Nord Electro 3, 73-Key Electronic Stage Piano and Organ (AMS-NE373) Review

I sold my Electro 2 so I could partially buy the latest model. After using it a few weeks it's clear how much better it could have been. Here are the good and bad:

Good:
- New sounds including Vox Continental, Farfisa, harpsichords and samples.
- Better Hammond organ sound.
- Better piano sounds but they take up a lot of memory and do not have keyboard resonance features of the Nord Stage EX.
- Sample software allows you to create your own sounds, organize your patches and is easy to use.
- More built-in effects including reverb, compression and 3 different amplifier distortions.
- USB MIDI interface.

Bad:
- Limiting up/down buttons plus A/B patch selector makes it difficult to get to the sounds you want quickly. The Electro 2 had 8 buttons plus bank up/down which is more useable.
- Unergonomic button layout makes navigation difficult. For example, the shift button is too far from the organ presets making it impossible to play and switch presets at the same time.
- Lack of effect amount knobs as on the Electro 2. You are stuck with toggling through only 3 preset amount settings.
- Ring modulation should not be an oscillator like tremelo. The Electro 2 is correct.
- New Vox and Farfisa sounds aren't that accurate.
- Only 64 MB of onboard sample library memory means you'll be limited to how many sounds you can use at a time.
- Sample software is limiting and doesn't allow for more than one sample per key, assigning polyphony, glide (portamento) or other patch functions.
- No pitch wheel. Nord provides many synthesizer samples but, there's no way to control them. The Electro 3 cannot receive pitch bend MIDI commands from another keyboard either.
- No modulation wheel. Why bother having any synthesizer sounds without modulation.
- Same non-weighted keyboard feels junky.
- Expensive.

[DW]

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Product Description:
How do you improve on a classic performance keyboard like the original Electro? You could take it gently, or you just do what Nord did with the Electro 3; push it as far as you can, and then a bit further. The demands from a performing keyboard player haven't really changed all that much, good quality never goes out of style. They just want to offer you some of the best stuff they have, in a affordable and easy-to-use instrument. They hope that you will have as much fun owning and using the Electro 3, as they have had developing it. The Nord Electro 3 is compatible with the new Nord Piano library. It takes full advantage of the Library's multitude of velocity layers, pedal-down samples and extremely high quality samples providing you with an unprecedented expressiveness. Any current or future piano that is available for the Stage family will also automatically be available to the Nord Electro 3.

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Clavia Nord Electro 2 61-Key Stage Piano/Organ Review

For the gigging keyboardist, the Electro 61 falls somewhere between a Godsend and a no-brainer.It's hard to avoid hyperbole when discussing this instrument, but anyone who has toted a Hammond rig and a Wurlie and a controller and peripherals and every other blasted thing will get my drift.For 29 years, I've been condemned to driving a cargo van full of vintage keys which weren't designed to leave the living room in the first place.I've herniated myself in the process, and was almost killed in a rear-end collision that flipped my 'B' upside down.I have made every effort to 'scale down' -- Korg CX3, Micro B, Roland VK7, Oberheim, Hammond XM3, and oddball stuff.All of the aforementioned fell woefully short of Hammond heaven, and of course, didn't offer any EP features or anything else.

The buzz about the Nord was intriguing, so I checked one out at a local store.Typically, the young, cooler-than-thou clerk could barely get the thing to power up, and I was pretty much left to navigate on my own.But five minutes on the Electro made me a believer (of COURSE I ordered one online -- any dope on the floor of a music store who can't get a keyboard that produces five sounds to work doesn't get his commission from me).

Here goes (note -- run this guy stereo, even if ya have to buy a little PA to do so): the Hammond end of things is simply exquisite.I did a little EQ stuff (the Electro features EQ and presence knobs on the dashboard.What a concept!You know, you can actually tweak your sound during performance...), rolled back the key click, and entered my own registrations.Fat, juicy, and soulful.Big, even in the high harmonics.Not a trace of cheese.Outlandish chorus.Completely persuasive percussion.The best Leslie ever, and I don't mean 'pretty good.'It sounds like the real deal.I personally don't have an issue with the 'draw-buttons' and I like controlling the Leslie speed via footswitch.The last thing I want is another broken bakelite switch hanging pitifully on my 'board.

Rhodes: ya want Richard Tee?Yassah."Just the Way You Are?" (you'll actually want to play the old warhorse) -- roger roger.Steely Dan ala Victor Feldman and/or "Nightfly" stuff?Yes jones.Through the Electro, younger players might actually discover what a Rhodes really sounds like.Twenty years of screaching over-cranked synth knockoffs did the Rhodes sound no favors.

Wurlie: intitially, I couldn't find one quite 'mean' enough, but five minutes with 'presence' did the trick.Early Ray, in a big way.A little tremolo and it's Mussel Sholes central.Just like my 200.Plays like it too.Light, but CONFIDENT feeling.

Clavs: good grief.Perfect.

CP80:Back in the day, I wanted one desperately.But, of course, like every thing else back in the day, I coudn't afford one.Now I OWN one.I LOVE it.Newbies probably won't 'get' the CP80, but us old timers will have our fun.

Piano: contrary to most opinions, I think the piano is very good.I don't like it as well as my Kurweil 1200 Pro I, but it's entirely usable.I re-EQed it, rolling off some of the not-so-pleasant highs.Prior to a gig recently, I played some standards using the piano sound.I was testing the waters to see if the relatively short keyboard and on-board piano would work for jobbing.Absolutely.It won't cut stride, but an Evans-esque approach is A-OK.

Conclusion: the Electro 61 is hands-down the most impressive and exciting 'keyboard' I've ever owned, and I have had a ton of stuff.Unlike a synth, it is designed for the player to make music on it.In that sense, it is a bonafide musical instrument.

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Product Description:
The Nord Electro 2 is the next big step in the development of the Nord Electro series of stage keyboards. Among the features of the Electro 2 you'll find the new Mega Clavinet sound which offers all the filter and pick-up variations of the original Clavinet D6! This means that you'll be able to access no less than 60 + 4 different Clavinet D6 sounds in the Electro 2!Thanks to the remade piano sample playback engine, the polyphony for the piano sounds is now greatly enhanced. The new piano sample playback engine also made it possible for Nord to digitally model the sounds you get when you release keys on a piano instrument. For example, the Clavinet and the Wurlitzer have very characteristic key release sounds. In Nord Electro 2 this is very faithfully modeled. The new sample playback engine also allows for playback of stereo pianos. In the new factory sound library Clavia has included a great new Acoustic Grand piano - in stereo. The Electro 2 also features great new vintage-style effects in the Effects section. Nord has also beefed up the Overdrive distortion to sound more like an overdriven tube amplifier.Nord Electro 2 fully supports USB download of Nord Electro piano samples. Now you will be able to download new piano instrument samples using Nord's specially developed Electro Tool sample dump program for Mac and PC! Additional piano sounds are available on the CD-R that comes with the Nord Electro 2 and also for download at www.clavia.se - free of charge! More...

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