Virtual Electromechanical Keyboard
Reviews : Keyboard
You can’t please all of the people all of the
time, Abraham Lincoln once said — but Clavia aim to prove him wrong with
their new Nord Electro 3 keyboard.
The Nord Electro 3 is
the latest addition to Clavia’s virtual electromechanical range. From
the outset, acoustic pianos were allowed to mingle with their electronic
brethren, so further conceptual anomalies are to be expected. In the
Electro 3, modelled organs and velocity-layered pianos are joined by
strings, flutes, choirs and other ‘real instrument’ samples harvested
from an extensive and growing on-line library. In common with the Nord
Wave, any sample can be ousted and replaced, ensuring that the Electro 3
ticks as many boxes as possible.
Electro Light
The
original Nord Electro received its SOS outing in December 2001, and it
is testament to Clavia’s commitment to getting it right that subsequent
software upgrades and two hardware revisions followed. The latest of
these is available in two models — the 73-note (reviewed here) and the
61-note. Both feature the same semi-weighted, slightly springy keys,
ideal for speedy organ fingers and an acceptable compromise for electric
pianos. The keyboard response defaults to ‘Fast’ for organ models,
which means that notes are triggered at the top of the key’s travel. It
would be a tall order to produce a keyboard perfect for both organ and
piano technique, though; if you gravitate towards piano, check out the
(more expensive) Nord Stage EX.
The Electro 3’s
lineage can be traced through earlier instruments such as the Electros 1
and 2, the C1 and the Stage. For a refresher on the technology
employed, I recommend consulting the February 2006 and April 2008
issues of SOS, for the Nord Stage (www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb06/articles/clavia88.htm) and Nord C1 Combo (www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr08/articles/clavianordc1.htm) reviews.
Despite
its digital nature, the Electro 3 firmly embraces old-school values.
Its three-character display is perfectly adequate — evidently so,
because I didn’t need the manual once. Even the slightly cryptic
‘deeper’ Sound and MIDI parameters are printed on the front panel — a
simplifying step too far for my taste, likewise the sticker listing new
features. I’m probably showing my age (again), but I reckon this is the
aesthetic equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard.
Fortunately,
that was the only blip on my Moaning Old Git radar. In fact, I found
the Electro 3 a vision of crimson beauty, from its LED drawbars to its
red-lacquered end cheeks. Construction is as unflinchingly robust as we
expect from the Nord line, yet, thankfully, portability isn’t
compromised. At 9kg (7.6kg for the five-octave version), this is one
collection of classic keyboards that shouldn’t leave you in need of
surgical support.
There are just two audio
outputs configurable in several different modes, the default being
‘normal stereo’. The additional modes include one in which piano patches
(and effects) are routed exclusively to the right output, with organs
(and their effects) to the left. That’s fine as far as it goes, but it
obviously compromises stereo pianos or other stereo samples. For the
individual processing requirements of the various instrument types, the
onboard effects and EQ aren’t bad; they include a serviceable reverb
and the impressive rotary speaker simulation we’ve seen before, meaning
that you might not need much external processing. But I don’t think one
additional output would have been much to ask for.
Other
than paucity of outputs (and a missing MIDI Thru socket), there isn’t
much evidence of skimping. The rear panel has the expected inputs for
sustain, control and rotary speaker pedals. There’s also a mini-jack
input that directs any stereo source into the Electro 3’s headphone mix.
This signal never reaches the main audio output or the effects section;
the feature is intended to eliminate the requirement for a mixer
during practice sessions with an iPod or other backing material.
Finally, a USB interface is present for data transfer and OS updates.
Organise
The
rear panel features the expected audio, MIDI and control-pedal sockets.
Less expected is the addition of a 3.5mm input for external sound
sources, routed directly to the headphone output.
The Electro 3’s three organ models were much admired
on the C1 Combo. Based on the Hammond B3, Vox Continental and Farfisa,
all are fully polyphonic and employ nine digitally controlled drawbars,
with buttons and LED bar-graphs rather than physical drawbars. It’s a
workable system, not least because of the visual feedback received each
time a fresh patch is loaded from memory. As each drawbar button sends
and receives MIDI continuous controllers, I couldn’t resist a little
automation of these via a sequencer, cranking up the tempo for a
visually dramatic LED-fest to accompany the manic tonal changes.
We’ve
analysed these organs in depth previously, so it’s enough for me to
repeat that all three models sound very authentic, from the brash and
gnarly Vox to the often cheesy Farfisa. The Hammond B3 emulation became
my instant favourite; its percussion is bitingly effective, with a
choice of either normal or softened levels, fast or slow decays. The
‘Third’ button switches its percussion effect to use the third partial,
and you can even transcend a B3 restriction in which the ninth drawbar
is cancelled whenever percussion is activated, choosing either faithful
reproduction or both at once.
Thanks to the
Shift key, the drawbar up/down buttons are also home to 17 organ
presets, plus an ‘RND’ option to generate random drawbar settings. These
presets store drawbar values for each organ type, as well as settings
for vibrato/chorus, percussion and keyboard split. Keyboard split is,
sadly, an organ-only option, although you can specify where on the
keyboard the split should occur. If you possess a spare controller
keyboard, I recommend trying ‘MIDI Split’. Activate this mode and an
external MIDI keyboard plays the lower organ part via a separate MIDI
channel. Those of us weaned on dual-manual organs will instantly feel at
home — although I’d have preferred the choice of whether the upper or
lower keyboard could be MIDI controlled. Only one organ model can be
active at once, so you can’t combine a Vox lower manual with a Hammond
upper, in case you were wondering.
Every organ
patch stored into one of the 128 available memories contains both upper
and lower registrations. Even if you don’t care for the split keyboard
functionality, this is a nifty way to toggle quickly between two
related tones.
The organ’s vibrato and chorus
options are suitably tailored for each model; I’ve never been a great
advocate of the Farfisa sound, for example, but its vibrato definitely
brought back memories — with more than a hint of gorgonzola. To
recreate organs of grit and nastiness, the Sound Menu’s Tonewheel Mode
offers user-adjustable tonewheel crosstalk, from clean right up to
utterly grimy. This ability to dictate personal preferences is one of
the great strengths of the Electro 3; further options include tweaking
of percussion decay time and level plus key-click level. None of these
menu items is continuously variable — there are often just three
possible values available — but nevertheless this opens up key modelling
parameters that so often are indelibly hard-coded.
Pianos
Of
the 256MB of onboard flash memory, 185MB is permanently allocated to
pianos. This might not seem a huge figure when compared to purely
software instruments but there’s room for multiple acoustic grands, a
Yamaha CP80, an upright piano, several electric pianos, Clavinet and
harpsichord. Every one can be replaced by others from the Nord Piano
library, some of which are surprisingly small in terms of memory. The
Yamaha CP80 is a fraction over 5MB, yet it sounds excellent, proving
the old adage that size isn’t everything!
Pianos
are selected by type and by number — it’s up to you to remember whether
grand piano number one is a Yamaha or a Steinway, or whether you
decided on French or Italian harpsichords. Running through the factory
sounds, I found electric pianos, harpsichords and, especially,
Clavinets all responded well to the springy keyboard action. With
additional controls to mimic the dual pickups and EQ variations of the
Clavinet D6, the Electro 3 breathed more realism into Clavinets than
ever before. However, when I began to play the acoustic pianos, I was
initially underwhelmed. I investigated some alternatives (thoughtfully
supplied on DVD) and even though some of these grossed 60MB (due to
their extra velocity layers), I didn’t find quite the responsiveness I
was hoping for.
If, at this point, I hadn’t
had a Nord Stage EX waiting in the wings, I might have dismissed
Clavia’s acoustic grands as being lacklustre; devoid of upper-end
sparkle. Instead, I played them from the Stage’s weighted piano-action
keyboard and felt far more satisfied. I eventually became content that
the various electromechanical keyboards handled just fine, and that was
probably of higher priority than delivering an optimum acoustic piano.
Still, I’m sure improvements could be made if there were only some
means of adjusting the Electro 3’s keyboard velocity curve to suit
personal taste.
Samples
The
remaining sample RAM (about 68MB) can contain up to 50 samples from
that other Clavia resource, the Nord Sample library. This contains the
kind of material keyboard players typically want, and as many entries
are only around 4MB, the RAM stretches quite a long way. However, the
keyboard is shipped with its memory almost completely full, so you’ll
need to clear the decks before auditioning potential alternatives. The
samples supplied include some of the Mellotrons that so impressed on the
Nord Wave, plus a gorgeous church organ, solo and ensemble strings,
brass and lots more. Incorporating samples makes the Electro 3 a far
more complete and rounded instrument; even if the organ-playing
demographic don’t care for extensive sample swapping, the ability to do
it is very welcome.
Samples are selected by
number and played back without a great deal of fuss or interaction. You
won’t find the controls for envelopes and filtering that are the Nord
Wave’s forté, but there are a number of different release times
available, plus a slow attack setting and a switch to enable velocity
control. In context, the choices are good ones. For both pianos and
samples, polyphony is quoted at between 40 and 60 notes, depending on
whether stereo or mono samples are used.
Effects
The
Electro 3’s controls are all laid out clearly in the centre of the
keyboard’s front panel. As with some of its Nord predecessors, it has a
‘button and LED’ system in place of actual drawbars.
There are four separate effects in a fixed signal
path, each with an algorithm selector and a single parameter to adjust.
With an EQ and a programmable gain control (to ensure your stored
patches appear at the desired level), the selection is conservative, yet
adequate for many organ and piano styles.
The
first effect on offer may be either pan, tremolo, auto-wah, pedal-wah or
ring modulator. Of these, I didn’t particularly care for either of the
wah representations, but I’ve never been of the ‘Funky Clav’
persuasion. The ring modulator seemed a strange inclusion but turned
out to be a lot of fun for ‘weirding up’ some of the Mellotrons and
other samples.
The second effect features
phaser, flanger or chorus, the latter rather good and the others all
basic, yet worthwhile. It’s a shame there wasn’t room for a delay,
though; even one as rudimentary as the Nord Wave’s would have been
welcome.
Next up is the Speaker/Amp emulation,
which features various amp models and the rotary speaker effect that
appeared in the C1 Combo Organ. It sounds superb — and has gained a new
function, Rotary Stop Mode. This was implemented to mimic early
single-speed rotating speakers; you can switch between fast and stopped
rotation using a button or a pedal connected to the Rotor input. It
seems a tad illogical that the controls to enable the Leslie effect are
embedded within the Speaker/Comp section but its speed buttons are
placed elsewhere — with the organs. Often, my hand headed for the speed
control before I remembered this and detoured to switch on the effect
first. In common with other aspects of the Electro 3’s sound, there are
several user-adjustable parameters; for example, speed and acceleration
times for both treble and bass rotors.
The
reverb is as uncomplicated as they come, having just five types and a
depth control. It’s a fine-sounding addition all the same; I’ve become
particularly fond of the ‘Hall Soft’ algorithm, which is lush and warm
whether used sparingly on a Hammond patch or in eerie abundance on a
Mellotron flute.
Our last stop is the
three-band equaliser, a ‘fix all’ tool to optimise your patches; its
sweepable mid is ideal for de-muddying some of the pianos, or for giving
the organs even more presence.
Conclusion
A
well-established breeding stock facilitates pedigree choices: organs
from the C1 Combo, pianos from the Stage and samples from the Nord Wave.
Due to a willingness to respond to reviews and user feedback, Clavia
have continued to improve their original design, producing their best
collection yet of classic instruments in convenient, modern form. The
Nord Electro 3 is a mature, highly evolved, organ-based keyboard
capable of covering electric pianos, Clavinets, acoustic grands and any
sample you care to feed it. Any sample can be replaced — either with
alternatives from Clavia’s library or with your own creations. These
elements, combined with a fast-action keyboard and onboard effects,
earn the Electro 3 its place in an increasingly cross-pollinated Nord
range. No Nord is considered to be a budget item, but at least the
Electro 3 is cheaper and more portable than the keyboards it is intended
to emulate. If you are looking for a single keyboard to deliver
classic rock organs, pianos and lots more besides, the Nord Electro 3
comes highly recommended.
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