Electro 7?

Everything about the Nord Electro series; features, specifications, how to operate, and questions about technical issues.
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gtholden
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Electro 7?

Post by gtholden »

Wondering what people think about an Electro 7 being released anytime soon since the Stage 4 has been revealed?
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maxpiano
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Re: Electro 7?

Post by maxpiano »

Looking at the timeline of Nord Electro and Stage (found on Wikipedia), if I am not mistaken a new NE was never issued on the same year as a new NS, you can draw your conclusions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Electro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stage
Last edited by maxpiano on 22 Mar 2023, 10:43, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: Electro 7?

Post by analogika »

@maxpiano's comparison would peg the Electro 7 for a 2024 release.
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Re: Electro 7?

Post by Rusty Mike »

My speculation as well. The Electro 6 introduction followed the Stage 3 by about a year. I would not expect to see an Electro introduced until later this year or early 2024.
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Re: Electro 7?

Post by Gambold »

Based on everything I've seen and read about the Stage 4, mostly on this forum, I'm not thinking an Electro 7 is going to be much of an improvement over the E6. If they make one to sell, it will be to market a "new" Electro rather than provide some evolution in technology or seriously different features. I say this because the Stage 4 has neither. They didn't even up the size of the RAM. There are some enhancements but nothing really NEW to get excited about, much less pony up $6000 after tax to buy one - unless it's your first, I guess. And a lot of people are saying get a Stage 3 instead, at the current good prices.

For an Electro 7, they are hardly going to roll out new technologies or dramatic new functionality on their little brother keyboard if they couldn't manage to do so on their flagship, six years after the Stage 3 was released. For those of you who have old Electros (4 or earlier), i would look to purchase a 6 if the prices start to drop. You'll get a big bump in memory if nothing else, and the cost will surely be much less than what they will ask for the Electro 7.

I know I've said this before and I sound like a cranky old doomsayer, but I think Clavia is foundering. Or cruising along at best. This is not a company where cool new things are happening anymore. I wish I was wrong - there may still be time, but management clearly needs an overhaul. People need to retire. Reins need to be handed over. Last year's NAMM embarrassment, the mess in the sound library, and now this "new" Stage 4 priced to the skies - it's putting out an image of a company that's out of touch and running out of time.

P.S. For those of you here who remember Pablo Mastodon, his unexplained and sudden departure from this forum, after years of good service, was the first alarm that all was not well with Clavia. Things have steadily gone downhill since then - samples have been released at an ever slower rate, the organs were discontinued, new keyboard versions take forever and then come with removed features - it's a growing list of woes.
Last edited by Gambold on 23 Mar 2023, 03:18, edited 8 times in total.
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Re: Electro 7?

Post by Rusty Mike »

There were some features included in the Rev B version of the Piano 5 that I think will find their way into the next Electro. These are the vibrato (with button), mono and legato synth capabilities. These add some deeper synth like capabilities to the Electro without actually adding a full-blown synth, thus not stepping on the toes of the Stage 4 or Wave 2.

Granted that Nord seems to have stopped further development of their organ engine, so I would not expect any change there. They may step up the piano and sample synth memory, and upgrade to Sample Library v4 compatibility.

The other hopeful notable change would be to use the new Fatar TP110 keyboard action in place of the TP100 for an improved piano playing experience.

That should add incremental capabilities to the Electro (as per Nord’s continual practice) while keeping it positioned below the Stage. I for one hope there is no radical change in the product’s positioning.

My speculation is that Nord is in the process of completing their DSP architecture changes across the product line, and that the Electro is the final product to adopt it. It’s a delicate dance, as they are carefully migrating to the new architecture and new capabilities, but need to keep some semblance of respect for legacy products.

It happened once when they moved from the original Stage to the Stage 2 and the Electro 2 to Electro 3. Earlier generations of the product line had to be left behind. Not trying to defend Clavia here, but sometimes progress has consequences.
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Re: Electro 7?

Post by cgrafx »

Rusty Mike wrote:My speculation is that Nord is in the process of completing their DSP architecture changes across the product line, and that the Electro is the final product to adopt it. It’s a delicate dance, as they are carefully migrating to the new architecture and new capabilities, but need to keep some semblance of respect for legacy products.
I’m pretty sure everything after the stage 3 has already been migrated to the new DSP architecture. Meaning there is nothing left to migrate, as the Electro 6 is already using the new DSPs.
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Re: Electro 7?

Post by analogika »

Gambold wrote:P.S. For those of you here who remember Pablo Mastodon, his unexplained and sudden departure from this forum, after years of good service, was the first alarm that all was not well with Clavia. Things have steadily gone downhill since then
This is a bizarre assessment: Pablo was the single support rep, WORLDWIDE, who actually spent his private time on this forum, and he didn't even work for Clavia! — he worked for their North American distributor.
post137577.html#p137577

That one guy in the United States who doesn't work for the company changes jobs in 2020, and this is an indication that the company in Sweden is somehow in trouble?

Ah, but we also haven't seen as many piano samples released as in the first ten years of the piano library! Well…duh?

Also, FWIW, the Nord C2D was discontinued in 2019…
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Re: Electro 7?

Post by Rusty Mike »

cgrafx wrote:
Rusty Mike wrote:My speculation is that Nord is in the process of completing their DSP architecture changes across the product line, and that the Electro is the final product to adopt it. It’s a delicate dance, as they are carefully migrating to the new architecture and new capabilities, but need to keep some semblance of respect for legacy products.
I’m pretty sure everything after the stage 3 has already been migrated to the new DSP architecture. Meaning there is nothing left to migrate, as the Electro 6 is already using the new DSPs.
Interesting. Guess I saw the adoption of nsmp4 format as a sign of some newer architecture bits, which currently only the Stage 4 and Piano 5 support.
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Re: Electro 7?

Post by cgrafx »

Rusty Mike wrote:
cgrafx wrote:
Rusty Mike wrote:My speculation is that Nord is in the process of completing their DSP architecture changes across the product line, and that the Electro is the final product to adopt it. It’s a delicate dance, as they are carefully migrating to the new architecture and new capabilities, but need to keep some semblance of respect for legacy products.
I’m pretty sure everything after the stage 3 has already been migrated to the new DSP architecture. Meaning there is nothing left to migrate, as the Electro 6 is already using the new DSPs.
Interesting. Guess I saw the adoption of nsmp4 format as a sign of some newer architecture bits, which currently only the Stage 4 and Piano 5 support.
nsmp4 support is not hardware bound. The only thing preventing support on the NS3, E6 is firmware.
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