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The acclaimed Nord Organ is back – reborn and reimagined as the all-new Nord Organ 3.

The 2025 NAMM Show is fast approaching, and manufacturers of all manner of musical instruments and studio gear are unveiling new products in advance of the show.

Hot on the reel of the news that Ashun Sound Machines (ASM), makers of the Hydrasynth parent company MEDELI Electronics has applied for a US patent for the name ‘Leviasynth’. Clavia has announced the release of Nord Organ 3, a rebranded sequel to its Nord C2D electronic organ – first released all the way back in 2012 – that promises “massive improvements” to sound, design and performance.

The Nord Organ 3 with improved organ engine, new modulation effects and rotary speaker emulation.

The dual-manual Nord Organ 3 boasts a dramatically redesigned front panel that now occupies the breadth of its 61-key triple-sensor keyboard, with an OLED display in the centre and four sets of physical drawbars, equipped with LEDs that helpfully indicate the drawbar settings of the current preset.

Organ 3’s organ engine has also received a considerable overhaul, with its enhanced Hammond B3 emulation now featuring an improved chorus and vibrato and both Farfisa and Vox organ models receiving an upgrade: Clavia says the engine now offers an “unsurpassed level of detail and realism”. Alongside these we have two unique pipe organ emulations, and new synth bass options based on classic pedal synths.

The instrument’s effects section has been bolstered with an all-new spring reverb, an expanded reverb section with six reverb types, an analogue delay mode and new modulation effects, including phaser, tremolo, ring mod, flanger and chorus. There’s also a brand new rotary speaker emulation onboard with multiple mic placement options and drive modes available.

Shipping in May, Nord Organ 3 is now available to order and priced at $3290/£3222/€3799. Find out more on Nord website.

A new Kawai keybed makes the Nord Grand 2 feel like a piano, but with advanced layering options, it can also sound like a synth – ‘A genuinely unique experience’

Ahead of the 2024 NAMM Show, being held January 25-28, 2024 in Anaheim, California, Clavia has announced the Nord Grand 2, with the latest generation premium Hammer Action keybed from Kawai.

Here’s what they say about it:

“We are happy to introduce a new generation of our acclaimed Grand series, the Nord Grand 2!

The Nord Grand 2 features the latest generation premium Hammer Action keyboard from Kawai. Combining the responsive feel of an acoustic grand piano with our world renowned Sound Libraries and a tactile user interface, the sleek and elegant Nord Grand 2 offers a genuinely unique experience”.

Clavia has so many great Nord keyboards, each of which is designed for a slightly different kind of player, that it would be hard to classify one as the definitive ‘flagship’. The Nord Grand is certainly in the mix, though, and it’s now been updated to version 2.

This is no mere software revision, either: the Nord Grand 2 has a new and improved Kawai responsive hammer keybed with triple sensors for accurate tracking of hammer movement. As such, you can expect the instrument to feel even more like an acoustic piano.

Advanced layering options have also been added: you can now stack two pianos and two sample synths (as opposed to one of each on the original Nord Grand), and you get dedicated LED faders for each layer. There are further easy-access knobs and buttons for configuring layers and splits, adding effects or transposing.

Each layer has its own dedicated effects section (there are new reverb, delay, amp sim and modulation processors), and you can set up to seven split points across the keyboard. These are indicated with LED lights, and Split Point Crossfades enable you to transition smoothly between them.

This being a Nord instrument, it almost goes without saying that the sounds will be top-notch. The grands, uprights and electric pianos come from the Nord Piano Library, also benefiting from new features such as Dynamic Compression and Unison.

The Sample Synth section has almost twice the memory of the one in the original Nord Grand, and includes a raft of new and updated sounds. You can control the attack, decay/release and dynamic velocity response, while the Soft and Bright settings give you another fast tone-shaping option.

You can expect greater realism from the wind, brass and string instruments, too, with a Tru-Vibrato feature promising to accurately model each one’s vibrato characteristics. Unison, meanwhile, can create ensemble-type sounds by blending multiple sample voices.

Given the continued absence of pitch and mod wheels, it’s clear that Clavia is still targeting the Nord Grand 2 at pianists rather than deep synthesists.

The Nord Grand 2 price around $3,699/£3,599. Find out more on the Nord Keyboards website.

Is this the best performance keyboard on the market?

Clavia, the Swedish manufacturer behind Nord keyboards, on 15 February teased an update to its flagship performance keyboard, the Nord Stage 3.

Today, Clavia has officially announced the release of the Nord Stage 4. The instrument has been revamped with a new control panel design, an improved keybed, expanded effects section, an updated synth engine and more, making it a strong contender for one of the best performance keyboards on the market.

The Stage 4 new control panel design is aimed at making the instrument more intuitive to use and features a completely new layout and dedicated LED faders for each sound layer, with the majority of knobs and switches controlling one dedicated parameter. The keyboard has been equipped with a new preset library, to make accessing sounds quicker and easier.

The instrument keybed has been redesigned, an improvement many Nord fans were hoping for. The previous generation’s keyboard has been replaced by a triple-sensor hammer action keybed with aftertouch, with the triple-sensor technology constituting the update.

The Stage 4 Piano Library has been bolstered with an enhanced collection of grands, uprights and electric pianos, while the instrument’s synth engine has been upgraded to operate using Nord’s Wave 2 technology, taken from their synthesizer of the same name. This offers virtual analogue, FM, wavetable and sample-based synthesis, an updated arpeggiator, and an expanded stock sample library with an increased 1GB of onboard memory.

Nord new keyboard has also been outfitted with physical drawbars to control the onboard organ emulator, a feature taken from the Stage 3 Compact that was notably absent on the Stage 3. The effects section has been improved significantly, delivering a complete and independent set-up of effects for each sound layer. The new pump effect allows for tempo-synced or pedal-controlled sidechain modulation, while an upgraded reverb has been bolstered by spring, booth and cathedral settings.

The Stage 4 comes in three different models: an 88-key version, a 73-key version, and the Nord Stage 4 Compact, a smaller and more portable 73-key edition. Clavia has also announced the release of a new premium pedal range that controls a variety of the Stage 4’s new features.

The Stage 4 88 is retailing at $5699/£4399, with the Stage 4 73 coming in at $5399/£4111 and the Stage 4 Compact at $4899/£3869.

Find out more on Clavia website.