From aevett1@yahoo.com Wed Oct 17 09:23:24 2007
Subject:Re: Nord Stage experiences - Help me evaluate

All good points to consider. Being a Stage 76 owner,
and having previously had a V Combo, I find Tony and I
to be thinking quite alike on this one. Indeed, the
organs, ep's, clavs & synth section rock; the front
panel is the most user friendly control surface I've
ever encountered on a synth/combo unit. And, a big
plus: individual outs. I can take the organ section of
my Stage and route it separately from the other
sections (Always wanted to have this option with my V
Combo). Also, the Stage has an excellent MIDI control
(single destination) interface. The V Combo is not set
up to be a MIDI Controller (unless you pick up a
separate piece of processing/routing hardware that
would connect to the MIDI Out)

The pianos ? To me they sit different in a mix than
the voices/programs designed by Yamaha, Roland, Korg,
etc...I found this to be especially true when played
through a keyboard amp/monitoring system (I've
listened both 'in ear', and with wedges). A sound
engineer I frequently work with at a regular gig liked
the Stage. He had to work a little bit more with the
board EQ - as opposed to the times I'd brought in my
S90ES for pianos. But, he felt that once he got the
Stage pianos 'dialed in' they sounded great out front.
The overall impression from the engineer and band was
that the Stage sounded more 'even' & 'balanced'
sonically; I believe they were responding to the way
that Nord sets up the various samples/voices with
regard to Velocity; IMO, they did a brilliant job.

Basically though: you'll want to spend some time with
a Stage and just play it. The stage is more 'organic',
so to speak, than a V Combo. It's basically a 'vintage
keys' instrument with pianos. The V Combo does have
the advantage of being able to swap in additional
sounds via SRX; i.e. you're not going to find sample
based string & horn voices, etc. in the Stage; but if
those types of sounds are not needed, then the Stage
is a much stronger 'vintage' 'board. Plus, the sound
layering capabilities in the Stage are great.

For a 'cover all the bases' keyboard (especially with
SRX Cards), the V Combo is definitely a great piece.
But, for what the Stage was designed to do' it goes
well beyond the competition. Check one out, and keep
us posted. I'm curious as to what your impressions
will be.

Allan

--- tonysounds wrote:

> Gene, I would definitely get your hands on one and
> play it through your amps. My experience with this
> has been less than satisfactory because of the
> pianos. The acoustic pianos I think will do better
> than your Vcombo, the electric pianos definitely
> will do better, as will the clav. The organ I think
> is much more realistic, and the synth section is
> more versatile/programmable than the Vcombo's. But
> the pianos....you'll love em or hate em.
>
> One of the best things about the Stage is its
> immediacey because of the onboard non-menu driven
> FX. With that, it spanks the competition.
>
> T
>
> NJmm973@aol.com wrote:
> Hi Guys/Gals,
>
> I'm currently playing two keyboards.? I use my
> Roland 300sx piano for my weighted key feel
> keyboard, piano sounds primarily, plus pads etc.? I
> also use a Roland V Combo (with the Ulitmate Keys
> and EP SRX cards) for my organ, EP, Clav sounds and
> a few synth sounds on my UKeys card).
>
> I'm seriously thinking about going to a Nord Stage,
> either the Comact or 76 Key.? One board and it
> sounds like I'd have all the stage sounds I'd need.
>
> Recently, I saw a V Combo with an Ultimate Keys card
> go for $1850 on Ebay, but the auction seemed a
> little fishy. Item number: 270174120968). All
> bidders were new bidders with 0 experience.?
>
> But in any case, I'd have to sell my V Combo and
> 300sx to get either Stage.
>
> Can you give me some of your experiences in moving
> to the Stage?? Any challenges in lerning it?
> Anything you can't do with it, that you could do
> before?? Did you consolidate other keyboards to get
> this and if so, any regrets?
>
> I'm balancing the facts to decide which direction to
> go in.
>
> Thanks,
> Gene
>
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