The Nord Stage is a digital keyboard or

stage piano A stage piano is an electronic musical instrument designed for use in live performances on stage (theatre), stage or in a studio, as well as for music recording in Jazz and popular music. While stage pianos share some of the same features as d ...

, manufactured by Clavia Digital Music Instruments of

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. There have been six editions of the instrument: the original Nord Stage in 2005, the Nord Stage EX in 2008, the Nord Stage 2 in 2011, the Nord Stage 2 EX in 2015, the Nord Stage 3 in 2017, and the Nord Stage 4 in 2023. The Nord Stage follows the success of earlier keyboard instruments from Clavia and contains similar emulations of vintage electromechanical keyboards such as the

Hammond Organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

and

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

s as found on the Nord Electro 2, with additional functionality including a weighted piano-like keyboard on certain models, a

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

section based on the Nord Lead, a more versatile

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

section and extended effects processing. The Nord Stage is

multitimbral Monotimbral (from the root prefix ''mono'' meaning one, and ''timbre'' meaning a specific tone of a sound independent of its pitch) is usually used in reference to electronic synthesizers which can produce a single timbre at a given pitch when pre ...

, which means that it can play more than one sound at once, either by splitting the internal keyboard or connecting an external

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

controller. The Nord Stage 2 and 3 also have the ability to play samples, allowing it to reproduce the functionality of a

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

Chamberlin The Chamberlin is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument that was a precursor to the Mellotron. It was developed and patented by the American inventor Harry Chamberlin from 1949 to 1956, when the first model was introduced. There are several ...

. Individual samples can be downloaded from Clavia's website, and a community has developed that provides new instruments and sounds.

History

By 2005,

Clavia Clavia Digital Musical Instruments (Clavia DMI AB) is a Swedish manufacturer of virtual analog synthesizers, virtual electromechanical pianos and stage pianos, founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1983 by Hans Nordelius and Mikael Carlsson. Since 1995 ...

had found commercial success with the Nord Lead synthesizer, which emulated analog synthesis, and the Nord Electro virtual electromechanical keyboard, which emulated the

and

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

and

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

electric pianos. The goal of the Nord Stage was to combine these two technologies together into a flagship instrument. The Nord Stage was unveiled in April 2005 at the

Musikmesse Musikmesse Frankfurt was an international trade show and music festival for the music products industry that took place annually in Frankfurt am Main, Germany from 1980 until 2019. At its peak, the fair was one of the largest international trade ...

music instrument convention in Frankfurt, Germany. A full-range, 88 weighted key version, the Stage 88, began shipping in July 2005; a 76 weighted key version, the Stage 76, was announced at the

NAMM Show The NAMM Show is an annual trade show in the United States organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), which describes it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

in January 2006, and a 73 semi-weighted key version, the Stage Compact, started shipping in August 2006. An expanded version, the Nord Stage EX, was released in November 2008. It included an increased memory size. A revised edition, the Nord Stage 2, appeared in September 2011, containing an improved synthesizer model and sampler functionality, as seen in the Nord Wave. The three models of the Stage 2 are the HA-88, containing 88 fully weighted keys, the HA-76, containing 76 weighted keys, and the SW-73, containing 73 semi-weighted keys. An updated model, the Stage 2 EX, with extended memory capacity, was announced in 2015. The Nord Stage 3 series was announced in April 2017. It features doubled memory for the piano section (2 GB) and increased sample memory (480 MB). It also features the Lead A1 synth engine and the C2D organ engine. The models for the Stage 3 are the Nord Stage 3 88, with 88 Hammer Action keys, the smaller and lighter HP 76, with 76 Hammer Action Portable keys, and the Compact, with 73 semi-weighted waterfall keys and, like the Electro 5D, physical drawbars for the organ section. In February 2023, the Nord Stage 4 series was announced. The Nord Stage 4 includes a new effects section, a third synth panel, and 1 GB of synth sample memory. Its synth engine is based on the Nord Wave 2 instead of the Nord Lead A1 engine used in the previous model. The keybed was updated to include a triple-sensor. The Nord Stage 4 is offered in three sizes: A 88 weighted hammer action version, a 73 weighted hammer action version, and a 73 semi-weighted waterfall version. Like all other Nord keyboards, the Stage's metal panel is bright red, and the Stage also features similar red wood panels to the Nord Electro.

Sound sections

The Nord Stage is divided into three sound groups: the Organ section, the Piano section, and the Synthesizer section. Each section can be played independently or simultaneously, divided into specific key ranges (splitting), and blended with independent volume controls.

Organ section

The Nord Stage Organ section provides

physical models A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided int ...

of three electric organs – the Hammond B3, the Vox Continental, and the Farfisa Compact. Instead of physical

drawbars The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

, the Organ section features "drawbuttons" with a set of red LED strips to indicate the position of each drawbar from 0 (fully in) to 8 (fully out). For the Hammond and Vox organ emulations, pressing the "down" button illuminates more LEDs to visually emulate a drawbar being pulled out, while pressing the "up" button does the reverse. Since a real Farfisa organ selects sounds via rocker tabs instead of drawbars, the drawbuttons behave as tabs when the Farfisa emulation is selected on the Stage. The standard set of Percussion, Chorus and Vibrato settings as found on each of the three organs are available, and a rotary speaker emulation (similar to a

Leslie speaker The Leslie speaker is a combined amplifier and loudspeaker that projects the signal from an electric or electronic instrument and modifies the sound by rotating a baffle chamber ("drum") in front of the loudspeakers. A similar effect is provided ...

), including speed selection and overdrive, is also available. The Organ section is fully polyphonic. The Stage 3 Compact features physical drawbars, replacing the “drawbuttons”. These give the performer much more accurate and responsive real time control of the timbre of the organ sound.

Piano section

The Piano section uses samples of acoustic and electromechanical pianos. The Stage's in-built memory allow multiple sample sets to be installed. While additional sampled piano sets are available as free downloads from Clavia's website, the Stage ships with Yamaha C7 and Steinway Concert Model D

grand piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

s, Svenska Pianofabriken and Yamaha M5J

upright piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal temper ...

s, Yamaha CP80 Electric grand piano,

Rhodes Piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

, Wurlitzer Electronic Piano, and Hohner Clavinet samples. The Clav EQ buttons allow users to adjust the sound of the Clavinet. Acoustic Piano sounds are stereo samples, which can be switched manually to "Mono Mode", and can be played at 40-note polyphony; Electric Piano samples are mono and can be played with 60-note polyphony.

Synthesizer section

The Stage Synthesizer combines wavetables with analog oscillators and FM operators. Featuring filter and envelope controls, the Synth section's timbre knob allows users to move through different sound groups. A number of programs are available to store sounds under three categories – Synth, Pad or Bass. The Synth also includes a 2-band EQ, a glide (

portamento In music, portamento (: ''portamenti''; from old , meaning 'carriage' or 'carrying'), also known by its French name glissade, is a pitch sliding from one Musical note, note to another. The term originated from the Italian language, Italian exp ...

) function, and a unison function which is used to thicken the sound. The Synth section is 16-note polyphonic. The Nord Stage 2 introduced the additional capability to act as a sampler, playing back pre-recorded instrument sounds. Samples can be downloaded from both Clavia's and third-party websites, and installed using a software application running on a PC or a

Mac Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...

. Amongst the samples included as standard with the Nord Stage 2 and 3 are those for the

and

tape-based keyboards, which have been exclusively licensed to Clavia. Users can also create their own samples and load them into the Stage using the tools supplied.

External section

The External section, unlike the others, does not directly generate sound. Instead, it allows users to control other gear connected via MIDI. Common parameters such as zone, channel, and volume are controllable from the Stage.

Other features

Effects

The Stage's Effects section expands on the Electro's effects selection. Included are the Electro's modulation effects (

tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are multiple types of tremolo: a rapid repetition of a note, an alternation between two different notes, or a variation in volume. Tremolos may be either ''measured'' ...

, auto-pan,

ring modulation In electronics, ring modulation is a signal processing function, an implementation of frequency mixing, in which two signals are combined to yield an output signal. One signal, called the carrier, is typically a sine wave or another simple w ...

, auto-wah, and two manual wah algorithms), "stomp box" effects (two algorithms each of phaser,

flanger Flanging is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together, one signal delayed by a small and (usually) gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds. This produces a swept comb filter effect: peaks and ...

and

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

). The Stage adds a delay module,

amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power su ...

modeling (Wurlitzer speaker, Fender Twin Reverb and Roland Jazz Chorus), overdrive, and expands the Electro's 2-band EQ to 3-band. Piano, Organ, and Synth sections can be independently routed through these groups. Two Master Effects are included – a simple compressor, and a five-algorithm reverb.

Programs

Sounds can be stored as Programs, which include the instrument source, effects types, and settings. There are 400 storage locations – 4 banks with 100 programs in each – all of which can be overwritten with user programs. There are 300 independent storage locations for Synth patches. The Nord Stage is

– each of the Piano, Organ, and Synth sections can sound independently. There are two Panels – A and B – each of which provides a separate configuration of the three sections within a single Program. Panels can be played independently, with one of the panels being controlled via an external

keyboard controller, or they can be layered together, allowing for a maximum of 6 part multitimbral. Most of the buttons and knobs on the Stage, such as volume, instrument selection, drawbar levels (for organ) or filter controls (for synthesizer) can also be adjusted by the external keyboard.

Controllers and accessories

The Nord Stage includes a spring-mounted wooden pitch stick, and a ceramic mod wheel, similar to the Nord Lead and

Nord Modular The Nord Modular series is a line of synthesizers produced by Clavia, a Swedish digital synthesizer manufacturer. The Nord Modular series, in common with their sister range the Nord Lead series, are analogue modelling synthesizers, producing soun ...

synthesizers. Many of the parameter knobs are simple potentiometers, however there are several 360-degree lighted rotary encoders. These rotary encoders control parameters that can be "morphed". Morph Grouping is Clavia's technology that allows users to assign multiple parameters to one control, such as the mod wheel, a control pedal, or aftertouch. The connectors at the back of the Stage allow the connection of a

sustain pedal A sustain pedal or sustaining pedal (also called damper pedal, loud pedal, or open pedal) is the most commonly used piano pedals, pedal in a modern piano. It is typically the rightmost of two or three pedals. When pressed, the sustain pedal ...

, a swell pedal for organ, a footswitch to select the rotary speaker emulation speed, and a control pedal to modify effects such as wah-wah. A set of screw-in legs are an available option for the 88 and 76 note models and a custom designed soft case is also available from Clavia. A third party company, Ocean Beach Digital, has manufactured a set of

controlled drawbars for the Nord Stage, for users who prefer to use real drawbars instead of the buttons provided as standard.

Reception

The Nord Stage 2 received a Platinum award from ''

Future Music ''Future Music'' (stylised as ''FutureMusic'') was a monthly music magazine, published by Future plc in the UK between 1992 and 2024. It was aimed primarily at record producers working in the electronic music field. ''Future Music'' included Comp ...

'' magazine (who described it as "A huge upgrade, cementing its status as the most authentic stage piano/organ/synth available"), and won the 2011 MIA Award for best hardware, and the 2011 MIPA Award for best Stage Piano.

Derek Sherinian Derek Sherinian (born August 25, 1966) is an American keyboardist who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, and Joe Bonamassa, among others. He was also a member of Dream Theater from 1994 to 1999, is the founder of Planet X (ban ...

, already well known for using Nord keyboards, started using the Nord Stage 2 in 2011. Other notable musicians who have used the Nord Stage include

Little Feat Little Feat is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George, bassist Roy Estrada (both formerly of the Mothers of Invention), keyboardist Bill Payne, and drummer Richie Hayward in ...

Bill Payne William H. Payne (born March 12, 1949, in Waco, Texas) is an American pianist who, with Lowell George, co-founded the American rock band Little Feat. He is considered by many other rock pianists, including Elton John, to be one of the finest A ...

, Scott Kinsey, The Ark's Jens Andersson (who played a Nord Stage 2 on the band's final tour),

Bryan Ferry Bryan Ferry (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. He became known as the frontman of the band Roxy Music and also launched a solo career. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established ...

and

Elbow The elbow is the region between the upper arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and t ...

Sound on Sound ''Sound on Sound'' is a monthly music technology magazine. The magazine includes product tests of electronic musical performance and recording devices, and interviews with industry professionals. Due to its technical focus, it is predominantly ...

criticised the pitch stick on the Nord Stage, noting its range is permanently fixed to two semitones and cannot be adjusted. Performing Musician magazine felt that the piano sound "is a little uneven in places", particularly towards the lower end, and were concerned it wouldn't work well as a

music workstation A music workstation is an electronic musical instrument providing the facilities of: *a sound module, *a music sequencer and *(usually) a musical keyboard. It enables a musician to compose electronic music using just one piece of equipment. Or ...

, describing its External section as "useless in any real-world situation", though they did praise the quality of the organ sounds. Reviewing the Stage 2, Keyboard Magazine criticised the lack of MIDI thru and said "even with dedicated controls for most functions, it can be difficult to grasp at first. The few hardware buttons for changing programs are shared with Live settings." However, they also stated the acoustic pianos sounded "beautiful". Reviewing the Stage 3, Sound on Sound found it a significant upgrade from previous models, though still raised concerns about the high price tag.