Hlaalu wrote:Yes but the part that I still fail to be convinced of is that *because* there are already alternatives, then it "makes sense" for them not to continue with it. I mean, there is Korg and Yamaha: is this a reason Clavia should abandon the market altogether? Obviously not. One could see it the other way round, which is that precisely because there is more competition now than when the C1 came out first, this is a stimulus to come up with improvements.
I realise the organ market is niche by definition, and even among us who are interested we seem to have different opinions on what the perfect machine should be. For example, I am not that interested, in fact I am not interested at all in other sounds the machine should posses -- thus making it a hybrid keyboard.
I know there are alternatives, and right now it is the XK-5 that seems to be the closest to perfection -- with an astronomical price. But again, I don't see this as a valid reason to think that Clavia should then give up altogether. We would have the XK-5 AND a new Nord organ to compare and choose amongst.
The fact is that Nord blazed the trail for the portable console that was no bigger than drawing round two 61 note manuals on a big sheet of paper, and now there are less...well..."Nord-y" alternatives out there, half of the market that still needs a dual manual organ will flock to the Mojos and Legends that give them pretty much the same thing in a very slightly bigger, very slightly heavier box that trades this small percentage of portability for a far more tonewheel organ like 'dashboard'. And for lots less money, especially the Legend Live which really does nail the cut down B3 vibe.
So the nearest competitior is a Hammond SKx (Yes the XK5 is lovely, but it's back to that annoying modular chunks format, not a nice, compact one-lump solution you take out of a case and plop on a stand, done). The allegedly improved electric piano voices apparently aren't, it's only the velocity/response that appears to interpret them better and in cold objective listening, the Rhodes and Wurly voices are still very much in clown shoes league, as is the organ in the Yamaha YC-61.
For my money, Nord have lost the organ 'purist' market now and need to have the SKx in their sights and any dual manual C2D successor needs to offer a bit of the Electro experience and at least give some EPs. Or retire from this field altogether and revert to just offering the Electro and Stage as 'all in one' solutions, from whence they came.
Hlaalu wrote:I wouldn't even want such a keyboard... I'd like a dual manual *organ* that does just what it is supposed to, and does it well.
I don't know what to say other than I strongly hope Clavia has not discontinued this section of their products range.
I'm with you 100% on not being remotely interested in a dual manual with a weighted lower manual and Stage-like architecture. Yuck. Too heavy and complicated by a long chalk. Just sort out the chorus/vibrato, get the Leslie to the standard that I can leave the Neo Vent at home, and let me throw the pipe organ out with the trash and instead have a Wurlitzer/Rhodes piano sound available.
Or at least have the decency to come clean, admit they're done here and tell us two-manual folk to f**** off somewhere else - do you know it is now almost exactly TWO YEARS since I started this thread? Two years and four days to be precise. And in that time, no word of a sound engine update for the C2D, nor an outright new model. Nor anything at all organ-related. Just bloody pianos, synths and stupid red speakers. C2Ds sold out in most of Europe and no knowledge of if/when it's going to come back into stock. Deafening silence.