NORD STAGE 4 officially announced for February 16th 2023

[cphollis]

Agree with the assessment that the NS3 has plenty of legs on it still. If I were them, I'd price the new models at a 10-15% premium, and keep the NS3s in the market as they are still very popular, and obviously profitable for Clavia. Rule #1 of product management, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Eumel]

Another forum user (m1tsos)? had spoken to a nord tech and had found out that the NS4 (88) might have a different action (possibly closer to the piano). Be interesting to see if that's true and how it will affect the playability of the other sounds (organ and synth)

This would be the most important point for me: a decent 88 keys piano like keybed!

[zahush76]

I'm less worried about how many layers or controls have been added - and a lot more about what new sounds it has.
The main rhodes piano sample is basically the same one from the very first nord stage, and about the same size as it was.
The other models are nice and all - but while back then it was ground breaking and the only company who was close to a real authentic rhodes sound,
by now other companies have got the edge.
The ep on the kronos and on the yamaha cp88 are far superior.
Nord has got to update their wurly samples and most definitely their clav samples.
Everyone else has better samples with release samples, mute samples etc. Nord is far behind.
They are also not leading in the B3 emulation.

So while it's the NS3 is a fun board because of the hands on controls - its sounds better shape up on the future NS4

[docbop]

Okay so the Stage 4 if finally official and the reveal in a couple days so it time to pick a new target. Like Apple iPhones the day a new one comes out the people start rumours, speculation, and whining for the next one to show up ASAP. So which Nord will the forumites start to whine Nord has to upgrade the <fill in the blank> immediately it's been too long.

So what are you going to fill the blank in with???

[analogika]

Agree with the assessment that the NS3 has plenty of legs on it still. If I were them, I'd price the new models at a 10-15% premium, and keep the NS3s in the market as they are still very popular, and obviously profitable for Clavia. Rule #1 of product management, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Rule #2 of product management — never undercut your flagship if it the cheaper model will make it unprofitable.

Nord isn't Apple. Their sales numbers are tiny, and their production capacity is extremely limited — they don't just hire 300,000 FoxConn workers to assemble stuff for a hundred-million-customer market. Their primary concern is to recoup investment cost and lower component prices of the new model by selling as many as possible.

Keeping the old model in the lineup would tie up scarce resources while cannibalising the primary product. The only way that makes sense at Nord's scale is if the new model is significantly more expensive than the old one was.

[M1tsos]

To be honest, Stage prices have always been VERY stable, until the latest inflation-induced increases.
As far as I can remember, for the last 12 years the 88 was about 3400-3500€, the 76 3200-3300€, and the 73 2900-3000€.
Recently they raised all prices by 500€, let's hope it doesn't go higher than that. Although in the current economy, it's impossible to make reliable predictions.

About the action, I doubt they'll use the Kawai action. Not only it was probably licensed for just one model, but it wouldn't fit in the Stage chassis as we know it, it would be much bigger and heavier.
But in the last couple of years FATAR has released updated versions of both the TP/40 (HA action) and TP/110 (HP action), which are supposed to have a much better playing feel with aproximately the same size and weight... finger cross!

For sure i know it will be 3sensor keybed.. which means it will have at least the piano 5 88 keybed on stage 4..

The price of stage 3 88 before thomann remove it from site was 4599.. i expect that stage 4 will be around there

[Gambold]

>every time I play Crumar’s own emulation (and as you pointed out, the HX3 might be even better), going back to the Electro feels like a definite downgrade.<

I agree on that - I owned a Mojo 61 for several years and I've never had as good a B3 emulation as that board. Problem was the Crumar EPs were very so-so and APs were pretty awful. I've occasionally looked at this with some GAS:

https://www.crumar.it/?a=showproduct&b=38

Meanwhile, the best EPs I've owned (and still own) are on my Korg SV-2, which only has a couple of samples for their Hammonds, no real emulation. Their APs are ok.

Nord has the best APs by a country mile, decent enough EPs, and a pretty good but not great Hammond. I still think the Hammond on my Electro 4 was better than my current Electro 6 - and I've done some work tinkering with the system settings to address that problem, to no avail. Could be my imagination. Also I'm in a minority in that I prefer the digital drawbars and am not partial to the sliders on the Electro 6, although I liked them on the Crumar. I think the digital drawbars are more in synch with the vibe and design of the Electro - the mechanical sliders seemed to be added due to market demand to make the Electro more "perfect." It would be nice if they were optional on all models but that would be cost-prohibitive for Clavia.

I think the lesson learned is that the perfect jack-of-all-trades board is probably not possible.

[Gambold]

>The price of stage 3 88 before thomann remove it from site was 4599.. i expect that stage 4 will be around there<

That's pretty optimistic. It's a new board, a new generation of tech, and the company is looking to make some money. And like analogika pointed out, they aren't going to keep building the Stage 3 when it would cannibalize sales. They will sell off the existing Stage 3 stock via the current sale prices, and price the Stage 4 at a premium to make up the difference.

It seems European prices are cheaper. In the USA before the price cut, the Stage 88 was going for $5300 ($5299):

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... e-keyboard

They will likely add $100 to the price. Maybe more. So - $5400 (or $5399) is my current prediction for the Stage 4 88 in the US market.

[mozart999uk]

Another forum user (m1tsos)? had spoken to a nord tech and had found out that the NS4 (88) might have a different action (possibly closer to the piano). Be interesting to see if that's true and how it will affect the playability of the other sounds (organ and synth)

This would be the most important point for me: a decent 88 keys piano like keybed!

But wouldn't this make playing organ ep and synth sounds harder?

[Streef]

I'm less worried about how many layers or controls have been added - and a lot more about what new sounds it has.
The main rhodes piano sample is basically the same one from the very first nord stage, and about the same size as it was.
The other models are nice and all - but while back then it was ground breaking and the only company who was close to a real authentic rhodes sound,
by now other companies have got the edge.
The ep on the kronos and on the yamaha cp88 are far superior.
Nord has got to update their wurly samples and most definitely their clav samples.
Everyone else has better samples with release samples, mute samples etc. Nord is far behind.
They are also not leading in the B3 emulation.

So while it's the NS3 is a fun board because of the hands on controls - its sounds better shape up on the future NS4

Totally agree. Updated samples on these basic sounds would be a real plus (and it would be great for Stage 2 / Stage 3 owners as well!). It is sort of annoying that those sounds are just no comparison to even much cheaper Yamaha products....