing.. but I cannot bond with it. It doesn't inspire me. Its beautiful.. but...I play my Stage 4 almost constantly.. and leave the Montage M6 sitting under... its dust cover. I might sell it. It has severe polyphony issues that I don't think should be there - I cannot for example have a beat playing, while the full drawbars of all the new organs are pulled out, without dropping serious notes and the whole board seeming to "cough" trying to get those hi hats out.

Well... I GOT A 1099 FROM THEM..oddly, it came from PayPal.

This uses the same Kawai RH3 action... but apparently has been "enhanced"... I expect along the lines of what Nord does with their "virtual hammer technology" in the Piano series. But it is almost literally a Piano 5 in the Grand shell... which a slightly more NS4 UI. Goodness. Why.

Here is my playlist where I demo EVERY performance in the Montage M, using the Audition button. Finishing up the rest of the categories, but the main ones are already done. Please delete if not helpful.

UPDATE on my experience with the Numa X GT. I bought an SL 88 Grand instead.. and it is perfect.

Turn the split on inside B3-X and assign where your split happens. Had to do the same on a YC88, and that resolved the triggering of the preset keys.

Just bought a new - not open box...not B Stock, not reselaed...NEW- Numa X Piano GT. It arrived with a scuffed up screen, very badly aligned LEDs, a missing screw from the right side wooden panel, and worst of all, the D#2 key was far far less sensitive than any others. I adjusted to to 30% max, and while that helped, it was still quite obviously not right, and especially over MIDI, did not play well at all. Also, I owned the SL88 Grand for 5 years. Never had a single problem. I expected this TP-400 Wood action to be miles better than the TP-40 Wood. It isn't. That is not to say it is bad. Compared to the NW-GH of the CP/YC88, it is quite nice... but I really doubt anyone could tell the difference side by side between the SL88 Grand, and the Numa X Piano GT. The differences were extremely slight. I would say, other than the escapement...and perhaps a slightly quieter "thud" when the hammers drop, the actions are nearly identical. For that reason, I promptly boxed mine up and sent it back. I ordered an SL88 Grand (mainly as a bottom board for my Nord Stage 4 compact and Montage M6) and I hope it arrives in perfect working order. Despite the excellent Dr. Mix Fatar tour, the quality control is clearly lacking with these boards. I recall my first purchase of the SL88 Grand when I worked at Sweetwater. I had to swap it immediately because of a dead note. The next one was excellent and lasted 5 years, then I sold it because I bought a YC88 and simply didn't have the room for two large 88 note boards. A word about the sounds. For the most part, the pianos were fine. They are definitely largely modeled, but the EPs, and especially Wurlitzer sounds were quite nice. Organs, which used the dedicated rotary effect, were surprisingly good. Strings... meh... Synths, and Pads, were excellent. The "analog" stuff in particular was far better than I expected. Upright piano was good.. Japan Grand was good. The others...were just OK. But I had no intention of using this as anything but a MIDI controller, so I don't really care about the sounds. My takeaway is this.... If, like me you think the TP-400 Wood is the best thing you can get in a controller, and you are happy to hand over the extra 1K for that action... SAVE YOUR MONEY and buy the SL 88 Grand. It is hardly worth 1K to get an audio/midi interface. If you want a stage piano with built in sounds, great action, and an audio/midi interface, then I'd say you are better off with a CP88 or YC88...but if you just want the great action... you are getting 95% of that same feel (minus escapement) with the SL88 Grand. You will rarely meet a more picky player when it comes to feel and action, than myself. I could get a Kawai VPC-1 or any number of other top tier controllers.. and I would say the SL 88 Grand is about the best value and feel wise that you can get in a portable MIDI controller.

I have an M7, and it’s not the black hole of mystery and fear you might think.

This is a baffling comment to me. I have used Roland, Yamaha, Korg, Sequential, UDO, Kurzweil, and yes I am a long time Nord user... and if we are talking Stage pianos or synths, or workstations... I cannot think of a simpler system than what is on the Electro, now copied nearly exactly, by Yamaha with the YC series.

You just described my exact setup!

Blake just said they had created a MONTAGE M VST - Holy Crap. Free to Montage M owners - a Librarian and Editor, but also THE FULL MONTAGE M IN VST FORM. Now that, I can afford.

Yours sounds excellent. But I would say that the Vent II version has the vent set way slower and further back than most of us would expect.

I've gotta say...I used the XK-4 this past weekend for a large church event. Eight songs, and I used it on nearly every song. Both in the room, and in my in ears, it was really great even without the vent 2. I'm super happy with the adjustments I've made, and it seems to be a great board for live organ.

Great to hear you are loving your Stage 4. I concur with all of those observations, and I am a Church Tech Director and keyboard player. I have H90 I never use.. so might dig that out after looking at your post. Cheers!

I wish you the best with your gator case. I can tell you that when those get very warm, they warp and bend, and they don't go "back" to normal easily. They are also quite a bit more flimsy and thin than the SKB versions I posted. Maybe these won't be issues for you, but I've had 4 of those gator TSA cases and will never buy another one. The SKB 76 key i series here, is cheaper and much sturdier. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/3i5014TKBD--skb-3i-5014-tkbd-76-note-keyboard-case, and GC does carry it.

In my opinion.. based on personal experience, anything over $800 is too nice to put in anything but a hard case. The best I've found are the SKB i series. They are a lot lighter than you might think in practice, and they are waterproof. I've gone through several soft cases, and wouldn't take another one if you gave it to me. Zippers wear out... fabric tears, water gets in...plus you can sit on the keyboard and cause damage by mistake. If it falls...not great. Yamaha has one YC series case that is very well made.. but other than that, I won't use a soft case. Your experience may be different, of course.

I have used two different cases with my XK4, and both fit, though one is a perfect fit. This one fits perfectly. The XK-4 is jus slightly smaller than my Stage 3 and 4, which fit super well as you can see from the photos on this link. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/3i5014TKBD--skb-3i-5014-tkbd-76-note-keyboard-case This is the other one, with plenty of room to spare. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/3i4217TKBD--skb-3i-4217-tkbd-61-note-keyboard-case Congrats on your new XK! It does indeed have strong bass, especially if you turn on the pedal bass for a split (though be aware that you usually need to then go to lower drawbars and push those in, otherwise you have pedal bass and drawbar bass.

Update: Sweetwater sent me a new XK4 and I haven't had any issues yet. I had the previous one for about a month before the issue popped up, and I didn't see it happen but one time, so I am a bit nervous, but I'm hopeful this time around. Jim, I'd love to know what Hammond says in response to your inquiry about this issue, which is in the manual... so they must have some idea what causes it.