Nord User Forum

[Blazerunner]

I have my return label and all. Only need to box it up and send it back but part of me is like "don't do it kid you'll shoot your eye out".
So I'll asks. Do you guys and gals think it's a good idea to return the E5 and wait for the E6?

[cgrafx]

1. do you need a keyboard to play on now? Keep the E5.

2. can you wait until the end of the summer or longer, do you have a bigger budget than what you paid for the E5? if yes, then send back the E5 and wait for the E6.

Just keep in mind, the E6 doesn't have a price and as of now is a non-shipping product that you could be waiting a long time for, even through the end of 2018.

As they say, a bird in the hand.....

[cphollis]

Keep the Electro 5

[Spider]

If you can wait 6+ months to receive it, spend additional money (it will very likely be more expensive than your E5), then wait probably other 6 months for all the firmware updates to have all the bugs sorted out and all the functions at full strength...then return it.

If not, you already have an excellent board, which is in no way less excellent because a different model has been announced.

[ajstan]

From reading your posts to-date, it seems like you won’t be satisfied with the E5 or the E6. You should probably return the E5 and wait for the E7.

[ericL]

Go for the NS3.

[maurizio]

Stupid question: do you need the features in the NE6 ?

As most of the people here, i asked myself if i should sell the NE5 before the second hand value go too low, in order to buy a NE6.

The answer is that for what i do, and for how i use the instrument, i do not need an NE6, i would not use the feature in the NE6 (three way multitimbrality
and smooth transitions, for example), and on the contrary i love the UI of the NE5 and i do not like the NS like UI of the NE6.
Not to say NE6 features are useless; this hold in my specific use case.

What about yours ?

Maurizio

[anotherscott]

I basically agree with ajstan. Based on your other posts, I think you should forget about the Electro 5 OR the Electro 6, which will not address most of what you see as Electro 5 shortcomings. If you still want a Nord, save up for a while and get a Stage 3. Then you'll have more memory, you'll be able to layer multiple sounds from the same section, you'll have full synth functionality. I think the Electro will just be endless frustration for you, with all your focus on the things it can't (and isn't designed to) do.

[Blazerunner]

I basically agree with ajstan. Based on your other posts, I think you should forget about the Electro 5 OR the Electro 6, which will not address most of what you see as Electro 5 shortcomings. If you still want a Nord, save up for a while and get a Stage 3. Then you'll have more memory, you'll be able to layer multiple sounds from the same section, you'll have full synth functionality. I think the Electro will just be endless frustration for you, with all your focus on the things it can't (and isn't designed to) do.

You know this is precisely why I haven't used forums to "discuss" gear in over a decade. People can't differentiate between critiquing a product and bashing a product. You really can't discuss gear without people getting offended or taking things personally. When I'm assessing my Keyboard I'm basing it's features against other keyboards I've owned or played. It's not perfect and the board can benefit from a lot of updates especially for it's price. Some features feel cheap or lacking compared to other keyboards in it's price range. I complained about the memory they added more, I talked about poly and playing other instruments, they added more poly, I talked about the layout and they also changed that. I asked why couldn't there be a built in toggle switch or a pitch bend or mod wheel to get more mileage out of the sounds you can use. Then I talked about the current trends in the industry and where nord was at and what Nord products people have been waiting to see and hear more about. The Lead and Nord Drum. I talked about how it's a good time for Nord to have dropped a new Lead since Synths are in demand right now. The biggest buzz at Namm so far has been the Korg Prologue, Arturia's New Minibrutes, the Elektron Digitone and the new Waldorf Quantum. These things are getting over 100,000 views compared to Nord barely breaking 20K on the 6D. The Electro 6D isn't exactly gaining the spotlight. That stuff just discussing gear man.

I like the E6 because it has more memory. The lack of memory has always been my biggest complaint. I never said the board sounded terrible or I didn't like the way it played I always said I wish it had more room for samples and if I could layer the sounds I wanted. I'm sure all of us here play differently but I like creating my own sounds so that my Nord doesn't sound the same as your Nord. That's just what I do. I like making patches and filtering sounds and tweaking them that's the way I play. I remember when the Triton was big and a couple friends of mine owned them. I would play my music for them and they would ask me about the instruments I was using and I would say "That's the Triton" and they would be baffled because they couldn't figure out how to tweak the instrument to make it sound the way mine did. That's just things some musicians like to do. I like to play with build of the sounds. It's not like I can't run the E5 through a filter like (even though it's nice they added an EQ and Piano Filter to the E6) but it's a nice feature to have.

I can say I don't like this or that about piece of gear and look forward to the updates it doesn't mean I hate it. If that was the case I would have never brought it. However, there's not a single piece of gear that I own that I won't say "hey I wish they did this". With Nord I'm like "Come on this thing sounds great stop punishing me for wanting to use more sounds". I don't always know what sounds I want to add on to a track. I like to flip through the banks and audition them to I find something I really like. I can't do that when my bank is loaded with Mellotron sounds because that's all that fits on them and then I have to spend 10 - 15 minutes connecting my computer and loading up my other keyboard layout into the Keyboard. That's really a hindrance when you're trying to get a song done. I'm just saying for my work flow more memory is a must.

The E6 has twice the synth space so I can fit most of the libraries they have on there.

The other stuff I talked about like VST's becoming a threat to hardware and the direction the industry is moving in is just another gear discussion and observance. They probably have more Midi controllers and VST programs than they do hardware synths now even that term "hardware synth" didn't exists before. I mean Keyscape is a pretty hard hitting program with the collection of Piano's it has and how they built the sounds for it. Me I don't like VST's but I can't count the number of times someone has tried to push me away from buying a Keyboard trying to get me to go the VST route. That's just the new norm now because it's more accessible and cheaper route for people to get into to create music these days but I was saying that "features" are no longer a limitation manufacturers can afford to have if they're going to survive VST's. You have to put more into your keyboards otherwise it's a 1up on VST's.

That's all I've been saying.. just discussing the gear. I like my Nord I like the simplicity of it. The weight of it and it doesn't take long to figure out or learn how to use it's more hands on and you can jump into it and the sounds on it have character. It's a nice keyboard. But I dropped $2,500 on it and if there's a new version with more in that price range... hey why not wait and upgrade?

[analogika]

The problem is that your opinions and assessment of value and competition are based largely upon misinformation, misunderstanding, or just outright nonsense. You compare specs of completely different products (SSDs vs. nonvolatile sample storage) and infer some sort of bad marketing or rip-off, where it’s only your ignorance that makes it appear that way. You talk about polyphony and claim it has to do with the realism of samples, where it’s like claiming that the number of paintings in a gallery says anything about how photorealistic they are. You make claims about tiny companies needing to compete with general-purpose workstations via feature set, and cite tiny, specialised boutique manufacturers in support.

This makes it difficult to discuss the hardware with you, since you talk a whole lot about a bunch of stuff, but very little has anything to do with designing, building, and selling hardware.

You’re not critiquing the hardware. You’re building imaginary strawmen and knocking them down. You’re comparing what you bought with something that doesn’t exist.