Hi folks, I have a few questions, and they ain't very related to each other, so I just made a new thread.

1. I finally got myself to buy a pair of AKG K240 MKII's. The sound is alright, I think the Nord Piano sounds better out like through PA's at concerts and stuff rather than for practicing through headphones or monitors, or I just haven't got the EQ right yet. Anyway, I've been using the "monitor in" connected to a PC for playing along music or using a metronome etc. My question is, will it damage the headphones if I run music from my Macbook and play along at the same time? Or can the headphones take sound from two sources without problems?

2. Is it very important to keep the piano free of dust?

3. How good is the other sounds on the Nord Stage 2? (brass, strings, voices)

4. How is the Nord Stage 2's lead synth sounds? Gonna use it mostly for metal.

5. I need a new board for synth (mainly lead synth like in metal) and organs. It got to be cheap. I've concidered changing my NP into a NS2 it it's still possible. Otherwise I've concidered Korg M50, Roland Juno-DI and Yamaha MOX6. What are your opinions about these boards regarding organ and synth? What other alternatives are there. I think changing my NP into a NS2 would be best, but also a little more expensive and a hassle.

6. Anyone tried the Roland Lucina AX-09? Seems pretty cool being able to carry it, and the lead synth seems decent.. The hammonds is a different story though.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHvS4sdbHyY

I probably got more questions later, so please bare with me.

Cheers!

I'm not sure what you mean by "playing multiple sources" - have you conencted the headphones with a "Y" cable and 2 sources are feeding them that way ? if so, that's a very bad arrangement. Otherwise, read on...

Playing multiple sources will not damage the headphones. You will approach the "danger" level when the sound starts distorting; keeping it up will overheat the tiny voicecoil and probably certainly damage your ears eventually because it means you are playing waaaaaay too loud



John

John, I believe Auver is connecting the audio output from his/her Macbook to the Nord's 'monitor in' jack, then connecting headphones into the Nord.

This is a useful feature of the newer Nord boards (my Electro 2 didn't have it), and allows you to play along with an external audio source, mixed-in with the Nord's sound.

Cheers,
James
x

The headphones only have one plug, How do you fit it into two devices at once? It's OK if yu are using a mixer either in software are a "real" mixer.



I use a soft 2 inch size paint brush on the keys. I tried a cover but but got tried of putting it on and off all the time. So now it just gets a good dusting every week or so




You say above you have a Macbook. I think the best sounds are software on the computer. There are some very good synth and organ plug-ins that will run on the Mac Then you buy a cheap MIDI controller keyboard.

The way I read it, he might be going the other way around. That is the output of the Nord piano goes to the Mac's Line-in and then on the Mac he users Garage Band to mice in a metronome or an MP3. That is a very conventional thing to do.

Just last weekend I was recording my daughter's vocals of some top-40 song she likes. I used Garage Band on the Mac. I put a guide track (piano single line of notes, bass and metronome in the headphone feed mixed over a monitor of the mic.

Most studio recording, I think is done more or less like this

Maybe so, but I doubt it. Auver specifically refers to 'monitor in', which is how the connector is labelled on the back of the Nord Piano:



My old Dell laptop only has a Mic In and Headphone connector, therefore in order for me to play along with MP3s/CDs, I connect the laptop's Headphone connector to my Nord 'monitor in' connector. I expect Auver is doing the same.

Cheers,
James
x

OK. Either way he is not going to harm the headphones. Hard to figure out how that would be even remotely possible

In general, I prefer gigging with two boards instead of one, so as to have weighted and unweighted actions, and for less sound switching or worries about a hand running out of room on a split, and to always have backup in case of some kind of failure.

That said, the organs on the Korg, Roland, and Yamaha models you mentioned are not going to be in the same league as the NS2, they just give you a handful of organ presets, not real drawbar organ functionality. Similarly, they have some lead synth sounds, but nothing like the full VA synth thats built into the NS2, nor the aftertouch keyboard which can be useful on synth sounds, nor all the live knob tweakability. In the U.S. at least, Kurzweil PC361 has been closed out at a very appealing price... that's one I would look at... it has strong VA synthesis, aftertouch, and decent drawbar organ functionality.

There are lots of strong organ keyboards, and lots of strong synth keyboards, but the NS2 is one of very few that is strong for both; and the other boards you mention really aren't all that strong for either. The Kurzweil and the more expensive Korg Kronos are the only other ones I can think of that arguably pull off this trick.

Another thing to consider is that the pianos sound slightly better on the NS2 than they do on the NP, because of the "long release" function.

Assuming the Kronos is price-prohibitive, if organ and synth are your focus, I think the best choices would be either to upgrade the Nord or look at Kurzweil. Not that the others you mention (and others) can't get a decent variety of organ and synth sounds, but they are not the strongest choices for that, those are not those boards' strengths.

I agree with anotherscott: look at Kurzweil. I have the SP4-7 with the updated OS and extra PC3 sounds. The "Real ABC" organ is just great! I added an Evolution UC33e MIDI controller to give me access to the drawbar and other organ functions. The synth sounds in the SP4 are not very editable, so if that's an issue look at the PC3 series.

BTW, don't be afraid to haggle on Kurzweils - you might be surprised at what you can achieve!

Thanks for the responces people!!



Ok, thanks, I've had them distort a few times, especially when hitting the low end on the piano with decent force. I guess I should be more careful, but listening to music and playing along through the headphones won't do any damag?



That's right, I really love this feature.



I see, so I should start cleaning it more regularly then. What damage can dust do?



Haven't really considered this option, but it is definately a great option! Might be a hassle bringing the computer though, and also laggs might be a problem?

Will this mac with 2.3 GHz i5 processor play software instruments without delay? How does it work anyway with software, you buy the software and you get like 3 licenses on the buy and if you somehow waste them (formating the computer?) you gotta buy new ones?

I've heard the B4 are great softorgans, what about synth and strings? Synth like in Lead Synth for metal.



I was just thinking that too much volume and sound would rip them apart.



I will NOT get the Kronos, that's for sure. It's built too poorly for my use, I will use this a lot for practicing and jamming with others. It's also like 5x over my budget.

I will do some research on Kurzweils, might be a little hard to find a dealer who carries them in this area..



I will check them out.

Thanks again all! What would I do without ya'..

One more option would be to add a small synth like a Korg R3 or whatever, and then just look for some kind of separate organ solution... but the organ is the trickiest part because of the ergonomics. Yes, there are great organ simulations you can run on a Macbook (or V-Machine, whatever), but without real drawbars to manipulate, real switches for percussion and leslie speed, etc., I'm not sure it will be quite satisfying.

That would surely be a more expensive route, and I'd have to take more boards with me. Looks good on a gig with many boards, but for band practice and stuff it's just a hassle. I would probably get one of those midi connector sliders thingie for the drawbars and leslie stuff. And just get a cheap 61 key board for triggering the software. But then again after all those things were bought in, I might just have spent equal or more than it would cost to change in the NS2...

It might not be very expensive if you run the VB3 or whatever organ software on your existing Macbook, and add a low-cost synth. There are cheaper ones than even the Korg R3, if you can live with their compromises... MicroKorg (smaller keys), Alesis Micron (fewer real-time controls)

Also, if you happen to have an iPad, you can also use that for organ (via GarageBand), and/or for various available soft synths.

Would be too many things with mac + dedicated synth and piano board.

I will discuss with my teacher what he thinks is best, and I think I might be able to swap the NP in for NS2 in the area. The dealer is a really nice guy so I think I might be able to pull a decent deal off.

Talked with my teacher, and we've figured it would be the best to change my NP into an NS2. But oh, the money. :x