Nord Intros Flagship Stage 3 Keyboard

At Musikmesse 2017, Nord introduced the Nord Stage 3, the fifth generation of their Stage series.

The new flagship instrument features the Nord Lead A1 Synth Engine with sample playback, the Nord C2D organ, an enhanced Piano Section and extensive hands-on Effects.

Here’s what’s new in the Nord Stage 3

  • Performance/General
    • OLED-displays for Program and Synth section
    • Seamless transitions when changing programs
    • Extended Split functionality with optional Crossfade
    • Song List Mode
    • Extended Morph Destinations
  • Piano section
    • Doubled memory (2GB) for the Nord Piano Library
    • Greatly expanded polyphony (120 voices)
    • Creative Filter presets
    • Layer category
  • Synth section
    • Nord Lead A1 Synth Engine with Sample playback
    • Dedicated OLED display for Oscillator functions
    • Expanded Memory (480 MB) for the Nord Sample Library
    • Extended Polyphony
    • Super Wave category (S-wave)
  • Organ section
    • Nord C2D Organ Engine
    • 2 new Principal Pipe Organ models
    • Model 122 Vintage Rotary Speaker – available per Slot
    • Physical Drawbars for Nord Stage 3 Compact
  • Effects
    • Improved Delay with added Feedback filters and Analog Mode
    • Filter Mode with Resonance
    • Separate Compressor per Slot with Amount and Fast mode
    • Separate Reverb per Slot with Bright mode

Details on pricing and availability are to be announced.

10 thoughts on “Nord Intros Flagship Stage 3 Keyboard

    1. I get where you’re coming from — it certainly isn’t the Waldorf Quantum.

      But that said…Nord makes things for the gigging musician. Those musicians typically don’t need the craziest features or newest sounds — they need stable features and the best version of standards sounds they can get (in a particular form factor). Incremental improvement is the name of the game here, not show-stopping innovation.

      And from that perspective, this looks like it will be a very nice board. A solid, mature musical instrument.

  1. If the economy really was great there would be more innovation, so, the economy for most people is not great as most politicians and media try to let us believe. So, assume that under current conditions Nord decided to clearly focus (only) on products with keys for live use and recycle existing parts (which brand doesn’t). Will not be surprised if Nord phases out their Lead and Piano models sooner or later as well to focus only on the bread an butter products: The Electro for entry level and Stage for the those who need an “all in one”. The Drum may not live long much more as well. Reason enough not to buy into (a) Nord (Lead) right now.

    1. I believe you are wrong. We will probably see something like a Nord Lead 5 in a year or two. Nord has got a lot of semi-overlapping instruments lead/wave/electro/piano/stage. They have had that for years now. It does not make sense to quit that strategy as it seems to be working.

      I do hope they port the new A1 features with sample playbback and that gorgeous oled display and more effects to the Nord Lead 5. I currently own the 4 and think it is a bit limited in some ways. The user interface of Nord products is unmatched.

      Probably the Nord Drum will disappear though, which is clear from the fact that they do not sell the pads and the drum engine separately anymore..

  2. I hope they make it in a non weighted or semi weighted version…. It’s hard for me to play synth and organ leads on weighted keys…. I like the idea of having it all in one.

  3. I picked up a Stage 2 (88 weighted key version) mostly (90% of the time) for the piano. The rest is fluff for me. But… it does seem odd that with the Stage 3 they are putting the physical drawbars on the compact unit, and not on the 88 key. I would think that would be an up-sell for the larger unit??

    2GB of RAM for Piano sounds is essential – especially if you are using the largest version of each piano, they can take upwards of 500MB a piece. 480MB for the synth sample section is still laughable – why on earth don’t they include SD or CF card slots??

    1. Drwabars: no, organ players don’t play weighted 88 keys, they need a “faster” keyboard.
      so this decision makes “kind of” sense ( still some piano players might want to use the drawbars)

      BUT your second point is essential. The RAM size limitation is so stupid…
      If we’d talk about a 700 EUR board here, ok, but on a Clavia? Again ?

  4. Nice timing! I’ll be in the market for a new Nord later in the year, as my Stage 2 lives in my studio, and currently slumming it with an old Roland that’s seen too many spilled beers.

    And really, as someone who went through ~ 5 keyboards in 7 years before buying a Nord Stage – they really are fantastic for the working musician. They are powerful, relatively intuitive, and easy to place within a front-of-house or stage mix.

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