Nord User Forum

I just purchased a Nord Stage 3 and working quickly to recreate all the patches I had on my Stage 2 before selling it. Most of the classic programs are fairly simple, but I thought some of you might appreciate saving a little time with something to start with and tweak. Note that most of my programs use the control pedal morph even if only to bring instruments in and out of a mix.

With some of these programs you may need to relink the piano(s) to what you have in your Stage 3, as one of the first things I did when I got my Stage 3 was replace some pianos with smaller files to add more - I have 48 at this time.

All sample locations below 250 are pre-loaded Stage 3 locations that I don't mess with. Even if I delete samples from the stock collection to add space, I keep those sample locations open and load new samples in locations 250 and above. The programs below use all the "stock" samples except for my program using "WarmPad2_CL stereo 3.0.nsmp3" in location 254.

It doesn't matter which sample memory locations you store new samples in your Nord Stage 3, just make sure that after you load a program, that you point the Slot A and/or Slot B Synth to the correct sample in your system. For example, if you load WarmPad2 into your sample location 280 (254 in mine), then you just need to point Slot B to 280 rather than 254.

I'll revise this post as needed based on questions, so feel free to comment.
Take care.

Utility Program: My "go to" utility program is a good starting point for other programs. This has piano, strings, bass, and B3 organ with drawbars on the mod wheel. Slot A has all but the bass; Slot B has left handed bass and piano/B3 on the right. Listen through to the end to catch it all:

• Utility Program W.mp3

Layered Pianos - I love the character of all of the Nord pianos on their own, but a combination I really like is Grand Lady D with BlueSwede slightly behind it in the mix. This program uses those pianos along with strings and the B3 organ with drawbars on the mod wheel similar to my "Utility W" program. The sample "WarmPad2_CL stereo 3.0.nsmp3" is used in slot 254 but other pads can be used:

• GLadyBluesStrB3W.mp3

I put this patch together for a song by EastSouthern called "Whisper" that I originally did on a Stage EX. Though it sounds heavy in effects, I think it fell right into the song well. The first MP3 is an example of the program, the second MP3 is the song by EastSouthern, played straight through with no overdubbing.

• EastSouthern_W.mp3

• EastSouthern Whisper W.mp3

Bruce Springsteen's "Born To Run" - Left hand B3 and Piano, Right Hand Strings, Piano, B3, and Vibes in sample location 156 (factory pre-loaded). The vibe volume can be brought down using the mod wheel as needed. This might help get you started:

• BSBornToRun W.mp3

Crosby Stills and Nash - Cathedral. At a gig our guitar player sat down at my keyboard to play Cathedral thinking he was only playing piano. Standing next to him to sing, I slid the control pedal over and at times brought in a Cathedral organ and voices without him knowing - he was looking around trying to figure it out. We've known each for over 50 years since grade school, so that's allowed sometimes.

• GLadyCathedral W.mp3

Pedal Steel with aftertouch: A cool feature of the OSC controls is being able to tune up an octave and then have control to "bend down" the notes like a pedal steel. Though I usually like to play pedal steel programs using the left hand control of the pitch bar and mod wheel, these programs use aftertouch on the pedal steel to take the notes down a half step and have vibrato with a delay, freeing up the left hand for playing other parts. If you don't want to fade in the pedal steel with the control pedal, you can set the AMP ENV Attack to about 5 to fade it in:

• PedalSteelAfterTouch.mp3

Pedal Steel - Pure Prairie League's "Two Lane Highway" with Wurlitzer and Pedal Steel. The MP3 is a live version with our other keyboard player on Rhodes and then me coming in on the pedal steel:

• TwoLaneHighway_W.mp3

Steely Dan's "Pretzel Logic" with Wurlitzer and horns on the control pedal. Turning on the other piano adds the "bass" note to the left hand based on the split:

• SDPretzelLogic W.mp3

90+ programs with MP3 examples
nord-stage-3-programs-ns3p-ns3pb-files- ... 15748.html

Classic Rock and other programs - Set 1 (9 programs)
nord-stage-3-programs-ns3p-ns3pb-files- ... 15722.html

Classic Rock and other programs - Set 2 (9 programs)
nord-stage-3-programs-ns3p-ns3pb-files- ... 15723.html

My Pianos and Program List as of April 2020 can be found at --> post130083.html?hilit=program%20list#p130083

... thanks a lot

Great work! Thanks so much

The pedal steel sound is amazing, just what I needed, thank you.

Your Efforts are very much appreciated!

Below I've added a couple variations of the Pedal Steel above where left and right hand splits are set up - the left being set up with AT or AT and CP to control a note played while the notes with the right hand are left unaffected. The result allows you to use your left hand on the pitch stick when you want all the notes on the right hand to slide, or you can play notes with the left hand too and use the AT/CP control to sound as if you are pressing a pedal or knee lever on a pedal steel to affect just those notes played.

The first program allows the left notes to be "bent down" by the Control Pedal and "bent up" with AfterTouch. The Control Pedal allows for smoother movement but you sacrifice being able to use the CP for volume.

• PedalSteel with CtrlPed Down and AT Up.mp3

The second program allows the left notes to be "bent down" using AfterTouch and the Control Pedal is used for volume. On the MP3 I play the first part using the pitch stick and playing with my right hand, and then I swap to playing with both hands, using AT to affect the single notes left of the split.

• PedalSteel with AT Down.mp3

Programs, MP3 examples, and links to many others
nord-stage-3-programs-ns3p-ns3pb-files- ... 15748.html

Great demo. Trying to download PedalSteelAT W.ns3f to my NS3 but how to download the sample?

Thanks for the sharing.

florence wrote:Great demo. Trying to download PedalSteelAT W.ns3f to my NS3 but how to download the sample?
Thanks for the sharing.

You're welcome! The last two pedal steel programs don't use a sample as the OSC2 function used to bend a note up or down with AT can't be used for that function with a sampled sound. Podmed posted a nice sample of a lap steel at the link below if you want to try that for general playing as well. Take care. nord-user-samples-nsmp-samples-f14/peda ... eel#p35294

ok understood. Thanks

Hi,
I have a new Nord Stage 3 compact and tried to load all these patches with Sound Manager, but almost none of them worked. Most of them showed a size of 1 KB while the actual size appeared in the file properties. Is there some sort of version or sample compatibility difference going on here? Or, am I missing something I need? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Tx