From markns@uswest.net Mon Aug 20 11:18:50 2001
Subject:My new Nord ELectro

As promised, here is my first report on my Nord Electro. I have had it for
the past two weeks and have had the opportunity to use it live on two
totally different gig situations. As always this is INHO and MMMV.

On both gigs I decided to leave my Motion Sound Pro 3T at home and just use
the internal Leslie simulator on the Electro. The sim impressed my ears.
Speed up and slowdown are represented fairly well. Currently, there are no
parameters the user can edit- just the fast/slow/stop switches and the
Leslie bypass switch. The Electro Leslie sim boasts a recreation of the
actual Leslie amplifier as well as the rotor effects. While adding the
overall realism of the Leslie, the filtering really veils the sound to the
point that the higher harmonic drawbars get drowned out when I hold down a
chord and manipulate the drawbars.

The electronic drawbar manipulation was extremely easy to adjust to. Moving
the drawbars in real time sounds almost exactly as the sound of my Hammond
A100, which I used as the reference. The bright red LED's are very easy to
read and give you an exact visual of where the drawbars are. The
chorus/vibrato is really nailed on the Electro. Unlike the XK-2 chorusing,
which I owned briefly, the chorusing adds body and a fatness to the sound
that is very pleasing to my ears. The percussion controls allow you the
same adjustment as a real tonewheel Hammond - on/off, 2nd/3rd harmonic,
soft/loud and fast/slow. I feel the percussion is the weakest on the
Electro - it lacks the "woodiness" that my A100 has and the soft setting is
a bit too soft for my ears, while the loud setting is too loud. Being that
the claim fame for CLavia is a flashram-based system, I can only hope a
future software update will address this feature. Another disappointment is
that when the percussion is turned on, I can still use the 2' drawbar,
unlike the real thing which uses the highest drawbar to generate the
percussion.

I have the 61-note version, which is extremely light and compact. The red
lacquered wooden end caps and the trademark Nord red make it very attractive
and a definite standout onstage. The feel of the waterfall keys is quite
good. I am impressed by the robust, fast action. The action is fairly
quite as well, lacking the plastic, clanky sound on other Hammond
wanna-be's.

A downside is only one pair of stereo outs. It's as if Clavia was so
confident in their Leslie simulator that there was no consideration given to
the end-user who want to interface the Electro to a real Leslie or other
Leslie simulator. The only way to interface to an external Leslie or
simulator will make all the other non organ sounds of the Electro run
through the Leslie as well. The immediate fix for me will be to purchase an
A/B, Y signal switching box that would allow me to route the mono output of
the Electro into my Motion Sound easily. I have spent some time running the
Electro through my Pro 3T in my studio with the electronic low end
outputting into my pair of Barbetta 31c's. In few words, the Electro sings
through a real rotating horn. Fine adjustment of the sound can be further
enhanced with the treble/bass controls in the effects section of the
Electro, which I have used to tweak the sound to my personal liking quite a
bit.

The ability of the Electro to access a lower manual as well is a very cool
feature. One only needs to set a MIDI channel for the lower manual and then
press a button on the front panel to either access the upper or lower
manual, set the drawbars and save the patch. I use a Roland A-70EX for my
other keyboard, so setting up a dual manual patch is a breeze. This also
allows me the ability the access the other piano sounds of the Electro from
my A-70EX, allowing me to take advantage of the 76 notes of the Roland. The
ability to play a two manual organ patch has really increased my musicality
and creativity to another level. Very cool.

That's it for now. More feedback as I delve deeper into the Electro over
the next few weeks.

Mark

--
Mark Zyla
Northshore Marketing
16 West Harrison Suite 205
Seattle, WA 98119
(206) 284-9699
(206) 285-9412
markns@uswest.net