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From Our Research Team:

Rich Piano, Organ, and Synth Sounds - Plus Incredible Effects!

Nord's Stage EX 88 offers up the best of their award-winning technologies, with premium organ, piano, and synthesizer sounds at its heart. Anyone who's seen or played a Nord will feel right at home in front of the Stage EX 88 - its got that same sleek-red vibe as well as an ultra-tweakable panel above the keys, for taking you inside its rich sounds and generous effects section. What's more, Nord's famous smooth-moving pitch stick and modulation wheel are onboard the Nord Stage EX 88, for expressive playing.

Nord Stage EX 88 at a Glance:

• Incredible sounds - an organ section, a piano section, and a synth section
  
• Premium organ section with three different organs
  
• Piano section with six essential piano sound groups
  
• Powerful synthesizer section with up to nine oscillators per voice
  
• Designed to be a master keyboard, thanks to its Extern Section
  
• Rich effects section, including delays, reverbs, rotary speaker, and more

Incredible sounds - and extensive control over them
Whether it's a spot-on B3 organ sound you're after, a killer stage piano, or a ton of seriously thick synth leads and soundscapes, you'll find all that - and more - on the Nord Stage EX 88. Plus, in addition to its awesome soundset, in Nord tradition you've got a lot of hands-on control over them. It's easy to navigate between sounds, create keyboard zones, and take charge, thanks to the Nord Stage EX 88's dedicated "zones" on the main panel for each sound section.

Premium organ section with three different organs
The Nord Stage EX 88 gives you not just one, but three different organs, including their famous B3 Organ model. Based on models of 91 tonewheels, you'll enjoy full polyphony, and a natural warmness full of overtones. What's more, Nord has managed to capture the unique frequency characteristics of classic B3 organs' built-in preamplifier, so you'll get the real "body" of the B3 sound. There are nine "draw buttons" on the Nord Stage EX 88, and LED bar graphs on each draw button ensure that you have the correct drawbar settings after changing presets. Beside the B3 model, the Nord Stage EX 88 sports two famous transistor organ models from the '60s, the Vox Continental and the Farfisa Compact.

Piano section with six essential sound groups
Nord remains committed to delivering exceptional-quality models, and that's just what you can expect with the rich collection of pianos. Recorded at multiple velocity levels - and even with samples of key-releases - you'll enjoy all of those subtle nuances across the dynamic range, plus that sound of dampers returning when you lift the keys. There are six main sound groups - Grand Pianos, Upright Pianos, Electric Grand, Wurlitzer, Clavinet, and Electric Pianos. In the acoustic piano section, Nord even recorded all the pianos with the sustain pedal down - that way, you get the sympathetic string resonance that naturally occurs on acoustic pianos. And as for the Clavinet section, it has an equalizer of its own, which mimics the original D6 tone tabs, and even includes four Clavinet pickup selections. Nord also designed the Nord Stage EX 88's piano section to be extremely flexible - you can actually replace any piano with sounds from Clavia's library of piano samples, just by using the keyboard's USB port and Nord Stage Manager software on Mac or PC.

Powerful synthesizer section with up to nine oscillators per voice
There's no question that Nord knows synthesis. And with the Nord Stage EX 88, they set out to build their most powerful "mini synth" section yet, with the ultimate aim to make a beastly synth that was still as easily manageable as the Organ and Piano sections. In the end, you get a multi-oscillator synth with up to 9 oscillators per voice - all controlled from one button and one knob. From pads to leads to bass patches - they're all there. There are Classic Analog Synthesis with dual saw, hard sync, and pulse wave modulation; 3-operator FM synthesis with 32 different modulation frequencies; and Wavetable Synthesis with 32 waveforms. What's more, you can use the Unison knob to fatten up your sound - or use the 12/24dB Lowpass Filter with resonance, an Amp envelope, a Modulation envelope, an LFO, and a 2-band equalizer, to sculpt your sound. Each bank - Synth, Pad, and Bass - holds up to 100 sound programs.

Designed to be a master keyboard, thanks to its Extern Section
The Nord Stage EX 88 is built to be a master keyboard, thanks to its "Extern" Section. Any MIDI-connected gear integrates seamlessly with the Stage's built-in instruments. Plus, you can handle zones, splits, and layers just like the external equipment was a part of the Stage. All of the settings are saved together into a program, so you can recall advanced setups in real-time during a performance.

Rich effects section, including delays, reverbs, rotary speaker, and more
To give the Nord Stage EX 88's sounds that extra bit of customized dimension, you can explore the Stage's huge effects section. In fact, you can actually route the three instrument sections individually through the unit's built-in effects. And all the effects are easy to control and turn on and off. Effects Unit One lets you choose from Tremolo, Auto-Wah or Auto-pan. Unit Two features two Phasers, two Flangers, and two Choruses - all modeled from classic stompboxes. In addition, there's a delay unit, which lets you dial achieve everything from echoes to slap-back effects, and there's a ping-pong mode and tap tempo built in as well. Other effects include an EQ/Amp simulator, which puts you a 3-band equalizer and classic speaker cabinets; a Rotary Speaker Emulation; and a Master Effects section with compression and reverb.

Nord Stage EX 88 Features:

• Master Level Control
  
• Wooden Pitch Stick
  
• Modulation Wheel
  
• 21 x 6 Program Locations
  
• Two Live Buffers
  
• Two Individual Panel Setups
  
• Three Morph sources (Modulation Wheel, Control Pedal, Aftertouch)

Organ Section

• B3 Tone Wheel Organ-, Vox Continental- and Farfisa-models with full polyphony
  
• Nine Digitally Controlled Drawbars
  
• Percussion Controls
  
• Vibrato / Chorus Control
  
• 2-Part Multitimbral (2 manuals)

Piano Section

• Two Acoustic Grands
  
• One Upright Piano
  
• Three Electric Pianos (Mk I, II, V)
  
• Wurlitzer A200 Electric Piano
  
• Clavinet D6
  
• CP-80 Electric Grand
  
• 40-60 Voices Polyphony
  
• Four Selectable Velocity Curves
  
• Clavinet EQ Controls
  
• 2-Part Multitimbral

Synth Section

• Analog synthesis: 10 Modeling Waveforms - including Dual Saw, Hard Sync and PWM
  
• FM synthesis: 2- and 3-operator FM Synthesis
  
• Wavetables synthesis: 77 waveforms
  
• 16 Voices Polyphony
  
• Unison Control - with no reduction in polyphony
  
• Timbre Controls
  
• Amplitude Envelope
  
• Modulation Envelope
  
• 12/24dB Lowpass Filter with Resonance
  
• 300 Memory Locations, Three Categories
  
• 2-Band Equalizer
  
• 2-Part Multitimbral

Common Parameters

• Level Control
  
• Zone (split assignment) Control

Instrument Effects

• Unit One: Ring Modulator, Tremolo, Pan, Wah 1, Wah 2, AutoWah
  
• Unit Two: Two Flangers, Two Phasers, Two Choruses; Delay includes Ping Pong and Tap-Tempo Function
  
• Amplifier/Speaker Simulation: Three types of Speaker simulations, 3-band Equalizer and Overdrive
  
• Rotary Speaker: Selectable Speed and Overdrive

Master Effects

• Compressor
  
• Reverb - Five Algorithms

Keyboard

• Hammer Action Weighted Keys
  
• Aftertouch
  
• Supports Three Split Zones with Visual LED Indication

Connections:

• Four Assignable Audio Outputs
  
• Stereo Headphone Output
  
• Sustain Pedal
  
• Rotor Pedal
  
• Organ Swell Pedal
  
• Control Pedal
  
• MIDI In
  
• MIDI Out
  
• USB

Included Accessories:

• Owner's Manual
  
• Sustain Pedal
  
• Power Cord
  
• Nord CD/DVD-ROM
  
• USB Cord

Weight/Dimensions

• 51" x 4.5" x 13"
  
• 41 lbs.

The Nord Stage EX 88 gives you premium organ, piano, and synthesizer sounds - plus all the performance and effects control you need onstage!

Specification Detail Manufacturer Part Number NSEX88