MusicRadar

The improved sample uploading alone is worth the upgrade to this new model.

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• Review

Nord's original Stage launched in 2005 and became a hit with live performers and studio bods with its great sounding organ, piano, electric piano and synth sections, coupled with versatile effects and controller functions, in a portable and easy to use package.

We loved the review model so much that our reviewer bought one!

Thankfully, the Stage 2 doesn't stray from the original Stage's concept. The form factor and weight of all three models remains unchanged, though there has been some renaming - the Stage 88 is now the Stage 2 HA88 (HA stands for hammer action) the 76 is the HA76 and the Compact is the SW73 (semi-weighted).

"Nord listens to its customers and continually seeks to improve features, sounds and software."

Perhaps this has been done so that the weighted 73 keybed (recently introduced on the Electro 3 HP) can at some point be offered as an option.

The hammer action versions have also been tweaked and now feel much like the Nord Piano, which is a good thing. The downward key travel is fairly shallow and there is no sluggishness.

The two weighted actions work well even for organ and clav playing, though the SW73 is the best option if clavs, organs and synths are more your bag, though it's still very playable for piano/EP.

The next Stage

The Stage 2's interface is intuitive and one of the best around, with little reliance on the screen except for tweaking extra system parameters, but for most sound tweaking you needn't ever really look it.

Having said that, we still wish the original stored patch parameter values would pop up when changing parameters. Regardless, so many keyboards we review are held back by unintuitive interfaces that get in the way of your creative flow. This is not the case here.

Essentially, there was little to criticise with the original Stage/EX models though the biggest downside was the lack of user sample upload ability and Nord Sample Library access (as on the Electro 3).

This has now been addressed and the Stage 2 can load user samples (beats, chords or any WAV files you like using the Nord Sample Editor) plus instruments from Nord's ever-growing sample library, extending its sonic palette infinitely.

Simply load the Nord Sample Editor (Mac or PC), select any WAV files you wish, add them to the editor and create an instrument. Then load the instrument into the Stage 2 via USB or grab ready-made samples from the online Nord Sample Library. These samples can then be loaded into the synth and layered with the organ, piano or other synth sounds with little menu diving.

This feature alone is reason enough to upgrade from the old Stage and ensures that the Stage 2 will still be sonically relevant years down the line. We're also confident that no other keyboard available has this much sonic power but is also this easy to use.