Help: Synth sounds in Electro 4D

[molul]

Hi all. I'm about to buy a new keyboard and I can't decide between Nord Electro 4D and Kurzweil PC3. Pros about getting the PC3: the pitch bend wheel and the synth. Pros about Electro: I personally think it sounds better in general.

To give a little more information, I want to use the keyboard mainly for organ sounds, to add atmospheric layers to my band's music (influences: Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins Pink Floyd...). I don't really care if the keys don't feel as in real pianos, I just care about the sounds.

So here are a few doubts:

-I don't think I need a synth engine like the Kurzweil's but I'd love having some synth sounds available, in case they might improve a song. I read in a forum that you can load synth sounds in the Electro. How can I do that? Is there any demo of the sounds I'd have?

-If getting synth sounds from the electro is easy and the sounds are cool, can I split the keyboard in, for instance, half hammond and half synth?

-If the synth sound you can get with Electro is not that cool, what would you recommend me to do? I've seen some musicians having the electro and also a small synth on top of it. This seems fine to me, but I'd have to buy another thing, and I wonder if there is a better solution (Nord Stage is WAY out of my reach).

-Is there any way to emulate a pitch bend in Electro 4D? You know, like with a control pedal or something. I read someone using a Whammy pedal for that but I'd rather have a cheaper solution.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Thanks in advance!

[analogika]

The Electro will not send or respond to pitch bend an modulation controllers.

The Electro does not have a "synth engine" at all, really, just a very simple sample player.
You can edit your own samples using the Nord Sample Editor and load them into the Electro (with very limited, non-expandable onboard space), but on the Electro itself, you can do NOTHING with them but play them as they are and run them through the on-board effects.

Apart from being able to split a Hammond into two "manuals" with different drawbar/perc/chorus settings, the Electro is NOT multitimbral — there is no way to play two different sounds at the same time.
The single workaround here is to build a "sample" using the Nord Sample Editor with multiple sounds assigned to different keyboard ranges and load that, but that's a crutch.

Nord (wisely or unwisely) reserves multitimbrality and a real synth engine, with filters, envelopes, and pitch/mod controllers for their Stage series.

One thing to consider: If you're looking at an Electro plus synth, you might be well into the range of a used Stage 2, financially.

[molul]

Thanks for the info! Gotta think about it a little more, I guess...

[analogika]

For what it's worth, I adore my Stage 2, and hear nothing but positive feedback from fellow musicians, front-of-house engineers, and audience members alike.

For its limitations (in comparison to, say, a Kronos), it is extremely accessible, and it always seems like I can get pretty much what I was looking for within about 45 seconds of programming. Although this does depend upon having the right samples loaded into the machine - the default strings and brass samples sound very real, but aren't so useful for a pop/rock context.

Overall, I just love the sound.

[molul]

I wish I could get a Stage now, but it's too expensive for me now. I don't discard getting the Electro now, saving a little more money for some time, and then selling the electro and getting the Stage instead. I think the Electro will be more than enough for what I need now, and if in the future I need a step above, at least there's the Stage

[pablomastodon]

Hi Molul,

Gig the Electro for a year and put aside half the gig money -- you'll have enough money for NS2!

Bless,

Pablo

[molul]

Makes sense hehehe. I'll go for that

[Horacio]

Electro + Microkorg XL for synth sounds.

[molul]

A very interesting choice. I think that's what Standstill (the band I discovered the Electro from) is currently using.

[DJKeys]

Hi Molul,

Gig the Electro for a year and put aside half the gig money -- you'll have enough money for NS2!

Bless,

Pablo

That's what I did!

-dj