Michiel Posted September 19, 2001 Share Posted September 19, 2001 Hi everybody!! Do you own a electro? Please tell me how it sounds. Does anybody know anything about the flashmemory of the clavia nord electro...is it expandable? And what about the samples on the cd rom? Thanks Michiel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R_dup1 Posted September 20, 2001 Share Posted September 20, 2001 You can listen to MP3's of the Electro here http://www.clavia.se/clavia/MP3.htm Mine just came in today and I'm picking it up tomorrow. It's a 73 version. Can't wait to get my hands on it. The demo MP3's sound awesome!! Roland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Fortner Posted September 20, 2001 Share Posted September 20, 2001 R, Are you in North America, Europe, or somewhere else? I understand the Electro is not yet available in the USA. I look forward to your comments about the Electro. The MP3's do indeed sound great. If you have the chance to use it in a live gig situation, let us all know how it holds up. I've been intrigued with this keyboard for awhile... could wind up as the "meat-n-potatoes" board on the bottom of my stand. Stephen Fortner Principal, Fortner Media Former Editor in Chief, Keyboard Magazine Digital Piano Consultant, Piano Buyer Magazine Industry affiliations: Antares, Arturia, Giles Communications, MS Media, Polyverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renie Posted September 20, 2001 Share Posted September 20, 2001 I would really like to hear some user's feedback too. Does it beat the JV/XV keys of the 60's and 70's and the Logic EVP88? thanks.. Renie Coffey | riverattic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Fortner Posted September 21, 2001 Share Posted September 21, 2001 Since you mention the EVP-88, I take it you're interested in electric piano sounds. With regard to these, I've used the JV 60's & 70's board a lot, and though I've only heard MP3's of the Electro, I think the Electro is superior. The Roland stuff was perhaps the best going a few years ago, but these days that board has less punch, clarity, and dynamic range than many other things. I prefer the Yamaha S-80 / Motif Rhodes and clav sounds to the JV stuff. The Emagic EVP-88 really nails it, IMHO. It's in a different league than sample-based EP's, with the possible exception of some really meticulous high-RAM aftermarket stuff you could load into your sampler. But being modelling-based, it plays better. Stephen Fortner Principal, Fortner Media Former Editor in Chief, Keyboard Magazine Digital Piano Consultant, Piano Buyer Magazine Industry affiliations: Antares, Arturia, Giles Communications, MS Media, Polyverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michiel Posted September 21, 2001 Author Share Posted September 21, 2001 I also had the roland board, although it was usefull it wasn't really realistic. Maybe the emagic rhodes is nice but, it isn't very practicle for in stage... I'm a happy owner of a real rhodes but I hope the electro will relief my back... So if anybody ownes one, tell us about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R_dup1 Posted September 22, 2001 Share Posted September 22, 2001 SteveFortner, I'm in San Diego, CA, USA. It was the first Electro my dealer friend got in and I grabbed it. It's a 73. I think Nord planned on it being a bread and butter live board. It looks good and is nice and light. I doubt it would take the abuse an S-80 could though. The sounds are very good. The action is nice, but nowhere near that of an S-80. The organ sounds are gorgeous. The digital drawbars which can be adjusted on the fly are a very nice feature and the leslie is very nice as well. It would have been a good idea for them to put a leslie speed adjustment rotary knob on the face of the board instead of requiring you to do it through MIDI or a foot pedal though. The Rhodes piano is based on a Rhodes Mark II 73 Stage Piano and sounds very good to my ears. I am a big fan of that crackly distortion sound you get from an overdriven Rhodes. That sound is there and you can get it by adjusting the overdrive control. While I like the organs and Rhodes/Wurly sounds, I really like the Clav. I've had a hard time finding a Clavinet sounding clav and I love to play those funky clav grooves. The Electro's clav, with the wah-wah effects sounds great. Overall, I think it feels, plays and sounds very good, and the price is right too. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif Roland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sysexguy Posted September 23, 2001 Share Posted September 23, 2001 I checked it out yesterday. It's very nice! The distortion is perhaps the best distortion in a keyboard with organ sounds so far. AFAIK, only the organ is physically modeled as the pianos and clavinet are sampled. The performance aspects of the effects are also really user friendly and the drawbars are too much fun (I couldn't get the dealer to turn off the lights but....). That being said, I still prefer the sound of the EVP-88 for electric pianos. The acoustic piano was a nice surprise but I wish there was a muted clavinet. There is an "other" preset that is yet to be implemented so if Clavia is listening... put a muted clav in that slot. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guestuserguestuser.com Posted September 23, 2001 Share Posted September 23, 2001 Originally posted by R: The Rhodes piano is based on a Rhodes Mark II 73 Stage Piano and sounds very good to my ears. I am a big fan of that crackly distortion sound you get from an overdriven Rhodes. That sound is there and you can get it by adjusting the overdrive control. Roland[/b] Roland, Please tell me: on the Rhodes and other sample-based patches, does it use velocity-switching? And if it does, how many velocity layers are there, is it done in a crude obvious way, or a subtle, hardly-noticeable way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R_dup1 Posted September 23, 2001 Share Posted September 23, 2001 Hey Guestuser, I don't think it uses velocity switching. I didn't encounter that in the manual anywhere. I believe they multi-sampled the pianos and then you use the performance/presence/etc. controls to get the sounds you want. They sound very good to my ears. I don't detect one sound switching to another at different velocities as you can with some boards. For example the overdrive effects are not sampled sounding, you don't hit a soft Rhodes and get sample 1 and then pound it and get sample 2, you get increasing overdrive distortion as you play harder, just like the real thing. Roland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guestuserguestuser.com Posted September 24, 2001 Share Posted September 24, 2001 Originally posted by R: I don't think it uses velocity switching. Thanks. Sounds promising. I'm looking forward to auditioning it. This message has been edited by guestuser@guestuser.com on 09-24-2001 at 10:12 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Fortner Posted September 25, 2001 Share Posted September 25, 2001 Just downloaded the PDF of the Electro manual. Some of the features look really cool. One thing that strikes me as WEAK: No separate outputs for the piano and organ halves of the instrument! The kind of people who would buy the Electro are likely also the kind of people who might want to run the piano / electric piano stuff through a regular PA and the organ section through a Leslie or Motion Sound unit. From the looks of the signal diagram, it also looks like you can't layer the organ and piano sections. Imagine being able to comp on piano and then swell the B-3 in under it using a pedal. It also looks as though you can only split the keyboard within the organ domain, likewise for using an additional MIDI keyboard. That is, you can't have organ on one zone and piano on the other. I HATE it when manufacturers come up with something that's so cool in theory, then drop the ball on basic features that working musicians would obviously want! Arrrgh! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/mad.gif Correct me if I'm wrong, R. I'd like to be in this case. Stephen Fortner Principal, Fortner Media Former Editor in Chief, Keyboard Magazine Digital Piano Consultant, Piano Buyer Magazine Industry affiliations: Antares, Arturia, Giles Communications, MS Media, Polyverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Fortner Posted September 25, 2001 Share Posted September 25, 2001 To be fair, the thing costs around $1700 street, I'm told. One could easily pay more than that for just a decent B-3 simulator, so perhaps I shouldn't bemoan the implementation of the other sounds so loudly. The Kurzweil "KB3'" mode also monopolizes the PC2 and K2600, and they cost more. KB3 doesn't sound as good as the Electro's organ either. I still believe that a lot of us would pay for the cost of separate outputs and such. Stephen Fortner Principal, Fortner Media Former Editor in Chief, Keyboard Magazine Digital Piano Consultant, Piano Buyer Magazine Industry affiliations: Antares, Arturia, Giles Communications, MS Media, Polyverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dexternyc Posted September 27, 2001 Share Posted September 27, 2001 just checked it out at sam ash here in new york. its got to be the most anticipated keyboard ever around here, but i've got bad news i'm afraid. file it under the "coulda been cool but missed" category. drawbar system is plain stupid and feels like a toy. piano isrhodes and wurly are decent but not up to evp-88 standard and they don't play well at all from the light keyboard. and why on earth did they make the lowest key an F??????? this was the MOST annoying feature of the clavinets, not one they should have copped. there was a new cx3 right next to it, blew this out of the water. but even my old vk-7 sounds better. so its back to the drawing board. if they'd only make a cool controller that was suited to it we could use b4 and evp-88........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_3guy Posted September 27, 2001 Share Posted September 27, 2001 Originally posted by dexternyc: file it under the "coulda been cool but missed" category. drawbar system is plain stupid and feels like a toy. piano isrhodes and wurly are decent but not up to evp-88 standard and they don't play well at all from the light keyboard. and why on earth did they make the lowest key an F??????? this was the MOST annoying feature of the clavinets, not one they should have copped. I thought the sounds from the MP3's were not that good. They are better Ep's & Organs than my QS-8 & JV-1010 but not as good as my XK-2 & real Wurlitzer. Steve www.seagullphotodesign.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bryce Posted September 27, 2001 Share Posted September 27, 2001 Originally posted by dexternyc: if they'd only make a cool controller that was suited to it we could use b4 and evp-88........ Wouldn't that be excellent? A "blank" synth into which you could load plug-ins? Can you imagine one unit with, say, B4, EVP88, Reaktor, Mercury, and maybe one or two others? Maybe Giga sampler playback? How cool would THAT be???? Some of us in the industry have been talking about that for a while. I sincerely hope that someone comes up with a way to do it. dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sysexguy Posted September 27, 2001 Share Posted September 27, 2001 Didn't creamware show a keyboard version of pulsar at Messe? I wasn't there but recall seeing a picture in one of the mags. Of course the challenge is how to make the tactile surface best control each soft synth both esthetically and functionally. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R_dup1 Posted October 3, 2001 Share Posted October 3, 2001 Originally posted by Dave Bryce: Wouldn't that be excellent? A "blank" synth into which you could load plug-ins? Can you imagine one unit with, say, B4, EVP88, Reaktor, Mercury, and maybe one or two others? Maybe Giga sampler playback? How cool would THAT be???? Some of us in the industry have been talking about that for a while. I sincerely hope that someone comes up with a way to do it. dB Include Absynth in that mix too please! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif Great idea. Sounds like a job for Mackie or Novation maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guestuserguestuser.com Posted October 5, 2001 Share Posted October 5, 2001 I just played a Nord Electro for the first time tonight, only for about 10 minutes, but that was enough time to form some first impressions. Organ - the physically modelled organ sounds good, as does the Leslie effect. Didn't get a chance to A/B it to a CX3, but it's probably 90% as good, but I'm not really sure. The "virtual drawbar" concept is neat, allowing you to see drawbar settings instantly when you change patches. On the down side, when you 'move' drawbars, the volume of each partial changes in steps rather than continuously, so that if you move it quickly, you can hear stepping. Acoustic piano sample: sorry, it sucks. Very grainy, sounds like they used about 64k of RAM on it. Rhodes samples: very good, but not perfect. It does in fact use velocity-switching. It appears to have 4, maybe 5 layers, so it's not as annoying as some that only use two or three layers. In the upper range, though, it appears to use only two or three layers, and doesn't respond as well to velocity as in the middle and lower ranges. Wurlitzer: I only spent a couple of seconds playing it, so I can't remember. Probably the same deal as with the Rhodes Keyboard feel: pretty good. And has 'waterfall front' for more authentic b3 playing. Price: I thought this thing was supposed to be cheap? It's not. Overall, I'm not sure yet. It's good, but has some minor drawbacks. I was hoping to be really impressed, whereas right now, I only feel mildly impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bryce Posted October 5, 2001 Share Posted October 5, 2001 Originally posted by sysexguy: Didn't creamware show a keyboard version of pulsar at Messe? I wasn't there but recall seeing a picture in one of the mags. While they did have a custom built keyboard running some of their softsynths, the info that I got from them was that it was just that - a custom-built machine on which people could demo their synths. I don't believe that they had plans to mass-manufacture units like it. dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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