From EamonnF@earthlink.net Wed Sep 18 16:32:08 2002
Subject:Re: nord electro question

Thank you all so much for your feedback and info about the electro. I found it
really helpful.
Well, I found a local store that stocked it and went and tried one today. It IS
a little red funk machine. I may just have to buy one. Here were my impressions:

Cons: (Hopefully not stirring up the drawbar controversy again - sorry Bruce!):
I think the LED's suck. I found myself having to use two hands at times to get
the sound I wanted. I couldn't change sounds quick enough. Maybe practice would
make perfect. But the drawbars are kinda sacred to me. Why mess with perfection?
(I know: $)
Other aspects of the interface threw me. I found it a little awkward to flick
percussion settings and change 'leslie' speed. And a big one: I was by no means
taken by the action of the keyboard. For whatever reason I found myself sounding
sloppy - or at least sloppier than usual! Any one else find this? For the record
I spend most of my time playing real hammonds or else synth style VK7 keys.
Ironically enough I didn't find the Nord 'waterfall' keys very hammond like. I
came home, turned on the hammond and found it way easier to play. HOWEVER, it
always takes me a while before I feel at home behind any new keyboard and this
might all just be interface transition anxiety syndrome!

Now for the pros: This thing sounds great. The wurly is massive in my opinion.
The clav is also excellent. Rhodes: great. Acoustic piano: horrible but possibly
usable if you know what i mean! I think I'd often end up using my Kurzweil
Micropiano with it. Fast leslie sound: excellent. I loved the sound of the high
drawbars particularily with fast leslie. Way better than the VK7 I sometimes gig
with in that respect. However 888 on stopped leslie with the perc. tabs down
didn't groove well for me. Nor did 808 for comping, sustaining which i use a lot
- though the C3 chorus is pretty good. All the 8s with fast leslie sounded
wonderful. I didn't like 8888 slow leslie (I don't think it's great on the VK7
either). In fact I wasn't thrilled with the slow leslie at all. For my playing
I'd really hesitate to use this thing for any 'jazz organ' type gigs or for more
subtle sonic stuff. But for sweaty blues gigs, funk, gospel flavour, r 'n' b
etc (which is most of my work) it's pretty perfect and i love the idea of
showing up with a little red keyboard and an amp.

In conclusion I may just be sold on this - I have to mull it over a bit. If I do
buy it I'll have to sell my Voce V5 and Roland A30 so if anyone is interested in
these (good condition) please contact me offlist.

Cheers and thanks again for the feedback. Of course real organ players don't eat
quiche.

Eamonn