Clavia, manufacturer of Nord keyboards, has released upgrades for their Electro and Stage series instruments.

Nord Stage OS version 2.0 adds new features and makes overall improvements to the entire instrument. The Piano sounds have been adjusted and improved for an even more realistic sound, and piano voice allocation making audible stealing virtually non-existent. The sustain pedal function is greatly enhanced. When you play a note with the pedal down, a pedal-down sample is played. When the pedal is released the note reverts to a pedal-up sample. This feature makes pedal playing even more realistic than before.

Two additional reverb algorithms have been added, and the delay effect has been greatly improved. The analog waveforms in the Synth Section have been greatly enhanced, and the Unison function adds classic two-voice unison to its multi-voice function. Output routing has also been enhanced. You can choose outputs for Piano and Synth Sections independently for both Panels, as well as choose the organ output routing. Route settings can be stored globally or independently with each program.

Two new piano samples have been added to the Stage library, too. A 66 megabyte Deluxe version of the stock Yamaha C7 adds more velocity layers, thus more realism and clarity. A 32 megabyte close-miced version of the Steinway D sample is also available, which will become the stock Steinway sound for newly manufactured Stage models.

Software and sample downloads for the Stage are available for free at the Clavia site.

Nord Electro version 3.0 is also available now.

The Rotary Speaker simulation has been tuned to give a slightly brighter sound. The organ and piano sections now have individual settings for the effects On/Off parameter. This makes it easier to use the "instrument selector" to switch between organ and piano sounds since the effects routing is remembered. Three different settings for the "Rotary Speaker" acceleration and retardation was implemented. A setting of "1" corresponds to the previously used characteristic.

The new operating system is available at the Clavia site.

The sample format has changed to make it possible to include two of the grand pianos from the Nord Stage sample library into the Nord Electro's library. The two new grands are a Yamaha C7 and a Steinway D.

All Nord Stage and Nord Electro update utilities, samples, and sound managers are available for use with the latest versions of Windows XP and Mac OSX, and are free of charge.