Hello everyone,
First, thank you for accepting my request to join the group. Maybe someone can help me.
I'm getting back to playing in a band after many years off. I need to compose a lightweight setup of two keyboards, at a low cost, that gives me varied possibilities to play rock and pop rock, from the 1960s to the present day. So, it was clear that one of the keyboards must be a synth with good bread and butter sounds. On the other hand, I intend to use a lot of organ, so I would like one of the keyboards to be a clonewheel. I've had one, the only one, a Roland VK8, whose action is waterfall (I don't know the manufacturer), but it was heavy, the other timbres were poor and Leslie's simulation was not so good. So, researching a lot I thought that Nord Electro can deliver me what I'm looking for (great hammonds + other quality tones, mainly pianos) and, together with the synth, could deliver me all the sounds I need.
My experience with hammer action keys is somewhat limited. I've always played basically with waterfall and soft keys. And thinking of the lean setup I'm looking for, a piano-playing keyboard just doesn't seem to make sense. But a dedicated organ with other great sounds (like the NE), as I said, makes sense.
That's where I ran into an impasse, because at least one of the keyboards needs to have 73 keys for some specific piano songs. And I came to the conclusion that I have two set options. The first: a 61-key synth on top and an NE3 or 4 73-key synth at the bottom. In this case, I would make Nord's pianos on NE's waterfall keyboard. The second option, an NE3 or 4 61 on top + 76-key synth (Juno DS, eg) on the bottom. In that case, I could play the NE pianos on the synth via midi and (I think) would have some control over the dynamics through the synth.
I specified NE3 or 4 because that's what fits my reality (I live in Brazil, where prices, even used ones, are very high) and it's what I could afford.
Finally, I remember that playing the VK8 pianos on its own keyboard was not a good experience, but I don't know if the action is the same as the NE3/4 nor if the dynamic curves of the Nords (included from the NE4) really make the difference for playing the piano. I read in an article that the SW keys on the NE have sensors at the top and bottom, so you get the correct answer depending on whether you're playing organ or piano. So does this mean the keyboard is programmed to respond differently in each section? Could I get some dynamics and expressiveness by playing the piano samples downloaded on the NE3 73 SW?
Unfortunately, due to specific factors, I won't have access to keyboards to try out before I buy, so I'll have to decide for myself taking these variables into account. In any case, opinions from more experienced users can make a difference at this time, even more when someone has already found himself in the same situation in which I am.
Thanks in advance and I apologize if the text was too long.
