Nord, Thoughts?

[Crazyfoo]

I see a lot of these around and even in my town, 3 local guys have Nords they haul around to various gigs and open mics.

The last few months Ive played them at some open mics and I don't get what all the fuss is about.

These keyboards are stupid expensive and as primarily a piano player these days, I am not feeling the love for both the sound and the feel.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not starting this thread to crap over Nord, but trying to determine what am I missing and why are they so expensive?

I will say I do love how simply they are to use and very intuitive, but as fr as a piano sound, Ill still stick with my PC3x if I have to gig, and CP70 for home use.

[soot29]

The Nords are fantastic - and worth the money in my opinion - for four reasons.

 

They are by far the lightest keyboards I have ever lugged around, and I've lugged quite a few. Hauling them to and from gigs is a breeze, and I love that.

 

The quality of their samples is more than a cut above the competition. People I've played with were blown away by the Hammond B3 sound, and I also own a digital Hammond. The Wurlitzer samples are great, and Nord actually got the rights to use Mellotron samples from the Mellotron library. They have a lot of top-notch sounds in one keyboard.

 

Updating sounds using their sound library manager is ridiculously easy. No MIDI. Just a USB cord, and their sound manager software is a breeze.

 

I've had my Nord Electro 3 for 5-6 years at least and it's flawlessly reliable.

 

I will pay extra again to get all those features, which I haven't found elsewhere. But you're right that the key action is not the same as a piano. It's like an organ/piano hybrid. Worth the tradeoff to get the features described above, for me.

[Outkaster]

Their Hammond sounds leave a lot to be desired. Anything else they do they do well. The organ tones sound plastic to me and to other players I have known. Nord is the Apple of the keyboard world. That is why they call them the soccer mom keyboard. If soccer mom's played keyboards they would own Nords.

[delaware dave]

When I purchased my Kurz PC3 (which was $500 less than the NE3) I did a direct comparison between it and the NE3. The Kurz instruments are multisampled and the sounds in the Nord library are not, and it showed. Sorry to disagree with another poster above who said the Nord's samples are a cut above the rest. This just isn't so. 95% of every comparable sound sounded better on the Kurz. The keyboard is mono-timbral, the samples aren't multisampled, the keyboard for non organ is can play only 40-60 voices. The idea they have is good, lightweight, portable, good quality build, but the sound of the instrument doesn't click with the price tag. Nord is a boutique product. Lots of people drinking the Kool-Aid but I'll stick with my Kurz and pocket the difference in price. BTW, 7 years with my Kurz and it fires up every gig.

[Crazyfoo]

I love my PC3X too. Only issue I ever experience is occasionally when I start it up, the polarity is reversed on the sustain pedal. A simple reboot always fixes this,

[progfan]

Another Nord fan. I’m quite happy with my Stage 88. Light, reliable, and intuitive layout. I’m in my 60’s and have been playing professionaly for most of my life, and teach keys. I’ve owned just about every manufacture’s offerings through the years and I think everyone here has made good points. Nord may not have the best samples (subjective, I know) but what they do best is offer the most intuitave work flow, by far. There is no comparison, in my opinion. I owned and gigged a Kurzweil K2600X as well as offerings from Korg, Yamaha, etc, for years. The owner’s manuals are several inches think in some cases, and it really takes time to wrap your head around their architecture. I’m looking at you, Kurz! The Nord manual is an evening’s light read, and easily understood. Hell, you can pretty much turn it on and play! When I buy a keyboard, I want to use it, not study it. The signal flow basically goes left to right across the front panel, and there are usable effects right at your fingertips. Little or no menu diving. It’s a live player’s dream.

 

If time is your friend, and you have nothing more important to spend it on, and love diving deep into menus for sound programming, get a Kurz, Roland, Yamaha, et al. Me? I enjoy playing.

 

As far as sound...? The Kurz (and a few others) may have an edge here and there, but at a price when it comes to complexity to get there. You’re probably more likely to see Nords on stage than in a studio, but I have yet to hear a negative critique from an audience about how it sounds from the stage. In a live situation, the Nord sits just fine.

 

...And I’ve yet to hear them referred to as a ‘soccer Mom keyboard’!

[pinkfloydcramer61]

I gig with a Nord Electro 5d, the pianos (particularly the Bright Piano sample) cut through and sit in the mix better than anything I have used to date. When others sit in on my rig I'm impressed with the FOH sound. But for my solo "wallpaper" gigs or playing at home, I don't find them inspiring to play (even with a weighted action controller), preferring the finger-to-sound connection of my Yamaha CP300 and Kawai digital. Oddly enough, my Electro 2 rack, with it's much maligned piano sound, triggers much better and cuts like a mofo (as a side note, Kevin Anker, current keyboard player for the Fab T-birds, still uses his Electro 2 rack for piano).

 

RE the Electro 5 organ, I have a hard time avoiding the "roller rink" organ sound, never had a problem with my Nord Electro 2 rack for that. Pushing in the 5 2/3 drawbar some helps. On the other hand, it works pretty well for covering songs by the Band, with Garth Hudson's Lowrey carnival organ sound. From what I have heard on recordings, the Electro 3 may have a better organ sound. Missing my Hammond SK1 for that, but overall the NE 5 is a better tool.

[ChipCurtis]

These keyboards are stupid expensive and as primarily a piano player these days, I am not feeling the love for both the sound and the feel.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not starting this thread to crap over Nord, but trying to determine what am I missing and why are they so expensive?

I will say I do love how simply they are to use and very intuitive, but as fr as a piano sound, Ill still stick with my PC3x if I have to gig, and CP70 for home use.

 

I spent some time on internet forums myself, asking these same questions. And I've played Nords both as backline at festivals and at retail stores. I don't "get it" either. I've been programming synths for decades and am not afraid of menu-diving to make tweaks. Fanboys are fanboys. Just use your own ears and play what you feel most comfortable with. I use Kurzweil and Yamaha myself, these are just the keyboards I prefer, and I leave all the arguing about price/performance ratio to others.

 

 

[kbeaumont]

I have played a few Nords, Electro and Stage 3, I thought them underwhelming for their price. They don't sound bad, but for the price they should be a whole lot better. They are pretty much uninspiring to me. The organs don't sound near as good to me as Hammond, and there are just as good piano sounds for a lot less money. I don't care about brand, if the board sounds and key action inspire me then I'm happy. I recently bought a Kurzweil SP6, and to me that $1295 spent was much more palatable than the $4,499.00 price tag on a Stage 3. Even the $2000 for a ForteSE or a Korg Grandstage is better spent. And it isn't just price, the sounds just don't sound better or if one sound to are better they aren't that much better.