keynote Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 What is your opinion of the "new" Acoustic Grand Pianos available for the Nord Electro 2? Has anybody downloaded and loaded them into anyones Electro/2 yet? I'm curious because the AC Pianos are probably the only thing stopping me from seriously considering the purchase of a Nord Electro 2/73. I listened to the samples on the Clavia site and the AC Pianos seem pretty good overall. But I'm not sure these demos are the new samples or not. The one that impressed me the most was the AcGrand3 sample. It sounds a little (a lot really ) like the Grand on the Triton {Classic} except in the upper registers. Although the Triton AC Grand is not my favorite by any means. But it is passable though no where near stellar IMO. The Electro's Pianos should be also it would seem and even more so than the Triton in my personal opinion. Just as long as one can gig with the Pianos in a pinch if necessary is really all I'm concerned about. If the new samples are even better than these demos I posted (if indeed these demos are only the stock samples) then the Electro is shaping up as far as good AC Piano sounds go. At least in my opinion anyway. Next in line that I liked was the AcGrand1 Although I noticed the glissando in the demo was a little thin sounding. I would expect the new samples to actually sounded better on the Electro than any .mp3 demos do of course. So do you think the new Piano sounds finally give the Electro some credibility as far as AC Piano sounds go? Do the ones using these new Piano patches feel comfortable gigging with them? I'm still not sure that these demos I posted are the new samples or not. Even if they're not they still sound reasonably good. I have played the Electro 2 in person and felt the stock Pianos left a lot to be desired. Maybe they just don't sound all that good through certain PA's?? Maybe I needed to adjust the EQ some. It's a shame too because all of the other sounds are spot on. On a side note - Is it really true that there is no Aftertouch for the Pianos? I never checked to see if it did when I demoed it (an oversight on my part unfortunately ). Pity if there's not though. That would be another good reason not to purchase one. Hopefully Clavia will come out with the Electro 3 before too long. I might just wait for the third generation Board. Third times a charm they say. Opinions??? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManInTheBox Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 When the Electro originally came out, I thought of it as a gigging "replacement/Substitute" for Electric Pianos & organs. I never considered it for playing acoustic pianos, so never felt it needed any credibility. I can see why someone would want to add an Acoustic to the Electro, so you'd only have to carry the one keyboard, but then the non-weighted keyboard will kinda make you wish you had your S90/X88. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 I wrote up a lengthy discourse on this topic in the past. See this thread: Nord Electro Piano & Other Info In a nutshell, the #3 piano is the best if you are playing in stereo, but not good in mono. The #1 piano is the best all around for mono and stereo. There's another thread around here (from not long ago) in which I posted links to MP3s of another live player doing some killer jazz on the Electro. It is pretty amazing. I personally prefer the pianos on my S90 above the Electro, but on the Electro, it is really a "bonus" sound and good enough for rehearsal or small gigs. Rumor has it that Clavia will release some new piano sounds this spring. Regards,Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Originally posted by keynote: On a side note - Is it really true that there is no Aftertouch for the Pianos? I never checked to see if it did when I demoed it (an oversight on my part unfortunately ). Pity if there's not though. That would be another good reason not to purchase one. No, there is no aftertouch for the pianos on the Electro. May I ask why would you want aftertouch on a piano sound? Velocity, sure. That is there, but no aftertouch. The Electro does not support it, but I don't see why that is a good reason to not purchase it. Regards, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keynote Posted March 8, 2005 Author Share Posted March 8, 2005 Originally posted by eric: "No, there is no aftertouch for the pianos on the Electro. May I ask why would you want aftertouch on a piano sound? Velocity, sure. That is there, but no aftertouch. The Electro does not support it, but I don't see why that is a good reason to not purchase it." Regards, Eric You're right Eric. Since the Electro doesn't have a palette of other bread and butter sounds in it, I shouldn't consider Aftertouch a real necessity on whether to purchase it or not. I spoke too hastily. As to regarding Aftertouch on the Pianos or even the Organ sounds, it would be nice if they had included the feature on the Electro in my opinion. Having the ability to control the sound by pressing harder on keys after they are depressed and by how quickly the key is released is a handy feature, or the capacity to swell the volume of a held note, or add vibrato, or bend its pitch a half step, by pushing the key harder at the bottom of its travel for the Organs would be nice too. Although Aftertouch for the Pianos would probably not be used in most instances that I agree; but imo it would still be nice to at least have that feature available if needed or wanted. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Mike, I agree that aftertouch would have been nice on the Electro, primarily for controlling other sound modules. The only real use I could see for it internally would be to toggle Leslie speed via aftertouch. Clavia does not promote the Electro as being a MIDI controller - in fact, its controller functions are very primitive. It is lacking pitch and mod wheels, which is a more overt omission than aftertouch. I think it would be cool if Clavia would make a Nord Electro/Nord Lead 3 combo with the features and interfaces of each instrument. Then we would have virtual analog and virtual electromechanical in the same package, with extended controller functions. As it stands, the Electro is basically a niche instrument that does its focused purpose very well! Regards,Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimoni Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 I emailed clavia a month or so ago and they said they would be releasing new sounds in spring (as someone else said). There are however, no plans to make an electro 3 (at least not for a long time). The new sounds in spring apparently include a new acoustic grand, which is rumoured to be quite good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve in KS Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 I have downloaded and tried all of the acoustic piano samples and don't think much of any of them. Theres something about the architecture of the velocity on the Electro that makes it impossible to get an acoustic piano sound with any nuance at all. They all sound very clangy to me.Personally I think it was a mistake for Nord to ever even come up with the acoustic samples. Ever since they did, everyone keeps wanting them to improve that aspect of the instrument when it was never even originally designed to do that.The Electro is fantastic for Hammond sounds and Electric Piano sounds. Decideing whether or not to buy one on the basis of their Acoustic pianos is really missing the point of their strengths. If you need an acoustic piano sound it would probably be wiser to get something else for that rather than holding your breath for Nord to develop the perfect AP for the Electro. Just my 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nordude Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Yes, there are better acoustic piano emulations than the ones on the Nord Electro. Nonetheless, I have ac. piano 3 in my NE rack and when in stereo and reverbed, this sound is pretty OK to me (nothing more subjective than the ideal piano sound, of course). I know the ac. pianos are added as a bonus and no one buys the NE for the acoustic piano's, but I can't help thinking: if the Rhodes sounds can be done so naturally (hardly any audible velocity switching), why can't the same be done with an acoustic piano sound. It might cost more memory, but an acoustic piano sound is useful to a lot of people who also want to use the vintage sounds (if not played from the NE itself, than from another controller). Vintage sounds (B3, Rhodes) and a good acoustic piano sound don't have to exclude one another, IMHO. So, possible improvements for this otherwise very fine instrument are: * more memory for the samples and more memory places (for instance 10 instead of 6) * multitimbrality * on board reverb * a Dyno'd Rhodes sound (or a modelled effect or eq possibility to get that sound) * perhaps some more 70s sounds for whoever wants to use them (RMI piano, Hohner Pianet, some Mellotronsounds, Continental Organ) * MIDI THRU * some more controllerfeatures (some wheels?) * better piano samples The low weight and the type and size of the keyboard are chosen well. And the B3, Rhodes, clav, Wurly, CP80 and effects (in fact, everything but the ac. piano) are excellent. Clavia, keep up those good features! Maybe the Nord Electro 3 will offer one or more of those improvements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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