Great sounds and maximum expressiveness are two essential features
in the Nord Stage 2 EX. To make a great tool we believe that you have
to put all the focus on a few important things and that is exactly what
we have tried to achieve. Let’s have a look at some of the key features:
The Organ section
Almost fifteen years have passed since we made our first digital model
of a tonewheel organ. The Stage 2 EX’s dedicated organ section uses
our third generation B3 Organ model as found in the acclaimed Nord
C2 Combo Organ.
Considered by many the most accurate emulation of the B3 ever, the
Stage 2 EX’s organ model is based on the analysis of the signals from
each of the 91 spinning discs inside several original instruments and
painstaking work on understanding exactly how all the components
interact with each other. The virtual circuitry reacts not only to the
settings on the panel but also during the real time performance. The
Stage 2 EX will faithfully reproduce the important foldback and energy
robbing characteristics; the latter will produce the gentle compression
effect that makes those lovely smears absolutely wonderful. There
are 3 tonewheel modes that allow you to switch from a clean, factory
spec’d instrument to a worn and battered workhorse with some 40
years worth of touring.
We also created carefully modelled emulations of two of the most
famous transistor organs from the 1960’s, the Vox Continental and the
Farfisa Compact. Alongside the organ’s themselves, the Stage 2 EX
features a rotary speaker simulation derived from the Nord C2. Incorpo-
rating the acoustic variations that occur as a physical rotating spreads
the sound around in a room, they bring the Stage 2 EX’s organs to life
with remarkable realism In terms of control, “Draw buttons” and LED
bar graphs have replaced the original mechanical drawbars. This gives
you the advantage of always having the correct drawbar settings after
changing preset.
Piano Library v5
The Nord Stage 2 EX is compatible with version 5 of the Nord Piano
Library. We have spent a lot of time and effort in creating our best piano
sounds ever, to match the features available in the Nord Stage 2 EX.
The piano sounds are included on the DVD and are organized in cat-
egories and in some cases available in various sizes (for the acoustic
grand pianos and uprights). New sounds will be available free of charge
on the www.nordkeyboards.com website.
Small, Medium & Large
The acoustic grand pianos and uprights are available in several sizes;
X-Large, large, medium and small. The large, medium and small sizes
share the same amount of velocity layers, and the same number of
zones that are mapped across the keyboard. This means that you can
rely on a consistent quality in regards to the playability and expres-
siveness in the basic sound of every piano, no matter what size you
choose to install into your Nord Stage 2 EX (or any other Nord Piano
Library compatible unit).
Small (Sml) is the version that uses the least amount of space in the
piano memory, but still carry a big and powerful punch. This version
does not contain any String Resonance samples at all. If a Sml piano is
selected in the Nord Stage 2 EX, the String Resonance feature will be
disabled.
The Medium versions have pedal-down String Resonance samples in
the important middle region of the range, but omit these in the lowest
and the highest areas. This gives you a good ratio of functionality and
size.
The Large versions have the pedal-down String Resonance samples all
across the keyboard, providing you with the fullest of sounds, but also
the largest size.
Some pianos are available in XL versions which means that they are
fully mapped across the keyboard which increases the size a bit.
String Resonance
String resonance is the acoustic phenomenon which occurs inside
every acoustic piano when strings, or parts of strings, resonate at their
fundamental or harmonic frequencies when other strings are played.
When playing any of the medium or large v5 pianos in your Stage 2 EX
with this functionality is turned on, all notes you play will affect each
other to reproduce the wonderful acoustics that occur inside an acous-
tic grand or upright piano.
String resonance is also very noticeable when you use the sustain
pedal with the String Resonance feature enabled (again, on medium
and large acoustic pianos only). With the sustain pedal held down, any
notes you play will have a beautiful and familiar sound quality to them,
enhanced by the un-dampened strings resonating in sympathy with the
notes you are playing.
Another thing that the String Resonance produces is a crescendo
effect. If you play the same key repeatedly with the same force, the
sound will change. This is originally caused by the hammers hitting the
vibrating string in various phases, and creates a nice, gentle fluctuation
in volume and timbre in the Nord Stage 2 EX.
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About the Nord Stage 2 EX
6 | Nord Stage 2 eX USer MaNUal oS v1.7X
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