Nord releases new, free J3PO Signature Sound Bank of patches for Stage 3

If you are not already familiar with J3PO, you really should be. Julian “J3PO” Pollack is a composer, producer and pianist who has actively been releasing albums and other material since his debut in 2004. His style of playing primarily consists of bending and combining jazz, classical and pop music and is absolutely worth a listen. And rightfully so, over the past few months he has been working diligently on a brand new series of sound patches for a bank of 50 in partnership with Nord, as an exclusive release for their Stage 3 keyboard which hit the scene in the middle of 2017. This is a great partnership to have taken place, since Nord has been one of the leading manufacturers and biggest names in pro and high-end keyboard releases for a very long time.

The new J3PO signature sound bank comes as a series of 50 unique voices for the Nord Stage 3, consisting of tones that are very close to home and typical to the style of J3PO. At the forefront of the new sound bank are electric piano patches, which draw a heavy influence from early progressive soul, experimental hip-hop and other lo-fi keyboard sounds popularized in the 80’s but still stretch well into modern day. In the video above, we hear a really laid-back example of an R&B type patch which is also paired with a soothing vinyl crackle — something that we imagine would be very fun to play around with even just by ones-self.

As a whole, the full bank of 50 patches is divided into 6 unique sub-sections:

• Vinyl/Lo-Fi Keyboards
• Hip-Hop/The Lesson
• Retrowave/80s Synths
• Weird Things
• Leads/Arps/Miscellaneous
• Bass + Keys Patches

While we are not sure of the exact division, on average this leaves the user with 8-9 patches per section to play around with, and alter themselves using the plethora of modulation effects and other knobs that come with the Nord Stage 3. Once again, this patch is available as a free download, (unfortunately) exclusively to current (or future) owners of the Nord Stage 3 keyboard. If you are a current owner, and would like to check out the new J3PO Signature Sound Bank for yourself, you can learn more and download it here. If you are not yet a Nord Stage 3 owner, you can find one for yourself here through Amazon for $4,199.