Played an Electro Sat night

[b_3guy]

Went & saw a friend's band on Sat. The keyboard player had a Nord Electro 2 with 73 note board plus a Roland A-90. The Electro's action seemed nice & fast. The led's on the top of the board were mezmorizing. He didn't have a pedal hooked up to the Leslie speed control & at one point I hit the wrong button. Also there was no volume control. There was too much overdrive on the thing so it was sounding small & far away. The keyclick was set up to have quite a thwack to it. The keyboard player was only 23 & a novice to "B-3" playing. When I switched it to a Rhodes sound it was the same. It didn't take any kind of a hit to get the overdrive to show up. Consequently, it was quite a dirty sound. Despite it all I had fun!!

[Root]

Funny, I sat in with a band saturday night and played an electro for the first time too. I had the exact same experience with the dirty rhodes...I liked it though.

 

What is giving me a bad case of gas today is he also had a NL2, which he was not using to it's full potential. I went to town on it however and now I'm just stoked about getting it or something like it. Unfortunately, I'm a little short on cash.

 

Anybody have any opinions or experiences using the original Nord Rack using a weighted keyboard (such as Yam S80) for a controller?

 

Suggestions for other virtual analogs?

[b_3guy]

Originally posted by Root:

Funny, I sat in with a band saturday night and played an electro for the first time too. I had the exact same experience with the dirty rhodes...I liked it though.

 

What is giving me a bad case of gas today is he also had a NL2, which he was not using to it's full potential. I went to town on it however and now I'm just stoked about getting it or something like it. Unfortunately, I'm a little short on cash.

 

Anybody have any opinions or experiences using the original Nord Rack using a weighted keyboard (such as Yam S80) for a controller?

 

Suggestions for other virtual analogs?

I love all the Nord stuff. I love the sound of the NL2 & 3. I'd probably have some of it but the local music store doesn't carry any of it. They have a big deal with Roland & Korg. You'll find all the Roland & Korg products on their keyboard dept floor. Which is not a bad thing. I have a Korg MS-2000. Bought it in 2001. It's an inexpensive virtual analog synth. And before anyone else starts sh#tting on it, it's cheap. You can get them for about $500 on eBay. I don't use it much live because I have a Alesis QS-8 & a Roland VK-8. I really don't want to drag another board to the gig. But I don't regret buying it.

[Evton Buran]

I've been playing the Nord Electro 2 for quite some time now. I do not like the organ simulation on it AT ALL. It was recommended to me as a great b3 simulator but I do not think its cuts it. I keep it around because of the amazing Clav, Rhodes, Wurli, and Piana sounds. I put it through a speakeasy pre-amp and it sounds beautiful. I have never found a better clav sound on any keybord before.

 

You can hear it in action here www.myspace.com/indubious the song called while we burn uses the clav

[JeffLearman]

So what do you use for B3?

[rappa29]

"I keep it around because of the amazing Clav, Rhodes, Wurli, and Piana sounds. I put it through a speakeasy pre-amp and it sounds beautiful."

 

Which Speakeasy did you buy? I've been considering getting one for my VK7 or Electro2. Considering the price, I can only afford one. So I'm not sure whether to go with the Clonewheel one or the keyboard one.

I agree, the Clav, Rhodes and Wurli are about as close as you're going to get without the extra 100lbs worth of gear. Definitely good enough for the casual listener and could fool the vintage enthusiasts played through the right rig and EQ.

Regarding the 'dirty' Rhodes, ya'll were probably playing a Rhodes preset that had Overdrive on. You can turn that off as well as set EQ to create different Rhodes tones.

[b_3guy]

Originally posted by rappa29:

I agree, the Clav, Rhodes and Wurli are about as close as you're going to get without the extra 100lbs worth of gear.

The beauty of all the Nord stuff is it's so light. I really hate my QS-8. At the time I bought it in 1997, it was the lightest 88 key piano at 53 lbs. Now I feel like I'm carrying around a log. It's heavy & awkward. And it sounds a bit dated.

[Bridog6996]

I really lay on the overdrive too with the electric piano sounds. For the most part, the sound I'm going for is along the lines of Marco Benevento and John Medeski. Both of those guys play a Wurlitzer running through a Rat. Sometimes I like a smoother, old-school type tone, but that real dirty, distorted, in-your-face sound really appeals to me.

 

My only reservation about the Nord is the "draw buttons." When I'm playing organ, I'm constantly sculpting the sound using the drawbars, and initially it felt really awkward doing this with the Nord. I've gotten used to it to the point where I can deal with it, but it's still somewhat of a hinderance. As far as the sound itself goes, I've played every clonewheel under the sun, and I never found one that I felt sounded and played any better than the Nord. They all have their particular drawbacks. At some point you have to accept the fact that nothing short of the real thing will give you that truly authentic sound. However, also realize that 90% of the people out there (maybe more) couldn't tell the difference between the sound of a Nord and the sound of a B3 in a blindfold test. The only people that notice or even care about such things are gear nerds like us.

 

What sold me personally on the Nord was it's ability to give me everything else I needed in one extremely lightweight board. I have no regrets.

[eric]

Originally posted by Bridog6996:

My only reservation about the Nord is the "draw buttons." When I'm playing organ, I'm constantly sculpting the sound using the drawbars, and initially it felt really awkward doing this with the Nord. I've gotten used to it to the point where I can deal with it, but it's still somewhat of a hinderance. As far as the sound itself goes, I've played every clonewheel under the sun, and I never found one that I felt sounded and played any better than the Nord. They all have their particular drawbacks.

What sold me personally on the Nord was it's ability to give me everything else I needed in one extremely lightweight board. I have no regrets.

You need to get yourself a set of Voce MIDI Drawbars or other drawbar controller for your Electro.

 

Regards,

Eric

[Bridog6996]

Originally posted by eric:

Originally posted by Bridog6996:

My only reservation about the Nord is the "draw buttons." When I'm playing organ, I'm constantly sculpting the sound using the drawbars, and initially it felt really awkward doing this with the Nord. I've gotten used to it to the point where I can deal with it, but it's still somewhat of a hinderance. As far as the sound itself goes, I've played every clonewheel under the sun, and I never found one that I felt sounded and played any better than the Nord. They all have their particular drawbacks.

What sold me personally on the Nord was it's ability to give me everything else I needed in one extremely lightweight board. I have no regrets.

You need to get yourself a set of Voce MIDI Drawbars or other drawbar controller for your Electro.

 

Regards,

Eric

I absolutely do, and have been meaning to do so for a while.

 

Then my issue becomes one of space. I already have a Boss Sampler, a Behringer UB502 mixer, and a Moogerfooger lowpass velcro'd to the top of my Nord. And I fiddle with all three frequently enough that removing one would be replacing one problem with another. There's just not enough real estate. Then again, I guess I could purchase an add-on little platform for my Quick-Lok stand. Ahhh, but I won't bore you with my problems....

[Evton Buran]

learjeff,

 

for a b3 clone i use the hammond xk-3. I love the damn thing. She's a sexy bitch.

 

Rappa29,

 

I went with the keyboard speakeasy pre-amp. I was considering getting rid of my electro intil i heard it through this beauty. Adds a bunch of buzz to the signal though but it's worth it.

[burningbusch]

Originally posted by Evton Buran:

Adds a bunch of buzz to the signal though but it's worth it.

God I thought it was just me. I have a Speakeasy tube preamp and yes it adds a lot of buzz. I don't understand this. I also have an Avalon 747sp which is a stereo Class A tube comp/EQ. It can give you tons of gain but NO buzz. I mean the Avalon is in a completely different league and price range but I still don't know why the Speakeasy is so damn noisy. It's not cheap.

 

Then they sell this $100 device that's supposed to give you the right gain for a Rhodes, even if you have the EP preamp and that didn't help.

 

Not a Speakeasy fan!

 

Busch.

[rappa29]

Evton and Burningbusch,

 

Did you guys contact Speakeasy about that buzz? This is the first I've heard of it in reference to their preamps. All the guys on the Clonewheel and Electro2 message boards swear by these preamps and also say Speakeasy customer service is really good about helping correct any problems. Maybe you guys got lemons?

 

I might have to hold off on one of these if that buzz is common with other Speakeasy owners.

[Evton Buran]

Well i did drop the damn thing a few times but i think that buzz was there before i even did that.

[DanL]

My Speakeasy doesn't buzz but it's not studio quiet. Face it- it's old style point to point wiring- that kind of amp made noise when it was brand new!

 

I should add- when I play thru my Leslie, and crank it up real loud, it buzzes but that is the Leslie as much as the Speakeasy.

[Alkeys]

I too bought the 2 space rack Rhodes Speakeasy preamp and man I spent 800 bucks and all i kept reading on the internet was how great it sounded.

 

It was the worst money i ever spent. Yeah I guess it sounds kinda tubey but god damn, you better like 60 cycle hum because that thing was a noisy piece of shit.

 

I don't recommend those things at all. If hum bothers you, and i KNOW it bothers me, don't even think about getting that thing.

 

I originally bought it for my Rhodes and used it to "warm up my sound" because for a long time, i'd just run my Rhodes straight into my mackie i had and into some speakers.

 

Yes the Mackie sounded colder, but there was no buzz.

 

I would hold off on the Speakeasy if I were you

[Alkeys]

I even sent it back to be fixed cause I thought there was something wrong with it and got it back a few weeks later, no improvement.

 

When I talked to Steve about this on the phone, he said it was Tube and Tubes hum.

 

Sorry no thanks. Guitars and shitty single coils hum, i don't want my keys to hum too- keyboards get a bad enough rap as it is.

[Evton Buran]

By no means would I ever consider the speakeasy to be buzzy enough to overlook. The overall tone that it gives you is amazing and is deffinately something i would not want to be without. I love my speakeasy. If the buzz bothers you so much then get yourself a gate.

[daBowsa]

Originally posted by eric:

You need to get yourself a set of Voce MIDI Drawbars or other drawbar controller for your Electro.

You mean something like this?

 

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/eslawson/lego_drawbars_1.JPG

[c4]

sweet!

[davinwv]

Do the solid state Speakeasy Rhodes preamps with the tremolo circuit buzz as badly as the tube versions? I've been thinking about getting one of these as it is the only one within my price range.

[eric]

Originally posted by daBowsa:

Originally posted by eric:

You need to get yourself a set of Voce MIDI Drawbars or other drawbar controller for your Electro.

You mean something like this?

 

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/eslawson/lego_drawbars_1.JPG

Yes! Those are my Lego drawbars I created at least 3 years ago with my kids! Thanks for referencing them, Ben!

 

Regards,

Eric

[Phred]

Those lego bars are awsome... Are they midi or USB?

[eric]

Originally posted by Phred:

Those lego bars are awsome... Are they midi or USB?

Neither. Custom multi-pin connector that was added to the top panel of the Electro. It does not show up in the photo. I found out after making this mod that the owner of Clavia and the owner of Lego are relatives (Lego is actually the parent company of Clavia) and the execs at each company were excited about future product combination offers. They were working on a miniature series of Electro/Lead/Stage keyboards that would be compatible with Legos and the little men could actually play them.

 

Regards,

Eric

[Phred]

[WWW]

1. electro B3 key click-- can be set much lower via system parameters (I do)

2. Rhodes distortion--if you set the velocity control higher, you get very good control over overdrive,.

3. Speakeasy 'buzz'--I have 2 SVM preamps. Neither has any buzz. But if you crank the gain to high, you get a very hot signal which does bring into play an audible background noise. Just try to be more subtle in using the gain, and I think you will be very happry with it.

[Mididude]

I have a 'Clone Classic' from Speakeasy (bought it in late 2004) and haven't had any 60 cycle hum/buzz problems. I even did a little A/B test awhile ago running a Rhodes sound from a Yamaha P60 digital piano into Garage Band with the Speakeasy then without (btw there's no bypass switch on the combo preamp so I just had to remove the Speakeasy from my interface's 'effects insert') to see if I could hear how it could 'color' the sound if used for recording. My findings--the tube coloration was subtle but definitely there and 'warmer' than just a straight uneffected signal. And I definitely didn't hear any noise going on, and this is coming from someone who's discriminating about his sound too. I was surprised to hear some people have complained of experiencing hum and then being told 'it's tubes, and tubes hum'...maybe it's something else like a grounding issue elsewhere in their setups or a microphonic tube perhaps--though unlikely? I can only speak for my subjective experience and mine's been a good one (knock on wood?) Not that it's any consolation, but I believe they have a 'Platinum' series of preamps for studio use now that would be quieter due to different circuit components used (I'm not techy enough with electronics to explain the particulars). The main reason I bought the 'Clone' was for use running a Voce V3 through a stock 147 Leslie--been awhile since I've had occassion to pull all this stuff out and play it for a couple reasons, but when I have I've gotten very nice results...and yes the V3/Speakeasy/147 rig can 'growl' too! :-)

[Mr. Nightime]

The other day I was in Sam Ash in Orlando, and got a chance to check out an Electro 61. (I think it was the Electro, might have been a Stage). I was not at all impressed, in fact I was truly disappointed. The Piano sound was not as good to my ears as my old Korg N364, I couldn't get any bark at all out of the Rhodes. The Hammond sound was not too bad, and very usable, but I need to ba able to overdrive the organ at will, and I didn't see any way to add it. Plus I thought the drawbar interface was extrordinarily awkward. There are a few tunes that I play when I have to make 3-4 drawbar changes within 1 beat. Not too likely with the Nord.

I'll stick with what I've got.

[mate stubb]

Originally posted by Mididude:

Not that it's any consolation, but I believe they have a 'Platinum' series of preamps for studio use now that would be quieter due to different circuit components used (I'm not techy enough with electronics to explain the particulars).

As Steve at Speakeasy explained to me, the platinum series uses filtered DC for the tube heaters, while the standard preamps use unfiltered ac. This is standard practice in many classic amps like the fender twins, which the speakeasy preamps are modelled after.

 

FWIW, when I owned my speakeasy I found that I could get minimal hum by structuring the gain carefully.

[Bridog6996]

Originally posted by Mr. Nightime:

The other day I was in Sam Ash in Orlando, and got a chance to check out an Electro 61. (I think it was the Electro, might have been a Stage). I was not at all impressed, in fact I was truly disappointed. The Piano sound was not as good to my ears as my old Korg N364, I couldn't get any bark at all out of the Rhodes. The Hammond sound was not too bad, and very usable, but I need to ba able to overdrive the organ at will, and I didn't see any way to add it. Plus I thought the drawbar interface was extrordinarily awkward. There are a few tunes that I play when I have to make 3-4 drawbar changes within 1 beat. Not too likely with the Nord.

I'll stick with what I've got.

Well, don't judge the Nord based on the piano sound. I happen to be a huge Nord fan, but I'll be the first to tell you that the piano sounds just plain suck. Nobody buys the Nord for it's piano sound. As for the organ "draw buttons," I find that to be the main Nord drawback (no pun intended). On the plus side, though, if you're changing your drawbar settings that quickly, you can use the presets. Technically, it would enable you to change your settings even slightly faster than you do now. In this respect, it would speed you up, not slow you down. Of course, that's only if you're switching between specific settings. If you're manipulating the drawbars on the fly (which is the way I do it), then the Nord can be a little bit of a pain in the arse. As for the overdrive control, it should have been pretty straightforward. There's a dedicated knob right on the front panel that says "overdrive."

 

Unless the keyboard had 88 keys, it was the Electro you played.