Paul Henry

I agree that Sam Ash and GC have had little to no selection of Pro level keyboards for the last decade. I've read that since the main man has passed that the sons are doing what they think is best in this business climate. All my main musical purchases have been with Alto Music in Middleton NY. I am from Rhode Island and I feel the six hour round trip is worth my time to be able to check out pretty much any top tier keyboard out there. Everything is setup and ready to demo and if it's not they get it ready to go. When I was looking to buy my Nord Stage3 they went and grabbed a fresh one and opened it for me to try out first. Yes that was three years ago, so maybe that's frowned upon now. They also give me the best deals on any and all equipment, guitars, keyboards, mixers, PA speakers, studio monitors, E-Drums.....I've bought everything from them in the past several years. I guess I'm a fan and YMMV but it's worth a shot since all these other stores are closing. Paul

When I started back playing in the 80s, I got a Korg DW8000 so I got used to the joystick and that worked for me with all the subsequent Korgs I owed after that. I did have a Yamaha with wheels and I just couldn't get used to that arrangement. My Fantom 7 has both so that is a nice compromise. Paul

I replaced the springs on my Nord Stage 3 compact (Fatar keybed) with lighter ones (PC3KC) from a Kurweil. I got the replacements from Syntaur.com in Texas. It is where I want the action now (Lighter) since I use it mostly to play organ on the Nord into a Leslie 145. As I've said before it's a fairly easy swap and you can always go back to the originals if you so desire. Paul

This will fill some ones void for a Hammond clone, but don't forget the VELCRO cause at only 8lbs this baby will fly off of anything you place it on if/when the going gets rough. Just sayin' Paul

Thanks for the replies, I figured that there would not be a 76 key controller board with that exact keybed. Paul

Quick question: Does anyone here know if any other Roland keyboard product has the exact same keybed as the Fantom 7 ? As I've mentioned here before this action is my favorite, but I feel my Fantom 7 is way under used as it's kind of just used mostly as my main controller board. If some other Roland board, perhaps a controller had this same action, I'd could sell the Fantom 7 and get that board. Thanks Paul

Excellent idea, and at only $2000 it will be the cheapest Nord product.

I did this to my NS3c and it's much easier to play organ with now. Again not sure if the springs are the same as what's put in the newer MoJo. Got them from Syntaur for around $50 and I believe they came from a Kurzweil PC3 model. Paul

I don't believe they are . The LS has "piano" looking keys were as the Nautilus has diving board keys. The Nautilus 61+73 have decent actions but as someone mentioned they are not as nice (solid) as the Kronos 61. Certainly not flimsy like the cheaper Kross or Krome type keybeds. My Fantom 7 has the best, for my taste, action of any board I've played in a long time. I liked older Motifs and Tritons (synth actions) and the Roland reminds me of those to a reasonable degree. Also got an email from Korg indicating these discounts. Paul

I do realize that I can get decent money back on my Nord NS3c investment. It's just a PIA to try and sell things and get wallets to open. I do fault GC for trying to make a killing on items such as a perfect Stage3c, but I do understand that they are in this to make money. My OP was kind of tongue in cheek because I would never give my stuff away to GC like that. I had a buyer lined up a couple of months ago for the NS3c, but got cold feet not knowing what the new model would bring to the table. Was disappointed that there wasn't more piano memory offered and the organ side wasn't upgraded. In my situation the new model doesn't bring enough to warrant the upgrade. At 72 YO I won't say that money is no object, but I can put together the funds when needed/wanted. That all said I have some excellent hardware here to get the job done. As always we shall see what the future holds. Paul

I was thinking: I could go to GC and trade in my mint Fantom7, Nautilus73 and NS3c and that should net me around half of what I need for a new NS4C. Sound about right? Paul

When I got my Roland Fantom7 I thought it nice to have XLR outputs to plug into my little studio board. My Zoom L12 board has two separate 48v power section buttons. I don't plug mics into this board so I would hope I never turn on the Phantom power........but then there's Murphy's Law. So I just got rid of the XLRs and put in 1/4" cables. Done deal for my particular situation. Thanks for the schooling. Paul

Personally, I don't care how they recorded this number....I loved it and think it's a great song. Paul

Mine was well out of warranty, so I didn't consider that point. I would hope not, it's not a mangle job, I don't think a tech would know that it was done if none the wiser.😉 Paul

I just did the spring swap on my Stage3 C 73 and I still can play AP,EP stuff fine. As I've said before it made the keybed much more organ centric. I haven't touched a MoJo in awhile but my guess the action is now pretty close to it. Fifty dollars at Syntaur and an hour of careful time will do it. I certainly don't open up keyboards everyday and it was quite a simple task. Again my experience and two cents worth. Paul

I had QSC CP8s for a while in my studio for light jamming with acoustic guitar and single vocalist. I just play keys through my monitors. One of the CP8s died and I had it fixed and sold them both, as I wasn't pushing them at all, and I lost my trust in them. Enter the Headrush FRFR 8" versions. My guitar playing friend brought his over and I loved how they sounded, so I bought two of them. I think they sound very good, better than the CP8s, with APs. I have a Nord, a Roland Fantom and a Korg Nautilus for reference. The Alto line, HeadRush line and Alesis speaker lines are born in the same place as far as I know. They are voiced differently, but all have the same power ratings for the given series. To me they are like playing through monitor speakers, although for an FRFR speaker they do have quite a bit of bass, especially for an 8" Cheers Paul

Good to know. Thanks Paul

As always I'm looking for the easy way out. I'll give it a try and see what comes of it. He may not want me to do anything with it, and figure it out himself. That would get him familiar with the board, so we'll see. Paul

Thanks I was hoping that was all that was to it. Paul

I have a bass player friend that is buying a Nord Stage 3 for his new studio. My question is: Can I take a backup snapshot of my Stage 3 and dump it into his as a good starting point? I imagine that it should have the latest firmware update Ver 2.62 installed first. Does the backup take all the samples I've put in or just the programs? Thanks Paul

I've been using synth action keyboards through the years to play ALL my sounds, so I got very used to that action. Never had any boards with weighted keys. So I guess my only dislike with my Stage 3 73 was the push back of that action. Truth be known, the only reason I even considered the YC73 was the fact that it had 73 keys. If you are like me with your tastes in keybeds then you may like the mod too, but if you are used to weighted then YMMV. As I mentioned before it's an easy mod, and if you don't like it, swap out the new for the old and send them back. Happy Holidays Paul

So I received the new spring set from Syntaur (PC3KC) today and installed them. Quite easy to do, less than an hour total, and I'm personally happy with the results. Folks that don't use a second weighted action board may find it a bit too organ centric now with the new springs to enjoy a lot a AP and EP playing. Frankly it's so easy to do and not that expensive. So if you are leaning towards this update, just try it, if you don't like the results then send the springs back. Just wanted to let you folks know what my findings were. Cheers Paul

Yes sir I did read that post from the Nord forums, but the KYSP27 spring from the M-Audio is a slightly different style and twice the price at Syntaur. So I will be going with the PC3KC springs from the stock TP8 Fatar action. BTW Syntaur said they would take back the springs if they weren't correct. If that goes down maybe I'll try the more expensive KYSP27 springs. I ordered the PC3KC springs already so time will tell. Cheers Paul

So I have a new little theory about Nord’s TP8O action. According to the Nord webwsite they tweak the Fatar action to make it more playable. My guess is that they either commission Fatar to use a stiffer spring than a normal TP8 for their Stage 3C and Electro 6D models or they do it in house after receiving the keybeds from Fatar. All in the name of better playable with AP and EP sounds without killing off the organ side? The stock spring # KEYSPH that ships in an Electro 6D or Stage 3 Compact I believe is a bit stiffer than the stock spring # PC3KC that would normally ship in the standard TP8 (say a PC3) Of course neither Nord or Fatar will divulge any of this info to me. Bottom line is that I will order the PC3KC spring kit (PC3) from Syntaur and I hope that my theory is correct and will lighten up the action on my Stage 3. Paul

I asked Fatar about this directly and they said they are not allowed to tell me anything about their actions. So dead end there. They said to ask Nord about it, so I emailed them. Hope I can get some solid answers to this question for every ones benefit. If I didn't mention this before, I'll be keeping the Stage 3 so I do have a vested interest in finding the right springs to do the job. Paul