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Something new from Nord?


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I just stumbled across this on their homepage.

 

"Coming soon - v5"

 

So let the brain stormin' begin! :)

 

My guess is a new Nord lead, there's 1, 2, 3 and the Wave, so the next could be a 5, right..? :)

Too much stuff, too little time, too few gigs, should spend more time practicing...!  🙄

main instruments: Nord Stage 3 compact, Yamaha CP88, Kurzweil PC4, Viscount KeyB Legend Live

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Crap, the Nord Piano isn't in stores yet. I hope our friends in Sweden aren't spreading themselves too thin.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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SHHHHhhhhhhhh... RED is starting to grow on me. :)

 

I played a NE3 73 this weekend. The NE3 action is more solid than the NE2, but the key-return springs made my wrists hurt. Maybe it was the angle of the board.

 

And, finally, they added reverb. I don't know why they didn't think to include that on the NE2.

 

It's a good-sounding keyboard and really nice when you need something lightweight - or when it's just not worth the hassle to schlep your Kurz PC3X and HAMMOND XK-3c & Leslie. ;)

 

I like it. :thu:

 

:snax:

 

 

"Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo
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v5 is the new libraries system, with these updates/ software all the new sound developed for the new nord piano can be loaded to other clavia instruments.
Ah, okay. That makes more sense. Thanks to you and Moe for 'splainin'.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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Too bad we can't load samples into NE2, and they totally screwed up the UI for NE3. SO CLOSE, yet so far.

 

And there's still that damn low F key!

 

Not that I don't enjoy my NE2, for what is is. But oh, what it *could have been* !!

 

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...and they totally screwed up the UI for NE3.

 

For those of us who didn't "start" on the NE2, I don't think the UI on the NE3 is "totally screwed up." There are some peculiar decisions (most notably, separating slow/fast/stop leslie controls from the basic on/off of the rotary sim), but it remains among the most straightforward, no-need-to-read-the-manual UIs on the planet, IMHO.

 

I'm with you on the low F, though. What the heck's up with that? :confused:

 

Noah

 

P.S. My biggest complaint about the NE3 is the cumbersome process of loading samples into memory in order to be able to audition them. The Nord website has a downloadable library of literally dozens upon dozens of samples, but to hear what they sound like, you need to load them on the NE3, which is easy enough to do but takes time. For a sound that you audition and then ditch, it's 60 seconds of waste. If only someone with lots of time on their hands was willing to create MP3s online of the various samples.....

 

Noah

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SHHHHhhhhhhhh... RED is starting to grow on me. :)....................I like it. :thu:

 

:snax:

 

 

Uh oh: The first symptoms of RED GAS are manifestering :sick:;)

'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo.

 

We need a barfing cat emoticon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I am so longing for the new pianos - as I've said before the latest upright was a big improvement in the upper register. Please let the lib be ready befor this weekend! :)

Too much stuff, too little time, too few gigs, should spend more time practicing...!  🙄

main instruments: Nord Stage 3 compact, Yamaha CP88, Kurzweil PC4, Viscount KeyB Legend Live

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I have been pIaying the "nord piano" lately, and it sounds good. I am looking forward to be able to use the new Grand Piano samples (in my Nord Stage EX), they are a big improvment over the old ones.

The new "Sparkle top" Rhodes is also very nice, and if you are looking for a bright DX7ish ballad EP the new "EP5 Bright Tines" is the one...

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I'm hoping they will do trimmed down versions of all the new pianos as well as the "big" ones suited for the Nord Piano. I had a look at

and realized that at the end, by about 4:34 you can actually see a screen of the Nord Sound Manager with all the new pianos listed. Judging by that screen the Grand Lady is about 78 MB, the Sparkle top 24 MB and the Bright tines 29 MB... so those three alone would be +130 Megs... of course, the picture is rather blurry and they're probably preliminary versions, since the video is a about two months old. Anyhow - light versions would be preferable in the Stage and Electro 3.

What is more interesting in that screen is a "Saloon Upright" not mentioned elsewhere and one more upright that I can't make out the name for... well well - time will tell! :)

Too much stuff, too little time, too few gigs, should spend more time practicing...!  🙄

main instruments: Nord Stage 3 compact, Yamaha CP88, Kurzweil PC4, Viscount KeyB Legend Live

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Yeah mr_T, they have made trimmed down versions, but just for the Grand Pianos & Uprights, they all come in three sizes. For "The Grand Lady" it's like this: Large (78,6 MB), Medium (61 MB) and Small (39,2MB).

The uprights in v5 are: "Black Upright" , "blueSwede Upright" "HonkyTonk", "Queen Upright", "Rain Piano", "Romantic Upright" and "Saloon Upright". There is also a new Electric Grand.

On the final CD that comes with the Nord Piano, the EP sounds is smaller than you have been observing mr_T. The "Sparkle top" is 12,2 MB and the "Bright Tines" is 14,9 MB.

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Ah, thanks for the info - this is all good news! :) The three version approach is a great idea!

 

What's the new Electric Grand like? Is it an improved CP80 or something entirely new?

 

/Tobias

Too much stuff, too little time, too few gigs, should spend more time practicing...!  🙄

main instruments: Nord Stage 3 compact, Yamaha CP88, Kurzweil PC4, Viscount KeyB Legend Live

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I'm with you on the low F, though. What the heck's up with that? :confused:

Yup, I also think it's a strange choice - but I guess the idea comes from the Rhodes '73 pianos. What's interesting if you open up the Electro it seems like the contacts for the "missing" keys (low E, high F#-G) actually are present - would be interesting to see if they actually work... :)

 

P.S. My biggest complaint about the NE3 is the cumbersome process of loading samples into memory in order to be able to audition them. The Nord website has a downloadable library of literally dozens upon dozens of samples, but to hear what they sound like, you need to load them on the NE3, which is easy enough to do but takes time. For a sound that you audition and then ditch, it's 60 seconds of waste. If only someone with lots of time on their hands was willing to create MP3s online of the various samples.....

Noah

Or even better - it would be so nice to have some sort of audition function in the Nord Sound Manager - push a button and it plays a phrase and/or a chord with the selected sound. It would save so much time. As it is now I haven't auditioned most of the newer synth stuff in the library - it would probably take many hours just to browse through them the only way it's possible now...

Too much stuff, too little time, too few gigs, should spend more time practicing...!  🙄

main instruments: Nord Stage 3 compact, Yamaha CP88, Kurzweil PC4, Viscount KeyB Legend Live

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by Learjeff:

 

Too bad we can't load samples into NE2, and they totally screwed up the UI for NE3. SO CLOSE, yet so far.

 

And there's still that damn low F key!

 

I can understand why sample playback on the NE2 wasn't available, COST. I don't understand why they screwed up the UI on the NE3?? The NE2 had a better UI from what I understand, so why make it more difficult to operate the NE3?

 

And a low "F" on the NE3 73 key is really not low enough if you play in a band. "Most" rock bands have guitar players and a lot of rock songs are in the key of E. Makes sense to me. A low "F" does not.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Mike T.

Yamaha Motif ES8, Alesis Ion, Prophet 5 Rev 3.2, 1979 Rhodes Mark 1 Suitcase 73 Piano, Arp Odyssey Md III, Roland R-70 Drum Machine, Digitech Vocalist Live Pro. Roland Boss Chorus Ensemble CE-1.

 

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I honestly don't really see what is so screwed up with the NE3 UI. Ok, maybe there should have been more patch select buttons, now you might have to use bank up/down quite a lot, but other than that everything is very intuitive. IMHO there's few other 'boards on the market that have such a "direct" interface. It should be said though, I didn't use an Electro 2 before the NE3. Still - if you would use the Electro 3 for a few weeks, I think you'll find out that it's very easy to operate! The live mode is a great feature which I use a lot. Then of course - if there were two "live" button it would be even better... :)

Too much stuff, too little time, too few gigs, should spend more time practicing...!  🙄

main instruments: Nord Stage 3 compact, Yamaha CP88, Kurzweil PC4, Viscount KeyB Legend Live

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I used to have an electro 2 rack, and now have a NE3 73. I don't agree that they screwed up the UI. It works fine, but I can understand it might take some getting used to.

 

Also, there are octave transpose buttons, so you can still hit that low E if you need to. If you still need the higher registers at the same time, you should have bought an 88 key board.

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There is indeed the patch select system, which is a bit odd. The one on the Piano seems ideal, and there are even 5 Live slots - too bad they already made the Electro, 'cause it could really make use of these, even moreso than the Piano.

And then of course the uneditable effects depths, which also seems like a strange choice. And ask me, both the Electro3 and the Piano should've had the delay effect of the Nord Stage.

 

As for key range, I for one am a happy chap. I play a lot in the key of F, and so do my various bands. And like Tom I feel obliged to point out the prescence of a pair of quite well-located octave shift buttons.

When in doubt, superimpose pentatonics.
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I have been pIaying the "nord piano" lately

 

In store? Wcan you report on non-audio matters? A few weeks or so ago there was a thread here speculating whether the Piano might be equipped with a different action than the Stage. Is that so?

When in doubt, superimpose pentatonics.
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That the effect depth is uneditable is only partly true, I would say. Tremolo, Pan, Phaser, Flanger and Chorus all have 3 "variations", which to my ears only sound like 3 different dry/wet or depth levels. Also when shifting for example from Chorus 2 to 3, the transition is seamless, with no clicking noise or anything. Then if you push the shift button while changing effect / level, the selection goes "down" instead of "up" - so I would definitely say that depth level is editable - it only has three steps instead of being continuous. Also when using the ring mod, the control pedal controls the wet/dry mix which is kinda cool... :)

 

/Tobias

Too much stuff, too little time, too few gigs, should spend more time practicing...!  🙄

main instruments: Nord Stage 3 compact, Yamaha CP88, Kurzweil PC4, Viscount KeyB Legend Live

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Indeed, Toby, the transitions are hardly recognizable in a mix when it comes to modulation effects. Nevertheless I've always feel like needing a tremolo that's even more subtle than the subtlest preset offered - and the most extreme tremolo, which cuts the audio totally off when at its low, I can't imagine many uses for that one. Anyway, many reservations would go away if Nord only made a software application that allowed users to set the levels for the presets.
When in doubt, superimpose pentatonics.
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I have been pIaying the "nord piano" lately

 

A few weeks or so ago there was a thread here speculating whether the Piano might be equipped with a different action than the Stage. Is that so?

+1

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I have been pIaying the "nord piano" lately

 

A few weeks or so ago there was a thread here speculating whether the Piano might be equipped with a different action than the Stage. Is that so?

+1

 

The action seems to be the same as the stage, played them side by side and could not feel a notable difference.

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It looks like Nord released the v5 of the Piano Library for the Piano and Stage EX today, along with a new OS for the Stage EX (6.02) and a Nord Sound Manager update.

 

V5 compatibility is scheduled for late June 2010 for the Electro 3 and the Stage Classic.

 

The Swedes have been busy! :D

 

http://www.nordkeyboards.com/

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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Looking forward to late June, my Electro 3 was purchased Friday, and is somewhere on its way. Even better, I sold the RD Artist Bass, a Gibson circuit board, and the K2000VP for enough to fully fund the Electro.

 

Nice that both Nord and Kurzweil have software updates. Look for a new icon after it arrives. I'm gonna love carrying under 20 lbs even in the gig bag, and I think the two boards will complement each other well.

 

Lets' see - what else - if I sell the 2661 and the various hard drives, software CDs for the K series, might bring enough for a good start on Ventilator and pair of K10's???

 

 

Howard Grand|Hamm SK1-73|Kurz PC2|PC2X|PC3|PC3X|PC361; QSC K10's

HP DAW|Epi Les Paul & LP 5-str bass|iPad mini2

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Jim

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It's great to finally be able to do side by side comparisons of all the sounds in the piano library. The two new EPs sound great and complement the existing ones very well. Of the new APs, I like the Black Upright (Petrof) best. :thu:
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