Hello folks,

As you may know, I have a Nord Electro2 here which has served me well for a number of years.

I love everything about it: the portability (cycling to practises/gigs is great!), the light action, the ease of use, and the fact that's it red.

However, there are aspects of the organ and rotary simulation that are a little grating - sometimes I feel it lacks realism when compared with a real Hammond. Furthermore, the EPs, while very strong, are starting to show their age (and limited memory size).

So, I'm strongly considering upgrading...to an Electro3.
I've listened to some of the audio demos available online and definitely prefer the extra grittiness of the organ/Leslie sim, while the EP and AP sounds are rather more impressive (especially now that the V5 Piano Library sounds can be used).

I'm just curious if anyone here (voxpops?) has owned both the Electro2 and Electro3, and can confirm that the upgrade to the newer board would be justified.

Another consideration is exactly where the instrument should be purchased. I can obviously buy one here in Japan, yet am planning a return to the UK shortly, so Thomann or local store is also an option. I even see B-stock models shipped from the US available on eBay. My Electro2 was purchased in Japan. It uses a figure-8 power cable which can easily be replaced to fit a different plug, however the 100V power rating on the back suggests the instrument will not work correctly in the UK (and vice-versa). Similarly, would an Electro purchased from a US store work correctly in Japan (or the UK)?

Any suggestions/advice would be gratefully received.

Cheers,
James
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Hi James,

If I'm not mistaken, I believe the Electro 3's power supply board has an internal switch that you can change if you're moving between countries with different voltages. There's also an input fuse that will need changing too. So if you're up for a bit of DIY, you can probably give it a go. Either way, the country in which you purchase your E3 shouldn't be too much of a concern with regards to the input voltage so long as the appropriate change is made before plugging it in.


Cheers

Lovely stuff - just need to make sure I use the correct fuse.

http://www.electro-music.com/forum/post-227359.html#227359

Cheers,
James
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Nice! I remember now where I saw that. it was a video of a Nord Factory Tour.....really cool actually. Got to see the team and also how they test and QA the keyboards prior to dispatch - Damn, they subject those machines to some extreme temperatures!

All the best with the Electro 3. I nearly ended up with one before settling on the Korg SV1 - although that's now a long story that will hopefully take a turn for the better in the upcoming months.

At least with the new Electro3 you can try out the new Bosie sample!

I've owned an Electro 2 and Electro 3... never had them side by side, but felt there was no doubt that the organ was far better in the E3. The most dramatic parts to me were the percussion, the leslie, and bottom end oomph. Also, the "vintage" settings, contributing to, as you put it, the gritiness. As for pianos, I think the new Bosendorfer sample is in a different league than any piano they've had before (though some people do prefer others, there's never universal agreement on this stuff).

My E2 was a 73, my E3 a 61. Personally, I prefer the 61 over the 73. Especially if your primary use is organ. It weighs less, and I like the board ending in high C like a real Hammond, for those trademark Hammond swipes up to high C. And the fact that the extra low keys only go down to F (as opposed to E) limits their usefulness as well. For me, I felt it wasn't worth the size, weight, or expense to get that particular set of extra 12 keys. And of course, since the board is still monotimbral, extra keys are not as useful as they are on many other boards anyway, where they are useful for splits. If you're playing more piano, you could say that every key counts, but the E3 action is so bad for serious piano playing that I would say it would be the wrong board anyway. If I really wanted it for piano AND organ, I'd stick with the 61, and use some other 73+ board with a better piano action to trigger its piano sounds. IMO, the ideal buyer for the 73 is someone whose focus is Rhodes or Clav. (Real clavs didn't have so many keys, but it wasn't C-to-C so its range is better handled on the 73.)

Of course, the best way to go would be the Stage 2, which gives you all the E3 advantages and a bunch more, including being able to trigger its piano and organ sounds at the same time (whether splitting its board, or driving some of its sounds with another board over MIDI). But it's a lot pricier.

Thanks for the overview anotherscott - yeah, I think I'm pretty much sold on the Electro 3 now. The improved organs/EPs would certainly hit the spot. And of course the new Bosie sample is getting rave reviews too, although I don't believe the full XL version will fit inside the Electro 3's available memory, unfortunately.



Interesting thoughts about the 73/61 keys too. Hmmm...the lighter weight would make cycling to practises in the Hamamatsu wind and rain a little more tolerable. However the extra keys can come in useful when using the split feature to have independent upper/lower organ manuals.

The Stage 2 certainly looks the business, however I have very little interest in the synth section, so it'd probably be overkill for my paltry needs.

Okay - just need to find the best UK price.

Cheers,
James
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James,
I concur with pretty much everything anotherscott has posted. The only thing I would add is that, although the Leslie sim is improved, I think the sim on the VB3 v1.4 is better, and a lot of people have been prepared to plop down an extra $500 for a Neo Ventilator to get the added realism it offers.

As for EPs, I don't think they're a vast improvement over the E2. The larger samples (Sparkletop etc.) add some extra definition, but I'm waiting for Nord to do with Rhodes what they did with Bosendorfer, and bring out a killer EP to compete with the SV-1.

You might be surprised to know that I've just purchased another E3 (61). I sold the Hammond XK-1 because I wasn't getting the sound I remembered from my smoky club days! A Speakeasy Vintage Tube preamp arrived at the door a couple of days after the XK-1 departed - I was going to use that to add some real tube warmth and grit. I don't think it'll have as much effect on the E3, as the built-in overdrive is actually pretty good. However, I'm now watching the Studiologic/Fatar Numa Organ with interest. Same engine as the KeyB, just over 20lbs weight, real drawbars and a great sim onboard. Someone posted that it was maybe "two notches above" their E3.

The E2's organ was way too clean and shrill for authenticity, the E3 is a little "grungier," but I think Swedes are too wholesome to be able to really get down and dirty with their creations - just look at Nord's IKEA case design! That said, I've got my E3 on Vintage 3 setting, with the rotors at slightly varying rates, and a little drive dialled in, and it's not bad. The upper "drawbars" and the top octave are still not quite right, but I'm OK with it.

The real reason I returned to the Nord camp was for the Bosie. I thought about getting the NP88, but decided that the E3 was more versatile. As soon as it arrived I downloaded and installed the large sample, and played it from my GEM piano. My goodness! What a magical experience - it is so detailed and expressive, and really demands that you keep playing. It is not right for every situation, but so what? Just to have access to such a beautiful piano is reward enough. However, it really shows up the major limitation of the Electro. I want to be able to trigger the piano from my main board while leaving the organ set up on the E3 (yes, the E3's action is useless for piano). I know that's where the Stage wins, but maybe (I live in hope) Clavia will see fit to bring that feature in to an OS update, if it's not a hardware issue.

I'm really hoping the architecture of the E3 is open enough to accommodate changes as competition increases from Korg and others. If it is, the Electro will remain as one of the best boards out there for vintage sounds. It's a real bunch of compromises, but it does have character. For me, they could have left the sample section out of it, as the lack of pitch-bend and modulation wheels, and envelope controls make it's value extremely limited - they could have devoted the extra memory to the pianos. However, that said, I'm glad to be back in the Nord camp. I shall be gigging it with a white Roland FP4 - should look quite sharp!

Have you considered the Ventilator?

http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/neo-instruments-ventilator/May-2010/112163

Wow, the Ventilator sounds terrific!

voxpops, I'm also curious as to how well Nord will support the Electro3 in the future. Unfortunately it doesn't appear possible to remap the 256mb of flash to utilise the larger XL pianos, however it would be awesome if the organ/leslie sim was updated to the C2/Stage2 engine.

Cheers,
James
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Correct. So you don't get each note sampled separately, there will always be some stretching, but it still sounds great. You also don't get all the resonance features, which aren't supported in the E3 anyway.


Yes, that is another benefit of the extra keys, if you're a double manual player. Still it's benefit is pretty small, you're still far better off hooking up a second board for that if possible. Assuming you want your top "manual" to go up to high C, and want at least 44 keys down from that point (i.e. the layout of a Hammond M3), you're left with just 24 keys on the bottom... not that it can't be useful, but I'm not sure it's sufficiently useful sufficiently often for many people. But... maybe.


Yeah, you never get everything you want without some things you don't. But even without the synth, all the extra memory (for both piano library and sample library) and all the split/layer functionality are really nice. (Plus there's the separate outs; the other controllers--aftertouch, pitch stick, mod wheel, more pedals; the MIDI control functions; the better patch selection arrangement that also displays full patch names; and I happen to like the feel of their 76 action better than their 73, but there's a significant weight trade-off on that one.)

That's why I've always preferred the Korg CX3 to any of the Nord organs. But I couldn't justify bringing another 38 pound board around, especially if it couldn't do anything but organ. That's why I'm psyched about the Kronos... much lighter, and it will have a lot of other capabilities as well.

Agreed. I almost went for a CX3 and a Motion Sound "Leslie", but stopped myself just in time - my back won't stand it these days. I also hate spending an hour or more setting up for a two-hour gig.

Hello all.
First I'd like to thank everybody in this forum for sharing their great knowledge and for sharing their valuable and interesting information.
Very helpful since I am planning to get a DP in the near future.
I usually don't have much to add to your comments but in this case I just wanted to point out to Kawai James to remenber that not only Voltage is different from country to country but also sometimes frequency.
I live in the USA but am from europe and if I am not mistaking frequency in the US is 60hz as opposed to 50hz in Europe.
I am not sure if this would be a problem for a keyboard but in some cases a transformer is not enough to get a piece of electric/electronic equipment run correctly, so check first.

filipi, that's good advice. However, in the case of the Electro, there should be a switch inside that will allow the keyboard to be used at either 115v (60hz) or 230v (50hz). This thread may be useful: http://electro-music.com/forum/post-167494.html

filipi, thank you for making this important point.

However, as voxpops notes, the Electro I am considering has a voltage switch inside the unit (and a fuse accessible from the rear), so I believe changing the voltage should be reasonably straightforward.

It's also perhaps worth noting that the Japanese voltage frequency varies between 50/60hz depending on the region:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2225.html

Cheers,
James
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