Nord Stage 88
Concept
Too often, our choices as players require compromise. We do our homework, make phone calls, and scour the Internet seeking advice on the perfect stage piano, yet at every turn, we're forced to give up some benefit and choose between the lesser of compromises. You like one, but the action is too stiff; another one feels right, but the sounds are thin and weak; another sounds great, but of all its features you'll only use a few; yet another one feels and sounds right, but weighs as much as your car. Friends, players, hired guns: the search is over. Introducing the Nord Stage 88, the culmination of Clavia's award-winning technology and design in a full-range weighted-action stage piano. Featuring the best of Clavia's technologies, the Stage 88 is designed with practical benefits for real-world pianists. Of course, style factors in as much as substance - what would a Nord keyboard be if not bright red?
Construction
The Nord Stage 88 is a high quality yet very road-worthy stage piano. Constructed of the same light metal as other Nord keyboards, the Stage holds up to the rigors of touring and constant transportation. At less than 40 pounds, the Stage 88 is among the most easily portable controllers available. Wood panels round out the style of the Stage, providing the classic yet discernable look of the Nord Electro2. Complementing the Stage's portable construction is a set of Rhodes-like legs which screw onto the bottom chassis (the legs are sold separately - price TBA).
Architecture
The Stage features three sound sections - the Organ, Piano, and Synth sections. The Stage is 6-voice multitimbral, so 6 sounds can be combined into a powerful performance. You can use 2 sounds of each section at once - that's two organ manuals, two synths, and two pianos layered together! An A/B switch allows you to quickly move between two advanced setups immediately, so hunt-and-peck navigation is kept to a minimum during a performance. Clavia's patented pitch-stick and modulation wheel construction is included for maximum expression, and the unique Morph Grouping technique allows you to combine effects and sound parameters together into one physical controller. The Stage also has four outputs, giving users the opportunity to run individual sounds through different outputs - this is a great way to dominate your performance, and control your sound mix.
The Organ Section
Like the Nord Electro2, the organ section is based on full simulation of electromechanical organs. The Nord Stage contains not only the famous sound of the Hammond B3, but it also adds Vox and the Farfisa organ models as well. The complex digital modeling recreates every nuance of these unique organ sounds giving you the full arsenal of Organ sounds. The Nord Stage emulates the energy stealth from the tone wheels, resulting in the "compressed" sound that occurs when playing many notes simultaneously. The rotary speaker emulation is the final touch of our rich organ sounds, and is available for the pianos and the synths as well. The key-click on the Hammond organ model is now a user-defined parameter, so players have even more control over their sound.
The Piano Section
The piano section is comprised of 6 different sound groups. These groups include the Mega Clavinet D6, the Wurlitzer 200A, the Rhodes Mark 1, and the custom Electric Grand model G. The Acoustic Piano Group includes the Yamaha C7 Grand Piano and an upright piano. A Miscellaneous group also exists, for any future sounds that Clavia will develop for the Nord Stage. The acoustic pianos were created using a very advanced sampling technology. The sounds are stereo multisamples, recorded at many different velocity levels. The key-release, pedal down, and pedal up sounds have also been added. In an acoustic piano, the vibrating string will make other strings with shared overtones vibrate, creating its very energetic and full sound. The Nord Stage pianos will produce the sympathetic string resonance when each note is hit with the pedal down. This full sound was attained through the development of a completely new sampling engine, which provides the lushest, most accurate and expressive grand pianos ever made for a digital keyboard. The piano section is very flexible, allowing the use of any of the Stage's rich effects, splits, and layers, and in the future Clavia will release new piano samples that can be loaded via the Nord Stage's USB port. The multisample engine of the Nord Stage displays subtle nuances throughout the whole dynamic range. Thanks to the carefully designed sound engine, an aura of authenticity is created that can only be heard in a Nord instrument.
The Synthesizer Section
Clavia is world famous for synthesizer technology since the groundbreaking Nord Lead from the mid-1990s. For discriminating musicians, a subtractive synthesizer has been built into the Stage, creating opportunities for texturing and layering piano and organ sounds. This synth is like no other that Clavia has produced - instead of digging through parameters and sculpting your sound with a large array of knobs and encoders, the Stage's synth section features the essentials. A single knob moves you through various oscillators, glide and unison functions are added, as well as a low-pass filter, modulation envelope, amp envelope, vibrato, and and EQ. The synthesizer unit in the Nord Stage is sonically rich, very easy to use, and has it's own unique personality. The heart of this synthesizer is the Oscillator section, where you can choose from basic sound elements. The Analog section recreates all the elements from classic subtractive synthesizers like the Moog MiniMoog (TM). The FM section recreates the typical FM sounds that dominated the 80s like those from the Yamaha DX7 (TM). The synth section includes digital wavetables, which recreate sounds similar to famous instruments like the PPG Wave (TM). Each section has many different oscillator presets. The timbre knob varies multiple parameters within the selected oscillator preset, allowing players to sweep between different characters of the sound. The filter section has 12db and 24db filters. You can easily manipulate filter cutoff and resonance, and control them with velocity or keyboard tracking as well. There is a modulation envelope which shapes both the filter and the oscillator, and an amp envelope to control the attack, sustain, release, and decay of the sound.
Effects
The Phaser, Flanger, and Chorus effects are modeled from the classic analog stomp boxes that were popular in the 1970s. With parameter knobs for realtime adjustment of effects, all the swirling phasers, metallic flangers, and meaty chorus effects found on classic recordings are here - crystal clear and faithfully simulated. Among the modulations the Nord Stage is capable of, there are the vintage Tremolo, three Wahs, and Auto-Pan. Use the Auto-Wah with a Clavinet for raw funk licks. Create a psychedelic vibe with a Rhodes on Auto-Pan. Give a Wurlitzer some body using the Tremolo. There is a Ring Modulator on board, an effect used by many experimental and electronic musicians. From jazz, funk, prog-rock, and pop to fusion, R&B, and avant-garde, this useful effect has conjured incredibly unique tones for a generation of players. A delay unit has been included to create haunting echoes or slapback effects.
Amp Simulation
The effects section also includes an amplifier emulation unit which recreates the famous sound of a Fender Twin Reverb. You can set the drive of the amp, creating an overdriven sound. The drive knob works like a normal overdrive effect when no amp model is selected. There is also a Rotary Speaker emulation, that not only brings a much-needed feature to a live organ performance, but can be used with any of the electric or acoustic pi