Nord Electro v3.0 - New Acoustic Pianos!

[Carbon111]

I had a Nord Electro rack in the studio for quite some time...all the emulations were great except the acoustic piano - it really sucked...I mean really bad. At the time, I went online and downloaded their alternative samplesets but they were no better...so I just lived with it until I stupidly thought I could replace the Nord with a rompler and sold it...

 

Long story short, I've been missing the Electro sound ever since - just really great organ & e-pianos paired with the appropriate effects. I recently had enough cash from a synth sell-off to add this to the studio:

 

http://www.carbon111.com/photos/electro.jpg

 

I remembered that Clavia has a standard CP80 to replace the weird "Model G" sampleset that comes as the default of their Electric Grand so I went to their site and found not only the CP80 I was looking for but two new Acoustic Grand Pianos! One is a Steinway D and the other a Yamaha C7, both almost twice the size of the old factory samplesets! These two new ones were aparently "ported" from the Nord Stage. Very nice of Clavia to think of us lowly Electro owners!

 

These new pianos are only compatible with the new 3.0 OS because they needed a new flash memory structure to squeeze in the new, much larger, samplesets. I downloaded and installed the new OS, then loaded in my preferred default samplesets.

 

The first Acoustic Grand I tried was the Yamaha C7 - very nice indeed! MUCH better than any of the old Acoustic samplesets...still a tad bright for my taste though so I loaded the Steinway and was rewarded by the rich, dark sound I've long associated with the brand. Velocity range is good and there are no obvious bad samples.

 

I'm really loving the Electro, even for Acoustic Piano now! This was not a "subtle" upgrade at all, Clavia has done an admirable job of making an istrument I liked very much into one I absolutely love.

 

I thought I'd pass all this along for anybody thinking about an Electro who remembered the sucky Acoustic Grand sounds or who may demo a pre-OS3 unit in a store or who might want something similar to but slightly cheaper than a Nord Stage

[david.edwards8]

Thanks for this James. I totally agree. I tried the original acoustic piano and it did indeed suck. I mean really bad - like a kid's toy. I made a point of trying the new pianos before I bought my Electro. The new C7 and Steinway D samples are in a different league. They don't rival a stage piano but if you want your Electro to do a bit of acoustic piano they do a great job. I actually prefer the C7 in a band situation in terms of cutting through and I've increased the velocity sensitivity so that I can easily reach the highest velocities - which are very bright.

 

The full samples on the Nord Stage are amazing - different to other stage pianos, more quirky, but amazing! But I couldn't really afford or justify one - I'm playing mostly organ at the mo.

 

I'd also add a note about action. Of course it's a matter of taste and I wholly accept that if you play lots of piano then the electro action is very light. But as a compromise - especially if you're used to playing the odd piano line on a synth - I think the action is great. I love it for both piano and organ.

[Steve Force]

Yes, thanks for this post, Carbon111!

 

I will upgrade my Electro 2 today.

[Carbon111]

Note to anyone updating:

 

Read through the instructions on the update page carefully. After you load the new os, there will be no samples loaded. You have to reload all the samples for all the pianos. None of the old samples will work so you need to download OS3 versions of all the pianos you want loaded in your Electro from the Electro page where it says "Piano library 3.x (factory setup)":

 

http://www.clavia.se/products/nordelectro/software.htm

 

The "new" piano AcGrand5 is the Yamaha, its part of the Ver3 factory setup. AcGrand6 is the Steinway, its one of the optional pianos. Try them both out to see which one you like next...I chose the Steinway because I've already got Yamaha C7 samples in other gear.

[Cliffk]

Carbon111, are these 'new' samples the same ones brought out over 6 months ago?

[c4]

yeah those samples have been out for ages..

[U.Honey]

Wouldn't it be sweet if Clavia would introduce 'Nord Electro 3' with exatcly the same specs (including weight and price) as Electro 2 but with more memory to hold piano samples?

 

Nord Stage '73 obviously has that but the price tag is a bit scary.

[Carbon111]

Originally posted by cliffk:

Carbon111, are these 'new' samples the same ones brought out over 6 months ago?

Maybe I should have said "new to me"

 

Yeah, the Electro's been off my radar since I haven't owned one in some time. Imagine my suprise though - the machine came brand-new out of the box last week with 2.2 OS.

 

I was assuming I was going to have to live with the crappy acoustic piano...

 

I bet there's a ton of new stock out there in the same shape.

 

Not to mention a lot of folks in the same boat as me...I've already recieved a few "thank yous" ^_^

[lerber3]

I have a NS 88, I'm principally a pianist, but I'm considering switching to Compact + weighted controller to:

a) be more portable with minimum rig

b) keep the great NS sounds

c) get dedicated organ/clav keyboard

 

Can anybody speak about the playability of the Compact without a weighted controller? I really hated playing piano on the Electro.

 

Thanks.

[eric]

Originally posted by lerber3:

I have a NS 88, I'm principally a pianist, but I'm considering switching to Compact + weighted controller to:

a) be more portable with minimum rig

b) keep the great NS sounds

c) get dedicated organ/clav keyboard

 

Can anybody speak about the playability of the Compact without a weighted controller? I really hated playing piano on the Electro.

 

Thanks.

I am a 4+ year user of the Electro and also Yamaha S90 for about 3+ years with the Electro. Recently got the Stage Compact and still working with it as a potential Electro replacement. I actually think the Compact works pretty well for playing piano, but still cannot hold a candle to playing from a weighted board.

 

As for those Electro "new" pianos, those are kind of old news and really not worth investigating unless you can always use them in stereo. That's the rub with the Electro. Its stereo AP sounds are very good, when played in stereo. They absolutely STINK in mono. So my issue is that I use my Electro for some rehearsals and small gigs in mono - I do need to hit that piano sound for songs and I cannot bear the stereo ones in mono. Thus, I am stuck with the very first Steinway sample - the only one that Clavia bothered to do in mono. It works for rehearsal, but it is not too exciting.

 

The Stage pianos are much better, but once again, they play towards a stereo rig. So I've reached the conclusion that between the Electro and the Stage, you can get by in mono if you are doing organ, clav, EP but if you need AP, then a stereo rig is necessary.

 

Regards,

Eric

[milt0n]

I dont do solo gigs, but the only piano I use live is the upright "living room" piano. I love the sound, but it wont work for solo gigs!! It is simply the most "human" sounding piano available for the electro, for better or worse!

[kanker.]

Some of us think the mono Steinway is the bomb...