From dta3923@yahoo.com Mon Jan 22 19:56:48 2007
Subject:Re: Nord C1 and others (Was: closeup of new panel)
Great NAMM review Bruce. I'm not that familiar with Nord, but I took numerous photos of the C3 from different perspectives while at their booth; including the back panel. Anyone interested can PM me for the photos.
Dan
Bruce Wahler wrote:
Hi All,
The clone landscape was very sparse this year. Nothing at all from Korg, Roland, Voce, or Diversi. The NI and H-S offerings were not new, just available to see. (Motion Sound had a VK-8 at their booth, but that doesn't count.)
The Hammond booth was very noisy and crowded on Saturday. There was a B-3P through a pair Leslie 3301, which sounded good -- or as good as might be expected in a noisy environment. The bigger problem was that there were three Hammond setups next to each other, the B-3P, B-3, and XK System, and someone was using each one most of the time. There was an XM-2, but it didn't appear to be hooked up to anything. There was something wrong with the headphone out on the display XK-3 when I tried it, so I couldn't even A/B the XK-1 and XK-3 very well.
Fatar (Studiologic) was showing a new 61-key controller designed for the soft-organ market, but would also make a nice second manual. It has nine faders (only 40-50mm, though), and a new keybed "designed around the Hammond Organ." These are NOT the keys from the CX-3 or Electro; they are physically longer (0.5" ???). The feel was really good -- except for palm glisses, which felt a little awkward to me. Go figure ...
http://music.ashbysolutions.com/namm/VMK-161ORG.jpg
----------
That left the Clavia C1 (not C3) as the clone showpiece.
Pros --
- The sound is as good or better than any of the other clones. Certainly on par with the XK-series. (It's hard to tell in the noisy environment of NAMM.) I *think* that the TG emulation is brand new; it sounded better than the Electro to my ears. It's a little bright for my tastes, but there is a 3-band EQ that can fix that.
- It not only has pedal tones, but standard and Trek II variants. There are settings for adjusting the envelopes.
- Separate vibrato-chorus on each manual.
- 11-pin Les... er, ROTARY SPEAKER output.
- Vox and Farfisa emulations, along with combo amp simulators. It was hard to play around much with these, because there was only an M-S unit and headphones. I'd love to hear these sounds through a real combo amp.
- "Hot" (single-switch) key action, on par with that of the CX-3 and VK-8. This is selectable in the System settings. I've always liked the hot action, so it felt really good to me.
- The tonewheel sounds can come out the 11-pin jack and/or a dedicated 1/4" jack, while the Vox/Farfisa sounds come out a L/R stereo pair.
- 15 kg/33 lbs. (!)
- It's red. ;-)
Cons --
- The ergonomics are still not B3-like. We've beaten the drawbuttons thing into the ground -- although in this context, one might argue that they're mandatory -- but the whole set of controls is mashed into the desktop/rackmount format again, and some of the controls are odd places -- at least, compared to the Gold Standard.
- The halfmoon switch works well, but it looks cheap, IMHO. It's just a basic bent-metal case with black wrinkle paint on it.
- Very small and light -- maybe TOO much so. It bounces too much on a stock keyboard stand, IMHO. With the legs, it feels nice and solid, though, and for my taste, a double-manual organ has to have some heft to it.
- The price is kind of steep for many players: I'm pretty sure that it's going to be higher than $3200 SRP, Dan, more like $3600. That's on par with most of the other dual-manual jobs, but if any of you were expecting "$500-600 more than an Electro," think again.
- Nothing but organ sounds.
Unknowns --
- MIDI control, etc. -- When one buys a dual-manual organ, it's likely that this will be the only keyboard on stage at some gigs. Can the C1 control other modules without help from a computer or MIDI Solutions? The manual isn't on the site yet, and there wasn't anyone from the home office there at the show.
- This is just a guess, but it appears that the C1 isn't much more "customizable" than the Electro. There is a silkscreen on the top that shows the System settings, and there aren't all that many parameters.
Bottom Line --
I really liked it. I may be updating my BX-3 at some point not too far down the road, and the C1 is a VERY likely candidate. I wonder if they'll have a C1R? (I still like the ergonomics of my BX-3.) But THIRTY-THREE POUNDS ... :-)
Regards,
-BW
--
Bruce Wahler
Online Music Sales
AshbySolutions.com http://music.ashbysolutions.com
978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com
At 02:56 PM 1/19/2007, Dan S wrote:
>http://www.fdiskc.com/syn/namm/2007/ClaviaNordC3-Panel.jpg
>
>If this holds up in production, there are a few nice features I can spot.
>The drawbars are separate for lower, upper and pedal. There appear to be
>three "presets" for each set of drawbars (upper and lower). The CV selection
>is still awkward, but the actual CV on/off switch is found in each drawbar
>set.
>
>Percussion and rotary simulator (possibly Leslie controls on the 11 pin
>output) are in reasonable locations.
>
>There's also a decay and release label on the drawbar controls for the
>pedal. I would guess that's for the bass "pluck"
>
>On actual street price, using the Stage Compact's retail of $3600 vs actual
>$2800, and the Stage 76 retail of $3800 vs. $3000 actual, I see a 20%
>discount. If C3/C1 retail is $3200, I'd expect to see it drop eventually to
>$2600.
>
>That would make it the lightest, smallest and least expensive double manual
>clone - with pedal support - to date.
>
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