From onlinemusiclessons@yahoo.com Sun Oct 13 05:35:27 2002
Subject:Visit to the Clavia Factory in Sweden (review of Nord Electro 73)

Hi ! A while back either on or off the list I had
solicited the opinion of some members on the Nord
Electro because the opportunity arose for me to do a
demo and also pick one up while in Sweden. Well... I
took my trip to Stockholm (still in Sweden but much
further South now), did the demo (check their website
late in the week) and have my Nord Electro 73 Version
2- - and my own two cents is.... the thing is amazing
(!) I was a bit skeptical at first. Based on
comments made I knew it would be good (some people
have compared it in sound to the CX-3) but I was in
for a real surprize... the biggest being that IMHO its
the only clone out there (atleast of the ones I've
played) that's really gotten the vibrato, chorus and
Leslie effect down to a tee... it is incredibly
realistic, and unlike some of its competitors, the
high end is very warm... (atleast in my opinion, a lot
of the other clones tend to shrill if you go up too
high.)

- - That was the thing really sold itself to me...
especially when I played a big fat G13alt chord and
steped on the Leslie pedal... I think even the
developer's face turned red... (As I did this, I was
standing just a few feet away from the A-100 from
which its sounds were modeled from as well as the very
same 122 !)

Of course, the biggest turn off to many people are the
lack of sliding drawbars -- (Actually it has
drawbars... they're two buttons and a red analog read
out... the upper one pulls it out, the lower one pulls
it in.) -- As a Jazz organist who kicks bass, prior
to playing it I was reluctant to take it very
seriously as I thought nothing but real drawbars would
do... however, the Nord actually offers a very
practical solution... first of all, it doesn't have a
million digital tone banks to go through in order to
access its features... You can load up to 8 pre-sets
literally at the press of a button within a second
each and all are within reach of both playing hands (a
major problem even with a B-3 is actually reaching
over to hit the pre-sets)... once you get use to the
push button drawbars, however, the drawbars themselves
(also within easy reach of both playing hands) become
easy to use. - - Most, if not all of the other
features of the keyboard are within reach of both
playing hands... so you could literally play bass with
your left hand and hold a few notes with your right
hand, while hitting some of the other buttons...
(This would include the Leslie button, though
obvoiusly its best controlled by hooking a simple foot
pedal up to it.)

Overall, in terms of sound, I'd have to rank it
(according to my own tastes, but as a person used to
playing not clones but mostly actual consoles) as
unbeatable.... In terms of user friendliness, once you
get used to it it is also unbeatable... There were
some things that felt a bit strange at first
(including the deep keys), but within a day or so, I
was totally used to it.

Three other things of note... the carrying case is
really cool. It actually has school bag straps...
In addition, the user manual is one of the simplest
and best written I've evern owned, and finally the
analogue effects, wurly, Rhodes and knob adjustable wa
wa, phaser and other effects are incredible.

Overall review... light weight, heavy sound... 5
stars... please check out the demonstrational clips
once they're up at clavia.se. I hope they will do it
some justice, as I know its a hard piece to actually
get a first hand listen to.

Eddie Landsberg
eddielandsberg.com