Nord Stage 4 Review: Nord's Flagship Stage Keyboard, and Who It Suits

Organs: two organ layers with Nord's C2D model of a B3 tonewheel organ, Vox Continental and Farfisa models and two pipe organs, played from physical drawbars with LED bars beside them. Nord adds a B3 bass mode, percussion, and vibrato and chorus controls.

Synths: three synth layers from Nord's Wave 2 engine with sample playback, 1 GB of memory for the Nord Sample Library and 46-voice polyphony. The oscillators cover analog waves, digital waves, FM and samples, with filters, three envelopes, an LFO and an arpeggiator that can follow the master clock.

Effects: each layer has its own effects: two modulation effects (Mod 1 includes the new Pump sidechain effect), a delay, amp and speaker models, a filter, an equalizer, a rotary speaker, a compressor and six reverbs. Nord lists up to three split points, so the keyboard can be four zones.

Pedals: the 88 and 73 come with Nord's Single Pedal 1. The sustain input also takes the Sustain Pedal 2, whose continuous sensor gives half-damping and the pianos' pedal noise, and a 5-pin connector takes the Triple Pedal 2, whose left and middle pedals can also switch layer scenes, programs, the rotor speed or the Pump effect, per Nord. There are inputs for a rotor pedal, an organ swell pedal, a control pedal and a foot switch too.

Connections: four assignable 1/4-inch outputs (unbalanced), a 1/4-inch headphone jack, a 1/8-inch monitor input, MIDI in and out on 5-pin connectors, and USB for MIDI, updates and sound transfer. There are no speakers, and Nord lists no audio over USB.

Programs: 512 program locations in 8 banks, 8 Live Programs, and two layer scenes in each program for switching sounds with one button. A master clock with tap tempo keeps the arpeggiator, the LFO and the delays in time.

Sound On Sound sums up the biggest change as the layout: the Stage 3's two panels gave way to seven layers side by side, with two scenes in each program. Mixdown notes what a Stage 3 owner leaves behind: the Stage 4 uses a new file format, so older programs don't transfer, and the Song List mode is gone.

Nord no longer makes the Stage 3. If you're weighing a used Stage 3 or Stage 2, our guide to Nord's pianos and the Nord Stage line covers the older models.

Sound On Sound (Gordon Reid, reviewing the 88) calls the new layout the big step forward: seven sounds to mix freely, and two scenes in each program. He praises the pianos' compressor and unison, the physical drawbars and new bass mode, the synth's per-layer arpeggiators and the effects, and rates the build highly. His complaints: the synth envelopes are still three-stage, the split points are set by Nord, there are no balanced outputs and no audio over USB, the Triple Pedal costs extra, and the flexibility adds complexity. He'd choose the 88 for mostly piano work and the Compact for organ and synth.

Mixdown (Simon Lewis, who has owned Nord Stages since the first one in 2005) praises the mixer-style sliders, effects that can go on any layer in any combination, the drawbars on every model, the detail in the pianos and the triple-sensor keybed, and calls it a reliable instrument. He regrets the new file format, which leaves older sounds behind, and the loss of the Song List mode.

Both reviews name the price as the main barrier. We don't quote prices; the button opens the current Amazon offer.