Clavia NordStage2 EX 88, NordStage2 EX Compact, NordStage2 EX HP76, nord stage 2 ha/sw User Manual

User Manual

Nord Stage 2 EX 88

Nord Stage 2 EX HP76

Nord Stage 2 EX Compact

OS Version 2.x

Part No. 50444 Copyright Clavia DMI AB Print Edition: B

CAUTION - ATTENTION

RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

DO NOT OPEN

RISQUE DE SHOCK ELECTRIQUE

NE PAS OUVRIR

CAUTION: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

DO NOT REMOVE COVER (OR BACK).

NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE.

REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED PERSONNEL.

ATTENTION:POUR EVITER LES RISQUES DE CHOC ELECTRIQUE, NE

PAS ENLEVER LE COUVERCLE.

AUCUN ENTRETIEN DE PIECES INTERIEURES PAR L´USAGER.

CONFIER L´ENTRETIEN AU PERSONNEL QUALIFE.

AVIS: POUR EVITER LES RISQUES D´INCIDENTE OU D´ELECTROCUTION,

N´EXPOSEZ PAS CET ARTICLE A LA PLUIE OU L´HUMIDITET.

1) Read these instructions.

2) Keep these instructions.

3) Heed all warnings.

4) Follow all instructions.

5) Do not use this apparatus near water.

6) Clean only with dry cloth.

7) Do not block any ventilation openings. Install in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.

8) Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves, or other apparatus (including ampliers) that produce heat.

9) Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized or grounding-type plug. A polarized plug has two blades with one wider than the other. A grounding type plug has two blades and a third grounding prong. The wide blade or the third prong are provided for your safety. If the provided plug does not t into your outlet, consult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet.

10) Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched particularly at plugs, convenience receptacles, and the point where they exit from the apparatus.

11) Only use attachments/accessories specied by the manufacturer.

12) Use only with the cart, stand, tripod, bracket, or table specied by the manufacturer, or sold with the apparatus. When a cart is used, use caution when moving the cart/apparatus combination to avoid injury from tip-over.

13) Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time.

14) Refer all servicing to qualied service personnel. Servicing is required when the apparatus has been damaged in any way, such as power-supply cord or plug is damaged, liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus, the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has been dropped.

The lightning ash with the arrowhead symbol within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the presence of uninsulated voltage within the products enclosure that may be of sufcient magnitude to constitute a risk of electric shock to persons.

Le symbole éclair avec le point de èche à l´intérieur d´un triangle équilatéral est utilisé pour alerter l´utilisateur de la presence à l´intérieur du coffret de ”voltage dangereux” non isolé d´ampleur

sufsante pour constituer un risque d`éléctrocution.

The exclamation mark within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the presence of important operating and maintenance (servicing) instructions in the literature accompanying the product.

Le point d´exclamation à l´intérieur d´un triangle équilatéral est employé pour alerter l´utilisateur de la présence d´instructions importantes pour le fonctionnement et l´entretien (service) dans le livret d´instructions accompagnant l´appareil.

Instructions pertaining to a risk of re, electric shock or injury to persons.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS

Trademarks: The Nord logo is a trademark of Clavia DMI AB. All other trademarks mentioned in this publication are the properties of their respective holders.

No naked ame sources, such as lighted candles, should be placed on the apparatus;

Do not use the apparatus in tropical climates.

WARNING: To reduce the risk of re or electric shock, do not expose this apparatus to rain or moisture.

The apparatus shall not be exposed to dripping or splashing and that no objects lled with liquids, such as vases, shall be placed on the apparatus.

The maims plug is used as the disconnect device and shall remain readily operable.

Il convient de ne pas placer sur l´appareil de sources de ammes nues, telles que des bougies allumées;

L´appareil n’est pas destiné á étre utilisé sous un climat tropical.

L´appareil ne doit pas étre exposé á des égouttements d´eau ou des éclaboussures et de plus qu´aucun objet rempli de liquide tel que des vases ne doit étre placé sur l´appareil.

Lorsque la prise du résau d’alimentation est utilisée comme dispositif de déconnexion, ce dispositif doit demeuré aisément accessible.

Warning - When using electric products, basic precautions should always be followed, including the following:

Additional Safety Information

| 3

1 Introduction

Thank you! .....................................5

Features ........................................5

About the User Manual.........................5

Readin g the manu al in Adob e Acrobat R eader............5

Nord on the Internet ...........................5

Restoring the factory presets .........................5

OS upgrades......................................5

Free sounds ......................................5

Disclaimer ........................................5

2 About the Nord Stage 2 EX

The Organ section..............................6

Piano Librar y v5................................6

Small, Me dium & Large ..............................6

String Resonance...............................6

Nord Triple Pedal ...............................7

Pedal Noise.....................................7

The Synth Section ..............................7

3 Getting Started

Hook it up ......................................8

Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Select a program...................................8

The Shift Button ...................................8

Sort Mode ........................................9

The Kno bs .......................................9

The Buttons.......................................9

Edit a program .................................9

Select a new piano sound............................9

Turning the Memor y Protection Of f ..........10

Storing a Program.............................10

Live Mode .....................................10

Activate an effect .............................10

Activate another instrument .........................11

The Slots ......................................11

Create a Sp lit ....................................11

Set the Pia no to the Upp er zone .....................11

Set the Sy nth to the Lower z one ......................11

Load a Synth sound ...........................12

Create a La yer....................................12

The Morph.....................................12

The Synthesizer ...............................13

Arpeggio clinic ................................13

Master Clock ..................................14

4 Program Section

Transpose On/Set .............................15

Slot Buttons A & B ............................15

Mono Output.....................................15

Dual KB.........................................15

Shift / Exit button .............................16

Live Mode .....................................16

Program Buttons ..............................16

What is a pro gram? ................................16

System, So und, MIDI , Exter n ........................16

Panic ...........................................16

Store, Store As…...............................16

Storing a P rogram .................................17

Naming a program ................................17

Categories.......................................17

Value Dial .....................................17

MIDI Indicator .................................17

Program Bank buttons ........................18

Organ Pi ano Synt h Init .............................18

Organ Split ......................................18

Program Page buttons ........................18

Pending Load ....................................18

Sort Mode .......................................18

Cursor, Del, Ins ...................................18

Mst Clk .......................................18

External Sync ....................................18

Morph Assign .................................19

Morph Destinations................................19

Clearing a Morph..................................19

KB Zones ......................................19

5 Common features

Instrument & Extern Controls .................20

On/Of f button s ...................................20

KB Zone Select buttons ............................20

Creatin g a split ...................................20

Settin g split po ints to chan ge Zone ranges .............21

Layering instruments...............................21

Octave Shift......................................21

Note Rang e ......................................21

Latch Ped & K B Gate ..............................21

Output Routing ...................................21

Using an ex ternal keyboard ( Dual KB) ..................22

Using multiple keyboards ...........................22

Master level ...................................22

6 Organ

Drawbars and buttons.........................23

Select ing The O rgan Mod el .........................23

The B3 Model .................................23

B3 Drawbars ..................................24

Vibrato & Chorus ..............................24

Percussion.....................................24

Key click control ..................................24

Organ Preset I & II ............................24

The Vox Model ................................25

Vox Drawbars..................................25

Vibrato.........................................25

The Farf Model ................................25

Farf Registers..................................25

Vibrato.........................................26

Swell Control.....................................26

Rotary Speaker ................................26

7 Piano

The Piano sounds .............................27

Piano Select ...................................27

Typ e............................................27

Info ............................................27

Model ..........................................27

Clavinet .........................................27

Dynamics .......................................28

Acoustic s .....................................28

String Resonance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Long Release ....................................28

Pedal Noise......................................28

Nord Triple Pedal ..............................28

Half pedaling.....................................28

Sosten uto .......................................28

Soft Ped al . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Slot Detune/Clav EQ ...........................28

Clav EQ ........................................28

Slot Detune ......................................28

8 Synth

Basics .........................................29

Oscillator .....................................29

Shape ..........................................29

Shape Mod ......................................30

Waveform selector button...........................30

Analog style waveforms ............................30

Triangle .........................................30

Sawtoo th........................................30

Pulse ...........................................30

Oscillator Sync waveforms ..........................30

Frequency Modulation .............................31

FM Algorithms....................................31

Wavetables ......................................32

Samples ........................................32

Skip Sample Attack................................32

Load Sound......................................32

Filter Section .................................32

Filter button......................................32

Low Pass - LP 24 & LP 12 ..........................32

High Pas s - HP ...................................33

Band Pas s - BP ..................................33

Notch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Filter Fre quency ..................................33

KB Track ........................................33

Resonance ......................................33

Freq Mod 1 - LF O .................................33

Freq Mod 2 ......................................33

The Envelopes.................................33

Mod Envel ope ...................................33

Amp Envel ope ...................................34

The LFO .......................................34

Velocit y .......................................34

Voices section ................................34

Voice Mode Mono.................................34

Voice Mode L egato ................................35

Glide ...........................................35

Unison .........................................35

Vibrato .........................................35

Storing Synth Sounds..............................35

Arpeggiator ...................................35

9 Effects

Overview ......................................36

About mono/stereo and effect routing .................36

The Slot effects ...............................36

Activati ng Slot ef fects ..............................36

Making s ettings for Slot ef fects.......................36

The Focu s button .................................37

Mst Clk .........................................37

Effect 1 ........................................37

A-Pan (Au to Pan)..................................37

Tre m (Tre mol o) ...................................37

RM (Ring modulation) ..............................37

Wa-Wa..........................................37

A-Wa 1 & 2 (Auto-Wah) ............................37

Effect 2 .......................................38

Phaser 1 & 2 .....................................38

Flanger .........................................38

Vibe ............................................38

Chorus 1 & 2 .....................................38

Delay .........................................38

Amp Sim/Equalizer ...........................38

Amp model ......................................38

Drive ...........................................38

EQ section.......................................39

Global Effects .................................39

Nord Stage 2 User Manual

4 | Nord Stage 2 eX USer MaNUal oS v1.7X

Compressor .....................................39

Reverb..........................................39

Rotary Speaker ...............................39

About th e Rotar y effec t’s signal ro uting ................39

Rotary parameter .................................39

10 Extern Section

Extern section ................................40

Setting up .......................................40

Using the Extern section ......................40

Activating........................................40

Keyboard Zones ..................................40

Octave Shift......................................40

Activating Pitch Stick /Sustain Pedal messages ..........40

Extern Parameters.............................41

Volume .........................................41

Prog Chan ge ....................................41

MIDI CC ........................................41

Send On Lo ad ....................................41

Extern Section and MIDI re-routing....................41

11 Menus

System Menu ..................................42

Global Transpose .................................42

Fine Tune........................................42

Output Routing ...................................42

Organ Au dio A/ B Output ............................42

Piano Aud io A/B Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Synth Aud io A/B O utput ............................42

Organ Key board Trig Poi nt ..........................42

Sustain Pedal Type ................................42

Sustain Pedal Func ................................42

Rotor/Latch Pedal Type.............................42

Rotor/Latch Pedal Func ............................42

Ctrl Ped al Type ...................................43

Control Pedal Gain ................................43

Control Pedal Func . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Swell Ped al Type ..................................43

Swell Pedal Gain..................................43

Swell Pedal Func..................................43

Memory Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Sound Menu ...................................43

Organ Key C lick Leve l B3 ...........................43

Organ Tonewheel Mode ............................43

Piano Pedal Noise Level ............................43

Piano Str ing Res Level .............................43

Synth Vibrato Rate ................................43

Synth Dl y Vibrato A mount ...........................43

FX Rotar y Speaker Horn S peed ......................43

FX Rotar y Speaker Horn Ac c ........................43

FX Rotar y Speaker Rotor Sp eed......................43

FX Rotar y Speaker Rotor Acc ........................43

FX Dela y Mode ...................................44

MIDI Menu.....................................44

MIDI Con trol Loca l ................................44

MIDI Global Channel...............................44

MIDI Slot A/B Channel .............................44

MIDI Organ A/B Channel ...........................44

MIDI Piano A/B Channel ............................44

MIDI Syn th A/B Ch annel ............................44

MIDI Dua l KB Chan nel..............................44

MIDI Ctr l Change M ode ............................44

MIDI Prog Change Mode............................44

Send MID I Ctrl ....................................44

Dump Program ...................................44

Dump Synth .....................................44

Extern Menu ...................................45

Exter n MIDI Mod e .................................45

Exter n MIDI A /B Chann el ...........................45

Exter n MIDI A /B Volume ............................45

Exter n MIDI A /B Prog Cha nge .......................45

Exter n MIDI A /B Bank Se l cc 00......................45

Exter n MIDI A /B Bank Se l cc 32......................45

Exter n MIDI A /B CC Numb er ........................45

Exter n MIDI A /B CC Value ..........................45

Exter n MIDI A /B Send W heel ........................45

Exter n MIDI A /B Send A .Touch .......................45

Exter n MIDI A /B Send C trlPed .......................45

Exter n MIDI A /B Send Sw ell .........................45

Exter n MIDI A /B Vel Cur ve ..........................45

Exter n MIDI Sen d on Load ..........................45

Exter n MIDI Sof t Thru ..............................45

12 Nord Sound Manager

Nord Sound Manager ..............................46

System requirements ..............................46

13 MIDI

Using MIDI ....................................47

Global ..........................................47

Slot A/ B.........................................47

Extern ..........................................47

Instrument MIDI...................................47

Playing/Controlling outboard gear with the

Extern section .................................48

Controlling the Stage 2 EX with an external

keyboard or MIDI device ......................48

Dual Kb .........................................48

Slot MIDI control ..................................49

Global MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

External Sync ....................................49

Extern Section and MIDI re-routing....................49

Recording a Stage 2 EX performance to a MIDI

sequencer .....................................49

Program Change..................................49

Using the Stage 2 EX as a sound source with a

sequencer .....................................50

MIDI Input Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Messages......................................50

Panic ...........................................51

USB MIDI........................................51

MIDI Controller list ............................52

MIDI Implementation Chart ...................53

I Appendix: Connections

Audio connections.............................54

Headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Audio Ou tputs 1-4.................................54

Monitor In .......................................54

USB Connection ...............................54

MIDI Connections..............................54

MIDI In ..........................................54

MIDI Out ........................................54

Nord Music Stand .............................55

Connecting Pedals.............................55

The Orga n Swell input..............................55

Using a Roto r Speed p edal ..........................55

Using a La tch pedal ...............................55

Sustain pedal ....................................55

Nord Triple Pedal .................................55

II Appendix: Factory Presets

Factory Presets and OS .......................56

Internal memory ..................................56

Factory presets...................................56

Restoring the factory content ........................56

OS upgrades.....................................56

III Index

Index ...........................................57

Thank you!

We’d ﬁrst like to thank you for purchasing the Nord Stage 2 EX! Our goal when developing the Nord Stage 2 was to create a ﬂagship stage instrument encompassing the whole range of our company’s accumulated expertise. Building on the success of the original Nord Stage, the Nord Stage 2 incorporates the best emulations of electromechanical and acoustic keyboard instruments on the market as well as a synthesizer section designed for maximum ease of use, yet offering wide sonic possibilities. With Nord Stage 2 EX the instrument also beneﬁts from an expanded Piano memory.

The Nord Stage 2 EX features outstanding classic keyboard sounds with true feel, from natural keyboard response to authentic sound. A medium weighted hammer action 88 note keyboard, 76 key portable hammer action keyboard or a 73 note semi-weighted waterfall keyboard makes this instrument the biggest in the Nord range, yet it weighs only 18,5/12,4/9,7 kilos which is an achievement in itself.

Features

The Nord Stage 2 EX has the following main features:

• Organ section with faithful reproductions of three classic organ models; B3, Vox and Farf (Farﬁsa).

• Piano section with acoustic grand and upright pianos, tine-based electric pianos, Wurlitzer electric pianos, Digital FM pianos, Clavinet, and Electric Grand. The memory capacity for the Piano section in the Stage 2 EX is approximately 1 Gigabyte.

• Synth section with sample playback, FM, analog-style and digital waveforms in a subtractive synthesis architecture.

• Comprehensive effects section.

• A medium weighted hammer action 88 note keyboard with aftertouch, a portable hammer action 76 note keyboard with aftertouch, or a 73 note semi-weighted waterfall keyboard with aftertouch.

• An Extern section for controlling external MIDI instruments.

• A powerful Morph feature for applying multiple parameter changes to a sound with controllers.

• Splits and layers are easily set up by assigning instruments to Keyboard Zones.

But that’s not all. There are two independent Slots “A” and “B”, each containing a full setup of the Stage 2 instruments. This means that you have access to six instrument sections and two independent effect sections! Amongst other things, this allows for “dual manual” B3 organ emulation, and easy setup of all kinds of instrument layering and splits.

About the User Manual

The manual is arranged mainly as a reference manual. In many cases you’ll get tips on how to practically use the functions, alone and also together with other functions.

Reading the manual in Adobe Acrobat Reader

This manual is also available in the digital PDF-ﬁle format. It can be downloaded, free of charge, from the Nord web site at www.nordkeyboards.com. With Adobe Acrobat Reader it is possible to use special navigation features like hyper links. This means that you can click with the mouse on a word or sentence and automatically get to the location indicated by the word/sentence.

Nord on the Internet

If you have access to the Internet, you’re very welcome to visit www.nordkeyboards.com. There you will ﬁnd the latest information about the Nord Stage 2 EX and other Nord products. You can also download new Nord Stage 2 EX sounds and software upgrades, free of charge.

Restoring the factory presets

The factory programs, samples and pianos are available as Nord Sound Manager backup ﬁles for download at the Nord web site at www.nordkeyboards.com or on the included Nord DVD.

OS upgrades

The latest OS version for Nord Stage 2 EX is available for download at the www.nordkeyboards.com website. Please visit our website from time to time, to make sure you have the latest version in your unit.

Free sounds

Since the Nord Stage 2 EX is designed as an open system, each and every piano and sample in the Nord Stage 2 EX can be replaced by you. This is done using the Nord Sound Manager application.

The Nord Stage 2 EX is compatible with the continuously expanding Nord Piano Library and the Nord Sample Library. These sounds are included on the DVD that accompanies the Stage 2 EX. When new sounds become available, you can download these for free from the www.nordkeyboards.com website.

Disclaimer

Any trademarks and brand names mentioned in this manual are the property of their respective owners and are not afﬁliated or associated with Clavia. These trademarks and brand names are only mentioned to describe the types of sounds reproduced by Nord Stage 2 EX.

Introduction

Chapter 1 IntroduCtIon | 5

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. Incorporating 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 categories 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 expressiveness 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 acoustic 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.

About the Nord Stage 2 EX

6 | Nord Stage 2 eX USer MaNUal oS v1.7X

Nord Triple Pedal

The Nord Stage 2 EX is compatible with the accessory Nord Triple Pedal (not included, sold separately) which offers an unprecedented functionality. The Piano Pedal adds dynamic control of the mechanical noise during operation, and the ability for you as a player to use half pedaling and “release and catch again” techniques.

E If you have purchased a Nord Triple Pedal, you need to select this

pedal type in the System Menu.

1 Hold Shift and press the System/Program 1 button beneath the

LCD to enter the System Menu settings.

2 Press the Program Page 4 button above the Value Dial until you

reach the Sustain Pedal Type setting.

3 Turn the Value Dial to select “Triple”. Press Shift to exit the menu

and attach the Tripe Pedal to the Nord Stage 2 EX.

The right pedal is the sustain pedal. If you operate this, all the notes that you play will sustain until the pedal is released again.

The left pedal is the soft pedal, also known as the Una Corda. When you press this pedal, all the notes you play will be slightly lower in volume and also have a slightly more subdued tone quality.

The middle pedal is the Latch/Sostenuto. In order for this functionality to be used, it has to be activated in the instruments. Read more about this in the section “Latch Ped & KB Gate” on page 21.

Pedal Noise

When the sustain pedal is operated on an acoustic grand or upright piano, many different sounds are produced by the mechanical components of that instrument’s pedal mechanism. Your Nord Stage 2 EX reproduces many of these natural sounds. When the sustain pedal is pressed down, lifting the dampers from the strings, a beautiful sizzle can be heard.

When the pedal is released, the dampers are returned to the strings, which creates a different, muted type of sound. The Nord’s sustain pedal is dynamic, allowing you to experiment with varying forces both for pressing the pedal down and also releasing it. If you allow your foot to “slip” off the edge of the pedal, it will spring back with full force, creating an obvious sound.

The “ﬂoor sound” is heard when the pedal reaches the bottom of its travel. You can experience this in isolation if you press down the pedal completely, then lift it less than halfway back up and then press down again.

If you lift the pedal and immediately press it down again, a very rich sound will be heard. Another big sound is The Stomp, which requires you to start with your foot above the actual pedal, in order to be able to reach the high velocity that is required to get this sound.

The Synth Section

The Stage 2’ EXs powerful synthesizer engine was built from the DNA of the Nord Wave. Capable of classic analogue synthesis, three operator FM synthesis, Wavetable synthesis and, crucially, compatibility with the Nord Sample Library.

The Nord Sample Library not only gives Stage 2 EX owners access to the huge free library of world-class sounds, including the famous vintage Mellotron and Chamberlin samples. Thanks to the included Nord Sample Editor for Mac and PC, user-created samples can be loaded into the instrument, opening up a whole new creative world of sound.

The Synth engine itself features classic analogue synthesis with dual saw, hard sync and pulse wave modulation, three-operator FM synthesis with 32 different modulation frequencies, Wavetable synthesis with 62 waveforms and Sample based synthesis. A new great sounding multimode ﬁlter features 12 and 24 dB low pass, high pass, band pass and notch ﬁlters. And with an Amp envelope, Modulation envelope, an LFO, and Unison control, the Stage 2 EX’s synth capabilities are hugely powerful, delivering amazing on-stage sound.

The Synth section also features a new Arpeggiator which can be synchronized to either external clock or the Stage 2 EX’s Master Clock for perfect timing with several elements of the Stage 2 EX, including its effects and the synth LFO.

Chapter 2 aboUt the Nord Stage 2 eX | 7

Hook it up

1 Connect the Nord Stage 2 EX power cord to the unit and a mains

power supply, connect the sustain pedal and a set of headphones or a sound system.

2 Make sure to turn on the Stage 2 EX ﬁrst, before the sound sys-

tem. Please be careful with the output volume.

For more information on all the connections on the Stage 2 EX, look in the Connections chapter on page 54.

Programs

The Program area is the part of the panel that is located in the center of the panel with the display in the middle. Complete settings of every parameter on the panel are stored in the program memory of the Nord Stage 2 EX, with enough room for 400 programs.

This is organized into 4 banks; each bank contains 20 pages of 5 programs each, all of which can be edited and replaced as you wish.

E The 100 programs in the D bank when the unit is shipped from

the factory are duplicates of the programs in the A bank. This means that you can immediately start to save any edits you do in either the A or D bank without risking to overwrite any of the factory programs until you have decided which ones you want to keep.

A complete set of the factory programs are available on our website, www.nordkeyboards.com. This means that you can always return to the state of the program memory when the unit was new.

Select a program

1 Programs are selected by pressing the ﬁve Program buttons,

located below the display. An alternate method is to turn the Value Dial located to the right of the display.

2 The Pages are accessed by pressing the Program Page 3/4

buttons repeatedly, located above the Value Dial.

M Some of the programs are labeled with MW or AT. This indicates

that the Mod Wheel or AfterTouch has an active part in the sound and invites you to use these performance features.

3 The Banks are accessed with the Bank buttons A. B, C and D,

above the display.

A new program is immediately activated when you press a Bank, Page or Program button. If you want to navigate with the Bank and/or Page buttons and wait with the loading of a new program until you press a program button, this can be acheived by activating the Pending Load setting (Shift + Program Page 3button.

 Press and hold either of the Program Page buttons to continu-

ously scroll through the Pages.

The Shift Button

Many buttons on the Stage 2 EX have a secondary function, which is printed immediately below the button. These additional functions and/or parameters are accessed by ﬁrst pressing and holding Shift while pressing that respective button.

M The Shift button is also used to Exit from a menu or to cancel an

ongoing Store operation.

Getting Started

Let’s spend a few minutes to get acquainted with your new Nord Stage 2 EX. In order to make you feel conﬁdent in using the Stage 2 EX, this chapter is written as a guided tour. We will show you the fundamental aspects of the unit in as few steps as possible. We know you’d rather play than read.

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Sort Mode

There are three Sort modes in the Stage 2 EX that are used if you change programs by turning the Value Dial. The default mode is numerical - by turning the Value Dial, the programs are accessed in a numerically sorted order. (Bank A, Page 1, Program 1 to 5, Bank A, Page 2, Program 1 to 5 etc). Let’s look at the alternate sort modes.

1 Press and hold Shift....

2 and then press the Program Page 4 button.

This activates the alphabetical sort mode, which will display the programs in an alphabetical order when you turn the Value Dial.

3 To change the initial letter, press the Pro-

gram Page buttons.

4 Hold Shift and press the Program Page 4

button again to select the Category sort mode; programs will be displayed alphabetically within the selected category.

A program can be assigned to a category when it is saved or by using the Nord Sound Manager applications. Read more on categories on page

17.

5 To change the Category, press the Program Page buttons.

6 Hold Shift and press the Program Page 4 button a third time to

revert to the numerical presentation.

M The sort modes will only affect how the programs are accessed by

turning the Value Dial. Pressing Bank, Page and Program buttons will select programs in the numerical fashion.

The Knobs

There are two types of knobs on the Nord Stage 2 EX. The Value Encoders are surrounded by LED indicators; these provide a visual indication of that setting’s current value. These parameters can be controlled using the Morph function.

The potentiometer-type knobs shown to the right are used, for example, in the Synth and Effect sections. As you scroll through programs, the physical positions of these knobs will not necessarily correctly reﬂect the active parameter values, but as soon as one of these knobs is turned, that respective parameter’s value will immediately “snap” to the knob’s position.

 Hold Shift and turn a knob to view the stored

setting of a parameter in the display, without changing it.

The Buttons

Selector buttons are used to select one setting in an array. They have a set of round or triangular LEDs to indicate the current setting. Press the button several times to cycle through the possible options.

The On/Off buttons are used for activating a function or a group of functions such as effects and have a LED close to them to indicate the on/off status and sometimes also the source or zone.

M The on/off buttons of the Effect’s shown here, also have a selector

functionality. Press once to turn the Effect on, and press immediately again to select the “next” source.

Edit a program

Editing a program is as easy grabbing a knob or pressing a button to change an existing setting; go ahead and give it a quick try.

1 Dial up bank A, page 1, program 1 (the Imperial Grand Piano

program) for this exercise.

The controls for the Piano instrument are located immediately to the left of the Program/Display area on the panel. Notice that the Grand type is the current type in the program.

Select a new piano sound

2 Press repeatedly on the Piano Type selector to browse the 6

types. Each piano type can hold several models.

3 Press repeatedly on the Piano Model button, located beneath the

Model LED and play on the keys to listen to the different sounds.

This will cycle through the models that are available in the selected piano type.

Note that changing any parameter on your Stage 2 EX’s panel will immediately cause an asterisk to appear next to the current program number in the display.

This is provided for you as an indication that the program has been edited/changed, but not yet saved into memory. If you select a new program prior to performing a Store operation, your edits will be lost and that program will have its original settings the next time you select it.

A : 01 : 1 Grand Italian Grand

A : 01 : 1* Grand Italian Grand

Chapter 3 get tiNg Started | 9

Turning the Memory Protection Off

When the Nord Stage 2 EX is shipped from factory, the memory protect is turned on to prevent you from accidentally overwriting any of the original programs. This memory protect feature can be turned off by toggling a setting located in the System menu.

1 Hold Shift and press the Program 1/System button below the

display.

2 Look in the display and scroll through the System Menu functions

with the Program Page 3/4 buttons until you see the Memory Protect setting.

3 Change this setting to Off by turning the Value Dial.

4 Press Shift to exit the System menu.

Read more on the Menu settings, starting at “System Menu” on page 42.

Storing a Program

1 Press the Store button to the left of the LCD once, to initiate the

process of storing the edited program.

2 The Store LED will begin to ﬂash on and off and the display will

ask you for the location to where you want to store the program.

3 If you want to store the edited version in the same location, re-

placing the original, simply press Store again. If not, use the Bank, Page and/or Program buttons to select a new location.

E The program which resides in the selected location will become

active on the keyboard to allow you to play it and verify that you will not be overwriting something which is important to you.

4 When you have found a suitable location for your program, press

Store again to store your edited program.

M Press Shift/Exit once to abort an ongoing Store process if you

change your mind.

Read more about Store and Store As, renaming a program and assigning it to a category in the Program chapter, on page 17.

Live Mode

Nord’s Live Mode feature provides you with ﬁve temporary program buffers, any one of which will automatically save program edits for you on the ﬂy without having to perform a Store operation.

1 If you press the Live Mode button to turn Live Mode on, all chang-

es to the panel settings you make will be continuously stored.

2 If you switch the power off, or select another program, the set-

tings you made are still stored in the 5 Live Mode programs, so when you power up next time (or return to that particular Live Mode program) all settings in that Live program will be exactly as they were when you left them.

If the Live Mode is selected and you decide you wish to store the settings permanently as a program instead, you can do so using the standard methods (see above).

You can also store programs into anyone of the ﬁve Live Mode memory locations, in which case the program settings will replace that current Live Mode memory setting.

Press the Live Mode button again to exit the Live Mode and get back to the normal Programs.

Activate an effect

1 Activate the reverb by pressing the Reverb

button.

2 Adjust the Dry/Wet balance with the knob

above the reverb selector.

3 Activate the Delay by pressing the Delay

source button once.

4 The indicator shows the instrument that is

routed to the effect. If the Piano source LED isn’t lit, press repeatedly on the delay source button until it is lit.

5 The two Value Encoders in the ef-

fect section control the rate/tempo and the amount of the effect in focus.

Memory Protect O f f

10 | Nord Stage 2 eX USer MaNUal oS v1.7X

If you have more than one effect activated in a program, you can shift the focus by pressing the Focus button between the encoders. Focus will automatically be set when a new effect is activated.

 Hold Shift and press an effects source button repeatedly to

quickly cycle through the sources.

Activate another instrument

1 With the piano still active, press the On/Off button located below

the Synth Value Encoder. This will turn on the synthesizer and its sound will be layered on top of the piano.

All the synthesizer parameters on the panel can be adjusted if you want to edit the sound. An in-depth description of these parameters can be found in the reference chapter, starting at page 29.

 To view a parameter setting without changing it, hold the Shift but-

ton and turn the parameter’s knob. The setting in the program will be presented in the display.

The Slots

The Slot A and Slot B buttons below the Program buttons gives you instant access to two complete setups of the features on the Stage 2 EX’s panel. You can have one complete Organ/Piano/Synth/Extern/Effects setup on Slot A, and another complete setup on Slot B.

This allows you to switch in a seamless fashion between two different sounds, or to create huge programs with organs, two different pianos, two different synthesizers in layer or split keyboard setups. Let’s do a split and then expand this with an additional layer combination.

 If you press and hold a Slot button, you can copy the settings of

any other Slot in the memory, by turning the Value Dial until you ﬁnd the sound you wish to copy. Release the Slot button and the settings of the selected source will be copied to the edit buffer. Do not forget to save the new settings if you want to keep them in a Program.

Create a Split

1 Make sure that only Slot A is active. Hold Shift and press the Bank

C/Piano Init button.

This activates the Piano and sets all the effects to be routed to the Piano as well. Using an Init is a great way to quickly get a foundation when you want to create a program.

2 Press the 2 KBD Zones button, located above the Value Dial.

This divides the keyboard into two zones, with the split indicated with a green LED that lights up above the keyboard. Pressing the 3 KBD button creates three zones with two split points, each indicated by a green LED.

Set the Piano to the Upper zone

3 Hold Shift and press the Piano

Zone Select button repeatedly until the UP-HI LED’s are lit and the LO LED is off.

This assigns the Piano to the upper zone of the keyboard. Feel free to use the Octave Shift buttons if you want to transpose the piano.

Set the Synth to the Lower zone

4 Hold Shift and press the

Synth Zone Select button until the LO LED is lit and the others are off. This will activate the synth and assign it to the lower half of the keyboard.

 Hold Shift and press repeatedly on the Set Lo or Set Hi Split but-

tons to move the split points.

A : 01 : 1 Grand Italian Grand

Chapter 3 get tiNg Started | 11

Load a Synth sound

1 Hold Shift and press the Load Synth button. Let go of the buttons.

This allows you to select any of the 300 synth patches that are stored in the Synth memory area in the Nord Stage 2 EX.

2 Turn the smaller Dial under the LED display in the Synth section to

select the sound you want. The sound will immediately become active in the Synth.

3 Press Shift again to exit the Load Sound mode.

Create a Layer

Let’s add a third sound to the piano-synth split we’ve just created.

1 Activate Slot B by pressing

the Slot B button. This gives you access to another set of organ, piano, synth and effects,

2 Hold Shift and press Bank D/

Synth Init.

This will activate the synthesizer, and route all effects to the synth for Slot B.

3 Hold Shift and press the Load Synth button, and use the Osc Dial

select a sound that could be appropriate to layer on top of the piano-synth split.

Activate both Slots

4 Press and hold Slot B and

press Slot A to create the layer with both Slots controlled by the keyboard. Slot A will be the split program and Slot B will be layered on top.

The ﬂashing slot LED indicates which slot is currently active for editing on the panel. Press the other slot button if you want to shift this focus to the other slot.

Any combination of instruments, splits and layers is possible, with one exception: you can use only one organ model for both Slots A and B (B3, Vox or Farf), although you are still able to use separate and distinct settings for that one organ model on the different slots (to create, e.g., a traditional dual-manual organ setup).

 The Extern section can also be part of a split or layer scenario,

e.g. if you wish to control an external unit from just one zone.

5 Turn off a Slot combination by holding the slot button you wish to

keep and press the other slot button.

The Morph

By setting up a Morph, you can use a physical controller like the Wheel, an attached control pedal or the aftertouch on the keyboard to adjust one or several parameters, while you are playing. Let’s try this out:

1 We will Morph the drawbars with

the wheel, so start by holding Shift while pressing Bank B, the Organ Init button.

2 Make sure that the B3 model is

active and “pull out” the ﬁrst three drawbars on the left (Sub, Sub3 and Fund) by pressing the corresponding lower drawbar buttons.

If you need to push in a drawbar, use the upper drawbar button.

3 Press and hold the

Wheel button in the Morph Assign group, above the display.

4 Pull out the four right-

most drawbars all the way. The indicators will show single LEDs to indicate how much the Morph will affect the parameter.

5 Let go of the Morph

Wheel button. Play a few notes or chords, while moving the modulation wheel.

As the wheel moves, the drawbars are pulled out and the sound changes accordingly.

 One Morph source (Wheel, Control Pedal or Aftertouch) can con-

trol several parameters at once.

 A Morph source can increase one parameter’s value while

decreasing the value of another at the same time. This makes it possible, for example, to crossfade between instruments.

Read more about the Morph functionality on page 19.

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The Synthesizer

Let’s have a look at some of the features in the Stage 2 EX Synthesizer.

1 Hold Shift and press the

Bank D/Synth Init button above the display.

2 Press the Oscillator but-

ton until the sawtooth waveform is selected.

3 Play some keys and

adjust the Freq dial in the ﬁlter section.

4 Turn the Oscillator selector dial beneath Osc LED display to

audition the other waveforms that are in the sawtooth category.

5 Make sure that “dtn” is se-

lected; this is a dual sawtooth.

6 Turn the Oscillator Shape dial

to detune the two waveforms in semitone steps.

M The Shape and the Freq dials

in the Synthesizer section have the LEDs surrounding them, which indicates that they can be Morphed.

 The Shape parameter have different duties, depending on the

waveform selected. It controls for example the pulse width on some of the pulse waveforms; on some other waveforms it has no effect at all.

7 Press the Oscillator button until

Samp is selected. This is the sample playback feature.

8 Select which sample by turning

the Oscillator dial.

This is the method to use if you have added samples from the Nord Sample Library or samples that you have made yourself with the Sample Editor.

Those samples are ﬁrst selected in the oscillator. Then you can use the other synth parameters to sculpt the sound with the ﬁlter, envelopes etc.

 You can store individual synthesizer sounds, by pressing Shift

and the Vibrato button. There are 300 memory locations for synth sounds.

Arpeggio clinic

Are you ready for some action? Let’s try the Synth arpeggio.

1 Make sure that only the Synth section is turned on. Set the attack

times to 0, the decays to 250 ms, select a sawtooth waveform and open up the ﬁlter a little bit. This will produce a percussive sound.

Add some Mod Env control of the Filter Freq if you want to increase the pleasure.

2 Press the Arpeggiator On/Off button, play a chord on the

keyboard and turn the Arpeggiator Rate knob. This will play the notes you hold down, one after the other in a repeating fashion.

3 Keep holding the keys and press the Arpeggiator Direction/Range

button to select a different direction.

When no direction LED is lit, the direction is Up, from the lowest key and up to the highest and then it starts over again. The other directions are down, up and down and random.

4 Hold Shift and press the Arpeggiator button repeatedly to select

a range.

When none of the range-LEDs are lit, the range is exactly the keys you hold down. A setting of 2 extends the range by transposing the arpeggio one octave up and plays this octave after the initial octave, 3 adds yet another octave and 4 adds four octaves to the keys you play.

5 Press the Arpeggio Hold button if you want to lift your ﬁngers off

the keys and have the arpeggio continue to play.

There are some programs in the Factory setup that utilizes the arpeggio with the synthesizer on its own or together with the other instruments in the Stage 2 EX just watch for an “ARP” in a program’s name or the Arpeggio category.

Chapter 3 get tiNg Started | 13

Master Clock

Now that we have an arpeggio going, let’s try the Master Clock feature to synchronize the arpeggio and to bring in an effect as well.

1 Hold Shift and press the Arpeggiator button to lock the arpeggio

to the Master Clock, the Mst Clk LED lights up.

Don’t worry if the music stops, we’ll have it back on again soon. Keep those keys or sustain pedal down.

2 Hold Shift and press the Mst Clk button to dial in a tempo with the

Value Dial. The display will indicate the BPM. Set this to 120 BPM for this exercise. Press Shift again to Exit.

 Tap four times on the Mst Clk button to set the tempo on the ﬂy.

3 Turn the Arpeggio rate knob to select the meter subdivision (or

note values) that the arpeggio should play, look in the LCD while turning the knob. Notice how 1/4 are half the “speed “ of 1/8. T after a numerical value indicates triplets. Set the subdivision to 1/8.

4 Turn on the delay and make sure that the Synth is the source to

the delay by pressing the source button repeatedly until the Synth LED lights up.

If you carefully adjust the delay time, you could match it to ﬁt the rhythm of the arpeggio, but there is another way. Let’s synchronize the delay to the same clock as the arpeggio.

5 Hold Shift and press the Focus/Mst Clk button between the effect

dials, the Mst Clk LED lights up.

6 Turn the effect Rate/Tempo dial and look in the LCD to select the

subdivison for the delay.

7 Try 1/16, which will be half the note value or twice the “speed”

of the arpeggio. Turn up the Amount knob up to but not beyond 12 o’clock to hear the delay taps together with the arpeggiated notes.

The arpeggio, the LFO on the synth, the delay and the 2 effects can be synchronized to the Master Clock in this fashion.

And there is more, the Master Clock operates on both Slots simultaneously so you can control arpeggios, LFOs and effects on both Slot A and B.

There are many subdivisions and combinations to try out, do not forget to show yourself to your friends or family from time to time.

Some of the units have division settings that are larger than 1/1 that allows for sweeps that are longer that one bar. And you can of course synchronize some functions, while leaving others freewheeling if you like.

This completes our brief tour of the Stage 2 EX. We hope that you now have the basic knowledge and the conﬁdence to operate most of the functions on the front panel of your new instrument.

14 | Nord Stage 2 eX USer MaNUal oS v1.7X

The program section gives you access to performance functions such as recalling and storing of programs, system/menu pages etc. The four menus and their settings are covered in a separate chapter - starting on page 42. We’ll explain the features in this chapter, starting with the buttons in the program section’s lower left corner.

Transpose On/Set

You can transpose the Nord Stage 2 EX in semitone steps, with a range of +6/-6 semitones. Hold the Transpose button and set the transposition by turning the Value Dial. Press the Transpose button again to de-activate a transposition.

This feature is programmable; it will be saved and recalled as part of a program.

Slot Buttons A & B

You have two independent Slots for each program; A and B. Each Slot contains independent instances and settings of the three instrument sections and effects.

Both Slots can be activated if you want to use two instruments of the same type at the same time, like two Piano instruments or a Split Organ setup (read more about this feature on page 18).

You activate both Slots by simultaneously pressing both slot buttons. You have access to six instrument sections and eight effects sections (Effect 1 & 2, Delay and AmpSim/EQ x 2) when both slots are active.

One of the Slot buttons will ﬂash to indicate edit “focus”, that is which (of the two) Slot’s settings that are currently shown and available to be

tweaked. To switch edit focus to the other Slot, press the corresponding Slot button. To get out of a dual slot situation, hold the button of the slot that you wish to remain in focus and press the other one.

Copy settings from a slot

Press and hold one of the Slot buttons and turn the Value Dial. This action allows you to copy the settings from another Slot to the current Slot. The display will indicate which Slot of the Stage 2 EX’s entire program memory will be copied to the current Slot.

Mono Output

Hold Shift and press the Slot A/Mono Output button to set the outputs of the Stage 2 EX sound sources and effects to mono. This is a global setting, it will affect all the programs until it is deactivated or the Stage 2 EX is turned off.

M Not all sound sources will be stereo just because the Mono

Output is not active. The organ is always mono source, as are some of the pianos, and the synthesizer’s analog, FM and digital waveforms. Samples may be in stereo.

M Routing a stereo sound source to a mono effect will produce a

mono output. Read more in the Effects chapter on mono and stereo effects.

Dual KB

The Dual KB feature allow you to control Slot B with an external MIDI keyboard, connected to the MIDI Input on the Stage 2 EX.

The Stage 2 EX keyboard will control Slot A and the external keyboard will control Slot B. It is not possible to activate both Slots to be played by the Stage 2 EX’s keyboard in this mode.

This feature is ideal for live situations when you have a second keyboard in your rig and would in certain circumstances like to use the keyboard to play the Nord Stage 2 EX as a “second manual”.

Program Section

A : 01 : 1 Grand Italian Grand

Chapter 4 program SeCtion | 15

By activating Dual KB you can quickly switch between these modes without having to bother with MIDI menus. Having this function easily accessible on the front panel makes it simple to quickly enable and disable the mode, effectively switching your external keyboard in and out of the Stage 2 EX’s internal sound engines.

Another advantage with the Dual KB mode is that you can access the knobs and parameters for either panel from the Nord Stage 2 EX, while the internal keyboard is always playing Slot A, and the external keyboard controls Slot B. For example, you can keep on playing Slot A with one hand on the Stage’s keyboard while you simultaneously adjust the drawbars played with the second keyboard on Slot B.

The Dual KB setting is saved with a Program, together with all other Slot settings. This makes it easy to access any complicated keyboard setup with the push of a button - ideal for live situations.

M The MIDI Channel for the Dual KB feature is set in the MIDI Menu

on the Stage 2 EX. Read more on this on page 44.

Shift / Exit button

Many buttons have secondary functions that you can access by holding Shift and pressing the button. The Shift activated functions are always printed below the corresponding button. For example, holding Shift and pressing the Program 3 button will allow you to access the MIDI Menu parameters.

In a few cases, the shift functionality can be achieved without holding the Shift button, but instead by double-clicking a button. This works primarily with Keyboard Zone selections and Effect source selections.

 Hold Shift and turn a knob to view the stored setting of a param-

eter in the display without changing the parameters value.

 Holding Shift and pressing a selector button (with the exception of

the Piano Type button) will cycle through the settings in a counter clockwise fashion.

The Shift button also acts as an Exit button, which can be used if you want to exit a menu, or cancel a Store operation.

Live Mode

The special Live Mode can be described as “program memories that automatically and always save everything”. If you activate the Live Mode, all changes to panel settings you make will be continuously saved. If you switch the power off, or select another program, the settings are still stored in the Live memory location, so when you power up next time (or return to that Live memory) all settings will be exactly as you left them. Having 5 Live memory locations means that ﬁve independent setups can be “saved” in this way.

If a Live memory is selected and you decide you wish to store the settings permanently as a program you can do so using the standard methods (see below).

You can also store Programs into the Live memory locations, in which case the program settings will replace the current Live memory settings. Note that when you store a program into either of the Live memory locations, the stored settings will be “transferred” to Live memory, any changes you make will be stored continuously, and you will not be able to revert back to the exact settings as they were when “stored”.

Program Buttons

The 5 Program Buttons give you immediate access to all the 5 programs in a selected Program Page.

What is a program?

A program basically stores everything (except System functions which are mostly global). To understand the internal architecture in Nord Stage 2 EX, keep the following in mind:

• For each Slot, settings for all three Instruments, the four Effects, and the Extern section are independent (except the choice of organ model, which is always shared between the two slots).

• A program stores the settings for both Slot A and B, it contains independent settings for six instruments, eight effects, and two Extern setups.

• A program also stores all settings from the Extern menu, except the Extern A & B MIDI channels and the Send on Load setting (read more on this in the Extern Menu chapter on page 45), and the output routings for each instrument (read more on this on page 42).

• The Global effects (Compressor/Reverb) and the Rotary effect affect both Panels, and the settings for these are stored with the program.

• Splits, layers (Keyboard Zones) and Morph assignments are also part of a Program.

System, Sound, MIDI, Extern

The Program buttons are also used to enter the 4 menus, if you press any of the ﬁrst four while holding the Shift button. The settings in the menus are described in the Menu chapter that begins on page 42.

Panic

Hold Shift and press the 5th Program Button to execute an internal All Notes Off message and reset of some of the performance parameters. This can be used if notes gets stuck and sounds all the time during a MIDI- or live performance.

Store, Store As….

The Store button is used when you want to store an edited program, when you want to rename a program or when you want to change a program’s category. Storing a program will overwrite the existing program in the selected memory location.

M When the Nord Stage 2 EX is shipped from factory, Memory

Protect is set to “On”. To be able to store Programs, you need to change this to “Off”, read more on how to do this on page 10. The Memory Protect function does not affect the Live Mode memories.

A : 01 : 1 Grand Italian Grand

16 | nord Stage 2 eX USer manUal oS v1.7X

Storing a Program

To store a program without changing its name or category, proceed as follows:

1 Press the Store button once. The Store button and the currently

selected program button indicator starts blinking, and the display will read “Store to X: X : X” (the current Bank, Page and program number), and the program name.

2 Next step is to select a Bank/Page/Program location to store the

edited program to. Use the Bank, Page and the Program buttons to select a location, or browse by turning the Value Dial. You can also store a Program to one of the 5 Live memories. The settings in the programs that you browse will become active, which allows you to verify by playing on the Stage 2 EX that it is safe to overwrite a program.

E To cancel an ongoing Store operation, press Exit (Shift).

3 When you have found a location for your new Program, press

Store again to conﬁrm your intentions. The display conﬁrms with a “Program Stored!” message for a short duration.

Naming a program

Naming a program and/or changing a program’s category is done with the Store As… procedure:

1 Hold Shift and press the Store As... button once. The Store button

indicator starts ﬂashing, and the upper row in display will read “Name”, the current category to the right and the current name on the lower row.

2 Turn the Value Dial to change the category.

3 Press the Page 4button to move the cursor to the ﬁrst character

in the name.

4 Use one of the following methods to name your program:

• You can move the cursor position left or right by using the Program Page buttons.

• When the cursor is at the position where you want to enter/change a character, you can use the Value Dial to scroll through all available characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, space and a hyphen “-”).

• By holding down Shift and pressing the Ins (Page 4) button, you enter a blank space at the cursor position.

• By holding down Shift and pressing the Del (Page 3) button, you erase the character at the cursor position.

• Alternatively, you can press and hold down the KB Zones 2 or 3 button. This will bring up the characters in the display with the focus on the character the cursor was last on. Use the Value Dial to select a character at the current cursor position. When you release the KB Zone button the cursor automatically moves to the next position.

5 Press Store again and then use the same methods as outlined in

“Storing a Program” above to store your name with the program.

E To cancel an ongoing Store operation, press Exit (Shift).

 Naming Programs and setting categories can also be done with

the Nord Sound Manager.

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