Electro's bad acoustic kharma

[rzzzzz]

Clavia promoted the electro as an "electromechanical" keyboard that was not a switchblade. Of course there is nothing intrinsically electromechanical about its electonics, and it should reproduce any kind of sample noise you put into it's memory.

 

Yet its funny just how good a job they've done with their modest menu of electromechanical samples, and yet how little acclaim they've garnered from several attempts at acoustic piano.

 

Is there a kharma to the thing that resists any sound beyond its stated mission? Considering how well the CP80 fills in, maybe true electro nirvana is attained by just swapping in a third rhodes sample and declaring victory.

 

(Yes rumors persist of the "perfect acoustic" sample being held back until the stage is fully released. Considering just how much memory nord allocated for acoustic, though, it's hard to refrain from thinking about at least a couple more interesting electromechanical sounds that would well suit this little wonder.)

[eric]

Clavia has a long tradition of creating focused instruments. The Electro is focused on electro-mechanical sounds. They have not dedicated R&D time and money to making it into a general purpose rompler and I think that makes sense.

 

I'll agree that the acoustic piano sounds are not the greatest, but they were not part of the original stated purpose of the instrument. With that said, there are a number of players that have made great-sounding music with nothing but an Electro.

 

I would like for Clavia to keep releasing additional sounds for the Electro and there are a couple of instruments they have hinted about, but not actually delivered (Pianet was one and I think Combo organs would be another good choice).

 

I'm well-satisfied by the Electro's Hammond, Clav, Rhodes, Wurly and CP80 sounds. I have other keyboards that provide me with the additional sounds I need for my gigs. I do believe the Electro is perhaps the most musically expressive and funky electronic keyboard I've ever played.

 

So what was the question? Oh yeah: "Is there a kharma to the thing that resists any sound beyond its stated mission? Considering how well the CP80 fills in, maybe true electro nirvana is attained by just swapping in a third rhodes sample and declaring victory."

 

I would not call anything about the Electro "bad karma," but you're dead on that the instrument meets and exceeds its "stated mission." I don't know what more I would want from it, based on how well it delivers on the "stated mission."

 

Regards,

Eric

[rzzzzz]

Thanks, Eric,

 

I have to admit something of a hidden agenda here. The electro hit a couple of the electromechanical instruments that I truely craved, but I've heard recently that there may be some consideration for creating some mellotron samples for the Stage. This is perfectly understandable, adding more market interest in their new product. But the minimum amount of memory needed for, say, a three string sample might be close to what is dedicated now to acoustic3. Guess this late into the life cycle of a piece of electronic gear, there's little profit motive for too much continued development. But some tron on the electro would be awfully sweet.