Dave Osoff

If LA and New York are the 2 options. I’ll drive from MA down to New York to see him. I doubt I’ll be flying to Australia anytime soon. Hopefully he ships his Castle bar (sp?) Clavinet over. That looks a lot more fun then when I use the pitch stick on my Nord 🙂

Thanks everybody for the feedback on this. I’ll be experimenting with all these ideas over the weekend and I’ll let you all know the results.

Hello all, I just bought the Kurzweil Forte 7 and a new Motion Sound KP612 X amp. I updated the OS on the Forte to the latest and installed the Purgatory Creek Vintage keys. All is good there. The Forte sounds great! So far I really like the action; the sounds and the layout. And my FC7 pedal with the adapter is giving me a nice linear volume response. I’m having one strange problem with the Forte producing a large amount of hiss when running direct into the amplifier when my other keyboards produce none. (Nord Stage 3 Compact and a Mag C2 organ). The Forté is producing the hiss regardless of whether the master volume is up or down or any faders are up or down. The hiss is there regardless of what program or multi is selected. I have also turned the setting for the auxiliary audio input all the way down to ‘off’ and that did not affect the hiss at all. The noise gate in global settings is also turned on. That setting doesn’t affect the hiss either. Here’s the thing: The Forte’s sound through the headphone jack is clean and crisp. The sound is also clean plugged directly into my DAW and then through my studio monitors or headphones from the DAW. The sound is also clean when I run the Forte into my Radial KL8 mixer and then run aux outs into the Motion Sound amp. The hiss is only there when running cables directly from the Forte into my amp. I am using balanced cables by the way. Also tried a second set of balanced cables through the second set of Forte outputs with the same hiss problem. Also tried unbalanced cables. I also tried running direct into my older Motion Sound amp with the same hiss problem. Very strange. I’m stumped. Anybody have some insight into this? Now on the amplifier side: The Hiss disappears completely when I turn down the MS amp’s channel EQ middle and treble from 12 o’clock all the way to zero, which is interesting. But of course, that is not good for the tone of the keyboard. The same settings are not producing hiss with my other keyboards. I also keep the expand knob off. Has anybody else experienced a similar problem with a Kurzweil Forte or another Kurzweil?

Hello all, I have a Nord Stage 2 EX compact 73 that has a failed USB chip on the motherboard and a broken ribbon Connector on the lower key contact PC board (32 key). I’m hoping eventually to find replacements for these two boards to bring this keyboard back to life. I’m looking in the usual places on eBay and Syntaur but not finding an exact match. So I thought I just put an ad up here as well as well as the Nord user forum to see if anybody else has astage 2EX compact with parts available. Thanks, Dave.

Cool. I've heard good things about the Moog pedal. Actually I may have found another solution. I have an old Ashby Solutions FC7X-II adapter which was made to make the FC7 compatible with Roland, Kurzweil, older Nords, etc... It's probably 10 years old but it looks to be in great shape. So I'll try it before buying anything else.

Thanks for your feedback. I think I’m sold at this point on getting the Forte 7. From what I’m reading it looks as though my Yamaha FC7 pedals will not work with Kurzweil. What do you use? The Kurzweil CC1 is listed as one. Looking for something with a nice long throw similar to the FC7.

Hmmm. I see that Sweetwater still has some 76 key Forte’s also. 73 or 76 keys is my sweet spot. I’m thinking it’s probably down to the PC4-7 vs the Forte 7. I’m weighing the pros and cons of each. This will be more or less replacing the Korg Kronos 2-73 for live and studio use so the the Forte is the same price range as the Kronos 2 -73 but PC4 obviously has a lot going for it, less than 1/2 the weight and cost and great master controller functions. Anybody who’s owned both of them, what are your thoughts? Outside of the obvious semi weighted versus weighted actions.

Thanks, That helps a lot. I remember having quite a few problems with the PC2 back then with mechanical issues, build quality which is why I abandoned Kurzweil for so long... Based on what I'm reading on this thread, it seems most folks are pretty happy with the PC4, at least as far as mid-range keyboards go. Would you say the durability / build quality is much improved with the PC4 over older models? I know some folks on this forum also speak very highly of the PC3.

Hello all, I'm looking at potentially buying a PC4-7. Who can chime in about the keybed/action? I'm working my way through the 700+ comments on this thread 😉 I'm reading "76-note semi-weighted hammer action keybed with velocity-sensitive keys and aftertouch". The pictures I'm looking at online look like piano style/waterfall keys. I have a Nord Stage 3 compact, MAG/UHL organs and a DMC-122 so I'm very familiar with those actions. The last Kurzweil I owned was way back in the days of PC2/PC2x and to be honest I don't remember them very well. Any info / opinions / comparisons are appreciated.

Is this the exact same keybed as in the older Motif XS7? That’s the last Yamaha I owned and I sold it because I never liked the action.

Hello all, Does anybody have any tips on reputable keyboard techs in Massachusetts or anywhere else in New England? The techs in greater Boston that I relied on for many years are now retired or moved on, I’ve had bad experiences with a few others that I won’t go back to and I now don’t have anybody that I trust to call on. I have a Nord Stage 2EX compact and a Kronos 2 73 that are both in need of repairs. The Nord Stage 2 has a broken female ribbon connector. (This is my own fault; I had the keyboard disassembled and was cleaning the contact strip under the keybed to fix a few note velocity problems (one of the few repairs I will do on my own). I accidentally chipped the female ribbon connector and now I have a whole octave of notes that are sounding out at the wrong velocity. (see attached picture) Kronos: I found a tech in Boston about a year and half ago who brought my Kronos back to life with a new hard drive and upgraded components. It has been working great up until last weekend when I started getting black screen error messages and then the next day, strange noises similar to radio signals before the screen froze, everything stopped working and the keyboard shut down again. I recently had to send my newer Nord Stage 3 compact down to the distributor in Mississippi to get a warranty repair done because none of the 3 authorized Nord Repair Center‘s on their list for Massachusetts were willing to take a warranty job. Apparently, according to one of them, that had something to do with not being reimbursed properly for labor costs… Fortunately that repair worked out fine for me. I got the keyboard back just in time before my Kronos crapped out. I’ve been looking online at other repair places outside of my area that I could potentially send them to but then I’m reading mixed or bad reviews and I'm also thinking about the potential cost of these repairs + shipping costs vs. just buying a new keyboard…. If the Korg Nautilus didn’t take 3 minutes to boot up I’d probably get one of those. I suppose it's time to start searching this forum for reviews of some of the other new keyboards out there... Are reputable techs really this hard to find in other parts of the US?

Greetings all. It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. I took a 2 year hiatus from gigging and I’m now getting back to it. I have an interesting situation with my Nord Stage 2EX compact 73 that I wanted to post and get a little feedback. I purchased this Nord new from Musician’s Friend in early 2017. In 2018 the USB chip on the circuit board failed (confirmed by the first tech I brought this keyboard to) and according to Nord Support, they did not have the part to replace it with at that time. So I put that repair on the back burner. I bought a Kronos 2 73 not long after that, which became my main gigging Piano/workstation. The thing with the Nord is that right before that chip failed I had deleted a bunch of sounds from it to free up memory so I could load and try out all of the larger piano libraries and other samples. When the chip failed I then couldn’t load the other sounds back in. This has left me with less than the factory soundset and unable to upgrade the operating system or restore factory settings at all since 2018. Fast forward to this last year. I brought it to 2 techs here in Boston. Both re-confirmed that the chip on the circuit board had failed and this time the first tech could not even get a return call from the US distributor for Nord after a week of trying and the 2nd tech (who is also a Nord dealer) tried contacting them, and then told me that they do not provide support or parts for older Nord keyboards. So needless to say, I’m frustrated. This keyboard otherwise is beautiful, mint condition and more portable and practical for certain gigs than my Kronos 2-73. But I find myself wanting to bring my laptop when I bring the Nord to a gig to compensate for the sounds that are missing and for the acoustic piano sounds, which admittedly I have never cared for. But bringing a laptop and accessories to gigs is often a hassle for me so it’s not my first choice. And the lack of USB functionality means with a laptop I also have to use long standard MIDI cables and a midi/USB interface in addition to bringing the digital audio interface. A lot of extra stuff to bring with the Nord just to make me happy. So now I’m debating what to do with this Nord. I was considering at one point selling it and going for a newer Stage 3 or Electro model. But my experience with no Nord support on this has left me somewhat cold on buying another Nord product. I’ve owned 4 other Nord keyboards since the Electro 2 and have never had any problems before this one. Has anyone else experienced this particular problem with the Stage 2 or other model? If I was to sell this with full disclosure that the USB is non-functional, how much of a hit to the resale value do you think I would have to take on the sale? Like I said it’s otherwise absolute mint condition with a custom Mooradian gig bag. Any feedback is appreciated. End of rant 🙂

Ill second that. Ive used a similar solution. Its great that the Invisible stands use parts that are easily replaced.

Thats the ticket! I had no idea, I just looked them up online and figured out that its a #13 stopper. I ordered a few from Widgetco. Thanks!

Excellent, thanks!

Hi Eric, Thanks - That's an interesting idea. I'll work on that. And if you find a puck, let me know. Best

I have several invisible stands, which I adore, but have never had a use for the slide on hockey puck looking rubber wheel things that attach to the 2nd tier to put that top keyboard at an angle. I am now setting up a new rig with a 2 manual MAG organ on the bottom and my Nord Stage 2 compact on top. Id love to get the Nord at an angle but now I can only find one of the 2 wheels to try it out. Ive looked everywhere. Does anybody have a spare or a set theyd like to part with for a fee? Thanks!

Hardware - Great posts - I'm taking notes and I guess I'll need to check out that Lester K sometime! I've been really digging my HX3/ UHL these days. I hear you on the NOS tubes - I run my HX3 into an Effectrode Blackbird tube preamp with some old stock organ tubes (Amperex 12au7 and RCA black plate 12at7 are my favorite pair so far in the overdrive channel and I have a nice warm Raytheon 12au7 in the clean channel). Still using the original Ventilator and I dial in a little drive from there as well - but I also just added the B1200D to my rig and that's bringing back the low end I had lost with just the SSV3. And now the Spacestation sounds clearer with the filtered signal and has more headroom. Good times!

Clavinet bliss: I owned a Clav E7 and Mutron back in the day. Fast forward to now and I am using a Kronos and Busch's wonderful Clav D6 library (and a few other software clavs). But the missing ingredient has always been that certain digital effects have just never captured that vibe for me the way that the Mutron and others did. Why don't I just get another Mutron -'too expensive, too old and finicky to use, I've tried a bunch of others: now my search is over... The 3leaf Audio Wonderlove Deluxe.. Wow! https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz0jqSemJOSceFgyZl9aZERnSXM

Agreed! I still use my Vent with my HX3, but it's all pre-wired on my pedalboard. The built in Leslie sounds great! The SK1 is a great match for the expander.

I have a stage 2 template. I'm out of town today but send me a note tonight or tomorrow and I'll send it over to you this weekend. I haven't upgraded to the latest firmware yet. Also need to do that this weekend.

I guess I've been out of the loop for a few months. I didn't know a new HX3 update was out.

Contact Wolfgang at UHL - I've asked him that same question about previous HX3 updates and he has told to NOT install anything but official UHL updates. I'm sure he'll be making that available soon.

US user here... I agree wholeheartedly with Vanderschoot and M.G. The HX3 to my ears is rich, warm, throaty, cuts through a rock mix without any shrillness in the upper register - and many other keyboardists/organists who have used either my HX3 expander or UHL X3 at gigs have had the same reaction. I still use the ventilator pedal most of the time with my HX3, as I love the overdrive and the way it breathes. That said, the newest firmware 3.92 or 3.93 is fantastic. They have really upped the ante with the Leslie and the C/V in the newest OS. My thing with the Mojo and the VB3 was always that I never liked the built in Leslie effect. Always thought it sounded kind of cheesy. I also never cared for the way the Mojo sounded with my ventilator pedal. I currently also own the DMC 122 and Gemini which has the VB 3 engine built in, and it's a great system but my feelings about the Leslie effect are the same. It's still a back up for my HX3 organs. Such a subjective thing. If I played more jazz and left hand bass I might be more inclined in the other direction. But I would love to try out the brand-new mojo with the new key bed.

Al, I just saw your post and edited mine to be more specific. Yes, you're correct - the Nord sends high trigger over internal organ sounds only, not through the midi output for external sounds.