The Nord Stage 4 is the brand-new flagship performance keyboard from Nord. It’s the latest generation of the renowned Stage series, following the same fundamental philosophy in its design: building the best keyboard for professional live use in both sound and operation.
The Stage 4 reimagines the front panel layout to provide even more speedy and intuitive control, vastly upgrades its sonic capabilities with an entirely new synth section derived from the Wave 2, introduces a multitude of new FX and FX options, provides triple-sensor keybeds and physical drawbars across the range, plus numerous enhancements to make the life of a live player better!
We were lucky enough to visit the Nord factory in Sweden a few days before the official launch, where Nord revealed the new models and we saw the first instruments being handmade in Stockholm. Back in the UK now we are fortunate to have one of each model in front of us to try them out for ourselves!
Switching on the Stage 4 is fast. It takes just 20 seconds before you hear a note – (newly learnt fact: that initial 20 seconds is purely a system health check - no loading, no OS start-up, just a health check). From the outset it’s a detail that speaks volumes to actually living with a keyboard for professional use.
Let’s start with the range, because there’s a slight change in line-up from the Stage 3. There are three different Nord Stage 4 models: the Nord Stage 4 88, Nord Stage 4 73 and Nord Stage 4 Compact. The features and performance of all are 100% identical, the difference being solely in their keybeds (and therefore their physical size and weight).
The first major upgrade is right here. All keybeds in the Stage 4 Series all now feature triple-sensors – a first for the Stage series – bringing an even greater depth of feel and control.
The Nord Stage 4 88 and the Nord Stage 4 73 both feature fully-weighted, hammer-action, triple-sensor keybeds – they are identical other than number of keys. The Stage 4 73 model is new in the Stage Series – it replaces the previous Stage 76 HP lighter weighted model discontinued in favour of the new Stage 4 73-note hammer action. (A decision Nord say that was driven by the popularity of the Piano 5 73 –note hammer action version).
The Nord Stage 4 Compact retains a semi-weighted 73-note Waterfall Keybed, but also inherits the triple-sensor technology.
The Nord Stage Series has always looked to make layering and sound design a rapid process - so when you need to create or recall a sound, it should only be a few steps away.
The Nord Stage 4 maintains this ideal with the new layer system. Every program (or patch) divided into 3 sections - Organ, Piano, and Synth. The sections are then subdivided into layers.
There are 7 layers total (2x Organ, 2x Piano and 3x Synth). Each layer has its own volume fader and selection button, which makes it very quick to select and edit and blend your sounds within a program.
Earlier generations used a 'Panel A / Panel B' system which also provided a way to layer sounds. However, without the separation and independent layer level controls, it required a lot more switching between panels.
The Synth section on Nord Stage 4 has seen some excellent upgrades, thanks mainly to the development on the Nord Wave 2 which was released a few years back. Thanks to the layer system, the Synth Section now has 3 layers (1 more than Nord Stage 3). Each of the 3 layers can seamlessly interchange between analog modelling, fm, wavetable and sample playback or be changed to control an External device (more on this later).
Most of the synth programming happens on the dedicated OLED screen in the Synth section. You edit sounds by selecting a feature to view (such as envelope or LFO). This brings it up on screen, and assigns the controls to the 'soft knobs' below the screen. This helps to maximise control options whilst maintaining panel space.
The sample engine has also been lifted from the Wave 2, and features round robin, true vibrato and unison for enhanced sample sounds.
The Arpeggiator has also borrowed features from the Wave 2. As well as the traditional arpeggiator functions, you now have:
Poly Mode which arpeggiates the chords, rather than the individual notes.
Gate Mode behaves like a noise gate which opens and closes to allow the sound you are playing to come through. The envelope of the Gate can be adjusted to make it open gently or more staccato, depending on your requirements.
Pattern Mode is a massive new feature, allowing you to create your own patterns to rhythmically control any of the, above, arpeggiator modes. Acting like a step sequencer, you can edit the steps, their lengths, add accents and even pan steps left right or centre. Each Layer can have its own Pattern and these are all saved per layer/program.
Just like the other time-based functions of the Stage 4, the Arpeggiator can be synced via Master Clock so that they can all run in time together or they can slave to incoming MIDI Clock from an external device.
This is a huge upgrade for the sonic capabilities of the Stage series. Each individual layer in a program now has its own effects settings. There are 6 effects sections (organ shares for both layers). This gives the person playing or programming the Nord Stage 4 immense flexibility when designing sounds.
For example, let's take a 3 layered sound - Piano, Organ, and Synth Arpeggio. On Stage 4 we can add hall reverb to the piano, room reverb to the organ and delay to the synth independently.
Following on from the new development of effects per layer, there are also some additions to the effects engine on the Nord Stage 4. First to mention is variation, where every effect has an alternative setting. This is activated with a button press and means something different depending on what you're using it with. As an example, the auto-pan variation switches the character of the pan speed from smooth to abrupt.
The following brand-new effects have been added to the Stage 4 series:
The newly added separation of layers within sections has also led to the implementation of section and layer presets. Within a program on Nord Stage 4, you can now save & load presets for a section, or even down to a layer. This allows you to assemble programs more rapidly.
These are quickly accessed using the section preset buttons above the centre screen. Gone are the days of copying settings between programs!
In previous generations, Nord Stages have either used physical drawbars or LED ladder strips depending on the model. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Nord Stage 4 gives you the best of both worlds, as every Stage 4 model has a set of physical drawbars alongside LED strips. The idea is that the LEDs show you the saved position of drawbars in the loaded preset, while the drawbars themselves give you the tactile control and feel of real organ drawbars. They can either be used in conjunction with presets, or you can set them to manual mode whereby the physical drawbar position always sets the sound.
The piano sounds on Nord keyboards have a lot of dynamic range, which is often hard to control in certain environments - especially live. The Nord Stage has a compressor in the effects section, but as it's trying to cover a lot of different sounds design choices, it's sort of a one setting fits all. This doesn't always lend itself to the delicate structure of a piano's dynamics.
The Nord Stage 4 now has a dedicated dynamic compressor to address this. The Dynamic compressor has 3 settings, optimised to reduce the dynamic range of the piano whilst also maintain its character. This can be used in conjunction with the compressor if you're used to how it sounded on previous generation Stage keyboards.
The previous Nord Stage generations have featured the ability to control sound modules and keyboards, using the External Section. This allowed the user to send MIDI CC values and program changes to external devices, and save their settings per program.
The Nord Stage 4 takes this further, by integrating the External Section into the Synth Section and giving much clearer and immediate MIDI control over external devices. All three Synth Layers can be changed to work as External Controllers instead, allowing you to play up to three external devices simultaneously, if you needed to - one more than the previous Stage 3.
The launch of Nord Stage 4 has also been accompanied by updated single & triple pedals. The new Nord Single Pedal 2 and Triple Pedal 2 add new control possibilities to the Stage 4. These are NOT replacing the previous models, they are just providing new options for Nord owners.
The new single pedal from Nord has an upgraded continuous sensor system, which gives you the ability to control realistic pedal noise and half damping of piano samples. This functionality was only previously available on the Nord Triple Pedal 1.
The new Nord Triple Pedal 2 plugs into the Nord Stage 4 via a new, larger connector. It is a more robust design and the upgraded continuous sensors give far more responsive control over your sounds.
A new feature of the Stage 4 is the ability to customise the left and middle pedals of the Triple pedal (both TP-1 and TP-2 models). These settings can all be made in the dedicated Pedal Menu of the Stage 4. The available settings are:
This is just a taste the features that you'll find on the Nord Stage 4 series. It also brings forward a lot of the premium features found on the Stage 3 and Wave 2. Aside from the new program structure, those who already know Nord's design will feel right at home on the Stage 4. For those who are new to it, you'll quickly find the Nord Stage 4 is one of the most versatile, responsive and best sounding keyboards on the market.
| Nord Keyboards Stage 4 Compact |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Nord Keyboards Stage 4 73 | | | | | | | | | |  |
| Nord Keyboards Stage 4 88 | | | | | | | | | | |
This new blog is presented by the team at Sound Technology Ltd, a leading distributor of musical instruments and pro audio equipment in the UK and ROI.
