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Nord Stage 3 in the wings?


voxpops

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It's also too early for a new Electro or Piano. Single manual organ? Or how about a Stage Lite - something between an Electro 4 and a Stage? I don't quite know how they would trim the Stage without crippling functionality (and sales of the Stage 2) but something at below the $3k mark would be nice.
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If you look closely at the picture, the keyboard endcap seems to be a different shape than any current product (with screws in different places). Looks like maybe the panel will be a little more tilted. I'm guessing Stage 3.

 

Nord Stage 3 88, Korg Kronos 2 61, Moog Sub 37, Yamaha U1 Upright, Casio CT-S500, Spacestation V.3, QSC K10.2

www.stickmanor.com

There's a thin white line between fear and fury - Stickman

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Finally, the nord-keytar!!!

 

New shape on the side block....

 

Nord modular G3

Nord Wave 2

a continuation of Nord Lead 3

Nord lead 4 with fewer keys or one synth engine?

 

from wiki

20052008 (Nord Stage)

20082011 (Nord Stage EX)

2011present (Nord Stage 2)

 

Speculations, speculations.......have to sell att least one of my red ones

 

/Fred

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"Wrapped in Black under the tree....."

 

Not Red?

:idea:

Interesting......(Where's Arte Johnson on a tricycle when you need him?)

 

Jake

1967 B-3 w/(2) 122's, Nord C1w/Leslie 2101 top, Nord PedalKeys 27, Nord Electro 4D, IK B3X, QSC K12.2, Yamaha reface YC+CS+CP

 

"It needs a Hammond"

 

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"Wrapped in Black under the tree....."

 

Not Red?

:idea:

Interesting......(Where's Arte Johnson on a tricycle when you need him?)

 

Jake

 

The end of the keyboard is still red..just looks like they have a black cover on the keys. Have to admit Nord knows how to do a product tease...here we are like little kids on the night before Christmas, pulling up the corners of the wrapping paper to see if we can tell what's inside. :)

Nord Stage 3 88, Korg Kronos 2 61, Moog Sub 37, Yamaha U1 Upright, Casio CT-S500, Spacestation V.3, QSC K10.2

www.stickmanor.com

There's a thin white line between fear and fury - Stickman

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I'd love to see the next gen modular, but that end cap might not make sense for one.

Historically, only their weighted action boards have had that many screws on an endcap. All the synths and unweighted electros used 2 side screws.

 

This baby is weighted action I bet.

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I bet it will be either the Stage 3 or something new altogether in the stage keyboard category.

 

Interesting they just posted a NS2 software update with very minimal info: 1.72 (2013-12-19)

Maintenance update to comply with production component change.

 

I am still proud that I predicted/came up with the idea (LOL) for the Stage years before Nord made it. :wave:

 

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An Stage Lite would be nice, even that I just bought a Roland VR-09 for that same purpose (esp the multitimbrality that my NE2 can't provide). And I doubt that it would be on the same price range. So, I'm cool. :)

My drawbars go to eleven.

Gear: Roland VR-09, Nord Electro 2 61, Korg CX-3. Hear my music: facebook.com/smokestoneband

 

 

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I'm betting that if it is a NS3, it will have the drawfaders and rationalized knob matrix for the synth, perhaps more encoders with the LED surround vs. dedicated knobs to make for a crisper UI and perhaps keep the cost more competitive. The appearance of more tilt may be to simulate the UI of a Moog LP, for example. I'm pretty excited about it any way you slice it!
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OK more pure speculation :D

 

I hope it will incorporate a much larger RAM (into the 10s of GB) possibly based on the types of technologies now in Kronos and the like. Because of this there is a larger screen which needs to be slightly angled toward the user. I am not sure about what the processor/OS needs are to address such a large RAM allocation would be but I guess if the Kronos can do it with a lowly Atom processor then it somewhat opens the doors a bit not to mention my little $30 Raspberry PI with its 32GB card running just fine...

 

If there is such a large RAM boost I could imagine you could upload the entire Nord sound catalogue to the Stage and also have some "hyper sampled" instruments with more layers :D

 

I would also wish there to be some kind of sample smoothing algorithm to sort out the transition between velocities if GEM, Roland and Yamaha can do this (and lets face it GEM were doing this on their Promega range back in 2003!) then I think it should be on Clavia's radar by now.

 

Keyboard feel wise I think it will largely stay the same would be nice to have a better action but to be honest I was fine on the one I played this year. If anything I think it had a feeling of the dynamics being a bit too hot and the sound bottoming out too early (i.e. I was at ff earlier than I should) but then again so do some acoustic pianos in that regard.

 

 

 

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I am not sure about what the processor/OS needs are to address such a large RAM allocation would be but I guess if the Kronos can do it with a lowly Atom processor then it somewhat opens the doors a bit

I think more than the processor, Kronos can do it it because addressing virtual memory and the ability to stream data from storage is built into its Linux foundation.

 

not to mention my little $30 Raspberry PI with its 32GB card running just fine...

but not processing multiple streams of data off that 32 gb of slow storage in real time. Gigabytes of slow flash is not useful in a keyboard, unless maybe its data is going to be loaded into real RAM at startup, which is I think what the Krome does. Leads to a slow boot, though...

 

Right now, Kronos is the only one streaming off storage (using a fast SSD, not cheap SD cards and the like). Nord, Yamaha, and Kurzweil use a different, pricier kind of flash that the processor sees as "RAM" as opposed to as "disk space" (storage). It would be an interesting shift if any of them went the RAM+SSD route.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Have we definitely ruled out a smaller NS2?

I don't see how it could be a physically smaller NS2, as the NS2 panel itself is too wide to put on a 61-key keyboard. NS2 could be scaled back other ways... one slot instead of two slots, that kind of thing. But the new endcap with the high back suggests something other than a mild derivative of the existing NS2.

 

I'd kind of like to see a new generation Nord Wave... i.e. full synth that also supports the sample library and loading of custom samples. And I prefer synth control panels to be angled, so that works...

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Something's in the offing... OS update to account for "new components" but no new features... so my educated guess is NAAM launch of NS3 plus OS 2.0+ with some new features (including softer velocity curve debuted on NP2).

 

I hope, anyway!

 

Trying out the new Wurli will have to wait until morning though!

Studio: Yamaha P515 | Yamaha Tyros 5 | Yamaha HX1 | Moog Sub 37

Road: Yamaha YC88 | Nord Electro 5D

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Trying out the new Wurli will have to wait until morning though!

 

That's what I said to myself last night after returning home from dinner.

 

"Well, perhaps it won't hurt to have a quick tinkle while brushing my teeth before bed...", I reasoned to myself.

 

Finally got to bed after 1:30am.

 

THANKS CLAVIA!

 

James

x

 

Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own.
Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player.

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I'm betting that if it is a NS3, it will have the drawfaders and rationalized knob matrix for the synth, perhaps more encoders with the LED surround vs. dedicated knobs to make for a crisper UI and perhaps keep the cost more competitive. The appearance of more tilt may be to simulate the UI of a Moog LP, for example. I'm pretty excited about it any way you slice it!

 

A Stage 3, with a greatly expanded (new style ?) memory - among other goodies - would be intriguing for many. But.... I continue to hope that existing Stage 2 owners will be considered - with regard to an OS update, and some expanded memory and sample upgrades (more than a single, 'new' Wurli, please..). After only 2 & 1/2 years on the street, the Stage 2 should have that level of support - whether there is a Stage 3 imminent or not. After all, there was a Stage (1) EX option; for the money we pay for this stuff, it would be fair to still have a Stage 2 EX upgrade offered. A Nord CSR had reported to me that, as far as he knew, no Stage 2 EX was planned. Hopefully he's somehow incorrect on that count.

'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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