Looking at a Nord

[tomsargent]

I'm currently on a worship team where I play keyboards. I use a lot of Piano with some supporting pad sounds, some strings, a decent amount of Organ and some synth. I also use my phone as a pad generator. I considered using Sunday Keys, but would need to get a new laptop. Not really a fan of increasing my settup. We set up and tear down every Sunday. We meet in a school. I have been looking at the Nord Stage 3 and the Electro 6D. The apeal to me is that I can use 3 different voices at the same time. I am not a midi geak. I really want simple. Is there anything out there that can give you what a Nord does? I am not interested in being able to exactly duplicate keyboard patches for every worship song. I believe I do a fairly decent job in capturing what is done on many songs while realising my limitations by either my talent level or my equipment. I live in Kent, Ohio and have never had the opportunity to play a Nord. Would love to have that opportunity.

 

[Biggles]

Welcome.

I have briefly played a Stage 3 in one of my local music stores and it was very impressive, it was the compact 61 key version which has waterfall keys and hence for your three split requirement or may be light on key numbers.

The tones were pretty good but most of all were the controls all there right in front of me to adjust on the fly, no menu delving.

The downside is the $$$$ price tag.

What are the details of your requirements?

IE
key numbers, keybed type, onboard speakers, the ability to adjust drawbars on the fly etc.

I can think of quite a few keyboards that will do what you seek at a much lower price.

 

[tomsargent]

Welcome.

I have briefly played a Stage 3 in one of my local music stores and it was very impressive, it was the compact 61 key version which has waterfall keys and hence for your three split requirement or may be light on key numbers.

The tones were pretty good but most of all were the controls all there right in front of me to adjust on the fly, no menu delving.

The downside is the $$$$ price tag.

What are the details of your requirements?

IE
key numbers, keybed type, onboard speakers, the ability to adjust drawbars on the fly etc.

I can think of quite a few keyboards that will do what you seek at a much lower price.

I can get by with 61. As long as there is an octave shift. 73-76 would be nice. We get very little time for set up and practice. Editing and saving with simplicity is valuable. Would like to be able to save patches. Like at least 4. Decent sounds. I have a Yamaha MX49. Hate the piano voices. All else is decent. Main board is a PSR3000. An older keyboard but does what it does well.

 

[Biggles]

My mistake the smallest is the 73 key unit, no idea where the 61 came from.

76HP has supposedly a lighter action than the full 88

Be worth watching the Nord tutorial series

Nord Stage 3 Videos | Nord Keyboards

www.nordkeyboards.com

 

[tomsargent]

My mistake the smallest is the 73 key unit, no idea where the 61 came from.

76HP has supposedly a lighter action than the full 88

Be worth watching the Nord tutorial series

Nord Stage 3 Videos | Nord Keyboards

www.nordkeyboards.com

What other

My mistake the smallest is the 73 key unit, no idea where the 61 came from.

76HP has supposedly a lighter action than the full 88

Be worth watching the Nord tutorial series

Nord Stage 3 Videos | Nord Keyboards

www.nordkeyboards.com

What other keyboards were you thinking of? Saw videos for the Yamaha SX900 and the Korg Pa700-1000

 

[Biggles]

I know Korg arrangers very well and the 700 / 1000 and in particular the 4X will all do what you seek, the advantage of the 4X is the drawbar sliders where with the other two drawbars are via touchscreen controls.

The three zone keybed can be set up with any if the above but what is included within each zone is limited by the keyboard sets but that said it should not be an issue

Other keyboards are a Roland FA07 or 08, where again within a specific Studio Set the instruments can be zoned to sound however you want, not sure if there are 12 or 16 layers possible but watch Ed Diaz’s tutorials on Studio Sets where he shows how to use them and how to set up zones. A downside is that adjusting drawbars on the fly is difficult but an addon unit like a Ferrofish would easily resolve this limitation.

 

[Mighty Motif Max]

If you can work with an 88, the Kurzweil SP6 would be a good fit I think, or even more so the PC4. Covers all the bases you want, and the PC4 has nine faders that work like drawbars for the KB3 organ mode.

 

[anotherscott]

76HP has supposedly a lighter action than the full 88

The action in the 76 weighs a lot less, but feels heavier to play. So it depends on what you mean by lighter!

FA07 or 08...A downside is that adjusting drawbars on the fly is difficult but an addon unit like a Ferrofish would easily resolve this limitation.

Not so easy. Ferrofish sends MIDI CC (and you can't change which CC they send), FA drawbar parameters are controlled by sysex. I've read that the old discontinued Ocean Beach drawbars work on the FA. Other than those, to use anything else, you'll need to incorporate additional hardware to do CC-to-sysex conversions.

 

[tomsargent]

So I checked out a Yamaha MODX6 today. Pretty much gives me all the things I want. Can play 8 different voices at one time. With 4 of them assignable to 4 seperate slidders. Also able to change saved "scenes" or patches without interuption. Any thoughts on this keyboard? And would it be better to go with a 76 key verses 61? Don't want weighted keys.

 

[anotherscott]

MODX organ sounds aren't Nord quality, but if they sounded good enough for your purposes, that's what matters.

Can play 8 different voices at one time. With 4 of them assignable to 4 seperate slidders.

All 8 are assignable. There's a button that lets you toggle the 4 sliders between Parts 1-4 and Parts 5-8.

would it be better to go with a 76 key verses 61?

Advantages of 76 is more room for splits, and something at least closer to the range of an 88 key piano, and enough keys to fully cover the original range of some other keyboards like Clavinet and Wurli.

 

[tomsargent]

Thanks for the info. I think for me and for what we play the organ voices are decent enough. I'm not getting real wild and crazy with them. I also feel that the learning curve will be easier for me with the Yamaha than Roland or Korg. I'm playing a couple different Yamaha keyboards currently. I also agree with you regarding 76 keys. Think I'm going to see if I can pick up a used keyboard with a decent case. Thx.