Nord User Forum

[stiiiiiiive]

You can write to Nord through the official website, if not done yet.

[brodiddley]

I have, a few days ago. Am very excited to hear back although I've almost pulled the trigger on an electro 3 73. Gone back and forth with a guy on ebay, looks like we might be able to work something out but I'd sure like to hear back from Nord first!! Oh why can't they just let us know that the Electro 4 will be here in a few months and have the most stunning Continental, Farfisa, Mellotron, electric pianos, and acoustic pianos we've ever heard. Everything a guy recreating 50s and 60s music would ever need! :::sigh:::

[Hanon_CTS]

I'd sure like to hear back from Nord first!! Oh why can't they just let us know that the Electro 4 will be here in a few months

Even if they had a NE4 in the works, they'd never tell anyone about it until it's ready for release.

[bdodds]

Oh why can't they just let us know that the Electro 4 will be here in a few months and have the most stunning Continental, Farfisa, Mellotron, electric pianos, and acoustic pianos we've ever heard. Everything a guy recreating 50s and 60s music would ever need! :::sigh:::

I would argue that you have that with the Electro 3 - the only thing I'd look to improve would be sample memory space, otherwise everything else would be only the tiniest improvement, if at all.

edited to add: is there something the E3 does that is sub-par to your ears w/r/t organs and samples? I know there are piano opinions all over the place, but I rarely hear anything about the non-hammond organs or the mellotron samples..

[brodiddley]

Thats good to know! As far as specifics, I'm semi-obsessed on getting a vox continental sound of some sort, be it an actual vox from the 60s or an emulation. From what I can gather, people say the Nord's is the best. I've got a buddy in Atlanta (4 hours away, just a bit too far to go just for a demonstration) who has both the electro 3 and an original Vox. His latest comment was that the Nord pales in comparison to the actual Vox. Don't know if thats a fair assessment but I do trust his opinion and he's got the gear to have an educated one. Most of what I've heard is that the vibrato emulation on the Nord is pretty rough...as in much slower than the originals and with not the same size/shape in regards to depth or kind of wave. I've got a Nord on the way so I'm going to see how the Nord affects me. I've got a Connie emulation from Native INstruments Vintage Organs that sounds ok, although the vibrato is seriously missing something, so I guess I'll start by seeing if I like the Nord better than the Native Instruments emulation.
The demos online don't seem to do much more than make me want to see another demo. Some of them sound pretty darn convincing and some sound pretty goofy. So I feel like I've got an insatiable urge for the opinions of others. So might as well just see for myself.

Of course the mellotron, pianos, and other organs are BIG points on the Nord. I have a Farfisa combo compact, so that test will be easy to run. I've heard people say the Farfisa is VERY impressive on teh nord.

I promise to report back on the Farfisa test and whether or not I feel an erection after listening to the NOrd's Vox Connie.

[DJKeys]

Have you already listened to these? Pretty darn good.

http://www.nordkeyboards.com/main.asp?t ... sa_Library

[bdodds]

Got the Nord yesterday: a 73 key electro 3. Haven't really been able to keep my hands off it. I'm VERY happy with it as an all around keyboard. The Continental sounds and the Farfisa sounds I was especially looking forward to are pretty good. I can see where they would be believable in a live setting. I've done some recording with various sound configurations and also spent plenty of time with just a pair of headphones. To me, the amp simulators really aren't nearly as bad as they could have been. I find them very useable, even at high distortion levels for certain sounds. A lot of the piano stuff is very useable and, to me, the most believable jaw dropping sounds are the mellotron and chamberlain sounds. I feel like I own a mellotron now. Its incredible. I do not, however, feel like I own a continental, farfisa (even though I do own a real one), a hammond, or a piano. But I feel like I own a keyboard that does a very good job of tricking my mind into thinking I'm listening to those keys.

I definitely echo the sentiment about the setup could be better. A few more buttons to press and instantly get to a sound I like would be great. If I had it up to me, i'd just take out the second 'effects' section. I don't use any of that crap. Some more memory would be good as well, but I don't find myself down to the last mb and wanting anything else. In fact, I tried a lot of the samples and instantly deleted them.

Anyway, I find myself wanting to a split function for EVERYTHING, as it would be so cool to have both piano and organ going at the same time, or piano and mellotron. Might have to start saving for the Stage 2.....

thanks to everyone for being so kind and helping to me to make an educated purchase.

cheers,

Bro

[bdodds]

Hey glad you like what you're hearing. It's all a compromise at some point for us, we just try to make it work as best as possible. Nothing will ever beat the originals, but these weigh significantly less and hopefully will last a bit longer - but if they don't, there are more being made as we speak..

Yeah, the Stage 2 is almost like having a few Electros plus a VA synth all in one, though there are differences in the hammond and pianos for sure, so make sure that's acceptable first. Again, I didn't do any A/B with the farfisa/vox organs, so I can't say that there is a difference either way, maybe someone else can?

[brodiddley]

A fellow member of the board did do an A/B and said he couldn't tell much, if any, difference between the stage 2 and electro 3 in regards to the combo organ sounds. He said even the B3 wasn't drastically different, its really just the Leslie sound that is very noticeably different.
UPDATE: put the combo organ sounds through an external vibrato pedal today. F**K YES!!

[bdodds]

Ahhhaha! yes, further supporting my opinion that whatever might lack on the Nord can be cured with liberal application of external boxes.. For me it's the Ventilator and the Line6 M9.. which pedal did you use? something vintage, maybe?