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DESCRIPTION
For sale is this Nord Stage 2 HA88 with professional, customised paintwork by Jeff Toman of CustomSynth. If you’re a fan of the Nord sound but either find candy-apple red a bit garish, or just want a uniquely cool take on a fantastic keyboard, then this “Dark Star” version sets the bar. Also included are custom studio samples of some rare, unusual electronic synths and keyboards.
OVERVIEWUnder the custom paint-job this is a Nord Stage 2 HA88 the full-sized, piano action version of Nord’s Stage 2. It has all the (superb) performance and studio capabilities of the Stage 2, including a comprehensive drawbar and transistor Organ section, the amazing Pianos that have made Nord famous, and a very hands-on, excellent-sounding Synth section (with Sample playback). Each of these sections is duplicated so that layers and splits are possible in multiple combinations (if you really go to town, you can have 2 Organs, 2 Pianos and 2 Synths playing simultaneously…).
The piano action is gorgeous to play and very responsive, bringing the best out of the onboard sounds; and the hands-on control of the Organ and Synth panels makes sound editing and creation very intuitive and immediate.
The piano sounds are of course outstanding. There is an impressive and growing selection of them downloadable, for free, from Nord’s website; plus additional synth samples, Mellotron samples, Optigans and so on; and a wealth of orchestral and acoustic samples too. For me, it’s a huge breath of fresh air to have so many excellent upright pianos represented, as well as the more typical Bosendorfer / Steinway grands uprights often sit way better in the mix in rock, roots and blues tracks, adding something unique and more personal. There are also some absolutely excellent Electric Pianos and Electric Grands. (Really, their website is an Aladdin’s cave of cool machines to browse and download into your Stage 2…) The Organ section has you covered for both transistor and tonewheel organ types, and can be mellow or brash as you want it it’s so easy to dial in rock organs, jazz organs, big swirly Hammonds or angry barking Voxes. Hours of fun there.
The Synth section is very immediate and quick to use. It’s not massively complicated, but that’s very often a good thing, since the controls Nord give you are very much to the point. Standout feature is the Unison button, which instantly duplicates and detunes any Synth or Sampler sound to one of three levels giving you subtle thickening, huge lush pads, or searing supersaw-style leads with a single tweak. It’s this kind of clever simplicity that makes the Synth pane so rewarding, because you spend your time getting huge, fat sounds out of it with minimal effort.
As the icing on the cake, included with the Dark Star are a number of unusual, customised samples created in our studio which you’re free to use or replace as you wish. Some of these come from covetable vintage synthesizers, string machines and other analogue goodies in our collection. Others are the core analogue waveforms of classic synths, which work extremely well substituted for the onboard synth waves if you want to go the extra mile in search of vintage vibe. If they’re not to your taste you can of course erase them and download whatever you like from the Nord library, but if vintage electronic instruments are your bag, these will give you an excellent and unique starting palette from which to explore the synth’s sound design capabilities and you won’t find these anywhere else.
ABOUT THE PAINT JOBThe black paintwork, gloss black end-cheeks and “Dark Star” logo were created and silkscreened professionally by Jeff Toman of CustomSynth, whose work is known worldwide and graces the keyboard collections of some global stars. In this case, he’s taken an already beautiful machine and made it extraordinarily cool.
CONDITIONThe Stage 2 is in perfect working order; all controls function exactly as they should. Cosmetically it’s in excellent condition please see the photos. It has never been gigged and has been kept in a smoke-free professional studio environment since purchase.
SHIPPINGI am based in Spain and the item will be shipped from Valencia.Postage to the UK will cost 110 by TNT Economy.
Postage within mainland Spain will cost approximately 94 by UPS, depending on your exact address: if you buy from within Spain, I will invoice you for the purchase price plus this amount.
Worldwide buyers please CONTACT ME for a shipping quote: I can let you know how much it will cost, and if you buy I’ll invoice you the full amount including delivery 🙂
The item will be packed in a proper Nord Stage box with the original packaging for transport ie, exactly how Nord send them out of the factory.
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Category: Musical Instruments:Keyboards and Pianos:Electronic Keyboards
Location: Valencia