Nord User Forum

I am in the market for a used nord (older model, ltd cash!)
I am right now focusing on the electro 3hp and piano 2/ 73.

The issue is.... I am actually not interested in the piano samples, only the clav assuming its very good and playable. Organ emu might be fine but i think i am aactually more into playing samples of vintage ones like mellotron church or some farfisa etc.

I used to have a real mellotron m400 (yeah truly) and loved it, but had to let go cash/use wise. I was interested in the m4000d offerings but i need resistant key action and the top model m4000d is much too pricey for me.

I also have a Hohner pianet T wich i lovce to death and in my Feeling it will always sound better and more alive than any sampled rhiodes/wurli etc so i dont even need the epiano (wich could be better sampled anyway as far as i read on here)

So i am pretty confused wich could be the right board for me. I would say the WAVE to even bring the samples more alive but for the same amount of cash i can get weighted action on piano 2 or 3hp and i hate synth/ midi keyboard action.

In the end, sample memory, good resistant keys, best bang for buck. Its over my head by now.
I will mostly use mellotron and other samples like vintage synths or organs.from the piano lib i would miostly enjoy clav and harpsichord i guess.

The split function and bigger sample lib draws me to the piano 2 vs the electro 3hp

What could be my board?


If clavia would just open up the multisample piano ib to load custom samples to it would all be a dream. Or supply more instruments or just open up that space...but not going to happen i am afraid


Oh and HI:)

For your purposes, I think the E3HP and the NP2/73 are really similar... same sample library, same clav, same kind of action. The E3 primarily adds the organ you don't really need, whereas the NP2 primarily adds the ability to split/layer a sample with a piano sound, which you also don't really need. Maybe it will come down to which you can find at a better price? Though all else being equal, I'd give the edge to the E3 here, which has 185 mb sample memory, vs 128 mb in the NP2, and I think the E3 gives you more flexibility in terms of how the sampled sounds respond to velocity. On the other side, the NP2 gives you more envelope control with the Attack/Release knobs , rather than just a few fixed options for attack and release. But on balance, I think the E3's benefits outweigh that here.

EDIT: Whoops! E3 has only 68 mb sample memory.

Where did you get that 185mb sample lib sapce? I think the info is wrong, afaik its poor 68mb wich is the only thing that speks against the 3HP

Oh and split/layer i could very much use in fact, sure with samples would be better but a piano bass is a nice thing

I need good sample lib mem because i will definitly skip most looped samples and go for unlooped. I also sampled my ex m400 mellotron and would use those sounds aswell. One instrument will have 20mb in wav. Anyone knows how much that corresponds in nsp instrument file?

Oh and i got another question. Would the synth section on a wave or stage allow some kind of "weak motor" subtle wobble modulation. Maybe lfo?

Hththt wrote:Where did you get that 185mb sample lib sapce? I think the info is wrong, afaik its poor 68mb wich is the only thing that speks against the 3HP

Sorry, thanks for catching that, I fixed the post. It's been years since I used an E3, and my eyes went to the wrong # on the spec sheet...

Hththt wrote:Oh and split/layer i could very much use in fact, sure with samples would be better but a piano bass is a nice thing

Ah, then that's yet another argument for the NP2. And often better than piano bass, you can pick a Rhodes sound. (Worked for Ray Manzarek.)

Hththt wrote:I need good sample lib mem because i will definitly skip most looped samples and go for unlooped. I also sampled my ex m400 mellotron and would use those sounds aswell. One instrument will have 20mb in wav. Anyone knows how much that corresponds in nsp instrument file?

I know Nord uses compression in their own stuff, I never noticed whether (or how much) compression is applied when you make your own samples, interesting question. Regardless, the 68 on an E3 won't go very far with samples of the size you're talking about.

Hththt wrote:Oh and i got another question. Would the synth section on a wave or stage allow some kind of "weak motor" subtle wobble modulation. Maybe lfo?

Although I don't know about the exact effect you're looking for, you can apply all the synth functions (including LFO) to the samples on the Wave and Stage 2 (or higher). You can also play two samples at once, something else you can't do on the NP2/E3.

Yeah 2 at once is a big + indeed vs building fixed balance dual sound samples (wich the editor allows yes? I somewhere read it only allows one sample per key?)

My fear about the wave would be besides i probably hate the key action, that any implementation of the va synth engine will make the samples sound rather "synthy" while thats not what i am looking to archive. I am more into 60s sometimes obscure detuned sound not into electronica/modern stuff.

So yes. Stage probably ideal, but simply too expensive and i confess, one of the first thing i want to do to the nord i am getting is customizing the color and buttons i think thats harder to do on the stage.

Damn confusing but this leads me to the P2 again. Memory, split, envelope, action.... Common nord, open up that piano lib for other sounds

Hththt wrote:Yeah 2 at once is a big + indeed vs building fixed balance dual sound samples (wich the editor allows yes? I somewhere read it only allows one sample per key?)

Right, the editor permits one sample per key, but there's nothing to stop you from externally creating a sample that consists of two sounds.

Taking this conversation in a slightly different direction... you don't really care about piano, organ, or synth functions, all you want is sample playback. And you want to generate your own samples for the sample playback function. One thing I'm not clear about is, do you care about using Nord's own sample library samples? Or do you really only care about using your own samples? Or could you at least get by that way? Because if that's the case, there may also be some non-Nord options to consider.

No, the nord lib user aswell as archive etc is 50% of the reason i am going nord.

Yes i dont need the acoustic pianos and not even the EPs a lot (maybe for bass) but everything else is a welcome addition to the palette

Right now i think the only logical step is going E 5D 61. i wouldnt need more keys, could even live with 49 but that means a deal i can afford would be waterfall action....
But the 256mb sample mem and split/layer makes this more modern board simply much more logical to me i guess.... To bad about the change on the clavinet UI

Hi, sorry if I ask maybe a dumb question: of course you are excluding any Virtual Instrument reproducing the Mello, you want a HW keyboard and the Mellotron Samples from the Nord Library by all means, right?