Nord Electro 6D73 vs Yamaha YC61

[AnotherScott]

7 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

is there an editor - software, for the Conti and it’s synth engine?   How is the midi implementation for using a physical debar box and other knob boxes for controlling parameters on the keyboard?  

No editor.  Drawbars send/receive standard MIDI CCs, so a physical drawbar box that lets you assign which CCs they send should work (or any drawbar box, and a device to do the necessary CC translation, e.g. a MIDI Solutions Event Processor or an iPad). Based on the MIDI implementation chart, the 9 touchstrips always have the same CC, regardless of what mode they are in. So it looks like the CC that affects the 16' drawbar when the LEDs are set for organ would be the same as the CC that controls Attack when the LEDs are set for those alternate parameters. Interestingly, they accept MIDI values 0-127... I don't know if those figured get "reduced" to one of 9 values by the Vox, or if you might actually have finer control over the synth parameters when controlled externally than you do when using the drawstrips.

[ludo]

I don't see the Vox as an organ with or without drawbars , for me it's just a nice lightweight, beautiful looking keyboard with fantastic e.piano, piano, clav,wurli,pads, synth sounds and superb effects that doesn't brake the bank. If i want organ, i'll just add a great sounding  Numa Organ 2 on top...or a Mojo ...or a HX3 (MAG)...

[AnotherScott]

Ludo, I agree that, if you have more organ-centric needs, the Vox' drawbar organ sounds are not as good as those other models you mentioned. Though in this case, the OP did list organ as secondary to his other needs (piano, EP, pads), so I suspect its organs would be good enough.

[drawback]

Beautiful, it is. 

 

[jejefunkyman]

Passed the initial surprise of the new color, I now also find it looks nice in black, with these added wooden side panels. 

 

However, I will not trade my orange Vox with the black one 😉

[RDM]

Sad to say shops said they are not ordering Vox Conti at the moment as not available for the next 3-4months in our region.

 

I know this is out of question but should Is it worth to consider the Roland VR-730?

[niacin]

14 hours ago, ludo said:

I don't see the Vox as an organ with or without drawbars , for me it's just a nice lightweight, beautiful looking keyboard with fantastic e.piano, piano, clav,wurli,pads, synth sounds and superb effects that doesn't brake the bank. If i want organ, i'll just add a great sounding  Numa Organ 2 on top...or a Mojo ...or a HX3 (MAG)...

This. For the OP’s purposes the Vox ‘d be my pick if you don’t need splits, which are limited by not being able to octave shift each side of the split separately. I didn’t love the original AP patches but the baby grand (Upright bank #8) is IMO superb for jazz or soul. The organ is fine if it’s not a Hammond-centric gig (the Vox and Farfisa sound superb), the Leslie is better than that on the YC.  And the OP mentioned working the synth patches live and the LED strips facilitate that nicely, though the filter sweep isn’t smooth.  

[mauriziodececco]

On 1/26/2022 at 10:04 PM, AnotherScott said:

 

 

Again, YC supports multiple splits for external sounds). When it comes to internal sounds, they are both "3 part" keyboards. YC is organ plus two other sounds, Nord is organ plus piano plus one other sound. (Though they also both support the additional option of upper and lower organ sounds.)

 

 

Just for information: Nord Electro 6 have two split points, the three sounds  sources can play together layered or splitted. Nord Electro audio 5 and previous had two split points, and only two sound sources could play together.

 

NE5 could have different midi channel assigned to the two splits, so you can use one split for external sounds, and one for internal sounds, for example; i think this changed or disappeared in the NE6, but i do not exactly (i still have my NE5).

 

Maurizio

 

[jejefunkyman]

2 hours ago, niacin said:

I didn’t love the original AP patches but the baby grand (Upright bank #8) is IMO superb for jazz or soul.

 

Thanks for the hint! I somehow missed this one, as it is stored in the Upright bank, which I'm never using. But after trying it, I can confirm that it indeed sounds very good, and better than the original AP patch, as you mentioned. I think I will mainly use it now.

[AnotherScott]

9 hours ago, mauriziodececco said:

 

Just for information: Nord Electro 6 have two split points, the three sounds  sources can play together layered or splitted. Nord Electro audio 5 and previous had two split points, and only two sound sources could play together.

 

Electro 6 has one split point, which creates two zones (one above the split point, one below), but yes, you can assign 3 sounds (which can each play in one zone, the other, or both). Electro 5 likewise has one split point which creates two zones, and as you say, only 2 sounds can play instead of 3 (plus, as you indicated, the ability to add an external sound in the upper zone, an ability which did indeed disappear on the 6). Previous Electros (before the 5) did not split at all, except for dual-organ (to emulate upper and lower manual).

[mauriziodececco]

56 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

 

Electro 6 has one split point,  ….

Oups, i stand corrected. I got confused by the Nied site, describing the keyboard as three part mulritimbral. I should have checked the details 😳

 

Thanks, 

Maurizio

[John Lee]

2 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

 

Electro 6 has one split point, which creates two zones (one above the split point, one below), but yes, you can assign 3 sounds (which can each play in one zone, the other, or both). Electro 5 likewise has one split point which creates two zones, and as you say, only 2 sounds can play instead of 3 (plus, as you indicated, the ability to add an external sound in the upper zone, an ability which did indeed disappear on the 6). Previous Electros (before the 5) did not split at all, except for dual-organ (to emulate upper and lower manual).

On the Electro 6 you can still play one sound on its keyboard and then another on another keyboard. It’s called ‘External KBD To Lo’ and means, for example, that you could play an organ sound across the whole range of  Electro 6 keyboard and then play a piano sound via midi from a weighted board.

[Fleer]

18 hours ago, jejefunkyman said:

Passed the initial surprise of the new color, I now also find it looks nice in black, with these added wooden side panels. 

 

However, I will not trade my orange Vox with the black one 😉

Neither will I, after reading in the Vox thread how impractical black knobs against a black backdrop can be. 

[RDM]

Thanks all for the advice. I have tried the Yamaha YC61 and CP73 as well, it's very good and well built. Well spent 1.5hrs drive.

 

The shop said that they will have Vox Conti and Nord Electro 6D coming soon. so I guess it's better to try them first hand to see the feel and hear the sounds personally, then I can conclude.

 

I also read the "Yamaha YC61 announced" thread which helped me a lot. cheers then and thanks to all.

[nadroj]

19 minutes ago, RDMusic504 said:

Thanks all for the advice. I have tried the Yamaha YC61 and CP73 as well, it's very good and well built. Well spent 1.5hrs drive.

 

The shop said that they will have Vox Conti and Nord Electro 6D coming soon. so I guess it's better to try them first hand to see the feel and hear the sounds personally, then I can conclude.

 

I also read the "Yamaha YC61 announced" thread which helped me a lot. cheers then and thanks to all.

Great! Would love to hear your impressions of the YC61.

[cp-the-nerd]

I went through this about six months ago. I was looking for something with 1. a good organ sim, 2. portability, and 3. auxiliary sounds (orchestra and whatnot). For a long time I was smitten with the YC61 from youtube vids after it came out, so it was a long time front runner. As a side note, I actually almost bought a Crumar Mojo black edition in a very ill advised impulse purchase that luckily fell through. Anywho, I considered the YC series, Vox 73, Nord Electro 6D 73, and the Hammond SK. Here are my impressions:

YC
+ Great sounds outside of the organ
+ Well executed controls and features like split/layer
- 73 key version doesn't offer semi-weighted keybed (which was a huge disappointment) and 61 keys is a major compromise for me
- odd key width was off putting since I'd be stacking boards
- not the best organ sim and broadly panned leslie 

Electro 6D 73
+ Good sounds outside of organ plus Nord library
+ Strong organ section and related controls
- Weak synth section
- No pitchbend or mod wheels (wtf)

Vox
+ Best price by far
- Lackluster auxiliary sounds
- Lackluster features and control execution (comparatively)

SK Pro
I gotta be honest, I gave this keyboard the least consideration. I don't like how it looks and I didn't need the impressive synth section. I probably listened to one or two videos covering the sounds and wasn't impressed at the price point.

I bought the Nord, it checked all the right boxes and had the most overlookable weaknesses (for me personally). I just couldn't get past the YC keybed options, and the least impressive organ sim didn't help things. Yamaha should be kicking themselves for being the one organ focused keyboard in this segment that doesn't have a waterfall 73, it for sure would have made my decision far more difficult if not changed the result.

No regrets on the Nord Electro 6D. It makes a fantastic, highly portable pairing with my Minilogue XD.

[RDM]

16 hours ago, nadroj said:

Great! Would love to hear your impressions of the YC61.

YC61 has great APs, EPs, Synths/Pads. I can't compare much for the Organ as I don't have any experience with other electric organs before. Lighter key bed feel from what I have used to, thus, should try the 6D73. Seems like sounds on my NS Ex76 are still richer though I'm maybe wrong to others. Yamaha sounds is breath of fresh air from always using Nord sounds for the past years. 

[rogs]

5 hours ago, cp-the-nerd said:

 ........Yamaha should be kicking themselves for being the one organ focused keyboard in this segment that doesn't have a waterfall 73, it for sure would have made my decision far more difficult if not changed the result.

 

I agree - I can see why the YC88 has a weighted keybed, but the YC73 should have been a waterfall - like the 61.  I think that decision will cost Yamaha sales...

 

The YC61 organ is better than I first thought.... it's very tweakable, and there are some great sounds to be uncovered within the various amp models, drive options and effects.

The Leslie sim is currently awful - and we've now been waiting over a year for a fix!  (A Vent has proved to be a saviour for that problem at present.) 

The use of Yamaha  synth width keys doesn't bother me ... not everyone likes them though - and I like the 'feel' of Yamaha's new waterfall keybed.

I don't like the feel of Fatar keybeds, so I was not comfortable with the couple of Nords I've had the chance to try.    

We all have our different preferences...

[AnotherScott]

8 hours ago, cp-the-nerd said:

Electro 6D 73
- No pitchbend or mod wheels (wtf)

Just to address the wtf... the board has basically no MIDI controller functions (even less than the Electro 5!), and pitch/mod wheels are almost never applicable to piano/organ sounds, which leaves the sample/synth section. But the sample/synth section does not include an LFO, so the thing a mod wheel typically controls does not exist in the board in the first place. Keep in mind, it isn't a "real" synth to begin with. It's doing little more than simple sample playback. That said, the addition of the pitch stick would have been useful. Though that would almost certainly lead to complaints like "there's no mono mode and no portamento!" ;-) It's just not a board you buy for lead synth work. Maybe that "slippery slope" is part of why they didn't add the pitch stick. It would have raised the build cost along with possible expectations of more lead functionality which then leads to a new disappointment to replace the old. If nothing else, at least you can say that, as it is, it doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't! But who knows what an Electro 7 may bring...

 

  

8 hours ago, cp-the-nerd said:

Vox
- Lackluster auxiliary sounds

That's one place I'd disagree with you, I think they're quite strong, with orchestral sounds (strings, horns, etc.) that are stronger than Nord's, and synth sounds (analog type) that are stronger than either the Nord or the Yamaha (and more tweakable, as well). As for the primary sounds, I think it's got the weakest Hammond organ emulation (but a better Leslie sim than the Yamaha), but I think it's probably got the best EP sounds and is still competitive on acoustic pianos. And I think it has the best action of the three, both for organ and for piano.