Nord Electro 6D or MODX 6 (with bag )

[miden]

So the Nord is probs about 1800 (I've yet to make an offer but I reckon I can get it for that) or the MODX 6 with the Yammie carry bag for $1300.....which one would represent the better value do you think?

I do love the idea of a Nord, but its $500 more - would you lose too much by passing up on the Yammie?

[CEB]

I've always wanted a Nord Piano or Stage.  Done a lot of Double bills with acts using Nords and they always seem to sound great in FOH.  

[miden]

4 minutes ago, CEB said:

I've always wanted a Nord Piano or Stage.  Done a lot of Double bills with acts using Nords and they always seem to sound great in FOH.  

 

Yeah me too ...I think it would work nicely with the the SL 88 controller underneath it. But I've read a few folks here think a few of the MODX functions are very handy for live work, so that was what got me thinking...The Nord is more hands on at a show and less pre-setup up, but gee it sounds great hey!!

 

It is also a tad smaller, so should be easier to lug.

[CEB]

I like the old Motif based sound sets.  They have some of my favorite hardware horns and guitars.  If you need bread and butter sounds you might want the Yamaha.

[AnotherScott]

Nord wins in piano, organ, clav, and dedicated front panel direct access to effects controls. MODX wins in pretty much everything else, in sound and in versatility. (EPs might be a draw.)

[Docbop]

Depends on your needs the Nord Electro is their organ focused board hence the drawbars, no wiggle stick or wheel, but has the great (IMHO) Nord pianos.   The Nord synth is sample based.     The MoDx is a more keyboard and synth focus.   I would say Nord is focus on live performance use with all the controls right there no menu deep dives.   So really depends on how you like to work and if organ is something you use a lot. 

[AnotherScott]

11 hours ago, Docbop said:

The Nord synth is sample based.   

Nord synth is sample based, while Yamaha is a mix of sample based and FM... but it's more than that. Even comparing them as sample-based synths, there's a huge difference. Nord is just simple sample playback... minimal envelope control, no pitch or mod controls, no portamento, etc. etc. The Yamaha at least gives you a full battery of synth functionality, even if you're still starting with a sampled source.

[ShadowMan]

While I haven’t spent a lot of time with a MODX, I did have a MOXF6 and a Nord Electro 6D in my gig rig for a long time. (And the MODX  brings a lot more to the table than the MOXF.) So here are my observations…

 

Nord:

Drawbars, waterfall keys, heavier springy keybed, metal frame & case. So it’s heavier.  

Killer organ, EP and pianos.

Easily tweakable in live setting. 

 

Yamaha:

Smaller keys, synth action, all plastic. So it’s lighter.

Great pianos, acoustic instruments/strings/horns. But very weak organ and no drawbars. 

Really deep editing.

 

However… with aftermarket organ sounds (Organimation) and the Chick Corea expansion board, I found the MOXF could cover pretty much everything the Nord could do - and it does them really well. But with it’s weak synth sounds the Nord just can’t cover everything the Yamaha does. 

 

In the end it really depends on your needs and your budget.

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

[miden]

Cool, thanks Shadowman - yes it does!

 

and thanks also to Scott, Docbop and CEB, appreciate you guys sharing your thoughts!

[Stokely]

I've owned both, and in fact the two together was my rig for while.  I only sold the Electro because I intended to upgrade to a Stage 3 to get the included Nord A1 lead synth but that never happened.

MODX is a lot more flexible when it comes to layers, splits and synth programming...but that might not matter to you.   IMO the Modx has two aces in the hole that "cut into" the strength advantages of the Nord:  being able to install libraries like Purgatory Creek, which IMO elevated the rhodes, wurlis and clavs at least to the level of the Nord; and being able to use an Ipad, which lets me use B-3X (or vb3m if you like) for organ.  To my ear this sounds better than the Nord easily, but the downside is that you need to map controls and the MODX doesn't have a set of drawfaders/drawbars.   And of course, you have to worry about charging the ipad and dealing with any connection glitches (I've had a small number of these.)

While on the synth programming aspect:  Yes the Yamaha is sample-based (except for FM) but it is really deep.   You could, if you liked, have a performance with 64 elements (oscillators) playing (8 parts, each with 8 elements) and every one of them has their own filter.  That's pretty nuts (and probably not recommended!)   Or have sample based parts layered with FM layered with external ipad sounds if you want...I'm finding that once I get away from the stock patches I'm able to get some credible poly and mono synth sounds.

To be fair, you could use an ipad with the Nord or any keyboard, but the Modx lets you do it with one cable for audio AND midi, gives you a volume knob for it, and lets you set up zones in internal patches for layering and splits using the external sound.   That put me over the hump, I didn't want a bunch of fiddly stuff but one cable and camera connection kit was easy

Of the non-piano/organ/epiano/clav sounds on the Nord, I used the strings quite a bit and they sounded and felt great.  I didn't do much with any of the synth libraries available.

The action on neither of these is good for piano IMO, while the MODX is oddly pretty good for organ (though of course it's not waterfall like the Nord).

The Nord build quality is much better, it's relatively light yet it's metal and wood with an internal power supply.  I wish every keyboard could be like it in that regard!   The Modx7 is almost too light, you get the feeling a gust of wind at an outdoor gig might lift it off a stand.

As far as performance features, the Nord tries to put as much as possible on dedicated controls.  Want to change the amp from a leslie to something else, or the tremolo to a phaser?  Right there!  That said, while you have to program the Modx more a lot of commonly-used controls are right there for you.  Things like ADSR, reverb level, cutoff, resonance etc.   And of course the super knob is a cool thing--it's a macro that can control multiple things and not all of them in the same direction or by the same amount (e.g. turn up the knob, get more cutoff but turn down the phaser level and halfway through start bringing in another part to blend etc etc).

[HammondDave]

15 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

Nord wins in piano, organ, clav, and dedicated front panel direct access to effects controls. MODX wins in pretty much everything else, in sound and in versatility. (EPs might be a draw.)

But not in keyboard action. The MoDX keys clack away like a toy piano. Plus the keys are those skinny DX7 style synth style POS. That alone keeps me from buying one. 

[AnotherScott]

Yeah, actions get really subjective. I would take the MODX action over the Electro, personally. Neither is a top tier action, but the pushback on the Electro is worse (to me) than the lightness of the MODX, and I don't find the keys on my MODX7 to be particularly clacky.

[nadroj]

Oh look, a thread I can actually contribute to as a primary source.
 

It really, really depends on what you want. 
 

I got the MODX after years of owning an Electro. It was supposed to be my 1 board replacement rig.  It wasn’t.
 

Some players will argue against this, but it simply didn’t feel like a purely giggable board. It’s plastic chassis is good, but didn’t feel as durable as my FA06. It’s keybed is certainly playable, but struggles compared to the montage or electro. 
 

The preset EPs/Clavs/organs of the MODX compared to the Electro are laughable. They don’t play well on the action, and to my ears just sound overly processed. Especially if you go to the “audition” patches (where each scene has a different version of the EP) it just sounds like they tried too hard to replicate the real thing with all of the noises and characteristics, but totally dropped the ball when it comes to actually sounding and playing like the real deal. I got to something passable eventually, but it took a lot of tweaking, and even the shittiest Rhodes on my elderly Nord feels and sounds better than the best custom made EP on my MODX - even when both are played through the same weighted Yamaha controller. 
 

Saying that, the purgatory creek sounds are stellar, but in my opinion the shorty plasticky “could break if I even think of doing a glissando sweep” MODX keybed doesn’t do them justice - if you like to feel the instrument during your playing you’ll struggle on the MODX. 
 

Organs on the MODX are utterly terrible. Organamitron (or whatever it’s called) makes them passable, but they won’t hold a candle to the Electro. I’ve never been a fan of workstation organs. Maybe compared to the Korg M1, they’re great. But a clonewheel the MODX ain’t. 
 

Now, if we’re talking synth and sound design capabilities, take every shitty thing I’ve said about the MODX and apply

it to the Electro. Once I learned how to use the MODX, I found there were few sounds and songs I couldn’t coax out of it. The superknob and pedal functions mean you will struggle to find a board outside of Kurzweil that let you warp and change so much live and in the moment. 
It’s so deep you’ll probably never, ever explore all of its synthesis and sound design capabilities. If you’re after a powerhouse digital/FM synthesiser with ok ROMpler tones on a compromisably shitty action, the MODX is best in town. It’s so deep I struggled to get some SIMPLE sounds out of it, and actually found it easier getting complex setups out of it…but as I said, if you take the time to learn it, there will be few sounds you cannot get out of it. It is truly a digital powerhouse, and one of the best bang for buck keyboards released in recent years. 
 

The Nord on the other hand is bogus. It has a sample synth, but if you want specific sounds, you have to sample them yourself. There’s no pitch bend (unless you attach a seperate MIDI controller), cutoff, modulation or any of that. It’s a shitty synth, but can play sampled synth sounds passably. 
 

I hope you’ve seen by now that they are both excellent at what they do, but are very different instruments.

The MODX excels at deep shit; the Electro excels at simple shit. Neither do the other one’s shit well. If you put them together (like I did in my old rig) you will come to a point where you’ll have nothing to blame for lacking in any area than your own musicality. 

[miden]

@nadroj

 

thanks much for that...very illuminating!

[Viv Savage]

I’ve owned both, and as others have noted, they each excel in certain sound categories.  But at the end of the day, for me, it’s the build quality and immediacy of the Nord that makes it a joy to use live.  The MODX felt way too light and toy-like.   

[Stokely]

Eh, I've done a number of gigs with just the MODX.   Granted, I use an ipad to play organ, with the MODX organs there as backup (which I recently needed at an outdoor gig where my ipad overheated!)  So I disagree you can't gig with it as your only keyboard, doing the classic rock I do at least.  The keyboard is not my favorite, but the only keyboards where I've had issues have been premium ones (contacts going out).  I've never had a keyboard give out/break due to physical playing, it was likely dust that was the problem.

I agree it feels toy-like and that is a con.  I wish it had the built quality of the Nord.  That said, I don't know that one is more "robust" than the other.   If anything I worry about the touch screen, for no good reason other than I don't trust them

Honestly the worst part of playing the MODX by itself is playing any kind of legato piano, but I don't really think the Electro action is any better in that department.

[Viv Savage]

You could certainly get by with either as a solo board.  Personally  I would prefer the Electro for AP/EP/B3, and the MODX for synth/orchestral/just about anything else .   Obviously the Electro is easier to split/layer on the fly, while the MODX is really a “set everything up in advance” type of board, so it depends which kind of playing you are doing. 

[Sunlight2]

I would think you'd want to check out the Yamaha YC73 here, which has great organ (after the update), piano and EPs etc AND a decent palette of synth sounds, with pitch bend/mod sticks which the Nord doesn't have. Depending on how deep you need you synth to go, this one board might do it all for you. It also has excellent integration with Ipad if you want to add soft synths.

 

Personally I own an Electro 6 73 as bottom board (for piano/organ etc) and the MODX7 on top. It's a great combo. However, while the the Electro's synth/sample playback capabilites are limited and there's no pitch bend/mod, I do find a lot of the patches very useful. The Prophet A1 pad is as good as anything on the MODX. And via the Nord sound library I added ProjectSAM's Symphobia strings which are similarly as good as anything on the MODX, if not better. There's also a basic but welcome attack/release knob for the synth as well as a rudimentary velocity-controlled filter (so with the above Prophet sample, play soft and it's dark, hit it hard and it brightens up considerably). All this helps elevate it to above a mere 'sample player', if not quite a full-blown synth. 

[kaptainkeys]

Another vote for the YC.  Considering you're planning to pay $1800 for the Nord, you could get a brand new YC61 for only $200 more, and used ones go for closer to $1600.  The YC73 is also available used for around the price of a new YC61, just a matter of how many keys and what action you want.  As others have mentioned, the YC has pitch bend and mod sticks, and has iPad integration, which can expand your library of sounds vastly.  In live set mode, the YC also can act as a pretty decent 4 zone master controller, which means you can pair it with some kind of other module down the line.  Combined with the fact that it has a pair of inputs, it would be perfect for this.  The YC73 also adds XLR balanced outputs, which means you won't have to use a DI box anymore.