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H this is My Keys to Music and I'm Marc Larochelle. In this video series we're
gonna take a very deep dive to compare the Nord Stage 3 76 key and the Nord
Electro 5d 73 key. So why compare these two keyboards?
What's interesting - with particular combination of keyboards represents both
two different families of the Nord being the Stage versus the Electro because
their keys are different. One is the semi weighted and the other one is the hammer
action, so that's different. There they're also two different length. One is 73 key
versus 76. So what's unique about these two keyboards is it gives us a nice
variety of the Nord offerings in this particular comparison series. This series
will most likely take place across four different videos this being the first.
let me take you through a brief agenda so you know what to expect okay
part one which is this video we're gonna talk mostly about the hardware so we'll
have a brief intro which I'm doing now we're going to talk about the keyboards
I had mentioned the waterfall versus the hammer action we're going to compare the
keyboard sizes one on top of each other what I've done is I have both of these
keyboards here so I've layered them on top of each other so you can see exactly
the difference in size gives you a different perspective than just simply
taking a rule around measuring we're gonna compare the weights and talked a
little bit about the weight how that could you know what kind of a musician
are you are you one that gigs out all the time or are you one that just needs
it for the studio so the weight does play a factor in your decision making
process we're gonna look at the key ranges and what are you giving up by
going 73 versus 76 or if you go to the other type keyboards the 61 key versus
the 88 key how does this all play a factor in your decision we're going to
talk about the drawbars you know the digital versus the the manual and we're
gonna look at the back of the keyboards and look at the output differences
because there are quite a bit of differences there so a little bit about
this video series even though we're talking about the electro and the stage
families please consider the Nord piano and the Nord a 1 as part of your
decision I don't go into much detail on those but they should be considered in
the reason I don't go through much detail is because
I don't own those keyboards so I don't have first-hand experience and knowledge
with them but these two I do own and have that knowledge so that's why I'm
taking it from this perspective but either way no matter what keyboard
you're looking for on Nord I believe that this series will help you out
really gain a better understanding of the Nord engine Nord in general and
obviously these two keyboards all right part two which will most likely be a
second video we're going to talk about the system the main sound generators
okay so what do they come with we've got them we've got organ we get the piano we
get the samples we get the synth let's talk about the differences between all
that we look at the programs how they're set up how many storage banks you have
basically those are the patches layers and how they work the live verses
autosave features where you can go into live mode and have a different
performance option there for you we're going to talk about the panels on the
sage 3 which are different than let's say how the layering and the splits work
on the Nord electro 5 yeah there's plenty to learn there on how that works
and how the different options fit together and then we'll talk quite a bit
about the keyboard splitting how the keyboard splits into multiple sections
multiple splits and how all that works together part 3 which will again most
likely be another video because these videos can get really long because we
are gonna go very much in depth on this the specifications this is now where
we're talking about the RAM differences in terms of storage and the polyphony
because the polyphony is quite different between the two keyboards we're gonna go
a little deeper on comparing the different organs yes they're both
modeled after the same organ engine but there are some differences between the
two and some that are not often talked about we're going to compare the pianos
yes they use the same piano library but the way that they're actually executed
in terms of additional preferences and settings you can add after the fact to
model the piano beyond what the original sample is is also something we're going
to talk about we're going to compare the sample engines yes they both have a
sample engine but the way that the envelope filters and things like that
are applied is slightly different between the two keyboards so that needs
to be discussed I believe and then we're going to talk about the synth portion of
the Stage three and how that audition really
makes a difference and adds to a big part of your decision-making process and
there's a lot of interesting things there to talk about on the synth part of
that and then part four we're gonna talk about the effects and other and clean up
the whole thing talk about pricing and do a recap so join me sit back let let
this information wash over you I remember when I was trying to make a
decision between these two keyboards I had a heck of a time doing it I spent a
lot of days weeks and even months really contemplating because this is a big
investment and and you want to make the right decision because usually a
decision like this lasts for a while and you know you want Nord perhaps but
you're not quite sure which one or maybe you're not even sure you want Nord this
is a perfect video for you you'll learn a lot about the Nord features keyboard
sizes here we have the electro 5d 61-key now all this information you can get
directly on the website but I'm putting it here so I can make a little bit of
commentary on it first of all this keyboard is super light it's 17 pounds
8.1 kilograms it's really portable but what you're giving up is the octaves
you've got five full octaves and most of my life I've played with a keyboard with
five octaves but when I have the chance to play with a 73 or 76 key I always
enjoy that extra a little bit but a lot of times the larger keyboards have that
much harder time fitting on stages if you're in a small setting a small club
or if you don't have enough room in your office or your home studio or wherever
you're gonna bring it this 61 key gets the job done and remember on the Nord
you always have those octave up and down button the button will allow you to
instantly move the keyboard up and down the range and Nord in particular makes
that's super easy so if you do decide to get the 61 because it's got the right
price and it's got the right size and all of that you won't be losing too much
by having less Keys especially if you're more of a synth player and less of a
piano player so that's all I want to say about the 61 key but that is a really
good option a good entry level okay next we have the electoral 5d the
73 key still a semi weighted keyboard and waterfall this time you get it whole
extra octave with the 70 through key so you just add 12 more keys and you can
see it pictured here the range goes from e to e in this case instead of C to C so
the weight on that is a little bit more it's about 3 pounds more or so than the
one prior but still very light keyboard very portable this is the one I actually
own and it's been a great keyboard on gigs and so forth ok the next one up is
the electro v HP this is the 73 key hammer action portable so you are going
to be picking up another 5 pounds on this or so up to eleven point four
kilograms you still have the same octave range because it's still 73 keys and the
configuration is still e to e ok next we talk about the stage 3 compact this is a
nice choice because you're now in this in the in the stage line of keyboards
you've still got a nice 73 key and semi weighted which is you'll find is you
know obviously a little lighter potentially quicker to play if you like
to play fast and so forth the configuration is e to e still get the
six octaves like I said 22 pounds or 10 kilograms
and the sizes are there all of this can be you can get on the website but like I
said I'm taking you through this notice the configuration here we have the organ
stops that are the manual sliders for the organ stops okay next the next stage
up is the stage 3 HP 76 this is the one I have
I wanted it because I wanted to try the hammer action portable and see what
that's like at that point your configuration is e 2 g 6 or a little bit
more octaves so you get three more keys on the top you still start on e on the
bottom and you'll see I'll line these up here in a second and you'll see what
they look like size-wise the 73 versus 76 you do add a few more pounds or a
couple more pounds not too much you add a little bit of length and and so forth
a little bit of Size Dimensions but you do get the electronic or
and stops so if you like the electronic versus the manual it's a nice feature it
also looks really well it's a nice balance between the buttons on the top
and in the sides of the keyboard so the this is a really nice stage-three
configuration as well and then finally the big boy you get the stage 388 key
probably more designed for people who are true traditional piano players they
want all those 88 keys they don't want to have restrictions great for classical
music things like that you do pick up quite a bit of weight because now you're
talking about the fully weighted keys I'm sure you're gonna have a great feel
I haven't played much with this keyboard so I can't speak first hand how it feels
but I'm sure there are people on the internet and on YouTube who can tell you
that now you're getting over seven octaves on your range from the
configuration is low a to high C which is traditional piano but now you're
talking you know quite a bit bigger but not out of the question
forty pounds for a keyboard I mean Nord is known for some of the lightest
keyboards available for what they do and for how big they are in terms of you
know keyboard range so really not you can't go wrong with any of these choices
you just have to pick the one that's right for you alright so that's what I
want to talk about there now I went ahead and made this slide because this
puts them in order by weight and the interesting thing is here you'll see
that the stage three compact 73 is actually lighter than the electro v HP
that stage-three compact if you're looking for you know I want to get the
basic stage 322 pounds 10 kilograms it's not much of a deal-breaker at all so
that's why I put that slide there alright let's take a look at the key
lengths this was a big surprise for me and maybe it wasn't a surprise for you
but it was for me when you're talking about the stage 3 it's the key length is
actually longer than it is on the on the electro so the white keys are nearly 16
inches long 151 millimeters this is approximate I
didn't measure this scientifically I just took a regular ruler and then the
Black Keys here are about 3 and 7/8 inches or 98 point four millimeters and
then compared to the electro 5d a little bit shorter we've got five and
a half inches there 139 millimeters and then the black keys are three and a
fourth so again I would say that the small keys are more like a traditional
electronic keyboard and that's the waterfall configuration you see there
versus the other one which is more of a traditional like a grand piano key
configuration if you want to learn more about the key beds and some of the
differences in some of the great history and background I'll put a link down
below to piano man Chuck he has a nice video which he really talks extensively
about the key beds used in the nord and other keyboards and you can get a
different perspective if you're really into wanting to know all about the key
beds on these keyboards okay so now we have sizes when they're put on top of
each other so on top here you have the nord electro 5d that's the 73 key and
below it and I line these up as close as I could I line them up top and left so
now you can see the 76 Key Stage 3 in the bottom really not that much wider
for those three extra keys it's approximately three Keys wider and then
you can see but quite a bit longer there's more depth there here's another
angle so you can see how that overlaps there and then this is what it looks
like if you were to stack them like this so you can see that the stage three on
the bottom is quite a bit taller in terms of that height compared to the
electro and this view is particularly interesting because it'll really tell
you if it fits in the stand that you've got now obviously these are stacked
right on top of each other you would never play like that and this is just
for size demonstration purposes but it gives you a good idea there and then
finally this is what it looks like from the back and you can see that the again
the stage three and the bottom is quite a bit taller but it just needs to have
room for that key bed because that's the hammer action portable and it needs room
for the electronics as well so I assume that's why they those sizes are so
different okay now in this video we're gonna look at the difference between the
waterfall versus the traditional keyboard
and we'll go take a look at that now okay here we have the non waterfall
keyboard this is the hammer action and down below you I have semi weighted
waterfall I'll get it closed up here in a second
but I'm just gonna show you when you take your hand like this that not only
are the keys heavier to move but there's a ridge here that really kind of grates
on your hand where's the semi action or semi weighted waterfall I can do this
all day long it doesn't hurt at all so that's partially because the keys are
lighter and partially because they're wrapped more rounded there's really no
Ridge here at all here there's a ridge a traditional piano so I think that makes
a big difference if you do this a lot you know you can do this too even that's
a little harder on the weighted Keys because they're heavier this is just
piece of cable so that's some of the differences there and if you can see
that there that's what the looks like with the traditional weighted keys it's
got a ridge there you can actually see the shadow under the key to indicating
that there is in fact a ridge and that's what they look like really close up also
note these are longer so those are actually longer from top to bottom now
the ones on the bottom here the semi weighted you can see there's the
waterfall look at that totally different key I mean you wouldn't know it until
you really study it look closely like this but it's a huge difference in the
way this this is designed and it makes for a different effect let me go ahead
and fold this keyboard out a little bit I can't
yeah there you go now you can see the height of that versus the height of
these the length this is far more like a grand piano which you'd see in a great
piano setting this is more like an electronic keyboard setting now they're
both electronic keyboards but you know what I'm trying to say all right
now let's talk a little bit about after touch and I've got one sound setting
here that we can talk about there's many different sounds you can choose from
that have after touch but this is the one I chose so have a look at that okay
and now we're ready for our after touch test I'm gonna hold this key and do
nothing other than just play it gently with no pressing after the fact
okay that's what it sounds like with no aftertouch invoked here's what you could
do when you have aftertouch I'm gonna continue to push harder and harder until
we get to a max point and then back off
this time I'll push it to a max point quicker but then back off slowly so that
you get to hear it before the whole note decays
all right the pitch Bend and mod wheel again this is on the stage only okay
here we can see the mod wheel and this is a really nice
it's almost made of it's like a metal it's really got a lot of grip to it it's
almost feels just like a sharpening stone like what you'd sharpen a knife on
that's how how grippy it is then we have this now this is interesting this is
like made out of wood I don't know if you can see that we get really close to
that that is actually made out of wood and it's on a spring and you know it
bounces back like that not that you would do that normally but
you know it really has a lot of resistance to it so you're not gonna
actually you know it's not like you're gonna keep it there and it's gonna be
stay it's it's always gonna bounce back so it's a very unique pitch Bend
compared to so many other keyboards and it really is a high quality and it kind
of looks cool so there they are together of course this is available only on the
stage three versus the electro but those are really really nice features and goes
hand in hand with the synth module okay let's look at the digital draw bars oh
that's what I'm calling anyway push-button digital so here they're all
off let's just go ahead and put one on I can do it incrementally like this you
can see this is very responsive so it's immediate the moment you click it if you
hold it you'll see that it moves very quickly up and down that chain so it is
quite responsive being keyboard players we can easily do this and mash it like
that multiple fingers five if you want pretty easy to move those digital draw
bars just do that when you want to twinkle it like that whatever there's a
lot of different options you have with the digital draw bars I like the look of
the digital draw bar it's a little better it's a little bit more high-tech
let's go have a look at the analogue ones now okay these are the manual organ
stops and they have the same increments one through eight
and you know I suppose with this you can blow it once give a whole hand to do
that but they work pretty well okay and finally we have the outputs or the back
panel the Nord electro 5d has everything you'd expect in a traditional and it's
got all the essentials you've got the control panel the rotary
pedal the sustain pedal of course the USB you've got the MIDI in and out
you've got the monitor in the left and right out and the headphones the stage
three has all of that plus you've get the program up and down pedal which is
great where you can have a pedal to switch your programs with hands off
capability or hands on capability you can keep your keep playing while you've
switched your programs up and down you've got the organ swell pedal which
is another way of modulating the volume on your organ and then you have two
additional outs which are also programmable all four outputs are
programmable but the two outs give you that extra bonus in terms of capability
and flexibility on where you want to route your sound to so if you're working
a little bit in a more sophisticated gig or in the studio you can you do have
that extra option to route the sound okay I hope you enjoyed this first video
we've got more on the way this is just the beginning of this extensive review
of the comparison between the Nord electro 5d and the stage 3 thanks for
watching