The Nord Stage 3 offers everything you will ever need as a keyboardist in your live church group or live on the bandstage..

Its an Organ, a piano, a synth, a Rampler and a masterkey all at once..
Rampler meaning you can download your whole own sample set end get rid of the build in samples.. its easy to create a new setup for each new performance, so you will never sound the same twice..

Check out an advanced tutorial with indepth information trough the link.. it almost lasts an hour and its a great watch and really gives you a clue about the instrument..

http://keyszone.boards.net/thread/426/advanced-tutorial-nord-stage-3

And for one man bands, all you need to add is an SD40 and you have a near perfect arranger.. you can controll arranger left hand and right hand trough the 2 external channels and mix and match with the nord stage...

If Ketron ever decides to bring an SD90 pro... things will really get you to the highest level of arranger playing..

It's a great piece of gear, but having to use a separate arranger module takes out out of the running for "ultimate" status ... at least, for me. My days of separate drum machines are over

Dave..........didn't you just say something like whatever you have to do to entertain an audience, you'll do? Just sayin'.

Guilty ... with exceptions.

If you want an 88 highend key for stage use with high end arranger build in... you will not find any at all... so you are comvicted to use a 2nd keyboard or a module..

Sad but true...

However for 88 keys the Nord is quite light (13 kg) and the SD40 is less then 2kgs,,, so using this combo will not be to much of a handling issue... altough, i do understand that the extra cables and setup time might be a problemo..

Bacus, you are an expensive influence on some of us on this forum!!! That Nord keyboard is very appealing! Your idea of using it with an SD40 is good, too, though I like using vArranger. As expensive as it is, still it is not even half the cost of any high end accordion. I am looking at an Bugari Evo - a Roland digital accordion in the body of an acoustic accordion. The Evo is over $7,000. I know that the Roland V stage digital piano is $7,000.

Bugari Evo accordions

Torch....that's a real pretty, quality looking accordion there, except I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with black keys.

I don't understand. There are no reeds in it....only the Roland sound engine? What I'm hearing is the electronic sound....NOT any reeds?

Have you seen a demo of anyone playing Musette on one of those accordions. Even Uwe sounds subdued.

Mark

You think that one is pretty? Look at these wood finish models at the bottom.

The Evo is essentially a Roland FR8x accordion. As for musette sounds, they are very easy to emulate. You can look for the Roland FR8x accordion on Youtube.

Thou I'm a pianist, I enjoy playing a digital accordion. A digital accordion makes a very good, powerful midi controller, too. You can do things on the accordion that are not possible on a keyboard. Still, I am not too happy that accordionists have to pay a lot more for a lot less.