Latest OS:
Nord C1 Organ - v1.12Nord C2 Organ - v1.20
Nord Electro 3 - v2.06
Nord Stage EX - v5.16
Nord Stage Classic 128 MB - v4.20
Nord Wave - v2.02
Scott plays his Nord on the highway too!
2010-02-04Jazz Synthesizer kingpin and long time Nord Keyboard user Scott Kinsey has been keeping very busy preparing new releases for Human Element, The Scott Kinsey Group and Tribal Tech!
Beyond hearing him on the road with his band and on Hollywood Soundtracks for movies such as Oceans 11/12/13 and Analyze That, you may have also caught Scott recently on the U.S. tour with guitarist and jam band guru Jimmy Herring.
Scott's current CD "Kinesthetics" is available on abstractlogix.
The man behind the music
2010-02-03Mike Weiser is a composer/producer, teaching music in New York City, US. Mike has a different kind of passion, composing music for iPhone apps, with the help of Nord Keyboards.
Tracks included in his portfolio amongst others: StickWars (featured in Apple's iTunes Rewind 2009: Apps) and Ramp Champ (Macworld's "Best Designed iPhone Game" of 2009). Visit Mike's website for more information about apps soundtracks.
New distributor in Japan
2010-02-02Nord appoints KID/Korg Import Division as the new distributor for Japan. On the picture above: Mr. Norio Iwasaki of KID shaking hands with Mr. Tomas Enochsson of Nord Keyboards.
Touring the r-e-d brand
2010-01-25Swedish keyboard player Marcus Olsson plays Nord on stage, touring with prominent Swedish artists such as Ulf Lundell, Magnus Uggla, Lena Ph, Moneybrother and David Urwitz to name a few. Visit Marcus on MySpace.
SoundLab Modular G2 tutorial
2010-01-21Roland Kuit (composer / artist) has put together an interactive Modular G2 tutorial that covers all levels of usage.
Learn how to take advantage of the power in the Modular synthesizers! To order this tutorial, contact roland.kuit [at] 12move.nl for further details.
Loyalty award to Nova Musik
2010-01-20This year at NAMM, we had the great pleasure to hand out the ''Loyalty and commitment of the year'' award to Tony Gral and his staff at Nova Musik, Milwaukee.
- Keep up the good job guys!
Improvised geniosity
2010-01-04Christian Larese is an Austrian Electro 3-user who we stumbled upon on YouTube. This improvisation is a real masterpiece and we'd love to share it with the rest of you guys. Also check out Christian's band Madebyus.
Video greetings from Colombia
2009-12-28Puerto Candelaria is one of the most important jazz groups in Colombia and communicates intimate musical interpretations with ironic humor and explosive beats. The group strives to include modern musical elements without loosing the essence of traditional Colombian rhythms and melodies.
Nord Piano video teaser
2009-12-22We would like to share with you, this short video teaser of the upcoming and very exciting new product - Nord Piano 88. Read more about the Nord Piano on our product preview page.
New Electro 3 Videos
We proudly present two new Electro 3 videos, made by our Italian distributor Mogar Music. This first video is a walkthru of the organ section.
New Electro 3 Videos
2009-10-12The second part takes you thru the piano section of the Electro 3.
Nord Catalog 2009
The Summer 2009 catalog is out, filled with the latest Nord essentials. Read about the Stage EX, Electro 3 and of course the steaming hot new Nord C2 Combo organ. Click image to download.
News archive
You can find our archive with selected Nord World news here.
C2 Organ press highlights
2010-02-02Updated section, now with the latest Sound On Sound review added.
Read more about what the press says about our very successful Nord C2 Combo Organ.
Classic Nord samples added to Nord Sample Library
2010-01-21Nord Classics is a massive addition to the Nord Sample Library. Over 370 samples with classic Nord sounds, from the original Nord Lead 2X, Nord Lead 3 and Nord Modular G2X.
The addition is a perfect fit for the Electro 3 user who wants classic synth sounds to go along with the already much appreciated organ and piano sounds. Or why not have them loaded in the Nord Wave? Listen to demos and see the complete list here.
News from the NAMM show
2010-01-14We would like to share with you some news from the ongoing NAMM show. Click here to go to the NAMM news page.
Romantic Upright XLR
2009-12-23Enjoy our brand new Romantic Upright Piano, a piano that shines in every aspect with its beautiful and delicate sound. The R indicates that this piano is compatible with the String Resonance feature that is available in the Nord Stage EX from OS version 5.10 and later. Nord Stage Classic and Nord Electro 3 owners can still use the sound but without the advantage of the String Resonance feature.
The piano is available for free download in the Nord Piano Library.
Updated version! (v4.2) (Improved mono compatibility and adjusted release samples in the D5 area).
Listen to a soundclip of the Romantic Upright piano.
Nord Stage Classic OS v4.20
2009-11-12The Nord Stage "Classic" OS has been updated to version 4.20. This update includes an improvement that has been made to the reverb algorithms. The reverb is now smoother and a bit wider which creates a more pleasant sound.
We have also made an overhaul of the USB handling, which has addressed some issues that could occur when you connected a classic Stage to a computer. This means that the annoying bug that sometimes caused the Manager to display the totally erroneous "Partition 1 (Piano) seems corrupt" message has been fixed, together with another USB timing issue.
The update also makes the classic Stage able to read Programs that has been made on a Nord Stage EX, even though it will discard any Piano Unison and String Resonance settings.
A complete list of fixes can be found on the Stage Classic Update History page.
Get the update in the Download area
Nord Stage EX OS v5.16
2009-11-06The OS of the Stage EX units have been updated to version 5.16. This update includes an improvement that has been made to the reverb algorithms. The reverb is now smoother and a bit wider which creates a more pleasant sound.
Apart from the reverb change, we have addressed some issues with the piano engine and also improved its functionality. One of these improvements lies in the behavior of the string resonance feature and how the pedal-down and normal samples are integrated with each other when you release the pedal during sustained notes or chords. If you repeat a note or chord with the pedal down, hold the chord and then release the pedal, the resulting sound will be correct in that the normal, pedal-up sample will be heard.
A complete list of fixes can be found on the Stage EX Update History page.
Get the update in the Download area.
Nord Electro 3 OS v2.06
2009-10-27The Electro 3 operating system have been updated to v2.06. This update addresses a few issues, some of which have been discovered by Electro 3 users. As always, we are very grateful for the reports that are sent in.
This update fixes a problem that occurred if MIDI Local was set to Off, and the Piano Type selector was used. The Electro could in this circumstance select a Piano type that wasn't available in the Piano partition.
Another fix was made for a Organ Vibrato MIDI bug that was found by Mr Georges Rodi. Vibrato Mode/Enable didn't work very well for any organ if controlled via MIDI. This issue led to the implementation of a new CC: CC107 controls B3 lower manual vibrato enable (CC85 still controls B3 upper manual vibrato enable).
Waleed in the US have very good ears, and he made us aware of the fact that the rotary effect had a bad influence on the reverb sound quality during the last lingering moments of the audible reverb decay.
Very small nsmp files could give a checksum error in the sample partition, this was discovered by several users, almost at the same time. Everybody seemed to get a craving for single cycle waveforms. This issue led to an error message in the Electro 3 LED during startup and necessitated a manual removal of the offending sample in the Electro 3 from the Nord Sound Manager. Rest assured, this has now been taken care of.
Get the update in the Download area.
Chris Martirano's FM programs.
We asked Chris Martirano from Design Sounds to recreate some of the best known FM sounds from yesteryear and the results are nothing but spectacular. We got the #15 bass, several variations of the sparkly electric piano, the FM brass and loads of other great sounds. These are now available as a free download in the Nord Wave Super Sounds area.
One of the great and prominent features in the Nord Wave is the two ''oscillators on steroids''. Few other hardware synthesizers have the kind of flexibility that the Wave offers in this regard. Not only do you have a bunch of great sounding traditional analog style waveforms and sync capabilities, there is also a large selection of digital waveforms, sample playback capabilities with 180 MB of user replaceable samples and no less than 38 FM algorithms.
These FM algorithms have 1, 2 or 3-operator structures, with or without feedback and allows you to produce the sounds that are very similar to the original DX or TX units that made FM and digital synthesizers very popular in the mid eighties. The added bonus in the Wave is of course that the FM algorithms are then routed through the virtual analog architecture that allows you to further sculpt the sound using the envelopes, multi-mode filters and other functions in the Wave.
New samples added to the Nord Sample Library.
Once again Pontus Henrikson generously shared his favourite samples, made for the Nord Wave and Nord Electro 3.
Available now for download in the Nord Sample Library.
Also check out Pontus at MySpace.
Sound examples from the Nord C2 Combo Organ!
Listen to a bunch of sound clips that demonstrate the sonic excellence and versatility of the Nord C2 Combo Organ.
GospelThe B3 tonewheel model with a nice gospel type piece with a full house of drawbars and extensive rotary speaker emulation usage. |
Prelude in C majorA piece by J S Bach with lots of feet action, all pedal stops out (Sub, Fagot 16, Gedackt 8) + pedals also coupled to the Great Manual. |
Vox continentalA Vox medley starts off with an unmistakable the Animals sound, and whirls away through the sixties rocking dirtier and dirtier as it goes along. |
Go to the Nord C2 Combo Organ product page for more info and sound examples.
THE RETURN OF A
LEGENDARY SOUND
The classic sounds of the Mellotron - the tape-based sampling pioneer from the early sixties - are available in the Nord Sample Library to be used with any compatible Nord keyboard. When it comes to instruments having an impact on modern music evolvement, the Mellotron is second only to the electric guitar.
A tape-based electromechanical keyboard was invented by Harry Chamberlin as early as 1946, but it wasn't until 16 years later that the Mellotron company adopted the technology, making the instruments commercially available.
Playing back recorded sounds from a keyboard instrument had a major impact on the music scene in the sixties and the seventies, and opened the door to modern sampling technology.
A Nord Sample Library compatible unit comes shipped with a selection of the 68 tapes used by the Mk I, Mk II, M300 and M400 Mellotrons. The rest of this amazing library is available for free as downloadable archives. By sampling the sounds using fresh tape copies and a newly manufactured Mellotron instrument - built using vintage playback heads - the Nord units reproduces these sounds with all hisses and fizzes, exactly as they were meant to be.
