 Welcome to the world's most popular and practical keyboard, the Nord Electro. Since 2001, the Nord Electro has become the must-have instrument for gigging musicians everywhere, from weekend warriors to stadium headliners. Its faithful reproduction of classic electromechanical keyboards, its lightweight yet roadworthy design, the ease of use, its simple and elegant purpose - all these create synergy. Indeed the Nord Electro is more than the sum of its parts. Great sound starts with great ideas. Clavia has over 20 years of experience in thinking outside the box in their creation of digital musical instruments. Their success is based on a commitment to making musical instruments rather than the latest digital technological bauble. The Nord Electro's technology serves that singular purpose: it is quite simply the best digital emulation of classic electrictronic pianos available in a performance instrument. You don't always need a Swiss Army Knife of a keyboard. Workstations and stage pianos too often sacrifice tone to technology, and performance can suffer. They might hand you that Whiter Shade of an organ, or a Superstition clavinet, or even the most recognizable Steely Dan electric piano programs, cleverly built from samples that strip away the subtle and organic tones of their source instruments and routed through a complex matrix of envelopes and effects. Only the Electro gives you those classic instruments' full sound, then gives you the control and the effects you need to build those classic sounds - or create your own. The unaltered sounds are as pleasing as their original counterparts - and you can slather rich and gritty stomp-box effects on them, and get as grungy as a Mahavishnu Orchestra jam session. Come in and check out what makes the Electro what it is, and take a listen to some demos that will leave you wondering if we didn't just record them on restored classic electric pianos and organs ...  The Program Section is where all the Electro's presets are stored, and where you can affect global settings.Programs are arranged in 6 banks (A-F) with 8 program locations each. A Program is a combination of the sound you've selected plus its effects settings. With the latest major OS (version 3.0), you can save both a piano and an organ preset. Create a piano preset, then an organ, choose which one you want to recall by default, then press the red STORE button.The Master Level knob effects the global volume, as opposed to the Output Level (more below), which controls the relative volume of each program.The SHIFT button gains you access to secondary functions. You can access the default MIDI channels, change Local settings, tune & transpose the Electro, lock the user memory, and select your sustain pedal's polarity. You can also configure other features, such as setting the sustain pedal input to activate the rotary speaker simulation, or select its acceleration speed.There is also an Octave Shift control - a useful feature with the 61-key Electro. The Organ Section provides a model of the classic B3 sound. No samples here - the Electro's organ is a carefully-contructed model of the electromechanical interactions of the internal parts of a B3. This creates an unparalleled accuracy, and is considered by many to be the best clonewheel in the world.Percussion, Vibrato, and Chorus controls emulate the same controls from the old organs. A Dual Manual mode splits the keyboard into Upper & Lower manuals, and you can create different settings for each.So where are the drawbars!?The Clavia drawbuttons present an alternative to the classic drawbar mechanisms. The bright red LEDs are visible in any lighting condition, presets are remembered so the grabbing effect of real drawbars is eliminated, and the in/out buttons have secondary functions. Press the SHIFT button, and the first 8 in buttons call up instant presets, and the 9th button creates random brawbar settings. All 9 buttons on the out row can be saved as presets, which you can recall from any Program.
 The Piano Section is where you find six faithful samples of classic electromechanical pianos.The default set is an Electric Grand, Acoustic Grand, two Rhodes�, Wurlitzer, and Clavinet. Alternate samples for most are available for free from the downloads page. Unlike many keyboards, the Electro's samples are full samples. Instead of truncating the sample then creating an artificial decay, the Electro's samples are complete, so the decay is as natural as possible.All source instruments for the Electro's piano section were carefully selected and sampled, creating a smooth transition between ranges.The Presence area is where you can mold the sound of the samples. With the Clavinet, pickup settings can be changed, and on all other pianos the knobs work as a kind of parametric EQ.
 The Effects Section contains a number of rich effects to shape and color your sound.Modulation Effects include Tremolo, Auto-Pan, two manual Wahs, an Auto-Wah, and Ring Modulation. The Amount knob controls the effect's blend, and the Rate knob adjusts the speed of the effect.Classis Stompbox Effects are available as well. There are two types each of Chorus, Flange, and Phase, and Amount & Rate knobs are provided.The Overdrive effect simulates the tube overdrive of classic keyboard amplifiers, and can go from subtle & warm to grungy with a simple turn of a knob.The Rotary Speaker effect simulates classic organ speakers like a Leslie�. Fast and Stop buttons affect the speed, and you can clearly hear the virtual drum & horn ramping up at different rates. You can set the ramp-up rate in the Configuration menu [SHIFT + 8].A two-band EQ and the program's Output Volume round out your sound.
 The Electro's connections offer a variety of routing options.The USB Port is used for sample swapping when connected to a PC or Mac using the Electrol Tool utility.Pedal inputs are provided for Sustain, Control, and Switch pedals. The Rotor Speed input is where you'd control the rotary speed, switching between Fast & Slow. Using a volume pedal in the Control input acts as an Organ swell, as well as a Wah pedal. Any pedal can be used with the Electro, and polarity can be changed in the Configuration menu.MIDI In & Out are standard, and this is also where OS upgrades are sent. Connect an external controller to the MIDI In while in Dual Manual organ mode, and lower manual control is sent to the external keyboard.Right and Left Outputs are mono; used in conjunction they give you stereo separation for autopan and rotary effects. A stereo Headphone Output is also provided.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Nord Electro |
