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Sweetwater has listed the Nord Stage 2 on their website for $4,199.

Any thoughts/opinions on this price?

I think it should be around $3699. Although for what it is, and what it can do vs comparable products (are there any??) it's probably worth the price. It's basically the Nord Piano with the addition of 380MB of RAM for organ/synth sounds, you're get all that flexibility with Nord's Piano and Synth libraries in one stage piano. If I had more money, I'd go for that instead of the Nord Piano.

I know this is not helpful, but man that is a lot of money.

I have to say this upgrade is mighty unimpressive. It's the same thing only more expensive. I like the Nords for what they are but I rather buy two Nord Pianos than one of these. Most expensive ram upgrade I ever seen.

Well the Nord Stage 2 is an upgrade with Nord's latest piano, organ, and synthesizer sounds; Piano features string resonance; dynamic pedal noise; and completely user-replaceable sample memory.

Organ section features 3rd generation organ modeling derived from the Nord C2 Organ

LFO, arpeggiator, and delay-based effects.

I think it's not a bad price for what you get.

I was under the impression the Nords used downloadable patches which makes those new sounds available to everyone with the ram requirement (which is what, $1000 extra, hmm).

Got to love the Nord rotary knobs though. Definitely got those right. Then again they've had them for years.

/edit
I should add I am unimpressed with the upgrade, the Nord Stage was and is already a damn fine instrument and my second in line after the RD700NX I currently have (no well maybe third after Kawai MP10, undecided competition there).

The $600 (not $1000) difference from a Stage EX to a Stage 2 isn't just for an increase in RAM (about triple, all told). It's also adds Sample Library support and the ability to load in your own samples (previously only available to the Electro 3 and the Wave), the improved piano features of the Nord Piano, the improved organ features of the Electro 3/C2 (except for pipes), and assorted other improvements. See http://www.nordkeyboards.com/home/namm2011/Stage2vsStageEXcomparison.pdf But if you don't need the improvements, at least for now, you can still buy the EX model too.

As for comparing the Stage 2 to the Nord Piano, as a piano alone, the price jump is not justifiable, but if you can also use the organ, the VA synthesizer, the sample functions, the MIDI controller functions, etc., that's a different situation.

This I can agree on. I just picked up my NP88 about 30 mins ago :), but most certainly would've loved to have the new Stage 2 for the increased flexibility, but at the same time, I paid $2150 for my NP88 vs the $4199 of the Stage 2. I don't have that kind of money. I think the Stage is the finest all in one stage piano, but at the price, I guess it should be.

.

Yeah it is. I suppose for those who need an all-in-one the Stage 2 is about as good as they get.

Congrats PianoZac!



Do the Electro3 and C2 use the same generation organ technology?
I thought the Electro3 was on par with the C1, but that the newer C2 featured more advanced tonewheel/rotary speaker simulation which is not available in the Stage2.

Cheers,
James
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The best info I found was at:

http://keyboard.eskildsen.dk/images/activeedit/_upload/Nord%20Electro_Stage%20Comparison.pdf

where it shows that the Electro 3 is actually a generation beyond the C1.

However, I did err in lumping the E3 and C2 together, the C2 is a generation newer... the only difference I am aware of it in the tonewheel modeling is it now gives you a choice of two different Leslie cabinet emulations (I believe they are 122 and 145), but I couldn't swear there aren't other differences.

The Stage 2 should have the same tonewheel organ emulation as the C2, based on this page:

http://www.nordkeyboards.com/home/namm2011/Stage2vsStageEXcomparison.pdf

Thanks for the info.

I recently saw a great clip of the C1 on YouTube that made my older Electro2 sound rather ordinary. Obviously I knew the C1's organ/rotary sim was superior to the Electro2's, however hearing was definitely believing!

Cheers,
James
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Hi PianoZac: are you happy with your new NordPiano?
Could you make a review in another thread in the future?

Thank you.

I'm still hesitating between RD700NX, CP5 and NordPiano, with a slight preference for the 700NX...

Benoît

Yea, I just don't get it. Hate to use the word greedy but Nord, as much as I like them seem to be out of touch. Or maybe they just don't care about selling many keyboards.

I don't think it's a matter of greed. Their products are handmade in Sweden...just a guess, but I'd bet that the cost of labor is higher in Sweden than China.

Further, the user-replaceable sounds and free library counts for a lot, in my mind, at least. So the cost of that library is front-loaded. As long as they maintain backwards compatibility for a reasonable amount of time, the amortization of its cost is reasonable, if not better, than a lot of what else is out there.

Coincidentally, from today's Financial Times:

"The Swedish krona hit a two-year high against the dollar on Wednesday"

If the dollar is worth less relative to the krona, then it takes more dollars to buy something from Sweden. At least that much is out of Nord's control.

@ Kawai James
Thanks James! I got some good advice, and spent some considerable time behind the RD700NX, CP5/50, NP88 and for my needs the Nord was the way to go. I've not seen or heard many complaints at all with Nords, and thanks to guys like Steve (Essbrace), Dave Ferris, and you, who own/owned Nords and were able to give me useful advice, I picked the Nord Piano.



Well, it really depends on what your needs are. If I was keeping a stage piano style DP for home use, I would have gone with the MP10 or RD700NX. But I need something that is lightweight, sounds great, plays well, and is flexible. The only thing out there really is the Nord. I'd strongly suggest you go play the 3 boards you like, determine what your needs are, then go from there. You can't go wrong with any of the three you said for home use, but for gigging, IMHO, the Nord is the way to go.

I picked it my NP88 yesterday morning, got home, installed the latest OS update from vs. 1.16 to vs. 1.28, then de-installed 9 sounds to make room for the XL sized Bosendorfer Imperial sample, and WOW, that baby has guts. I am very used to Roland's darker smoother grand sounds, especially the SN stuff, so the brighter, more stringy sounding Nord samples are a huge change, but I love them. They're very expressive and organic. I write more on what I love, and there's quite a bit! It'd be very very difficult for me to now go back to an all-in-one non-updatable stage piano. Just so many unique things to love about Nords.

Getting back on the subject, I find that Nord is actually listening to their users. They've made a series of stage pianos/synths/organs that are light weight, durable, flexible, and sound great. The Stage 2 is the best all-in-one DP out there IMHO.

Congrats again Zachary - it sounds like you're very happy with your new NP88!

Regarding memory, after the XL-sized Bosie is loaded, how much memory remains for other sounds? Could you still fit a couple of top quality Rhodes and Wurly patches in there? If so, I expect that'd be absolutely fine for most gigging musicians. Just as long as they plan their setlist and organise the sounds accordingly.

Cheers,
James
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Nord is doing almost everything right except for bulk Flash space, which IMO severely limits their sample set sizes. We will definitely consider a Nord DP when they put at least 10x the Flash in there (or better yet, have a USB3 memory stick slot) and when they are offering free downloadable 4GB pianos.