From eslawson@comcast.net Thu Feb 06 18:31:59 2003
Subject:Nord Electro - Reverb and Expression Pedal

Folks,

Thanks for making a concerted effort to get this group back to its real
purpose. We had a few tangents today, but mostly a ton of on-topic
postings. Let's keep it up and banish those off-topic postings to keep this
group focused on the clones!!!

I've read numerous postings about the lack of reverb on the Nord Electro and
also regarding the way the expression pedal only does expression for the
organ and is a wah-wah pedal on the other sounds.

Regarding reverb. My $.02 -- Reverb is a nice luxury, but is unnecessary
for live gigs and also in the studio, for that matter. Sending clean and
clear signals to the PA is really important and I have been asked by
numerous soundmen in very pro venues, "hey, can you disable those FX on the
keyboards?" I have also had this experience on any studio session I have
done. Using built-in reverb can create limitations down the line when all
of a sudden, the mix is muddy and the reverb is written to the keyboard
track (same thing holds true for live sound for those that get DAT
recordings at gigs). The reverb might sound great to the player on stage
and inspire some different playing (I used to enjoy boosting it on solos),
but in the end it can serve to clutter the sound, especially when amplified
through a big PA system into an even bigger room. It is much better to
allow the soundman or producer add some high-end Lexicon reverb to
complement the band's sound rather than having the stage reverb also be
presented to the audience/recording. In my opinion, reverb on the Electro
would be convenient, but the lack of it is not a showstopper. I appreciate
the straight sound and the other FX add more than enough character. Clavia
follows this model on all their instruments and my Nord Lead sounds great
with no built-in reverb (or other FX for that matter). One of the
complaints I have with a lot of modern keyboards is that the factory presets
are awash with cavernous reverbs that are not musically useful, but are more
like talent boosters to make the keyboard sound pretty in the showroom. Get
it in a live or studio situation and that reverb should be off 9 times out
of 10.

As for the expression pedal, I am fond of the automatic switching between
swell for the organ and wah for the clavinet. Before getting the Electro, I
used a host of stand-alone clones with a pedal for expression. Then I had
my clav and EP sounds in another keyboard with a dedicated wah pedal (but no
volume pedal needed for those sounds, in my opinion). I was accustomed to
only using expression for organ and wah for the other sounds (using 2
separate pedals), so the Electro's configuration is a transparent and very
intuitively musical feature (maybe I should write their advertising copy,
eh?)... Now I can leave the dedicated wah pedal at home (along with the
extra patch cord and 9v battery) and do it all with the one pedal in the
Electro. Works for me! Like others have commented, I use the touch
sensitivity feature to control dynamics on the EP and clav sounds.

Regards,
Eric Lawson
Moderator
CloneWheel Support Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CloneWheel/

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