Same piano lib sounds completely different on E4, vs E6?

[chops88]

Has anyone else done a thorough A/B of the 4 vs the 5/6 and found it to be a sonic step down?

There has long been only 2 gripes I've had since I bought my 4HP when it came out ~2013: no splits/layers and really limited piano/sample memory. But the action was a perfect mid-weight middle ground for Hammond and AC piano, and at that point Nord finally had their act together on the acoustic pianos, enough to rival some of the plugins, and the better flagships. I could finally leave the Kurz/Hammond/Leslie rig at home a little more!

Been happy with the 4HP as the daily main driver for years but at long last I figured with a couple of extra bux lying around it was time to upgrade my trusty old workhorse and go to the 6HP, get the splits and layers and maybe even leave the laptop home on some gigs.

It had to be the same but better, right?? I mean I'd used lots of E5/6/S2 etc in backline rigs over the last few years in passing, so I thought I knew.

Other than the stated feature expansions, the first thing I noticed was the action. A LOT tighter than the 4, and higher quality build and feel. The pianos felt meatier. Really nice. And I could finally load a bunch of them in with 1GB of space. .......But on the first gig, the organ wasnt as buttery - much tougher to rip across cause of the heavier action, and hey, I'm no Corey H. Hmmmm....

Then I spun the Leslie up in the in-ears and.... Wtf??? The horrible wubba-wubba motor-boating from the earlier series' (and nearly every other clone) was back from the dead! Where was the ya-ya-ya-ya pulse they got right in the 4? It was another main reason I felt safe leaving the 145 at home and going to Nord in the first place. Guess I didn't notice on the backline gigs, probably cause I was running in mono on stage.

But then the same old, trustworthy E1 and E2 pianos and the clav also felt and sounded.... Different. Less meat, less warmth, less bottom end. A bit lifeless in comparison.

So I hooked them both up at the same time to my studio monitors to A/B them. What a crazy difference! The same exact (5.3/5.4) Rhodes/wurl/clav Nord lib files sounded **completely** different, even when run dry, no filtering at all. The 4 sounded better almost across the board, with maybe the AC pianos as the exception. Richer, meatier, slightly louder signal at the outputs, too. The Twin amp-model wasn't even in the same galaxy. With some filtering and with the new "generic" drive setting, I could get the 6 sorta close, but not enough to be equally satisfying.

After all this, I brought my non-musical wife in to make sure it was as noticeable as I thought it was. She agreed.

So I'm thinking it's going back to the store. I didn't even bring it to gig #2. I don't know why Nord had to mess with such a good thing.

Anyway, interested in hearing from anyone else who's gone from 3 or 4 to 5/6.

[chops88]

Hi chops

My route has been E2, Electro 4d, Loved it. Stage 3 compact, Didnt like it one bit and returned it. Electro 5Hp love it and gig with it every week, Stage 3 HP, hated it and returned it, Thought about an Electro 6 but as the Set list function has been removed, I'll stick with the 5HP.
Norm

[Crusty]

5d for gigs, 4d at home. The electro 4d sounds more like the instruments are in the room. The 5d sounds more like its coming out of the speakers. The organ on the 5d sounds more grungy, but the 4d sounds more like the leslie is in the room. Higher highs, lower lows, as well. Pianos have more body, like the cabinet resonance is more apparent. Epianos seem better too. I need the split function for lefty bass on gigs, so have kept both,,,

[Crusty]

The electro 4d also had metal shafts on pots, 5d plastic. I think maybe they had to limit the bandwidth because of the addition of the oled screen,,,

[maxpiano]

The electro 4d also had metal shafts on pots, 5d plastic. I think maybe they had to limit the bandwidth because of the addition of the oled screen,,,

Semi-OT: well the reason for that change is simpler: those (Bourns) pots with the "slim" metal shaft that Nord used used till NE4 went out of catalog (in fact they are quite hard to find now) so Nord had to switch to a different model and went for the new (plastic shaft) ones. Nord Stage 2 EX uses those new pots as well (Check Syntaur catalog and you'll see that) and has no OLED display.

[chops88]

The electro 4d also had metal shafts on pots, 5d plastic. I think maybe they had to limit the bandwidth because of the addition of the oled screen,,,

Are you saying the difference in the tonal coloring of the wave output is due to the change in pots? I thought all those pots had no analog signal running through them - just digital midi tweakers with the exception of the master vol?

[Crusty]

No, I realize the pots are digital, and have no effect on sound. Just commenting on build. It makes sense if they are no longer produced, is the reason for the change. I do think the 5d sounds bandwidth limited compared to the 4d. The organ has more bass and higher highs on the 4d. I have had them back to back and the difference is clear. The 5d still sounds great, but the 4d is a little sweeter, even without the larger samples,,,

[cgrafx]

I can't compare the 4d to the 6 or 5 or stage3 because I didn't own one, but I did have an electo 3 before my electro 5 and now my stage 3C.

There are definitely some differences in the B3 chorus and Leslie modeling but I did a draw-bar for draw-bar comparison and found the raw output of the engine (no Leslie or chorus enabled) was for all practical purposes identical across all three units.

[Crusty]

I'm talkin about with the leslie. I had a C3 and 147. The 4d sounds more like a leslie in the room as opposed to the 5d sounding like a miked leslie coming out of the speakers. It's more apparent on good speakers. The 4d had a upgraded organ and leslie to the 3 I think.

[PScooter63]

E4HP owner here. True confession: a coworker loaned me his S3HP to me to gig with over a long weekend. As much as I wanted to fall in love with it, it just didn't ring my bell sonically. But I sorta thought it might be that I hadn't the time to wrestle it into submission like I had my E4.

I probably WILL trade for a Stage at some point, all the same. All that power and flexibility is just too enticing to pass up.