Clavia Nord Stage 88

First time I played around, it didn't make sense. After reading a little bit of the manual it all became much clearer and is very easy to use. The beauty is in being able to edit everything on the fly during a gig without having to go into pages of menus.

The presets sound pretty decent, but they are an empty canvas for your morphing into new sounds with different effects. That's where the magic comes into play!

I enjoy the action on the Nord Stage. It's not too difficult to play yet is still weighted so still feels like you're playing a piano instrument. I've had many keyboards, both with weighted action and semi-weighted, and I feel like this is a good compromise. It's difficult to do glissandos for organ playing, but you can midi it up to a separate keyboard, do glissandos, and have two manuals to play B3.

The effects are excellent, especially the Rhodes tremolo and the leslie. I had to edit the default leslie settings to make it switch between slow/fast a little slower. You can get some cool effects applying the leslie to other instruments other than organ as well.

It's cool that you can put whatever samples you want on the board, but I wish it had more memory. Actually the new one that just came out has twice the amount of memory, but it still seems a little low.

I wish you could use the USB cable to connect via midi to your computer. This would help a lot.

GREAT sounds. The Rhodes/organ/clav/wurli sounds are great. I love how you can select a very mellow rhodes (variation 1), or a very bright Chic Corea-esque rhodes (variation 2), or one that is kind of in the middle (variation 3). I have found variation 3 to be the most playable at my jazz gigs.

I have very mixed feelings about the piano. I'm using the Yamaha MK2 piano sample, and I have found that the high end has a lot of clarity and sounds very nice. The mids get muddled and are not as rich when you play a chord. The low end is ok, but I have needed to EQ the sound to add more bass. Keep in mind that I have a Steinway B grand piano in my living room. Given that, I have had a lot of compliments on the piano sound from fellow musicians at gigs. Also, I have found myself using the mono version of this piano sound since it gives it more presence.

Seems very well built.

Haven't had any problems as of yet.

I would buy this keyboard again. I've struggled to find a keyboard that I can play live and be very comfortable with. I've been playing professionally for 14 years, mostly jazz/ salsa/ funk/ blues/ variety. I also own a Korg Triton Pro, Roland RD 700, Hammond B3, Fender Rhodes, Roland VK8M, and a Mainstage (Logic) Setup. I'm a professional musician and take pride in my sound. I found the Nord Stage to be the best choice for me because 1) it has great, musical sounds, 2) it's very portable!, 3) it has weighted keys, 4) only need one keyboard for the gig, 5) doesn't hurt that it looks cool.

I'm waiting for the new piano sounds to come out so Clavia can improve the one section that I believe needs improving. They've promised several new pianos, so I'm excited to check them out!

I recommend this keyboard for musicians who play a lot of live gigs in the genres of jazz, funk, blues, etc. I wasn't interested in the sequencer/ sampler functionalities of keyboards. Sequencing is so much easier on a computer anyway so it doesn't make sense to have it on a small keyboard screen.

I was very lucky to get the revision C even though the distributor had announced, that they wouldn't be available until the next month.

The presets are very good, and with the extensive range of effects, the possibilities within only one sound are endless. It's pretty easy to tweak, too. At first the panel may look confusing, but trust me, there IS method in the madness. When you've used it for a day, you'll see everything much clearer.

The manual is very good and illuminating - and in contrast to the Yammie and Roland manual, it's actually readable!

Unlike many reviewers here, I think the action is great. They're pretty fast but still weighted - obviously great for EP's then, but I also like it for playing both acoustic pianos and synth too. Sadly, these keys are far too heavy for playing organ and clavinet properly - no percussive plaing can be done here. Luckily, there's a key trigger option for the organ making the sound trigger very fast. But still there's a problem here - especially with the clavinet, which this function doesn't cater for. I miss a more sensitive velocity layer for clavi. I guess the only way 'round is an external board!

As earlier mentioned, the effects are great - and there're lots of them. Chorus, flange, phaser, different wah's, tremolo, autopan, ring modulation, delay. Furthermore, there's the amp sim - it's extremely useful!
Finally Clavia included reverb too. I have a complaint though - why is this not assignable? I don't like that I have to plaster a reverb on everything and not just the piano. I also would have liked an arpeggiator for the synth section. I actually find it strange that this isn't included.

Clavia continuously develops new sounds and OS's. These can be downloaded for free.

There's no sequencer in here, and no similar fancy things. This isn't a workstation where most of the playing consists of turning the pots. This is a musical instrument on equal footing with an electric guitar, if you ask me!

The best sound in this thing are the EP's - and the organ, but the weighted keys kinda put a stop to a full use of the organ. Well, both of these are extremely realistic, - I'd find it difficult to tell the difference bewteen this and the real thing. The acoustic pianos are good, too, although not as good as the EP's.
I like to play around the synth, but it's actually my first synthesizer ever, so don't ask me about good or bad sound in the synth.

I use this thing for mostly jazz, funk and blues. It's just the right thing for me. The effects mentioned above are also very well executed. This baby really creates music.

Well, I guess I can. Wouldn't be able to say, though. I've never had a problem with it. I would have no doubts when taking the NS as my only board for a gig. Nords are just well-built!

Never had to.

If I lost this, I would buy it again as soon as I had the money. Even though it would take me a lifetime - OK, then I'd buy a different Nord... but trust me, people, I'll make an insurance for this board! I sure paid a lot of money for the NS, but it's all worth it, trust me.

I've been playing since I was a kid, and I'm in my twelvth year. This is my first keyboard ever, and I'm glad I chose this. The only (fair) complaints I have is the lack of an arpeggiator and the unassignable reverb. But as soon as I sit down and dig into the rhodes patches, I'm willing to forgive anything.

I've been comparing this with the RD-700 GX and CP300. I find that this is by far the best - both in sounds AND keys. So much for PHA II ivory feel! (I wasn't impressed!)
This is the best investment I've ever had. Every time I play, I forget about the time and just play and listen. There's a whole new world for me to explore. Jolly good work, Clavia!

Oh, and by the way, I've heard some people complaining about the optional legs. I say: Buy them. Rock solid and good looking.

I've used this board live for the last 6 months and found it a joy - the onboard sounds are easy to tweak and set up using REAL KNOBS. At first I looked at this and thought 'where's the display?' - it's there but it's tiny. But after you've played this thing for a while you realise you don't really need it. Manual is excellent. Personally I don't like the pitch bend setup and would prefer the traditional 2-wheel arrangement.

Apart from my acoustic piano, this is the most I've spent on a keyboard instrument and it has (on paper) the fewest features. Compared to a Korg Triton or Roland Fantom you might think it has very few features: no sequencer, no sampler, no drumkits. But that would be to miss the point of this thing - it's a *musical instrument* in the way that a Triton (and I have 2) could never be. Many people have complained about the keys but I personally jump between this, a Yamaha S90ES (weighted), Triton (unweighted) and Yamaha acoustic piano and find I just adjust.

As I said - while the Triton is a brilliant tool for achieving certain results, the Nord Stage is an instrument that you sit down at and really get into. The sounds are outstanding - especially the Rhodes and Hammond. I find I can easily get the sort of sounds I hear my favourite players use. The layout of effects and amp sim is like having a set of floor stomp-boxes so the whole thing really feels like a retro setup with modern convenience. My only gripe is the acoustic pianos - the bass and treble ends are decent enough but they all get 'soggy' between C4 and C5. Might just be my preference, but it doesn't come close to a Yamaha motif in this department. That's why it only gets a 9!

Had it 6 months no problems so far.... Then again NONE of my keyboards or modules have ever broken down. Gear is just very very reliable these days.

Not had to deal with them.

This is my favourite board by a long long way and I would definitely buy it again - in fact I am planning to get my hands on the Nord C1 organ soon. However like other reviewers I find the prices of the accessories very expensive - case and legs set me back another GBP300. It's expensive but not as expensive as buying a Rhodes and a B3.

I bought this keyboard new in August 2008. It came with the latest software v2.26 pre-installed.

In terms of ease of use there are lots of knobs and buttons to play with but I still found it very hard to get the instrument to sound how I wanted.

In general I found this machine unintuitive and very fiddly to use.

Anyone ever played a cheap Fatar/Studiologic keyboard?

Well, that's what you've got here, the action is Fatar/Studiologic. Feels very springy, not properly weighted, the keys are too long (Clavia's excuse is that action is supposed to be halfway between an organ and a piano). My fingers ached after playing, this is not acceptable from an instrument in this price range - surely an 88 note stage piano should feel like a piano?

Other poor design features include only 4 velocity curves, limited split points, inadequate midi implementation (you'll need this to control an external module because you won't want to use the onboard piano sounds) and a tiny LCD screen. The USB connnection is for OS updates and can't be used for midi. No external screen editing except to organise the infrequent sample updates (external samples, AKAI etc, cannot be used in the Nord).

PIANO:

The Yamaha C7 is unusable. The sampled instrument is out of tune! I downloaded the much bigger XL version which took up most of the flash memory but there didn't seem to be any noticeable improvement.

The Ambient Steinway was poor too - sounded very distant like I was playing a piano remotely in a different room. In the end my workaround was to download the Close Miked Steinway and have that up to the C above middle C, then the Ambient Steinway up to the the top.

The other pianos were even worse. A joke. The Svenska pianofabriken sounds like a bad pub piano (maybe that's the point, but not when the other pianos are so poor).

All the pianos sound harsh, boxy and unrefined.


RHODES:

Why would anyone want to sample a MK V Rhodes? They never sounded great when new (listen to some mid 80's Chick Corea), they just don't have the "x" factor in the tone that MK I's up until about '77 did.

The MK II ('81) Rhodes sounds horribly nasal, pickups set WAY too close to the tines.

The MK I ('78) is clearly the better of the Rhodes sampled, though an earlier MK I would have been a better choice (in reality this instrument is more similar tonally to the MK II's of '79 than the MK I's used on those classic Herbie albums from the early/mid '70's). Again, this instrument is not properly set up, the tines are set marginally too high so it sounds dull with not enough colour. And try to play hard any higher up than the Bb above middle C then forget it - there's a velocity layer missing.

So, like with the piano, I had to find a workaround which was to have the MK I Rhodes up to the C above Middle C then the MK V up to the top. (I would have split the keyboard at the Bb but this is not possible - on this instrument you can ONLY split at C or F). Splitting the Rhodes sound meant I was unable control Auto Pan on upper/lower at the same time - i.e. had to adjust speed/intensity on lower, then again on upper. Very frustrating.

HAMMOND:

For almost ??2000 WHY no drawbars? And WHY only one set of virtual ones. Presets for upper/lower awkward to select quickly on the fly. There's no "phut" to the start of the note like a real "B", nowhere near as good as NI B4.

OTHER SOUNDS:

Didn't spend much time with the Clavs and Wurlys. Synth section far from intuitive

EFFECTS:

Leslie Sim ok but not outstanding, not as good as NI B4. Rhodes Auto-Pan is sine wave, schoolboy error this as should be square wave.

3 band eq is harsh and very limited, no visual display to see where rotary encoders were when you saved the patch.

Infrequent OS and sample updates, with an arrogance that they're the best and you're lucky to own one of their products.

The concept of having really good Hammond, Rhodes, Piano sounds all in one unit seemed worth the high retail price.

One by one my hopes were dashed. This turned out to be the worst keyboard I have ever owned. I persevered for about 3 months on numerous gigs before finally admitting defeat and putting this lemon on eBay.

Clavia promise the earth on their website. The truth is that upgrades appear rarely; you get the impression that once they have your money they'd rather spend their time on energy on new developments such as the Nord Wave than sort out the numerous faults inherent in the Stage 88.

I am using OS2.6...the presets are really good, but I have found that I can very easily "salt and pepper" them to my own personal tastes. Editing patches is much easier than any workstation that I own...no need for deep menus. The manual is fairly small by workstation (Motif and Fantom) standards.

This is where I disagree with some of the previous reviews...I find the action to be wonderful (i.e. VERY FAST). As a benchmark of keyboard response, try playing the intro to Billy Joel's "Angry Young Man" on the keyboard of a Yamaha Motif XS8 or a Roland Fantom G (I own both)...I know that this may just be me, but I cannot play this on either one of these, but I can on the NS88. No sequencer...no sampling...just a great stage piano with KILLER organs thrown into the equasion. As far as expansion goes, Clavia is phenomenal about updates and new sounds...although OS 3.0 has been some time in coming.

The NS88 has a limited range of instruments/sounds, but it no doubt excells at what it does have. I have found that I can tweak the pianos to fit any need. Onboard effects are really good (the organ rotating speaker effect and overdrive are PHENOMENAL !!).
One thing that I have to comment on is the electric piano (Rhodes) sounds. One of my benchmarks here is the "grunt and belch" of a real Rhodes when you spank it hard in the lower 2 octaves...none of my workstations do this (although maybe the yet to be released ARX SuperNatural electric piano card for the Fantom G8 will address this)..but the NS88 has it nailed !! And the Wurlies are awesome as well.
The acoustic pianos are a matter of taste, and are very subjective obviously. I have found that the pianos of the Motif XS and Fantom G are really great, but for some reason the grand pianos on the NS88 just seem to "fit" better when playing live...maybe it's because the piano is more raw and less processed on the Nord.

Every Clavia product that I have ever owned (NL2x, NL3, NE73-2, and NS88) have been totally dependable and trouble free...and I would never feel the need to take a backup instrument.

Clavia has always answered me within 24 hours (because of the time difference in Sweden, you would expect a delay). And Jason at Armadillo Enterprises, the American distributer, has always been quick to answer all my phone calls/emails immediately.

If something were to happen, I would immediately replace this with another NS88. Even though I own a lot of other 'boards, this one does what I need for my jazz gig impeccably...and it weighs 20-30 lbs less than they do

Lots of knobs that do a lot of things. I like things simple but overall very easy to figure out. Very easy to do keyboard splits and combinations such as the oh so popular Rhodes/Piano combination. Also has a great compressor on it which is key to me and what a lot of other keyboards are missing out on.

The reason why I love this keyboard is because its based off of simple standard sounds but does them better than any other keyboard out there. You won't be able to create complex pad sounds that use different temps of delay and combine it with a dark stereo reverb or anything but thats not really my style of music. When I bought this I wanted a good piano and rhodes sound and that's what I got.

Pretty standard features. The Polyphony is more than enough unless you want to combine 3 different sounds and smash down all of the keys. If you needed more polyphony then you are probably a bad keyboard player and should stop.

One complaint that I personally don't have but would agree with other users is the amount of memory that you can use. There aren't any sound/memory cards to store saved patches on and you find that you end up saving over old patches or pre existing patches. Kind of annoying for what you pay but nothing is perfect.

However a long the same lines my complaint is that I haven't found a way to transfer saved settings into a computer. We do fly in dates and I sometimes have to have a Nord backlined for me and end up spending 30 minutes setting up all of my patches.

This is why I bought this, then bought a second, and got a Nord sponsorship for a third. Some people don't like the Nord piano sounds and some fall in love with them. I am in the latter and can't use anything else. I guess it's like the difference between a steinway and a yamaha grand piano.

My favorites are the upright pianos. Nice and dark like my favorite studio piano. Also a big fan of the rhodes although if you like Mark I percussive clean rhodes sounds this may not be for you. Most of the Rhodes patches have some bite to them. Especially great when played through a tube amp like a fender bassman. You get great crunch and bite.

The Organ on this Keyboard is more functional than any other keyboard hands down. I don't care if you like other Organ sounds better than the ones Nord puts out you won't be able to find one that you can tweek better than this. It's very easy to adjust harmonic content, rotor speed, percussive quality and power.

Also great effects section that is very usable. Tap tempo delay is my favorite although I also enjoy the tremelo on the Rhodes.

I've really had no trouble with these keyboards. I said I've got 3. An 88 Stage, 76 Stage, and a good old 63 Electro. Unless you drop them down stares without a flight case they will last. You see these things all over the place on national tours and there is a reason why.

Easy to upload new patches from Nord. They have some really high quality ones online that are updates from version 1.

Never dealt with them except for sponsorship. Nice people.

Ok a little expensive. I can't tell you what I get for them but the MSRP sounds a little much for a stage piano. I'm sure that everyone who sees the price is going to expect the bells and whistles but I honestly believe that if your looking for good piano rhodes and organ sounds you can't find a better keyboard.

I've never used them but my friends have said the optional legs are weak and unusable so I would go with a good stand.

It's extremely versatile and easy to setup for what you want it for. I would suggest using in conjunction with some line 6 pedals (DL4, MM4) if you want to get really crazy with it.

And PS my sponsorship says nothing about me promoting them. I chose to ask for a sponsorship because I use them so much and needed 3 keyboards.

I'm a big fan of Nord's interface, and the Stage is no exception. Everything is transparent and easy to use. The synth panel was took a little getting used to, but still sounded great.

The manual, too, is clear and even entertaining.

I was extremely disappointed with the action of the Nord Stage 88. The keys are weighted but it doesn't feel comfortable in the slightest. The touch is marshmellowy. For lyrical passages, it's wonderful, but any more complicated rhythms were near impossible to pull off.

As a result, I ended up trading in my Stage 88 for the Stage 61 compact, which has the Waterfall keys. Nord's weighted keys just aren't as well executed as those on the Yamaha P-x series.

Other than that, all the features are lovely and work well.

The C3, the Wurlitzer, the CP80, the Clavinet and the Rhodes are all perfectly executed. I did the Pepsi challenge by contrasting them with the real thing, the differences were miniscule.

The big C7 acoustic piano is OK, but in the end, I preferred the dirtier sound of the emulated upright... which you can also find on the much cheaper Electro series. The massive C7 and Steinway's are good, sure, but not really worth the 2x price and weight of the Electro.

I found the inclusion of the Synth panel kind of unnecessary, although most of the sounds are fairly good.

Most of the post-effects are excellent and useful. The Leslie is surprisingly convincing, and the tremolos and pans and choruses are all very good. The amp emulators weren't all that useful.

All in all, the only reason I'd give this piano a lower score is because all the best things about it are already on the Electro, and at much less cost.

No question, a very reliable keyboard.

Never had to call.

It's a good keyboard, but I'd recommend a Yamaha P-series for those looking for the weighted keyboard, and an Electro (or a Stage compact) for anybody looking for the sounds.

The Software on the keyboard is 2.16. To update is very easy.
The preset sounds are a basic material. You have to work with the instrument. This is very easy. You don't need a patch editor.
The manual is helpful and good enough.

The polyphony is good enough. You have 3 instruments on board. Piano, Organ and synth and you can double layer each machine. This is not really done on the preset sounds. Therefore you have to work with the instrument and to program your own sounds. The effects are great and easy to use. The advantage is that you can edit alot of things directly which you find on no keyboard on the market.The MIDI capabilities are standard if you work with an expander, but there is not a lot implemented. The RAM Memory for the samples are limited and if Clavia will offer more in the future for that instrument it could be a problem. Maybe they have a solution. The keyboard action is very good for Rhodes and Clavinet. For piano a little bit to light and for organ a little bit to strong. But it is a very good compromise.

Velocity and aftertouch is good realized. The Fender Rhodes, Organ B3 are fantastic sounds. The advantage of the Rhodes is that you can layer 2 sounds. This is great and something what the Electro doesn't have. The preset sounds are not layered. So if you buy the instrument you should work on the layering of sounds. The clavinet is good, you don't should layer it. Acoustic piano is ok. Wurltzer is a little bit unrealistic for me and for the Electro Grand there is no need. The synthesizer section is fine. Layering of two sounds makes it great. You have to work on that. The presets are only a basic help.

I use the Nord Stage 88 at home and for gigs I use the Nord Stage Compact which has a lighter weight. The Outputs are connected directed to the main speaker system and I have monitor speakers from d&b audiotechnik (2 x E3 with 2 x EPAC). This is very small and light weighted. All this is easy to carry.

This is very good. 3 years ago, I had a problem with a Nord Electro and the repair station got very fast a new pc-board to repair it. Also if you call them, it is very fine and they are fast.

If it were lost or stolen, I would buy it once more. I play since over 30 years on stage. I have a Hammond B3, in the past I had some Rhodes, two clavinets, Mini Moog, Prophet 5, Yamaha CS70, SY99, Kurzweil K2500, etc.
In the last 4 years I had a Yamaha S90, a MotifRack and a Nord Electro. One year ago I bought the NS88, which is for me great, beause this instrument sounds realistic when you play live. The Yamahas I had, have a lot of sounds, but the most don't sound good on a live gig. A lot of products need an effect processor that the basic sounds are good. In the NS88 the basic is good and that makes a difference between a NS88 and others. I play soul-jazz and fusion (TOP, AWB, EW&F, etc.) and for that you need organ, Rhodes, Moog and Prophet sounds and Clavinet. I can give everybody the information that you can get amuch better sound on the NS88, if you work on it and you create your own sounds. To go into a music shop and testing there, makes no sense, because from the first impression a sample player from another manufacturer sounds better first. But after two days I had the NS88, I created sounds which are fantastic compared to other products in the market.

version 2.00
Many presets are impressive but i wouldn't know how to use them. Editing patches is easy if you know what to do. I only read the manual on the first day.. and when i wanted to update the OS version. No problem.

I use my keys 99% live on stage, so the the NS88's polyphony is more than enough for me. I HATE MIDI. I rarely use it. So i cannot say anything about that. A good arpeggiator (like on the Nord Lead) would be apreciated!

The organ section is one of the best on the market. The best non-original Rhodes ever is featured on this instrument but there's something about the classic pianos that bothers me. Although the samples are impressive, they lack of natural sound when playing. I haven't figure it out yet, but i assume that the problem is the keyboard response on velocity cause i've used Kurzweil's PC88 keyboard (via MIDI) and got a totally other sound out of NS88!
The effects are one of the things i wouldn't buy the NS88 if they were NOT present.

Had no problems yet and i have used it without backup already.

I've been playing for about 10 years live now. And all this years i've been playing with Kurzweil's PC88. Last year i added clavia's NS88. I play jazz-rock-funk so all i really need is a GOOD natural piano, a GOOD B3 sound and a GOOD Rhodes. In other words these 2 instruments are more than enough.
I'm thinking about buying an amplifier from motion-sound. Friends who used it with a Nord Electro said that it's almost better than the "real thing".
In this price i would like to have at least a sustain pedal and the legs. Why doesn't clavia built a hardcase? And why does clavia's softcase cost more than other's hardcases?

I?ve played the Nord Stage for about 4 hours and could do anything I wanted without reading the manual. This is truly a performer keyboard.

Check the Clavia site (www.clavia.se)...

This is the most important part of a keyboard although it?s always very subjective. So don?t trust any review but your own ears and feeling. I think the B3 and Rhodes simulations are incredibly good. If you play these sounds you can?t stop playing. They are very expressive and inspiring. The wurli, clave and cp80 are ok. I was a little bit disappointed by the acoustic piano sounds. They are just above average and sounds a bit unnatural to me. The synth section is the least interesting part of the keyboard. It?s ok for layering with pads but don?t expect fat, analogue sounds.

When I saw the announcement of the Nord Stage I really thought this was the instrument I was waiting for years. An acoustic piano combined with quality vintage simulations and on top of that a synth section. Although I liked concept I was disappointed by the overall sound quality of the keyboard. It?s a fine instrument but for 2999 Euro I expect more, I don?t think it?s worth the money. After all I?ve bought a Yamaha S90ES, which have an excellent acoustic piano. The S700 samples are incredible. I?ve extended it with a Nord Electro 2. With this combination I?ve everything I want; a) a great acoustic piano b) top B3 and Rhodes simulations and c) a fine synth section (The S90ES has the same engine as the Motif ES). In this case you will have the best of all for the same price. Nevertheless, everyone who?s looking for a great stage piano should listen to the Nord Stage. After all, it?s just a matter of taste.

(with no claim/opinion that my very subjective view is valid in any way) I'd like to hear from the very few of you out there that 1)bought a Yamaha S90 a year or two ago as your new primary gigging board 2)after really wanting to love the thing, to now use the fairest words you can muster: you weren't dissapointed -- you were horrified by the results: by an amazingly unusable piano, laughable organs, tragically honky brass. No help from the eq, no help by changes of venue, changes of amp and speaker, the thing was just terrible, nearly every patch annoyingly problematic/unplayable, weirdly resistant to real time tweaks too. Tantalizingly brilliant -- the best Rhodes ever done maybe --but that's all you can use it for, period...If you know that feeling and have played the Nord now, do you think I should buy one? Thanks

This keyboard is very logically laid out. I drove directly from the store to a gig and used it without looking at manual. There are about 100 predefined patches & synth voicings... editing, saving, layering, splitting, morphing and applying effects are trivial. The manual is well organized... a quick look at it and you find deeper details and appreciate the logic of this red beast.

The Stage has all the essential keyboard voices and effects rolled into one keyboard. Polyphony is 40 for piano... I have heard some artifacts goofing around, but not in 'real' playing. The keyboard action is brilliant, providing more control over the piano dynamics than I have experienced on an electronic instrument. In each patch, there are 2 complete sound sets of voicings that can combine organ, piano, synth, and effects. You can create some incredibly fat and expressive voices. This is a live performer's keyboard, not an audio workstation.

I love the expressive pianos (C7:10, Steinway:9, others:6)
The Wurlies & Rhodes are sweeter than Electro (and you get more of them). Clav is perhaps not quite as strong as Electo, but this is likely due to the action. Organs are at least as good as Electro (great). The Stage is most at home in a live band where it's clean sounds float above the mix (without pounding the crap out of the keys). This is by far the most expressive electronic keyboard I've played. There are a few clicks/pops when you switch sounds/effects while playing.

I hope...

Have not needed.

I know I could buy a few keyboards for this price that might combine to beat the Stage in some areas... but an important goal for me (and my back) is to get the most spontaneous, authentic, and expressive sound from the most portable and convenient rig. I've been playing piano for about 35 years, the Stage action compares well directly against the Steinway grand I learned on (recently completely rebuilt)... I also have Roland RD-700... the Stage is much more hands-on and expressive (but lacks 100's of sampled voices... 5 of which are useful). Compared to my Electro... the Stage is much, much more of everything and much more playable as a piano. This is a wonderful musical instrument for just about any style of live music.

Software version 1.14

Most presets are interesting and can be tweaked to suit your own taste. I started from the sample then tried different combinations of type and dynamic, EQ, amp sim, drive, rotor and FX to obtain the sound I want. For example, the standard Wurlie sound I use, I swap between the 1 and 2 dynamic (dependant on music) and a touch of vibrato which can be controlled with the mod wheel.
Editing the patches could not be simpler and is a joy to make changes with on-the-fly.
The manual is useful and well written.

Polyphony seems to be fine apart from when you go mental on the piano sounds (40?). Using the sustain pedal whilst trilling and rolling notes might cause a cut-off note here and there.
The action of the board is possibly the best I've played (I've used a Roland A-90 as a master till now) and is only topped by the real thing (I have a Wurlie EP200).

FX are good and sound better than any in-built FX I've ever heard. The drive in the amp sim section and the rotor are particularly good and can be used in some interesting combinations to create mad sounds.
I particularly like the Morph feature where you can assign the mod wheel, aftertouch and control ped to the rotory encoders, drawbars and rotor speed. Nice and easy to assign (can do it whilst playing) and even easier to clear (shift-relevant morphy assign button).

Clavia have and will continue to update the OS, samples and presets on their site. I have not yet updated or altered the samples as I have the most recent OS and samples. The process seems easy enough though. Download the files from the Clavia site, connect the Stage via USB (cable supplied). Transfer the files. Yer done.
I have not used it to control another source but I'm sure it would fine as a controller.
This is marketed/created as a performer's board, not a workstation. If you are expecting more complex features or functions, go elsewhere.

Nothing comes close, apart from the real thing obviously, to the samples on this board. My favourite samples are the Wurlie, Vox, Rhodes, Steinway piano, Hammond, Clav and Farfisa.
It works perfectly for the band I'm in (www.myspace.com/tommansiandtheicebreakers) and is perfect for blues, rock, funk, jazz etc. Its makes a great board to have at home and having a proper piano is not an option.
As I've stated previously, the inbuilt FX, amp sim, drive and rotor are amongst the best I've heard.
It has responsive action and it truly is a performer's board.

I've only had it for a few weeks, done 2 or 3 gigs with it and it is fine so far (so I would hope!). If anything goes wrong I will repost.
A back-up would be nice but then I would be carrying around over #4000 worth of equipment to every gig. Not going to happen unless my band makes it big and we get a team of roadies. Not likely to happen.
I bought this board as a replacement to taking my Wurlie and Vox to gigs. For this alone, it is invaluable.

I sent an email to Clavia after I bought the board asking why they have no product registration service, or why they had not included the legs or bag in the package. They sent a prompt polite reply back.
No upgrades or replacements so far. So good.

I think Clavia could have included at least either the legs (about #70) or the gig bag (about #165) on an item with this kind of price tag. However, this is my only serious complaint. If lost or broken, I would replace asap (or the insurance would replace it!).
I've been playing since my childhood and I've played several pianos (grands, baby grands, uprights). I moved onto keyboards in my teens and I played the Roland A-90, D-50, XP-10, Yamaha CSx1, MicroKorg, Korg Triton. I started playing the original Wurlitzer EP200 in my 20s and purchased my own this year. I also have a Vox Continental which is fantastic to play.
This board is perfect for the gigging musician who uses these vintage boards and cannot afford (physically or mentally) to cart them around to gigs.

Also, its not a boring piece of grey/black plastic/metal. ITS RED! Looks great on stage and attracts the women like shiny things attract magpies.

V 1.4
Presets are usefull but you can tweak for better sounds
Editing is very easy
Manual is helpfull

Polyphony is ok, Synths. a little under the expected Standarts in this days.
Key-action is very good for all Stuff not to light not to hatd
no expansions needed
very easy to use

This Rocks completly!!!
Organs very good!
Pianos very good!
E-Pianos very good!
Synths usefull
Effects are very good and easy tweakable!
Very good in every Situation you can split/layer add effects...
Velocity and Aftertouch are good balanced.
Good for playing Organs on weighted keys.

Best Key i ever played! This is a Dream for Live-playing!
Most gigs i play only with the NS88!!! It rocks!!!
The origin Softbag is very very good and has wheels on it to carry it easy.

Very friendly and fast E-Mail-Support!
Upgrades are online and i hope more Sound-patchs and Samples coming soon.

Playing over 25 Years i dreamed from a key like this.
I wood buy it 1 Minute later when it was stolen, can't live whitout!
Thanks to the amazing Clavia Team!!!

Arne

Very easy to use. Almost all parameters are controled by switches and knobs. For me the presets sounds are not as good as the instruments REALLY sounds. But it's very easy to create the sound the way you like it. You don't need the manual - it's foolproof...! No comparision to 'standard' keyboards e.g. Yamaha or Roland.

It is called "stage" and thats its strength. I miss less features till now. Maybe a more flexible EQ, reverb and Leslie - e.g. programmable rise & fall time between low and high speed.

Rhodes are extraordinary good. Yamaha C7 sample is very good and natural, the rest of acoustic pianos are a matter of taste. For me, they are ok. but some kind of special.

Organ is very good - as expected from the electro. Synth is ok, but nothing special. As a source for pads and layering sounds ok. also for bass sounds.

Wurlitzer is very good, CP80 and Clavinets are not in my interest, cause I did not like these kind of sounds at all...

Till now, no Problems. But after a view weeks and about five gigs I can really not evaluate this.

They react very promptly to mails.

I would buy it again! No question! A few days ago I played with a very good female singer and percussionist a "acoustic" session. It was a dream - warm, dynamic and realistic sound.

Software v1.14

The presets are good, but because this keyboard is so easy to configure, you will more than likely be changing them to suit your needs. I haven't looked through the manual at all, there has been no need

The keyboard action is very good. Some might find the hammer action a little light, but as you are just as likely to use this for hammond and rhodes, the keyboard is very usable. The layout of this keyboard has really been thought through. The organ, piano, synth and effects sections are clearly defined and you find yourself layering sounds for lead breaks and unlayering in real time. I have been waiting for this keyboard for 20 years. It reminds me of the of my Juno 106 in layout terms(will be with me to the grave - I love that keyboard). All the live controls are there with very little need to page through any menus.

Pianos:
Yamaha and Steinway grands - V.Good
Upright pianos - Good
CP80 Electric Grand - V.Good
Rhodes MK1 OK, MKII OK, MKV V.Good
Clavs - Not bad
Wurl - V.Good
Synth - Very good Pads

I have to say there are still a couple of velocity issues with the yamaha grand, but I'm sure Clavia will resolve these soon. It's more down to the samples I think, but these are minor.

Effects are stunningly easy to use and add as you play, add a tremlow to wurly or rhodes while you are playing and increase how wet the effect is real time, bla bla.

Aftertouch is OK with soem nice, "note off" sound on the pianos and rhodes.

This is my second, the first one came out of the box from new with a key stuck half way down. My dealer swapped it over for me - no probs, but this did take 2 weeks. I would always take an additional keyboard to gigs as we are dealing with electronics here - right? Unless you are on tour abroad, of course.

I've not dealt with clavia yet so I have no opinion

If it were lost or stolen, I'd buy the same again. It's expensive, but no that expensive. with the quality of the piano, rhodes and hammond, it justifies the price in my opinion. I've been playing for 20 years since the early days of synths and I have been looking for a keyboard like this all that time. I'd looked at the RD-700 and others similar, but nothing gave what I wanted. Here was my brief:

A weighted keyboard - but still light to carry
Very good piano, rhodes and hammond
Flexible while palying live
Ability to split the keys easily
Cheap as chips!

Well the clavia fitted all these except the last!

See my previous review for Clavia NS-88.

See my previous review for Clavia NS-88.

See my previous review for Clavia NS-88.

In addition to my previous review it's worth mentioning that I have had direct email contact with Clavia about the software bugs in the first OS version of the Nord Stage.

Clavia let me know that the first machines that left the Clavia manufacturing line indeed have some (minor?) software bugs.

According to Clavia, all known bugs have been adressed and these bugs will be solved in the next OS-version, which will be available online within an few weeks.

Too bad that the machines left the factory with these bugs, but (resulting from my experiences with Nord Electro) I have complete confidence that the next OS-version will have solved all bugs I encountered.

I have had fast (within 24-hour), personal, response to my email concerning the bugs, so that is (relatively) fast and thus a good thing!

See my previous review for Clavia NS-88.

I have the "1.0.0.0" version of this machine, I believe; one of the very first.
Presets sounds great, although sometimes a bit different than what I got used to with the Electro.
The piano sounds have made HUGE progress, compared to the Electro. All sounds are very realistic. Synth-section is very usefull!

The Nord Stage is very easy to use, just like all other Clavia stuff.
I just opened the manual for some minor things I wanted to be shure of, but it hardly isn't nescesarry to use, because almost everything can be tweaked, edited, ect. realtime on the board. No need to get into menu's and so on.

Synthesizer-polyphony is somewhat limited. All other sounds have no problems. Using the synth as 'string-pad' underneath a complex piano-part could lead to some string-notes cutting off when exceeding the polyphony.

Built in effects are great. Phases, flanger etc. are all more or less like the Electro, but the extra added delay's, reverb and amp simulators are realy a PLUS! Great to use with synthesizer sounds and so on, but why would one use a reverb on a stage-instrument when you are playing with a band in a room with the room's real acoustics and reverb?? Mmmm, Clavia listened well to all those Electro-users missing the reverb.

I expected more out of the COMPRESSION-effect. Thought it would spice up and equal up my sounds and playing, but it doesn't. The only thing to adjust is 'amount' and that is just not enough, resulting in a over-noticable compression.

MIDI seems to have some bugs. DOnt' know what it is, but it sometimes reacts slow and I have been using the onboard 'Panic'-button too much!

Further, no sequencers, no drums etc. GREAT, just the way I like it. Don't need that stuff in a live performance.

THe split-capabilities of the NOrD STAGE are superb.
The Stage has completely replaced my 'Yamaha Motif+Nord Electro'-setup, thus having only to carry one keyboard, without missing any real important sounds. U need good rhodes? It's there. Need good B3? It's there. Need good synths? It's there. Need to use it all at the same time? No problem, it's there and all combinable.
For instance: one performance setup can play simoultaneously rhodes, clavinet, organ, another organ, synth-strings and synthlead. No problem. This is a big PLUS compared to the Electro.

Need I say more? Check out the Electro-reviews to know more about the keyboard-sounds, but keep in mind that Clavia finally have some GREAT piano sounds on board with the STage. Superb and realistic. All other sounds are very good.

In a live setup all sounds are equal punchy and realy stand out in the mix. Even better than what the Electro did.

All effects and sounds can be 'morphed' real time, using pedals, knobs etc. giving a flexible feel.

Aftertouch, pitch bend, keyboard feel are great! A little heavy for the B3-and D6-players I guess, but velocities of sounds can be easily adjusted (live as well) making up for the weighted keys.
For use with piano and rhodes sounds the weighted keyboard is superb.

I have had some little problems storing sounds. Next to that midi is working somewhat strange.
Furhtermore, when you put 'memory protect to "on", then switch off the instrument, switch on again, then suddenly the protect is "Off". These kind of little software bugs were in the first version of the Electro as well, so I presume Clavia will fix them in the next software version, which will be downloadable form their site in the future. Should be ok, and poses no real big problems.

The instrument is solid. I rely on it completely.

Don't know. Never had any problems with other Clavia gear.

Upgrades are usually good (see Nord Electro)

It's a bloody expensive machine, but hey, a Ferrari is expensive as well, and you love when when you have it.

I did compare to other piano's, but the STage-features work best for me, as a live-player looking for solid, authentic sounds.