Nord User Forum

[technogeek]

I've been playing guitar for years, and only a little piano, but recently decided to get much more serious about the latter. In shopping around for my first keyboard, the Nord Electro 6 HP caught my eye early on. My logic, critiques of which are much appreciated, is as follows.

It's a big sum of money for my first keyboard, but I'd really rather something great I can hold onto for years to a cheaper alternative I'll outgrow and want to replace in a couple years anyways. My greatest fear at this point is not that I'll get the Electro and be disappointed by the quality, but that as I learn more I'll discover what I really want is just something else entirely. Right now I want something dependable I can learn and grow on. It feels like the Electro will be great for that and much more after, but it's not inconceivable it's lacking in some area I've yet to delve into. The only such area I can think of right now is the synths, where my impression is the Lead or Stage can do a ton more. But the Lead is no replacement for a piano. And honestly, if I got super into synths later, for the price of a Stage you can almost get an Electro and a Lead separately. I'm still worried I'm overlooking other things too though.

How does this logic parse to someone more versed in Nords and the natural progression thru keyboard ranks? Is the Electro a good call? Or am I nuts to be even considering a Nord to start? All comments, criticisms, or reassurances welcome.

[ajstan]

Welcome! Here are my thoughts, but others will certainly be able to offer other (and potentially better) suggestions:

- If you've never had a keyboard and don't know for sure what you want, then you may be better served in starting off with something less expensive to leave room in your budget for a supplemental board to cover what your first board doesn't, or cut your losses if you sell your first board. $3,000 for your first board is risky.

- The Electro 6 has a great piano library for APs and EPs and a very good Organ section, but the synth section is just a sample player, not a complete synth. There are better options for an all-in-one solution if synth capabilities are a priority.

- It would help to know your expected usage:
- In-home or gigging?
- What types of music?
- What are your priorities for Piano (AP/EP), Organ, and Synth?
- What needs do you have for splitting and layering sounds across the keyboard?
- Are you going to be playing presets, tweaking sounds or creating your own sounds from scratch, including loading your own samples?
- What types of real-time controls do you want? Synth parameters, pitch-bend, aftertouch.
- Are you set on hammer action, or would a waterfall or synth keybed be OK? Are you opposed to having two keyboards?
- Do you want arranger functionality like a sequencer?

- Don't forget to save money for amplification and a case to transport.

If hammer action is a must and you're looking for a board to keep for a long time, then take a look at the Kurzweil PC4 and the Yamaha MODX8, which are both around $2,000. Also, wait and see what gets announced at NAMM this month.

If you want to start off learning to play piano with decent 88-key hammer action, then try out the newer Casio Privia S1000 ($649) and S3000 ($849) which have built-in speakers and can run on battery power.

The MODX and Casios should be available to try at your local music shop.

Good luck.

[Rusty Mike]

It really depends on what you want to do with it. Do you want to become a better piano player? An Electro 6HP is a wonderful instrument.

Do you want to be a better organ player? The Electro 6D (61 or 73) is a better instrument.

Want something that will mate to a DAW and be a handy multi-timbral Swiss Army Knife for recording? Not really Nord's wheelhouse.

Do you want to explore the world of synthesizers? Bit of a Pandora's box, as there are a plethora of options out there to do that at all kinds of price points.

Be more specific about what you want to do, and be open to non-Nord alternatives if something else fits your needs better. Don't get hung up on a name and then be disappointed because it doesn't do what you need. Also understand that Nord's architecture is different from pretty much all the other manufacturers. They have several different sound engines (piano, organ, sample synth, VA synth, FM synth) that they combine to create their various instruments. But it's not the same as Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Kurzweil, etc.

[technogeek]

Thank you both for the thoughtful replies. These are great questions and a lot to consider besides. I'll try to get more specific.

I'd say hammer action is a must and piano is the definite priority over organ and synth. I brought up the synth mostly as an example of a rabbit hole I could see myself going down in the future.

I expect mostly in-home usage, but including a lot of jamming with friends. To that end, while I certainly want to be able to hook up to a DAW, I don't want to be tied to a computer and I'm not looking at it primarily as a workstation keyboard. Genre wise: a bit all over, a lot of different kinds of rock, folk, indie, etc. I enjoy classical as much as the next guy, but it's not what I'm raring to learn here.

On the topic of presets vs creating your own sounds and synths I have a question, and excuse me if this reveals the depths of my ignorance on synths. I understand how the Electro is really just a sample player and not for creating sounds like you could onboard a Stage or Lead A1. With enough software proficiency, could you reach any sound equally in software as on say an A1, then load it on an Electro and play it as you liked? Not the same convenience for experimenting on the fly granted. But is it a crazy model workflow to play around on a computer until you like a sound, then load it into the Electro synth selection?

Re arranger functionality: what's an example keyboard that does this?

[Rusty Mike]

I'd say hammer action is a must and piano is the definite priority over organ and synth. I brought up the synth mostly as an example of a rabbit hole I could see myself going down in the future.

With regard to the action, a hammer action is well suited for playing acoustic and electric piano sounds, but less than optimal for synth or organ playing. The Electro, as great an instrument as it is, doesn't really lend itself well to venturing down the synthesis rabbit hole. You have some rudimentary envelope and filter capabilities in the sample synth section, but nothing that will allow you to experiment with synthesis in the traditional sense.

The Electro also has no pitch or modulation wheels/levers/paddles, which limit the amount of expression you can use on a synth sound. The instrument was not designed to do this.

I expect mostly in-home usage, but including a lot of jamming with friends. To that end, while I certainly want to be able to hook up to a DAW, I don't want to be tied to a computer and I'm not looking at it primarily as a workstation keyboard. Genre wise: a bit all over, a lot of different kinds of rock, folk, indie, etc. I enjoy classical as much as the next guy, but it's not what I'm raring to learn here.

The Electro would fit well into this slot. Nords in general are great for live playing.

With enough software proficiency, could you reach any sound equally in software as on say an A1, then load it on an Electro and play it as you liked? Not the same convenience for experimenting on the fly granted. But is it a crazy model workflow to play around on a computer until you like a sound, then load it into the Electro synth selection?

It's possible to create a program on an A1 (or any other instrument), sample it and load it into the Electro using Nord's Sample Editor. There are several restrictions to be aware of. Most notably, the sample is limited to a single velocity layer, preventing you from have different sound behaviors using key velocity. Second, the Electro does not have a monophonic mode, so all your sounds will be polyphonic. I personally find this limiting when trying to emulate a synth lead line - mono just behaves differently.

Re arranger functionality: what's an example keyboard that does this?

Korg PA series, Yamaha PSR and Genos lines, Casio CT series are all considered arranger keyboards. They have a library of accompaniment capabiliities (drums, bass, chords, etc.) that can play along with you. They are actually great composing tools, and many of them come with high quality sound sets. They run the gamut on price and can get quite expensive. Not as popular here in the US as they are in other parts of the world however.

[Rusty Mike]

I should add that I'm quite fond of the Electro; I've owned several of them: Electro 2-61, 3-73, 3HP, 4D-61 and now a 6D-73. I love the sound quality and simplicity.

Have to admit that I don't have much of a need for synthesis, as I'm playing mostly traditional jazz, but my Stage 2EX-76 helps scratch that itch when required. I also have a few soft synths on my computer and iPad, but I'm 75/25 piano/organ. The Stage/Electro combo works perfectly for me.

[anotherscott]

With enough software proficiency, could you reach any sound equally in software as on say an A1, then load it on an Electro and play it as you liked?

Yes and no. You can sample an A1 sound and play it from the Electro, but with significant limitations. You lose things like pitch bend, modulation control, portamento. And if you have a sound that changes its character over time, sampling those sounds for the durations you want can eat up memory very quickly.

If you like the hands-on immediacy of the Nord design, another possibility could be the Yamaha CP73/CP88. Nord's advantages are in portability, organ quality, possibly piano quality (certainly piano variety), ability to load custom samples, and an ever expanding library of sounds for you to choose from. Yamaha has more synth functions, more split/layer options, more MIDI functionality, and probably the better feeling action. If you're into organ, definitely the Nord. If you don't really care about organ, the Yamaha could be worth consideration.

[RuwiZ]

If you have the money, An Electro 6 HP would be an excellent keyboard for what you're describing. Since you're not deep into synths, and are only keeping that open as a future possibility, I would personally wait to go down that rabbit hole until later. As a guitar player, keep in mind that organ might end up higher on your list than you think. The organ on the electro is excellent, but the semi-weighted keys are really much better for anything other than pianos. For me, I would rather play pianos on the semi-weighted than organ and sampled sounds on fully-weighted hammer-action.

[technogeek]

Nord's advantages are in portability, organ quality, possibly piano quality (Yamaha has more synth functions, more split/layer options, more MIDI functionality, and probably the better feeling action.

I'm totally seeing where the Electro synth functionality falls short.

When you say it could have more in the way of split/layering, is that primarily that it could have more zones? Or is there something else too?

And what would you say it lacks in MIDI functionality?

[anotherscott]

When you say it could have more in the way of split/layering, is that primarily that it could have more zones? Or is there something else too?

On the Nord, you can split/layer up to three sounds, but you can only have one from each sound group (organs, piano library, and everything else). So for example, if you want bass guitar on the left and strings on the right, you can't do it, because those are both sounds in the "everything else" category. On the Yamaha, you again can split/layer up to three sounds, but they can be any of the instrument's sounds in any combination. Also, on the Nord, the split point must be either between a B and C, or between an E and F. On the Yamaha, you can place the split point anywhere you want.

And what would you say it lacks in MIDI functionality?

The Yamaha also functions as a 4-zone MIDI controller. The Nord has no specific MIDI controller functions. So, for example, on the Yamaha, you could split the keyboard and have an internal sound over some keys and a sound from an external module over others, or you could have user presets that send Program Changes and octave and volume settings to attached MIDI sound sources, you can't do any of that from the Electro. The Yamaha also has the pitch bend and modulation controls which can be useful when controlling external synth modules, the Nord doesn't have them.

But of course, as I said, the Nord also has a bunch of things that the Yamaha doesn't have. If you want it all, there's the Nord Stage 3... but at a price.