Nord Electro 3 vs. Nord Wave

[jp2112pj]

Hello all,

I'm a newbie to the site, but not to playing keys. I'm building a base setup for live performances with a produced artist that has asked me to play keys for her. My current boards / sequencers are:

1) Novation Supernova Pro IIx (with broken key)
2) Alesis QS6
3) Yamaha RS7000

We began rehearsing recently and have been clunking my way through playing mostly piano with my Alesis 61 key unit. Frankly, the Yamaha integrated synth/sequencer/song production tool probably has the best sounding piano (I believe it's soundbank was taken from a version of the Motif,) but I don't want to fiddle with MIDI connections right now, especially since neither of my two other keyboards have any more than 61 keys. Piano sounds on the Novation are nonexistent, and the ones on the Alesis are decent.

But I'm in a rebuild phase for this project, and probably going forward, so I'm looking for the most overall versatility without sacrificing quality, and am trying to avoid splitting keys on any one board. My plan is to pick up a Roland RD-700NX for sole use as a great sounding piano with fully weighted keys. This unit has excellent feeling and sounding Acoustic Pianos, and EP's.

My second unit will likely be a Nord. I'm weighing the pros and cons of an Electro 3 vs a Nord Wave. The Electro 3 has awesome Organ and Pianos, and I'm fully aware of the functionality of the downloadable sounds from the Nord site via USB.

But as a synth guy, I'm a bit concerned about the functionality of the Electro 3 vs the Nord Wave. The Wave allows for sound sculpting of synth sounds, and the Electro has the drawbars for the Organs.

Those said, the Wave is 49 keys, the Electro I'm looking at is the 73 key version.

It seems I can download the same sounds from the Nord Library to either the Electro 3 and the Wave, and without tweaking, they would sound identical. So, I'd be able to download kick @$$ synth sounds to the Electro 3, that were perhaps sculpted from the Wave, and similarly, I can download Organ and Piano patches onto the Wave, and those should have sounds of equal quality when played untweaked on the Wave.

For starters, are my assumptions correct?

Regards,
Joel

[Johannes]

Hi Joel,
welcome to the forum!
Your assumptions are correct in general I'd say, you did some serious research on that, good!
For your new rig setup, I think the E3 and Wave are completely different beasts so it really depends on what sounds you need/want.
You are correct about the differences of using Nord (or home made) samples and the tweaking advantage of the Nord Wave versus the Piano/Organ Emulation on the Electro.

Given that you are likely to get a Roland RD-700NX, you should have your Piano Sounds covered (AP at least, EP to a bit lesser extent if you ask me,but if you are happy with it, perfect!). For organ sounds, the Electro is great. If you play a lot of Hammonds etc., that could be an issue.
For loading other samples, user created ones as well as Nords large library, both keyboards work as you correctly mention. Pianos on the Wave are not its strength as it only supports one velocity layer, so don't expect too much from Rhodes, Grand Pianos on the Wave. Organ is better even though the Electro is much more realistic.
And since you mention sound design/Synth tweaking, the Nord Wave is one perfect solution. Multi Oscillators, Samples, FM, FX, (check those videos: http://www.norduserforum.com/nord-wave- ... -t333.html there are some great demonstrations of what is possible)!!
Bottom line, given you got a decent Piano and if you don't have Hammond sounds in every other song you play, I would definitively go with the Wave (if you want a Nord, obviously!)
On a sidenote a Nord Stage 2 Compact might give you something superior of both worlds (even though the sound design capabilities are not as powerful as on the Wave), but to a higher price.
Just my 0.02 BB- Euro Cents.

Cheers, Johannes

[anotherscott]

It seems I can download the same sounds from the Nord Library to either the Electro 3 and the Wave, and without tweaking, they would sound identical. So, I'd be able to download kick @$$ synth sounds to the Electro 3, that were perhaps sculpted from the Wave, and similarly, I can download Organ and Piano patches onto the Wave, and those should have sounds of equal quality when played untweaked on the Wave.

For starters, are my assumptions correct?

If I understand you correctly, no, your assumptions are not correct.

There are a set of sounds in the Sample Library, and yes, you can load them into either the Nord Wave or into the Nord Electro 3. However, that does not mean you can load Electro 3 organ/piano sounds into the Wave, nor can you load Wave synth sounds into the E3.

Yes, there are some kick @$$ synth sounds in the sample library, that can be loaded into either keyboard. They were not sculpted form the Wave. They came from other Nord products (i.e Nord Lead), Moogs, Rolands, Oberheim, etc. They can be further sculpted if you load them into the Wave, or you can use the Wave's own synth engine to create sounds from scratch. They can be loaded into the Electro 3 with almost no ability to further sculpt, as well as no pitch bend, no modulation abilities, no filter sweeping, etc.

There are some organ and piano patches you can load into the Wave, but they are nowhere near the calibre of the organ sounds of the E3's organ engine, or of the sounds from the piano sample library which works with the NE3 but not the Wave. And just as the NE3 doesn't give the you ability to use pitch bend or any other enhancements to a synth sound, the Wave doesn't give you things like leslie emulation, drawbar control, or percussion controls for the organ sounds.

The Nord Stage 2 would be the best choice if your budget can handle it. There really aren't too many single boards that are at least reasonably good for both drawbar style organ and VA style synth. Other than Nord Stage 2, there would be the Kurzweil PC3 series and the Korg Kronos, I think that's about it. Or you could go with two different boards (or a board and some kind of module).

[jp2112pj]

Would I be able to get top notch strings / chorus ensemble from either the Electro 3 or the Wave? Or wouldn't this be an issue?

[anotherscott]

You can get excellent string ensemble sounds from the Sample Library that will work in either the E3 to Wave. You can hear samples of them at http://www.nordkeyboards.com/main.asp?t ... trMachines

On the E3, you would pretty use them as is; on the Wave, you would have more ability to further manipulate/customize themuse

[DJKeys]

Anotherscott hit the nail on the head. I have both units and they cover all the bases I need. The Wave is an amazing synth, but it cannot do the piano and organ sounds of the Electro. However, I have had a lot of success downloading string, vocal and synth sounds to the Electro and getting the results I need with the EQ and effects. There are a lot of nice sounds on Nord's site you can import into the Electro, but you will need to load them, try them out, see which ones you want, and then tweak them to taste.

The NS2 is a good choice for a do-everthing instrument, but if you do a lot of synth stuff, check it out first and make sure the synth section is flexible enough to meet your needs, as it is not as powerful as the wave being only single oscillator.

Good luck in your decision.

-dj