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I'm an amateur playing mostly covers with some friends once a week. I see that I prefer to take my Electro 5 to rehearsals because of low weight. Now I am considering to buy a new Wave 2 and sell my Electro 5.
We are two keyboardists, so my friend covers the standard piano part with his Numa88 piano.
Since I have not been able to try out the Wave yet, a couple of questions arise.
The main reason to buy the Wave 2 is to get a superb synth, and to get a portable lightweight instrument to take to rehearsals.
But...
Sometimes we need a little organ, can the Wave 2 emulate a descent B3 (B3 with bass?) - Leslie effect ?
Regarding the superb synth, yes you get one when buing a wave2. However there are some restrictions compared to the lead series, such as LFO's. The leads have 2 LFO's x 4 layers + various destinations for each LFO, the wave has only one LFO per layer and fewer destinations. The leads do not support samples though...When it comes to organ and piano then you have to compromize with samples or wavetables as there are no dedicated piano and organ engines. You can have some acceptable tones with those samples but not as realistic as the piano and organ of your electro. There is no leslie simulation for organ, the only way is to fake it with an LFO.
The best solution for you is to sell the electro and get a stage if you can afford it, if not then keep the electro and add a cheap synth on top, there are lots of good synths from other manufacturers in much lower price than the wave.
Last edited by alex78 on 24 Sep 2020, 20:33, edited 2 times in total.
If your focus is organ and EP, I think you'll regret getting rid of the E5. Like Alex said, upgrading to a stage compact, or adding adding a synth could be a good solution. On the subject: general-synthesizers-keyboards-forum-f6 ... 20082.html
The Rhodes and Wurlitzer samples (only one Wurli on board) can provide serviceable results, especially when combined with FM and effects like Chorus, Delay, and Pan. As Alex mentioned, you will not get a B3 sound out of the wave. Cheesy Farfisa sounds are easy. If you need good B3 sounds, get a Stage Compact. I actually did sample my NS2 B3 for an owner of the original Wave a few years ago, I have attached it. All drawbars at full, leslie slow with a little drive. I loaded into my NW2 and it sounds pretty good. It is not looped properly, though, so you can't hold a note for more than 10 seconds. Should work for practice though. If I feel ambitious, i will sample my NS3 slow and fast (looped correctly this time), assign a sample to each layer, and morph between them-
And you get to choose only one destination per patch
And you get only one oscilator per layer while the leads have 2 per slot.
That's less of a problem since the Wave 2 works with an Osc configuration system that also give you dual or triple oscilators in one layer, which you can detune.
i will sample my NS3 slow and fast, assign a sample to each layer, and morph between them
I'm not sure if it will work because it will be an amplitude increase-dicrease thing, so in the midlle of the morphing procedure, where both sounds are audible, there will be a blurry sound, not what an actual acceleration sounds like. You may come out with something interesting though, so give it a try!
That's less of a problem since the Wave 2 works with an Osc configuration system that also give you dual or triple oscilators in one layer, which you can detune.
That's true, it's more like the A1 in that matter. I don't say the wave2 is a bad synth, despite it's limitations it is still a powerfull and versatile machine.
Thank you for the feedback above!
Good idea both with separate synth module and the sampeled B3.
I have now spent some time with the NordWave 2 in the shop, and I think after tweaking around for some time that I will not switch my Electro 5 for the Wave 2 - They are two very different instruments, even if the can play the same sample-files.
So a synth module or an app-based synth, connected through a "USB to lightening-interface" will probably be the easiest solution to a simple synth with the Electro - I only need a separate pitch controller.
Nord Stage 2 HA76, Nord Electro 6 HP, Yamaha Montage 6
