NED - new Electro day - upgrade from 3 to 5

[Tracii]

Hi folks,

as alluded to here, I've pulled the trigger on an as good as new Electro 5D 61. It's still got the display protective foil on... Pictures are coming soon.

So, yesterday evening I set up both boards side by side and started the dreaded procedure of migrating programs. 1 grand piano, 5 basic organ patches (mellow, bright, crunch, 60s, Reggae), 2 Wurlies (w/ and w/o tremolo) and 1 Rhodes. I finally had to get some sleep, so I'll be doing the Clav and the few synths later tonight.

First impressions:

1 - It's still a very simple and intuitive UI. There's much more going on, so of course I had to adapt a bit. Biggest change for me is that some buttons now operate differently: it used to be press or Shift+press, now it can also be double-press or hold. It leads to a lot of tapping, but it's worth it.

2 - MIDI split! While I don't really care much for layers, being able to play the Electro's piano on the Electro and the Electro's organ (!) on the lower manual is a thrill! I used to have my MX61 for that, but its piano and organ sounds are so inferior.
Another great advantage: you can split the same engine and process the two parts differently - Wurlitzer w/ tremolo on upper, w/o tremolo on lower.

3 - The B3 is noticeably fatter and warmer. That means it also seems a little muffled at first, coming from the NE3. With the Leslie set to 122 and Horn/Rotor to 60/40, I come close to the sound I know. However, I think that with the band, the slightly darker sound will actually work better to sit more "in" the mix instead of on top of it.

4 - One tiny grievance: There is a global setting whether the sustain pedal also toggles the Leslie speed. However, there is no way to handle this in an organ/piano split - even if you deactivate SUSTPED for the organ part, it still switches speeds every time you step on it. I tend to think that selecting "Sus + Rotor" should disable the sustain function of the pedal when it is used in a part that also has the Rotary effect assigned. I will probably just buy a dedicated pedal.

I really wasn't sure about upgrading because the Electro 3 is such a great instrument. All I really wanted was the ability to play both sections at the same time. The Electro 5 gives me that and then some.

[harmonizer]

The Electro 5 should also give you the option to use the new White Grand AP sound, and the newer EP sounds.

[Tracii]

The Electro 5 should also give you the option to use the new White Grand AP sound, and the newer EP sounds.

Yeah, I'm already thinking about the EP sounds. The White Grand is probably overkill for me, I have always had just one AP patch and I'm quite happy with it.

Yesterday I set up the missing sounds (Clav and 3 synths), so now I should be able to use the NE5 with the band instead of NE3 + MX61. What I have yet to do is program the sounds that I don't play in our songs but on my own, just for fun.

[fieldflower]

4 - One tiny grievance: There is a global setting whether the sustain pedal also toggles the Leslie speed. However, there is no way to handle this in an organ/piano split - even if you deactivate SUSTPED for the organ part, it still switches speeds every time you step on it. I tend to think that selecting "Sus + Rotor" should disable the sustain function of the pedal when it is used in a part that also has the Rotary effect assigned. I will probably just buy a dedicated pedal.

I find a lot of use of having a separate pedal, as most piano songs I play with my band benefits from having some layered organ here and there.
For silent strict piano work (where the organ also at lowest swell would be bad) I have that part off, but mid-song I just use the control pedal to add organ where needed.

And when having organ in as well I have both piano and organ use the sustain pedal for sustain, and can use the separate pedal to speed up Leslie for the organ where that is appropriate.
Then the piano can be pretty busy over a laid-back organ as long as it's over chords, and the organ can "step up" with just some fast Leslie over a slow or even just sustaining piano.

There are some wonderful combinations to be had here...

[Tracii]

Interesting. So when you're doing that, you are effectively doubling piano and organ? I'll have to try, it seems kind of counter-intuitive to me to play the same notes for both, but seeing that it works...

Half the band is on summer vacation, I will only get a chance to test my new setup in August.

[Tracii]

Yup, exactly.

You can get them to sound even more separated if You turn off Sustain for the piano part but have it on for the organ part.
Then You hammer short chords on the piano but the organ stays smooth and calm, and then You hit some fast Leslie here and there to spice up the organ.

And don't be shy to octave up/down on either to make them fit each other soundwise.

[anotherscott]

Interesting. So when you're doing that, you are effectively doubling piano and organ? I'll have to try, it seems kind of counter-intuitive to me to play the same notes for both, but seeing that it works...

Yes, it can work well.

When you want lots of piano and almost no organ, back off on the swell pedal.
When you want lots of organ and almost no piano, max out the swell pedal but play softly (organ will be full volumes since it ignores velocity, but piano will be quiet).
Then alter the pedal and velocity as you play to mix between those extremes.

[Tracii]

This community is awesome!

Like I said, it would have seemed natural to me to split organ and piano when I wanted both at the same time, not layer them. But after having it explained to me, it makes sense.

[fieldflower]

Not sure if it works to link to Facebook videos at all, but let's try...

Gigged with my 70's rock band Saturday and one of the songs I layer organ on top of piano was recorded by someone in the audience.
Mostly piano only but add some organ on top in the choruses and during the guitar solo.
So in the song I'm using all 3 pedals.
- Control pedal is organ swell, to bring it in where needed (in the intro the organ Part is off).
- Sustain pedal to sustain both piano and organ simultaneously.
- Rotor pedal to speed Rotor when desired.

Link:

[Tracii]

I'm currently on vacation (Kerteminde / Fyn / Denmark ), so I have no way of watching your video with even remotely adequate sound... I'll get back to it when I'm home.