Moving On?

[cphollis]

We are all on a journey, and I thought I'd update you on mine?

I'm selling off a bunch of my Nords, and investing in other gear. I have been a 100% Nord guy for oh so long, but now it's time to move on to other boards that are specialized in what I'm interested in.

Have no fear, the Nord pianos still rule my world. Unless I invest in a powerful laptop and expensive software, there's nothing better. And I'm not going there. So Nord pianos will still be a big part of my world.

Organs? Right now, I'm torn between the Hammond XK-5 and the Mojo 61. The Hammond is about twice the cost of the Mojo. I don't expect it to be TWICE as good, but --- ??? One of those is my next organ board.

Synth duties? The NS3 can cover bread and butter all night long, but doesn't bring much that's interesting to the game. I'm looking for fresh sounds, and -- right now -- the Prophet X does it for me. Samples mangled by a serious synth. Bring it on.

Not looking for advice, per se. I know what I'm going to do over the next few months.

The good news? I've sold three Nords in the last two weeks. No problem and great prices. People want these boards.

All good.

[cgrafx]

Curious why you wouldn't list the viscount solo or legend in that list with the xk5 and the mojo?

[Spider]

Nothing wrong with moving on. Nobody signed in blood a lifelong commitment to Nords. And for almost every specific keyboard need, there is usually a specialized board which does it better (except maybe pianos, but still many people don't dig the Nord sound, and there are objectively superior actions out there).

The strength of Nord is in the complete package: having great sounds in a light and VERY user friendly all-in-one package. Even in that arena there is starting to be some serious competition (Vox Continental, Roland VR boards, Kurzweil Forte, the Dexibells...), and there are obvious sectors not covered by Clavia (analog synths, workstations, drum machines, samplers, sequencers etc)

Otherwise, we are blessed with choices, and all the better for it.

[DanielD71]

You could try vb3 2 with a laptop. The software have the same organ sound as the Mojo.
I like the organ sound but I would not say that is twice better than Nord.

I still prefer my Vent 2.

Regards,

[anotherscott]

You could try vb3 2 with a laptop. The software have the same organ sound as the Mojo.

Or add a Gemini module. Either way, you need a board with drawbars and action you like to drive it, of course. If you don't already have a board that fits that bill, the Mojo61 looks appealing.

[Gambold]

Yeah, I left Nord for now. I still have the Electro 4 but I'm not overwhelmed by the new product line...not enough to spend the cash they want. Plus they seem to have scaled back on their piano updates and that was a big selling point for me. I have no use for Baby uprights or Chris Maene Mozart pianos. I need a decent grand and a definitive Rhodes. The Bright Grand has been the go-to for the stage but I could use something new for live, combo performance.

I bought a Crumar Mojo 61 about two months ago and I love it. It's a quirky beast and at first you'll have to get used to the lack of customization (compared to what you had with Nord). But the keybed is marvelous and it sounds terrific. I don't know much about the Hammonds but if you can find a Mojo to demo (very hard, I know), go for it.

As for the Rhodes, my Korg SV-1 schools the Nord. It's heavy and I wouldn't drag it to a gig just to play Rhodes. Nord still has some of the nicest acoustic pianos out there, but they need a better keybed and some updated samples. If I come back, I may go for the Nord Piano - I don't play synths or sound effects. If my band wants strings they can hire an orchestra. It's the big three, baby: acoustic grand, Rhodes, and B3.

[Gambold]

I'll note too that the Mojo 61 has six other keyboards you can use if you somehow tire of the B3. These are:

a perfectly acceptable pipe organ you will never use, except maybe on Halloween
an adequate Farfisa you might use when playing Blondie tunes
a Vox Continental that there's no reason to play, as you have a world-class B3 emulator at your fingertips
a Rhodes emulation that has been over-rated on the Mojo forums and actually makes you wish for one of the Nord samples
a Wurli that no-one talks about because if you have a Rhodes, that's what you're going to play when it's EP time
a truly terrible acoustic piano that is so bad you are embarrassed for Crumar that they felt compelled to include it

Bottom line: I don't go near any of these. B3 mastery requires a lifetime, more time than I have. In this regard, you will love it and spend hours on it.