Nathanael_I

I'm still pretty swamped this weekend. Video isn't going to happen. But I do have a couple of audio clips I made to sample the sound design for myself. These will give you an idea of the textures I can get. All sounds come from the Nord Stage 4, OB-6 desktop, H90, and the Hologram. Amber Upright Felt Upright One of the EPs Each of these patches totally changes feel if I change the FX, or the synth/sample balances, or the piano sample. What I love is that the piano changes on a knob, the FX change on a dial, and the synth balance is on faders. It is all immediately to hand. I can change the filter on the OB-6, or the velocity envelope depth to control brightness and articulation in the synth layer. It's all immediate. Next up is mounting the OB-6 and pedals on a board, all pre-cabled so it's easy and fast to set up.

Just look for synths with the Fatar TP-8S action. It’s the good one. It’s in the Waldorf synths, the Schmidt 8 Voice, Bowen Solaris…. There’s now a poly-AT version. But yes, it’s only in premium instruments.

I use it both for “unreal ambient space” as well as standard hall reverb. It isn’t that the hall reverb in the Nord is bad. I have the H90, and it is a better, lusher reverb, so I use it. I’m used to using the H9000 in studio, so the H90 is very familiar to me. I can make some clips later this week or next weekend… busy time. But it’s just an excellent spatialization tool with a lot of creative potential.

Blackhole, Mangleverb, Tricerachorus, The main hall reverb... loads of ambient goodness. The H90 is superb. Dig it out. Install the software on your Mac and go for it. I think you'll find it useful,

Not quite yet. The piano moves daily toward completion. It will complete over next several months. It will then sit in the factory until spring. It needs to settle and Wayne will adjust it throughout to stabilize it. This happens with all high end grands. Not uncommon for them to season in factory for a year. So, it’s giving me time to gut and rebuild my studio with the help of an acoustician. But I remain excited. The soundboard is in the case and Wayne tells me it is fully meeting his expectations for resonance. This was welcome news!

The Stage4 continues to delight - first rehearsal and gig done along with a solid start on sound design. The immediacy is exactly what I hoped it would be. It’s just fast to get good sounds. The rig is Stage4, OB-6 module, Eventide H90 and Hologram Microcosm (granular reverb and delay FX). I use an RME UCX as a mixer. The H90 is on an aux send, the Microcosm is in its FX loop. I’ve devoted the third synth layer to OB-6 control and the Stage sends it patch changes. Highlights: 1. I know why churches use them. The piano library basically matches every song. It’s like they were recorded on a Nord. It’s uncanny. And the upright piano samples work great with a bass player - just not a lot of energy down there. It’s so easy to change emotion/feel by turning a knob. 2. Nord string samples layered with OB-6 and a Nord oscillator can be almost endlessly configured to sound great. 3. The H90/Microcosm combo pretty much nails any modern ambient and pad sound design needs. Both are very fast to work with. The H90 has a very useful app. It’s like a plug-in that saves to hardware. Quick controls on H90 put three real-time controls per patch at the ready. The Microcosm has presets but can be instantly accessed for sound design or modification. 4. Small amounts of Hammond upper drawbars adds texture and sheen without being recognizable as organ. Super useful for sound design. 5. I’m finding “base patches” that I can easily modify by changing mix on faders, FX on H90, etc. every patch has multiple feels and use in it. Change piano and the whole feel shifts. This flexibility is wonderful - or try a different OB-6 patch or a different H90 spatialization. It’s all immediate. Playing space, not computer-nerd space. It’s working for me. The action is fully “out-of-my-way”. I don’t think about it at all. And it’s a rig I’m happy to practice on for hours. It’s a keeper.

Such a fiercely good player. I’ve always enjoyed her seemingly effortless mastery.

Eventide H90 and a Hologram Microcosm are my live “outboard”. The H90 is two DSP blocks that run a selection of Eventides best algorithms. The Microcosm is a granular delay/reverb. Both stereo. Both in large pedal format. I mix the Stage 4 and OB-6 outputs onto a send in RME UCX CueMix. Then, both instruments can inhabit the same ‘space’. Easy to adjust on the fly. Can be MIDI controlled. Sounds wonderful!

The Nonlinear Labs C15 has a great, fully functional web app that effectively is the UI. Point iPad browser at it and it’s all there. None of the MI companies can match the cell and tablet manufacturers volume commitments. So it is always going to be a better experience to use a screen from them for a device from an MI company. The music industry is surprisingly resilient to change and quite conservative. Much is possible that “just isn’t done”.

Others have already expressed most of my POV - 1) The instrument's value isn't anywhere close to zero at 50 gigs. I keep my gear very well maintained. 2) It's sunk cost. After paying for it, it's free for the rest of its life. I paid for it with money earned in the past. If it's not on credit, the future use is free. 3) 50 gigs means practices, rehearsals, just playing for joy, and so many other uses. I'll have either bonded with it or sold it by 50. And if I've bonded with it - it'll be hard to get rid of, and well worth the $$ over even more years. Initial use is leaning that way - it's so easy to program great sounds and layers with my OB-6. 4) The value of my time playing it for 50 gigs worth of rehearsal and practice sessions will far exceed the purchase price. That will be hundreds of hours. The cost of a good instrument isn't the money. If it's a good instrument and well used, the time spent playing it will be far more valuable. Ergo, buying low-enjoyment instruments never makes sense. And high-enjoyment instruments are always worth the money.

i dunno, I get it, but it's not like it's a $20k violin bow. Expensive is always "compared to what"? It's a lot compared to the Yamaha version of this, but it's also a lot more capable. It's inexpensive compared to my piano - a fraction of the cost for a fraction of that piano's goodness. It's a little more than the cost of one of my custom Skjold basses. I got home from picking it up at Guitar Center in San Francisco and ordered the case plus the triple pedal, neither of which they had in stock. That will protect it for the strictly local gigs I do right now. They threw in two or three years of their own musical instrument coverage that pretty much covers anything that happens to it. I think a better question might be, "how much use will I get for the $$"? Over several years, the cost will diminish in importance, but the usefulness will still be there. If I do 50 gigs/shows/services/events with it, the cost will be way in the rear-view mirror for me. And it will see that use. I don't leave my basses in the car unattended. But really, I don't do that with any of my musical instruments or gear. No divorce on the horizon here... There's also no secrets, and no hiding. My wife thinks it sounds great. My oldest daughter (27) was prosaic - "Does it do what you need? Yes. Can you afford it? Yes. Then you should buy it." There are less expensive ways to accomplish the same musical goal. I get it. There are also more expensive ways - my Mac laptop was about this much without the software on it or an interface, rack, etc. It certainly won't be for everyone. Nords have never been for me until the Nord Grand put a Kawai action in place of the Fatar and them releasing this. Who knows.. Maybe in 5 years I'll be a Kurweill guy?

Dave, I have not played a NP5. I suspect it’s close or identical to NP5. It’s not the Kawai action in the NG. The key surface is different. NG has the ivory touch material. The Stage 4 is a lighter action feel than my acoustic RX-7. It is graded. But the heaviest is about what my piano is an octave under middle-C. the finger-ear connection is there on the Stage4 and the pianos are expressive to play. The triple sensor probably afforded them a way to refine velocity curves. I’m not doing straight ahead jazz, so the utmost similarity isn’t as important. I think it’s an excellent compromise for a piano-oriented player. Hammond is a texture for me, not something I play idiomatically, so the 88 leans my direction in the way that suits me. The proper faders are nice for the organ. This is the first time I’ve played a Fatar-actioned Nord and didn’t notice the action in a “I don’t prefer this way’. I just played and kept playing, and said, “Yep, that’ll do!” it’s definitely better than the action in the Doepfer keyboard built into my desk. That’s the “standard two sensor, I’ve avoided it action”. But it’s mainly for entering notes into Dorico, not recording parts. So I accept it. The ergonomics of not fighting a keyboard and having desk flush with keys won. it’s flaws are well known from this thread. It’s still a wonderful device for doing what it does. For coming into the Stage experience, the things changed and upgraded from the Stage3 were important.

I demoed and purchased a Stage 4 yesterday, which surprised me a little. I've long been a laptop guy and a proponent of the infinite capabilities of a modern laptop over a relatively fixed keyboard. And the Nords are more fixed than most for all the reasons listed in this thread already. What changed? I need to have a piano-oriented board, but with synth and organ. I may MIDI up my OB-6 desktop. But I wanted a simpler, playing-oriented surface and direct control. I've had the Nord Grand for years and it is great - it just doesn't cover all the bases I presently need. I did not get on with the Fatar action in the Stage 3. The Stage 4's triple sensor action is quite nice, however. In my opinion, it is a significant improvement over the Stage 3. The control layout puts enough on hand to get most anything done quickly. It sounds great and will sound great through a PA system. The Wave synth engine is quite capable, and plenty for what I need. I may add a pedal to get the shimmer/granular type sounds that are currently on a lot of tracks. I thought about buying a compact and using it over the Grand, but one keyboard is fine for what I'm doing right now, and this one does everything I need. So I made a vote for simplicity.

+1. I think they are the finest samples pianos available. Played on a good triple sensor keyboard, i am very happy.

Seeing the UI demos is why I didn't purchase a Montage when it came out. I realized it was more complex than my laptop rig and that I had no interest in that journey on a tiny screen. They sound great, and the synth engine is remarkably deep. But the UI put me right off the idea.

The X32 is a product that shifted the whole game of live music. Churches, bands, venues, PA companies…. Everyone knows how to use this mixer and deal with its limitations. It’s ProTools for the live sound crowd. It isn’t the best at anything. I upgraded to an Allen & Heath SQ-5 when I could, but if there’s a ubiquitous live sound device, it’s the X32. That changed what was possible for most. They changed the whole industry with this mixer. I’ve owned the Behringer and Midas versions. I’ve mixed on them for many years. All trouble free. The value for $ is unreal. Again, there are much better choices. But for most needs, it’s an abundance of riches. Buy one and a few of the new generation of speakers and very good sound can be had if you know how to use the gear. their synths are almost completely uninteresting. I’m not enamored with vintage gear generally. I’ve got a Minimoog Model D from the first batch of reissues. I’ve got an OB-6. Everything else is modern makers pushing the envelope.

Davinci Resolve (paid version) here. Love it. Used to use Premiere, but Davinci is much faster, uses the hardware more efficiently, and has simple, effective workflows.

It depends on the industry. For film, broadcast TV and high-end advertising work, it's primarily AVID. Corporate stuff is often Premiere because it's bundled with the rest of the stuff you need (like Photoshop) for making simple videos. Amateur video uses everything under the sun. I bet iMovie is the most popular NLE on the planet by a huge margin.... It's on every phone, tablet and computer Apple sells.

Your audio interface (Tascam) should have nothing to do with MIDI. It's a separate interface as far as the operating system and Cubase are concerned. MIDI-OX won't make a sound, of course, but if everything is working, you can choose your keyboard as the MIDI input to monitor. Then the Input monitor page will show you every note you play, velocity, etc. As long as you have data in MIDI-OX, you know that the OS is correctly receiving MIDI and can pass it on to a program. This clears your keyboard, cable, USB driver, and operating system as potential problems. Then, you know it's can only be a configuration item in Cubase. And Cubase, as deep as it is, only has a few MIDI input things to get right. The directions about studio setup are correct above, as well as the indication to look for flashing MIDI activity. If you have that, Cubase has the MIDI data coming in. Then you need to get it routed to a VST Instrument track so it can play whatever sound you are after. As noted above, correctly setting up VST instrument tracks takes a minute the first time. It is very well documented in the manual and online, but it may not be intuitive the first time. Take it step by step. My orchestral template has almost 600 virtual instrument tracks all routed and playable from a standard MIDI keyboard, no different from either of your two. You'll get there!

You have something fundamental wrong. Any MIDI keyboard with the right drivers should just work - your MO8, an M-Audio thing, whatever. They can all work at the same time even. I've been on Cubase/Nuendo for a decade - well before Cubase 10. If you are on Windows, have you opened the Device Manager to ensure the drivers are correctly installed? In my studio, I'd next be opening MIDI-OX to ensure I'm receiving MIDI from the keyboard. It's a free download. But maybe that is more complex for you? I don't know. But I'd be making sure that MIDI is getting through the driver to the OS and into software, and MIDI-Ox is how I would do that. Then I'd know that the rest is in Cubase.

Here's your USB MIDI driver from Yamaha: https://usa.yamaha.com/support/updates/index.html?c=music_production&k=MO8

Your Yamaha MO8 has USB MIDI. You just need to plug it into your laptop. That's it. No Mackie Control. You should be able to plug it in, record arm your VST instrument track and record MIDI.

I switched to BlackMagic Resolve - brilliant software and so much faster. It makes much better use of graphics cards and CPU than Premiere. I find it far more intuitive. That said, you can do the same things in both. But I find color grading so much nicer in Resolve. The free version is amazing. I use the paid version to work with the Nikon RAW video up to 8k/60p.

Look at Triad-Orbit. Their system has VESA mount plates and clamps that can go on to pipe. Will be rock solid. My whole studio runs on Triad-Orbit stands and accessories. Not cheap. Just excellent.

And Avid still has the best workflow and hardware support in the industry. I've got a full HDX/MTRX system, and it is the best audio recording system I've owned. The hybrid mode works beautifully and allowed me to remove two producers' racks of gear, a digital mixer, etc. I am thrilled with the system and hope that it continues to thrive. There is a world of audio production (as opposed to writing/creating) where ProTools remains the lingua franca and the default way to exchange information. I still have and use Nuendo and Ableton. But ProTools remains relevant, powerful, and in almost daily use here. It is my standard recording environment for acoustic instruments and I am very pleased with it. I'm not sure a generic private equity house will likely be a good home for a creative business. I think that with chip shortages, etc, they got into a bad place with the cost of hardware manufacturing and needed capital. It's not a great time to need capital, so the options weren't great.