I finally bought a Stage 4

[K3v7nm]

I hope all of you are well. After a year and a half of waiting, I decided to pull the trigger on getting a Nord Stage 4 - I got it last week and love the layout. Sonically nothing stands out at this time over the Stage 3 except having the 3rd synth, but I'll be digging deeper into the synth capabilities. There are compromises in the design, like having to route a Farfisa through a Leslie if I'm also using it on a B3, but I'm much happier with the synths and pianos having their own individual effects. I just posted a Synth Preset that retained the effects settings and the morphing I set up. Programming will be nicer being able to have any of the 6 available instruments in one layer.

I think my first post to the Forum in 2011 asked about whether the mono synth on the Stage EX could track the highest note played like my Prophet 10 did. I could layer one 5-note patch with another solo patch that tracked the highest note perfectly. The Stage 4 finally has high (or low) tracking as an option, however if you play three notes for example, the top note will sound but drop out as soon as that note as released rather than play the next-highest note being held. I'm on the latest OS.

Now that I have a Stage 4, I can start doing my own testing. I plan to step though each item in the Google sheet NS4 Issues/Bugs List to see what's still outstanding and add to it as needed. Stay tuned!

[cphollis]

Congrats! It was only a matter of time ...

One of things I noticed as time wore on were all the little details here and there, things like dynamic compression and unison modes for the pianos, per-engine FX and much more. I'm still investing time with better learning the synth section, that's an entire keyboard in itself.

The "new skill" for me was learning to ride faders vs. reaching for the volume pedal. But it does require you to know your programs, and which (synth) voice is on fader 2, for example. If there's ever a Stage 5, it'd be nice to have little OLED displays beneath each to remind me which voice is where, especially in the heat of the moment.

There was a lot of moaning early on about song mode disappearing, which I used to use extensively. There's enough program slots to get the same effect, which is what I'm doing now.

I also think there was value in revisiting all of my programs in light of the new capabilities, and -- well -- everything just sounds better now!

[taxman]

I've been going through the Google sheet and testing what I can. I haven't needed MIDI so the Extern and overall MIDI bugs need to be revisited by their owners to note whether or not their bug has been fixed. I have to say that it's much easier to look into an issue when folks have provided a link to their post where the issue/bug was discussed. Sometimes from the discussion you can determine if it's truly an issue or a misunderstanding of functionality. I'll be moving the fixed issues to the proper tab and some items to the wish list; some others I'll have to contact the owners to provide more details. The good part is it's a great crash course on the NS4. Take care

[Valpurgis]

Ref the Google sheet. Happy to see a workover with wishes moved to the wishlist, misunderstandings removed and I propose to move the fixed items to a dedicated sheet leaving only real bugs on the original sheet. Good luck!

[WannitBBBad]

Ref the Google sheet. Happy to see a workover with wishes moved to the wishlist, misunderstandings removed and I propose to move the fixed items to a dedicated sheet leaving only real bugs on the original sheet. Good luck!

Yes, there is a dedicated sheet for fixed items, so any fixed items on the issues/bugs page will be moved after testing. I found one marked "fixed" and it wasn't; possibly the bug returned with a later OS change.

At some point items on the wishlist tab will need to have some priority set. I've requested folks to post their idea separately and see what others think before putting their item on the NS4 Wish List with a link to the discussion, however many have not, so there are some items on the list that some users may want implemented and other users may not. It's much easier as well for someone going through the wish list to click on a link to provide their thoughts on an item than having to go through pages and pages in my post and maybe not even find the discussion on it. Cheers!

[Jeffmac]

Congratulation

ps: signature upgrade is required

[analogika]

It makes more sense to keep the bugs on ONE sheet and just change the type to strikethrough (and maybe change background colour) — for one, fewer duplicates, because you don’t have to switch back and forth between sheets to compare; for another, the bugs stay in order and keep their reference numbers (there used to be reference numbers).

Right now, it’s just a mess.

[analogika]

It makes more sense to keep the bugs on ONE sheet and just change the type to strikethrough (and maybe change background colour) — for one, fewer duplicates, because you don’t have to switch back and forth between sheets to compare; for another, the bugs stay in order and keep their reference numbers (there used to be reference numbers).

Right now, it’s just a mess.

True, it's a mess; I've copied it to my laptop to work on. I'll try your idea for keeping the items on one page and may group a few similar items as well.

[maxpiano]

It makes more sense to keep the bugs on ONE sheet and just change the type to strikethrough (and maybe change background colour) — for one, fewer duplicates, because you don’t have to switch back and forth between sheets to compare; for another, the bugs stay in order and keep their reference numbers (there used to be reference numbers).

Right now, it’s just a mess.

This or add a "Type" column which could be valued as Bug or Enhancement (and with that the list could also be filtered/sorted by Type)

[analogika]

The Stage 3 list Format worked fine.