LOVE, true LOVE with my Ne6! The organ, the EPS and mellotron samples are just amazing! And the phisical keyboard is nice and solid, keybed, controls...
As I've said previously sir it was you who totally inspired me to get a Nord Electro (5HP). I truly cannot thank you enough for introducing me to (what is now) the cornerstone of my funk improv jams. Much love for you Woody ❤️❤️
I have a new favourite WPS video as of today! Thanks, Woody; that was simply awesome. Stunningly well put together video and an absolutely riveting watch too! Great work, sir!
Yes, the real genius of Clavia was doing a few instruments well with the Nord Electro. This is still a great line for gigging musos. For us penniless bedroom musos, Sampleson make a great free B3 Hammond organ style VST, the CollaB3, and a pretty sweet and expressive Fender Rhodes Suitcase, which is called the Suit73 (Mk2) just beautiful and affordable plugins!
@@WoodyPianoShack Agreed, although the really brave take their laptop/iPad on tour. I'd probably rather gig with an iPad, as they seem really stable (I always reboot before using it). Even a Windows 11 laptop these days is also pretty stable, but yes mine does crash now and then!
I’ve owned 4 NORD electros. Currently have 6D 73. They have enabled me to continue to play through the years - because of how light and portable they are. I play split bass/keys on many gigs… the samples are spectacular. I also use stereo - play thru 2 AER compaxt XL amps (talk about expensive) however - essential for piano/rhodes/clav and strings samples. I mostly only play jazz last 8 years…. Some latin, & funk. The only thing inwish NORD would do for the Electro (still keeping it as light as possible) is expand it to 88 keys, and add a 3rd sample engine for bass (uncouple the bass samples from the orchestral samples) enabling me to access vibes and a few other cool sounds while still being able to kick bass with the split. (I also wish they would return the variable split capability - enabling me to chose which note i want to split the keyboard to. They also took away some of the cool organ programming….. sigh…….. thank you Mr. Hans Nord…….. for creating a lightweight versatile and amazing sounding keyboard for us old cats - who can’t lug around the Hammond and Leslie - or the Rhodes and synths anymore (i’m 71…. And still very active playing….😎
I remember seeing a demo of the Nord Lead circa 1997/1998 together with my father in a local music shop. The “virtual analogue” aspect was well emphasised by the demonstrator as it was kind of a new concept at the time. It was explained as beeing a digital synth, pretending to be an analogue one. This where my interest in synth technology started.
Fantastic video good sir! I love, *love* my Nord Electro 6D! The wood end cheeks are so smooth and rubbable 😂. The sound never gets old to me, simply the best and built like a tank!
Great video. I take your point about the 'purity' of those ealier models but as a gigging musician must say the sample synth section does give the Electro real flexibility. Strings/pads can be added underneath piano on the fly etc (the A1 Prophet pad is one of the best in any synth and even though it has only velocity/filter control, is still highly useable). That said, finding the right button in the midst of a live performance on that control panel...it can be pot luck at the best of times!
you're right, it has become more useful as an all-in-one board for gigging musicians. I did play in a few cover bands with just NE2 where I used e-piano and organ sounds to play all the synth and acoustic sounds that you would normally use a rompler for. Worked out surprisingly well, fir a nice alternative arrangement of the songs! :)
Nord electro represents best bang for buck in this top end keyboard manufacturer. I wish I hadn’t sold mine. Although the strongest reason for selling was to uplift to nord stage 3 compact which I would have been able to afford until covid struck where they put their prices up by 25% (that’s just opportunistic sales greed) I sold electro simply because it doesn’t have soft pedal support midi channel listener for slave 88 midi keyboard and of course the much needed pitch bend and mod wheel. Now in 2022 still saving but thinking I might as well wait until stage 3 ex or stage 4 comes out. They are working on it as we can see new features in the nord piano 5 that aren’t on any other model. I suspect they have to invent something new and special in order to release a stage 4. Roll on 2024
Hi Woody, thanks for this. I enjoyed it. As we all know, new is not always better. I think you’ve already found your favorite Electro and built a beautiful enclosure for it. Well done.
Yes indeed, dragging a big B3 with dual Leslies was a huge PITA back in the day, usually only accepted club gigs where we were the house band for a protracted amount of time, so most of the heavy equipment stayed at the venue. But nothing beat that growling B3 sound with distortion, ala Spencer Davis, Give Me Some Lovin, Nord's organ engine does sound pretty good ;-)
Hi Woody! Great video. I'm also a big fan of the Nord concept (I own a Stage 3). I gotta say I quite like the modern Electros' featureset. It has more features but it's still accessible enough through the physical controls. I gotta agree with you on the lack of pitch bend/modwheels though but I guess that's their way to set it appart from the Stage. And I also agree that the storage is too small. It can be really annoying. Still awesome keyboards all in all.
Thanks, Woody, for explaining what makes this instrument so special. I really would like to own a Nord some day. The main thing holding me back is not so much the cost itself, but the rather lean amount of memory you get for that cost. (I realize you're paying for more than just memory. But still.) On the other hand, I love the fact that Clavia gives you access to their sound libraries - not to mention the quality of those sounds.
it's only the pianos and non-essential sounds that need to share that limited memory, if you restrict yourself to a few pianos you'll be ok! sometimes, I guess, less is more! :)
I too remember yearning for real electro acoustic sounds in the 90's. I have a retro keys card in my Roland jv-80 that got pretty close but velocity switching a-plenty. I got a real Rhodes in 1993 and lugged it around half destroying it in the process! We are in a good time now for sounds and weight!
The Nord ram limitations must surely be a sales model. Drip feed the features and releases Nord Electro 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and so on. Each one having a few 100MB more of ram.
no i don't think so, on NE, NS and NP they just give us about an extra half gig for each new release. my nautilus has a 60GB SSD onboard for acoustic and electric pianos. works a treat. nord should stop messing around with their flash imho.
@@WoodyPianoShack ...I have you subscribed...but, for some reason this is the last music related video that came to me... I'll make if an effort to look for new videos from you.
Clavia's Nord gear is lovely. Sounds great, looks good, and wow, is it well built. I've an ageing Lead 2 desktop that still works well, a Lead A1 which is just fantastic, and acquired last week, a v1.0 Nord Wave, which is incredibly versatile and I've only scraped the surface. Love the direct controls and lack of menu diving. Agree with your point about memory though - SSD and read only memory is insanely cheap now, my only real criticism. Thank you for introducing me to Nord gear via your channel Woody, forever appreciated.
You do wicked simplicity very well in all of your presentations. If only Nord would allow you to download the larger files to an external memory or increase their internal memory a few more gigs.
Great story! Yes I agree I missed having a Mod Wheel and especially a Pitch Bend as I love to bend notes! This is my second time to be a Nord owner. The first time (Nord Electro 4 73 and Nord Lead 2)... I did not take to the Nord at first and playing in a cover band I instead decided to go with Korg Kronos and sometimes a MainStage rig. Later in life now I'm really over the whole cover band thing. I'm now performing jazz fusion and jam band type roots rock with local acts - nearly completely improv performances. Recently I was offered a great deal on my friend's Nord Electro 4D 61 and Nord Lead 4 - this is a pairing I think I'll be very pleased to use live for a long time. Both keyboards together weigh less than my Kronos (61 key)! The Lead 4 of course more than makes up for the Electro 4 lacking Mod/PitchBend!
I enjoyed this video as a long-ish time Nord keyboard owner. It reflects much of my own experiences. The original Electro 2 was a niche heavyweight, but you typically needed a second 'board to supplement with acoustic pianos and other sampled sounds. This eventually made me switch my E2 and weighted action synth for a Stage 76 due to ease of transportation. But that lacked the expanded sample memory of later Electros. I find the product distinction between Electro and Stage has blurred to the point that it just feels like one is a cheaper version of the other. The way the Electro has mitigated sound transition glitches and allowed layering, having two synth engines in the Stage feels like an unnecessary luxury. I'm mulling a return to the Electro 6HP.
You're an excellent musician. I lugged around a Hammond B3 and also X66. That Nord sounds great. My music is not the same as you play. I played typical lounge organ styles. Have you ever had your hands on a Yamaha GX-1? I agree about the complicated shift keys and menus to have to navigate through. I bought a Tascam digital recorder recently but the many things needed to go through to end up with a finished 2 track audio file seems a bit much. I prefer the old reel-to-reel tape decks.
so much respect for you guys lugging around the tonewheel organs! no never tried those fancy Yamaha organs, sadly! old school workflow has it's advantages!
@@WoodyPianoShack It was very rare that I hauled a Hammond to a one night stand. Most of my cocktail lounge gigs were long term. There were only a very few exceptions when I played a house owned instrument. I do not know how familiar you are with Electone instruments or for that matter early Yamaha synthesizers but the Electone GX-1 was a three keyboard and pedal polyphonic synthesizer not at all meant to sound like a Hammond or any other type electronic organ. Keith Emerson owned one and so did Stevie Wonder. It would be fun to see what you could do with one of those. Gary
When it comes to b3,farfisa,and vox continental organ I found it,s hard to beat my Nord Electro 4d an now 5d& 6d! I sure would love to have it serviced plus get my sounds renewed! They,re great keyboards Woody! Enjoyed your video!
Hi barbara. serviced and sounds renewed? you can do the latter yourself and digital keyboards don't need servicing... thanks for the comment, have a good one! :)
Brilliant Woody.. beautiful sounds and great looks. The machinery is out of my range but I have a couple of 3rd party NORD VSTs which sound great. A dream machine I'd love to own one day.
i did eventually buy the NE2 61 brand new from Patrik in Estrad, but all the others have been used for about 2/3 the retail. Actually, the rather beaten NE2 61 I bought 5 years ago cost just $400.
The price and limitations in sound storage led me to buy a MacBook Pro and controller keyboard instead of a Nord stage 2 (at that time) Looking back the convenience of the Nord and hardware build quality would have made a better experience than the laptop route.
@@LOW-E DAW + VST(s) + computer + cable(s) + keyboard isn’t as immediate as a single keyboard with a mostly knob-per-function setup. The former is my first and current setup and I’m regretting it. The VST + controller route just doesn’t inspire me to play - I’d rather have something that’s standalone, tactile, and turn-on-and-jam.
Great content Woody, yet again! I mean I have pretty much zero interest in the sounds you were chasing and therefore similar interest in the Nord EP but I was riveted and really enjoyed hearing about your journey. It was both interesting and educational. Top stuff dude.
Mighty Nord. Proud owner of Lead 3 here. You might also try Kurzweil k2661 and their KB3 pathes, i find them very natural. As it has regular keybed, I would test it with the waterfall form Nord as midi controller.
Thanks Woody for another great video! Such an interesting story and overview including excellent playing. I still have the Nord Electro 2 sixtyone, excellent gear indeed! Cheers
Thanks, Woody, for another great video! I agree with your complaint about limited memory in the nord keyboards, especially considering the top dollar they charge for their instruments. However, it is worth noting that the SIZE of the sounds (small, medium, large, extra-large) does not have any impact on the sound quality - it has to do with how fully mapped string resonance is, according to nord.
Hi Woody! Always loved your video about the NE2. I even got one because of your previous video, which I sold for a Stage 1, then for 2 pcs of stage 2, and then for another stage 1 and after getting some experience with all of them, I realized, the NE2 was the best from all, for aome reason, the hammond from the NE2 was super killer and cut through the mix like a damn knife through the butter - and for me - both stage didn’t work that well. Also for electric piano and piano, its awesome and I doubt anyone would need “more” or “better” piano/organ sounds than that.. :) Anyway, I hope I can find another NE2 in the used market soon which I will definitely keep it in the longer run.. :)
yeah, i so wish i had kept my original ne2 that i bought brand new, i'd take that over the ne6 any day. just don't get on with all the complexity in the later models.
Hey man, great video! Do you know if you can transfer sound programs between the different electro 6 models ? (from 6HP to 6D and vice versa) Or to even do a complete back-up restore from one model to another?
Great video, as usual! Pitch bend and more sample memory is also on my wish list for the Electro, but except for those limitations I love my NE6D73. Yamaha doesn’t have a 73 key waterfall keybed in their YC-series, so I’ll stick to Nord. 🙂
Hello, would you be kind enough to let us know what setting and EQ you used for your organ tones, it seems much more realistic than what I am able to get, thank you.
Well woody our start with these is very similar, ie the sounds of acid jazz at the time, my journey starts and ends with an NE2 73, but its the only keyboard/synth i've owned so long and also the only one i can't ever see myself parting with :) I was saying to myself all the way through "was it an elcectro he built a 2nd tier for?" and then it came on :) so maybe my aging grey cells arnt so bad afterall :D Keep up the great work woody :)
Lovely video! ❤❤ 👍👍 As a user of Nord keyboards myself, I was wondering why you went for the 6D even though you said in a previous video that you prefer the LED style drawbars?
Thank you for your review, Woody. Yes, this keyboard is definitely out of my price range, but I really appreciate the synth pop demo at around 3:00. The jazz chords in the rest of the demo sound terminally bland to my ears, so it's hard for me to really hear the beauty of this instrument within the context of jazz/blues alone. Would like to see more sounds outside of the scope of jazz-style tunes.
hi ivan, that comment brought a smile to my face, first time I've heard my playing as "terminally bland" but I don't mind at all! Yeah, that's the style I tend to play, but I do bust out some rock stuff occasionally.
@@WoodyPianoShack Thanks, Woody. I feel like what I wrote was a bit too harsh. It's not your playing that was a problem, at all. Actually, I got really impressed by your new Korg i3 demo that I ended up buying one. Your playing and demos have always been great, including here. It's just some of the jazz harmonies themselves that I am not terribly keen on, yet they dominate so many keyboard demos online. Just my own preferences, of course. I do like some jazz, folk and blues, but I have always thought these Nord boards would be a killer for dream-pop/atmospheric pop, where these leads would create a nice crunchy contrast against the Roland and Korg pads.
@@WoodyPianoShack I like all of them, really. What I like so much about the i3 is the independent buttons for each style's accompaniment. Reminds me of my ancient but absolutely wonderful Yamaha PSR-510, which I still have and use :). My favorite feature on the i3 is such a quick ability to layer sounds. Love it!! I also have a Juno DS, and I can layer many more sounds on the DS (up to 16, as opposed to only 3 + 1 on the i3), but it's just so easy to do in on i3. It's the best keyboard to use when I feel too unmotivated and depressed to bother playing a "proper" keyboard :). The i3 should really be marketed as the keyboard to use when you feel fatigued, lazy and just too burned out to do music. It's just so inviting to play with its glorious ease of use. I wish it had a little more sample memory and more multi-samples, but I love it just the same. I've been so sad, angry and depressed from watching the terrible war in Ukraine, but I am hoping to gather some energy and use my i3 and Juno and the Yamaha in conjunction with the Gforce string machine VST software I have. I really wanted a Waldorf Streichfett, but ended up without a budget for it. Trying to compensate with everything else. It just about kills me how great-sounding that little Streichfett is ua-cam.com/video/DU-xogc_9ts/v-deo.html. I loved listening about your latest 90's acid jazz discoveries, by the way. In the late 90's, I stumbled upon Blur's "Modern Life is Rubbish" album, and have absolutely loved it! Most of their music is very unknown here in the United States, but that album was just great. There's a song called "Oily Water" on it that is just so relevant even today in 2022.
I am about to purchase a Nord Electro 6D 73 waterfall semiweighted... Cause I alrealdy have an acoustic piano... But... how is the feel when you play piano music with the semiweighted keys and the sustain pedal'
thanks for your videos, I seem to have found a used NE 4d 61, and a NE 2 73 in my city. would you say the electro 2 maybe isnt as practical nowadays because it's not compatible with current computer OS systems for loading samples? It looks like the 4D can work with more modern computers haha.
yeah, i needed to find a windows 96 32 bit pc to load samples onto the NE2, but on that board you never need to swap them out much anyway since it is not compatible with the newer sounds. NE2 still my favorite tho. if only electro would do a NE-lite that paid tribute to the clean simple and unpolluted design philosophy of the original electro.
I use my korg pa700 as my main keyboard. Should I pay the extra money to get an electro 6d as my second keyboard? It seems too expensive to me... Will I appreciate it? Or it's better to get the modx which has more features? 🤔 Thank you! 🙏
Nord is fantastic :) Just love my Nord Piano 4, and right now im trying to sell my Viscount Legend Live , it sounds great but so heavy to carry around , Playing in two bands and some other stuff, carrying a Legend several times a week is to much , i will change to a electro 6d
Hang on a minute - how did you get two different sounds out of an Electro 2 with that lower manual in the C3 shaped case you made? I thought it wasn't until Electro 5 that you could do splits/layers?
@@WoodyPianoShack funnily enough, there are a raft of people who firmly believe that the older E2/E3s had a much bigger, rawer sound and E4 onwards was never the same again - more accurate and detailed but less thick, gooey and analogue-y. Oh, and by the way - my YC61 lasted one gig. There's something not right there at volume. Lovely at home, especially with the updated Leslie, but I wouldn't trade an Electro for one by any means ;-)
Very comprehensive video, congrats! I'm just wondering if have you ever tried Kurzweils? As i suppose, the history you told in the video (lack of good rhodes/hammond emulations) was the exact reason why Kurzweil was made with cooperation with Stevie Wonder etc. Of course it's a biased opinion - I'm a big fan of that brand in those sound areas :) And that's why I'm asking this question abou your take on it :) Best wishes!
I was very interested in the PC4, but could never find one locally to try the “feel”. Actually, the PC4 and K2700 are straight up perpetually back ordered 🙁 I ended up playing with the Nautilus in the store for over an hour one weekend, at which point I realized “this will do nicely.” I’m not really a musician, I just drift between instruments after work for “music therapy”, so I don’t have the best technique. Having something that feels comfortable in my hands (compatible key action), and doesn’t deal out mental abuse after a hard day programming is valuable to me. The Kurzweils look and sound nice, but I thought that about the MODX until I actually got to touch it. I also would like to see how Woody gets along with the K. His mention that the Nautilus had a premium feeling keybed got me curious a few months ago. I love the feel of Nords waterfall semi weighted key, but the Electro is too limited for my interests. I’m rambling, sorry. So many tastes and goals, so many choices (often expensive) to wade through. Seeing somebody playing, and discussing the interaction, helps.
Honestly I am so confused about which way to go. I had a Hammond XK1c and Sk1 are returned them. I bought an Electro 5D years ago and returned it. I bought the Hammond B3-X software and it’s just not convenient to lug a laptop around. I have a montage 6 but the organs are rubbish. Do I buy the 6D or YC61?
This is an excellent video because you clearly really like Nord and their electros, yet you do state its shortcomings and give an alternative manufacturer (Yamaha). It's so hard to find unbaised videos nowadays. These video help me decide because I ilve too far away from the real things to play them myself.
Hi Woody, have you tried Chick Corea's Mark V collection for your MODX6? He used this collection himself to replace his real Rhodes. I wonder how it would compare to the Nord? For organs, I would think an iPad Mini and the B-3X made by the Hammond organ company might even beat the Nord for organ/Leslie versatility. You could like use a small Korg Nano Kontroller for adjusting drawbars in real time. An iPad Mini would likely fit on top of the MODX6 with no stand, and transport in the sleeve of the back pack. The MODX as you know, does a ton of other things too. Unlikely to get Clav sounds as good out of the MODX, but there may be some solution for the iPad Mini. I know on a small laptop the Arturia Clavinet is pretty good.
i have installed the Corea rhodes, and some 3rd party libraries for rhodes, wurli and clav, they are a big step up , the chick rhodes is a bit quirky due to the way he setup his preamps. for organs, haven't found anything decent and agree software is vastly superior, but hard to control, especially if like me you don't like tablets much!
@@WoodyPianoShack I use the original model Axiom 61 as a MIDI controller along with my MODX6 at gigs to control the laptop. The Axiom has 9 sliders I use as organ drawbars. It also has semi-waterfall keys. I'd prefer if the edges of the keys were less sharp, but it works pretty well. Pre-COVID I bought two used ones for about $100 each here in the USA, commonly found. They have aftertouch which I've tried with the MODX too, and works great (a lot cheaper than a Montage to get that)z I've had better luck in making the organ sounds with software than I have with a Nord in the amount of time at the stores I had to spend with them. Wasn't coming quick. I generally haven't liked the Nord organ presets for the rock sounds I play, but I know it's capable.
@@WoodyPianoShack Woody, we go from nord play to word play ;-) But I''d like your opinion on a matter. I do think Yamaha makes very good products/instruments (I have one myself). But certainly in comparison with the Nord, I think Yamaha is rather sterile, where the Nord had character. And I think that's the case in many kinds of instruments. Yamaha lacks some soul. You rather seldom see artists being attached to their Yamaha. If so, do people have a trade off between quality and character/soul?
Have to disagree with your opinion that the Yamaha YC keyboard is a far superior device. I have one and have waited over a year for Yamaha to fix the poor Leslie speaker effect (they finally added another one). You cannot just add your own or third-party samples and unless you're happy with 61 keys the weight of the YC73 comes in at almost 30 lbs, a third heavier than the Electro 6D. I'm selling mine in favor of a Nord Electro 6D.
Im surprised Woody that you call the YC61 superior to the NE 6d in every way. I have the NE6d, but would have bought the Yammy if it wasn't for the inferior lesley sim, one of the most omportant aspects of the organ...
The YC addresses all my complaints about the nords. you must have missed the recent OS update for the YC, users are raving about the leslie and organ tones now and even talking about ditching their MOJOs and Hammonds! :)
Exactly... And the weight of the equivalent YC keyboard model is about a third more than the Nord. As far as the improved Leslie effect goes, they just added a new one and left the broken ones in place. Still can't add any of your own samples. So not superior at all even though it had years to improve on the Nord before released.
I love Nord. I have a Nord Lead A1 which I adore, a real power house and very easy to program. I used to have a Nord electro 5HP, which I regret getting rid of. What about Kurzweil though? They were producing similar quality sounds around the same time as the early Nord Electro weren't they? I had a PC2x then a PC3x, the latter being the only single keyboard I have ever owned where every sound is pretty much spot on, especially the Rhodes electric pianos! I didn't like the PC3x action and it was way too heavy to be portable at 25 kg. I personally didn't warm to the triple strike piano sample in spite of it being regarded the bench mark for years. If I could have one keyboard that does the lot, it would have to be a Kurzweil PC4 or a Nord Stage........probably the Nord, but I love the Kurzweil KB3 organs. But Nord just have this prestige about them that no other can match!
you never see kurz over here, so that's why you don't see them on my channel, but I'm a fan of the brand since the 90s! like the A1 too when I had one, but there must be something wrong with me, because I like the NL2 so much more!
@@germanshepherdlover2613 the UI was much simpler and more conventional, I cannot get my head around the new oscillator section. i'm sure they removed some of the capabilities too, although compensated with the MFX.
@@germanshepherdlover2613 jajajj, me too! A little screen yo see the presets name and the parameters value, just like at ne6. I love my ne6, the organ and mellotron samples are the BEST!
the new electros have the same samples for the e-piano and clav, plus a few enhanced ones. newer electros have much better acoustic pianos though, and an updated organ.
Hello brother, can you do a video to customize banks on the KORG N364 please? Im trying to put the sounds i need in one bank. Saves me from going through all the banks.
08:22 I think you rather meant 4, not 5 because of this ua-cam.com/video/T0ejXw-6KzM/v-deo.html but seems you kind of changed your mind with the 6? How do you feel about physical drawbars now? Did YC61 convince you?
hi, you'd be totally right, I noticed when I was adding the B-roll photos that I remembered it wrong. For me, I enjoy the physical draws, but still prefer the LED buttons, they just seem to belong, a design classic!
So it's funny that you both miss the simpler keyboard and also want more than the most complex one can do. There's an interesting paradox there. The problem with a laptop and a controller is that the complexity is just insane, and the potential for failure or "not doing what I want, when I want it" and "not really useful for live playing", and the problem with each stage keyboard, as it grows in complexity is that it's very nearly a complete laptop level complex thing. Take the Korg Kronos, it's basically a PC running Linux with a solid state hard disk and a touchscreen and basically is 90% of what a computer is. And then take the Nord Electro 2. No screen. No menus, not much "firmware updates", and fewer choices, and these free you up to just play. I think if theres a happy medium it might be to have one really great keyboard as your controller plus "most of your sounds", and then maybe a Mac with a few extra things loaded into Mainstage, which if it goes sideways, can always be switched off, and you play with what you've got in your main live keyboard.
hi, that's a great point and an interesting paradox for sure. But with all the features of the current model, and the extensive sound library available, then it should at least come with sufficient storage for the sounds and the controls to play them! Seems like Nord have always struggled to do storage right. I remember how the earlier Lead didn't have any space to store your own performance patches, unless you bought a clunky PCMCIA card! I think it would be cool if Nord did a feature cut-down line of the Lead and Electro, staying more true to the original design concept.
@@WoodyPianoShack You make a good point. I don't think the standard should be "100% of what you can download from the website", but lets consider for a moment that at the price of these keyboards, it's sad that they dont at least have say, 16 gigabytes of sample memory storage. Instead they are in the range of 1-4 gigabytes, not only on Nord keyboards, but also on Korg and Yamaha. At one point Yamaha sold 1 gigabyte expansions (2018) for $375. In 2018 you could buy a whole phone with 32 gigs of storage, and a 64 gb micro SSD card for less than that. Anyways there is a technical reason why, and it has to do with the type of FLASH memory that keyboards use. They use a random access flash memory that is not like the flash memory used in phones and on SSDs. www.norduserforum.com/general-nord-forum-f29/why-the-memory-limitation-t14689.html
@@WarrenPostma i don't buy any excuses not to just slap in a SSD and be done with it. My Nautilus, for example, has a 60GB SSD from the factory containing all their massively sampled pianos, each of which can be several gigabytes in size. No issues at all loading or playing those patches!
Stop whining, I had an E3 for 9 years and now have an E6D. Tried the Yamaha YC but the organ lacked something, The 6D is awesome. Use a second controller with a pitch bend for the samples it works a treat.
LOVE, true LOVE with my Ne6! The organ, the EPS and mellotron samples are just amazing! And the phisical keyboard is nice and solid, keybed, controls...
As I've said previously sir it was you who totally inspired me to get a Nord Electro (5HP). I truly cannot thank you enough for introducing me to (what is now) the cornerstone of my funk improv jams. Much love for you Woody ❤️❤️
that's awesome jay, happy it worked out so well for you, can't go wrong with any NE if those sounds are your cup of tea!
I love the Nefertiti Rhodes setting with trem, chorus and 1.0 on drive but no cab sim, nord 5 electro 73 here. Nice playing btw, many thanks
I have a new favourite WPS video as of today! Thanks, Woody; that was simply awesome. Stunningly well put together video and an absolutely riveting watch too! Great work, sir!
much appreciated that comment, thanks! after 6 years, still experimenting with format and style, so feedback is important.
Yes, the real genius of Clavia was doing a few instruments well with the Nord Electro. This is still a great line for gigging musos. For us penniless bedroom musos, Sampleson make a great free B3 Hammond organ style VST, the CollaB3, and a pretty sweet and expressive Fender Rhodes Suitcase, which is called the Suit73 (Mk2) just beautiful and affordable plugins!
yeah, you can do really well with free or affordable software these days, great for playing at home or recording, but not for the gig, imho!
@@WoodyPianoShack Agreed, although the really brave take their laptop/iPad on tour. I'd probably rather gig with an iPad, as they seem really stable (I always reboot before using it). Even a Windows 11 laptop these days is also pretty stable, but yes mine does crash now and then!
Great review on the Nord and your experience as well as your views on each model. Love that dual keyboard set up you made.
i was so daft to sell that, but it did go to a good home, a lady prog rocker got a very good deal on it!
Thanks for the Nord story, I have always wanted one, and I don’t even play :)
I’ve owned 4 NORD electros. Currently have 6D 73. They have enabled me to continue to play through the years - because of how light and portable they are. I play split bass/keys on many gigs… the samples are spectacular. I also use stereo - play thru 2 AER compaxt XL amps (talk about expensive) however - essential for piano/rhodes/clav and strings samples. I mostly only play jazz last 8 years…. Some latin, & funk. The only thing inwish NORD would do for the Electro (still keeping it as light as possible) is expand it to 88 keys, and add a 3rd sample engine for bass (uncouple the bass samples from the orchestral samples) enabling me to access vibes and a few other cool sounds while still being able to kick bass with the split. (I also wish they would return the variable split capability - enabling me to chose which note i want to split the keyboard to. They also took away some of the cool organ programming….. sigh……..
thank you Mr. Hans Nord…….. for creating a lightweight versatile and amazing sounding keyboard for us old cats - who can’t lug around the Hammond and Leslie - or the Rhodes and synths anymore (i’m 71…. And still very active playing….😎
well said & rock on,
Great video, Woody, I really enjoyed the history and your views on the various synths and versions thereof.
I remember seeing a demo of the Nord Lead circa 1997/1998 together with my father in a local music shop. The “virtual analogue” aspect was well emphasised by the demonstrator as it was kind of a new concept at the time. It was explained as beeing a digital synth, pretending to be an analogue one. This where my interest in synth technology started.
great way to kick off your interest! NL still one of my very favorite ever synths.
Fantastic video good sir! I love, *love* my Nord Electro 6D! The wood end cheeks are so smooth and rubbable 😂. The sound never gets old to me, simply the best and built like a tank!
Just bought one today 😄 couldn't be happier
Love Nords. Right now I have the VOX continental 61, and also is a nice option for classic EPS sounds and organs.
yeah, i heard good stuff about that board, never come across one myself.
Great video. I take your point about the 'purity' of those ealier models but as a gigging musician must say the sample synth section does give the Electro real flexibility. Strings/pads can be added underneath piano on the fly etc (the A1 Prophet pad is one of the best in any synth and even though it has only velocity/filter control, is still highly useable).
That said, finding the right button in the midst of a live performance on that control panel...it can be pot luck at the best of times!
you're right, it has become more useful as an all-in-one board for gigging musicians. I did play in a few cover bands with just NE2 where I used e-piano and organ sounds to play all the synth and acoustic sounds that you would normally use a rompler for. Worked out surprisingly well, fir a nice alternative arrangement of the songs! :)
Nord electro represents best bang for buck in this top end keyboard manufacturer. I wish I hadn’t sold mine. Although the strongest reason for selling was to uplift to nord stage 3 compact which I would have been able to afford until covid struck where they put their prices up by 25% (that’s just opportunistic sales greed) I sold electro simply because it doesn’t have soft pedal support midi channel listener for slave 88 midi keyboard and of course the much needed pitch bend and mod wheel. Now in 2022 still saving but thinking I might as well wait until stage 3 ex or stage 4 comes out. They are working on it as we can see new features in the nord piano 5 that aren’t on any other model. I suspect they have to invent something new and special in order to release a stage 4. Roll on 2024
Another fantastic video, a great story, and some cool playing! For my money, the Nord still has the edge on pretty much all of the competition.
Hi Woody, thanks for this. I enjoyed it. As we all know, new is not always better. I think you’ve already found your favorite Electro and built a beautiful enclosure for it. Well done.
sure did bill, since the NE2 it just went downhill. I feel the same about the NL2. :D
What are you playing at 12:16?! I love that!
It’s the old theme tune from Barry Norman’s Film review programme which used to be on tv. If you google it, there are some UA-cam videos with it on.
Yes indeed, dragging a big B3 with dual Leslies was a huge PITA back in the day,
usually only accepted club gigs where we were the house band for a protracted amount of time, so most of the heavy equipment stayed at the venue.
But nothing beat that growling B3 sound with distortion, ala Spencer Davis, Give Me Some Lovin,
Nord's organ engine does sound pretty good ;-)
i love the convenience of nord but yeah, pales in comparison to the experience of playing the real thing, sadly quite rare for me these days.
I own an electro 4. Sound wise and weight wise, It's the best keyboard I've ever owned.
Hi Woody!
Great video. I'm also a big fan of the Nord concept (I own a Stage 3). I gotta say I quite like the modern Electros' featureset. It has more features but it's still accessible enough through the physical controls. I gotta agree with you on the lack of pitch bend/modwheels though but I guess that's their way to set it appart from the Stage. And I also agree that the storage is too small. It can be really annoying. Still awesome keyboards all in all.
Thanks, Woody, for explaining what makes this instrument so special. I really would like to own a Nord some day. The main thing holding me back is not so much the cost itself, but the rather lean amount of memory you get for that cost. (I realize you're paying for more than just memory. But still.) On the other hand, I love the fact that Clavia gives you access to their sound libraries - not to mention the quality of those sounds.
it's only the pianos and non-essential sounds that need to share that limited memory, if you restrict yourself to a few pianos you'll be ok! sometimes, I guess, less is more! :)
I too remember yearning for real electro acoustic sounds in the 90's. I have a retro keys card in my Roland jv-80 that got pretty close but velocity switching a-plenty. I got a real Rhodes in 1993 and lugged it around half destroying it in the process! We are in a good time now for sounds and weight!
great story, thanks! yes, musicians have never had it so good with great sounding, great value and convenience!
The Nord ram limitations must surely be a sales model. Drip feed the features and releases Nord Electro 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and so on. Each one having a few 100MB more of ram.
I think Nord loaded the “Stage” model with the works. For a price.
no i don't think so, on NE, NS and NP they just give us about an extra half gig for each new release. my nautilus has a 60GB SSD onboard for acoustic and electric pianos. works a treat. nord should stop messing around with their flash imho.
Glad you're back with music topic perspectives.
where have you been the last 20 videos? I think only one or two was non-music topic! :D :p
@@WoodyPianoShack ...I have you subscribed...but, for some reason this is the last music related video that came to me... I'll make if an effort to look for new videos from you.
Clavia's Nord gear is lovely. Sounds great, looks good, and wow, is it well built.
I've an ageing Lead 2 desktop that still works well, a Lead A1 which is just fantastic, and acquired last week, a v1.0 Nord Wave, which is incredibly versatile and I've only scraped the surface. Love the direct controls and lack of menu diving.
Agree with your point about memory though - SSD and read only memory is insanely cheap now, my only real criticism.
Thank you for introducing me to Nord gear via your channel Woody, forever appreciated.
You do wicked simplicity very well in all of your presentations. If only Nord would allow you to download the larger files to an external memory or increase their internal memory a few more gigs.
much appreciated steve, thanks & agree!
Great story! Yes I agree I missed having a Mod Wheel and especially a Pitch Bend as I love to bend notes! This is my second time to be a Nord owner. The first time (Nord Electro 4 73 and Nord Lead 2)... I did not take to the Nord at first and playing in a cover band I instead decided to go with Korg Kronos and sometimes a MainStage rig. Later in life now I'm really over the whole cover band thing. I'm now performing jazz fusion and jam band type roots rock with local acts - nearly completely improv performances. Recently I was offered a great deal on my friend's Nord Electro 4D 61 and Nord Lead 4 - this is a pairing I think I'll be very pleased to use live for a long time. Both keyboards together weigh less than my Kronos (61 key)! The Lead 4 of course more than makes up for the Electro 4 lacking Mod/PitchBend!
nice story too, and congrats on the new nords, have fun!
I enjoyed this video as a long-ish time Nord keyboard owner. It reflects much of my own experiences. The original Electro 2 was a niche heavyweight, but you typically needed a second 'board to supplement with acoustic pianos and other sampled sounds. This eventually made me switch my E2 and weighted action synth for a Stage 76 due to ease of transportation. But that lacked the expanded sample memory of later Electros. I find the product distinction between Electro and Stage has blurred to the point that it just feels like one is a cheaper version of the other. The way the Electro has mitigated sound transition glitches and allowed layering, having two synth engines in the Stage feels like an unnecessary luxury. I'm mulling a return to the Electro 6HP.
You're an excellent musician. I lugged around a Hammond B3 and also X66. That Nord sounds great. My music is not the same as you play. I played typical lounge organ styles. Have you ever had your hands on a Yamaha GX-1? I agree about the complicated shift keys and menus to have to navigate through. I bought a Tascam digital recorder recently but the many things needed to go through to end up with a finished 2 track audio file seems a bit much. I prefer the old reel-to-reel tape decks.
so much respect for you guys lugging around the tonewheel organs! no never tried those fancy Yamaha organs, sadly! old school workflow has it's advantages!
@@WoodyPianoShack It was very rare that I hauled a Hammond to a one night stand. Most of my cocktail lounge gigs were long term. There were only a very few exceptions when I played a house owned instrument. I do not know how familiar you are with Electone instruments or for that matter early Yamaha synthesizers but the Electone GX-1 was a three keyboard and pedal polyphonic synthesizer not at all meant to sound like a Hammond or any other type electronic organ. Keith Emerson owned one and so did Stevie Wonder. It would be fun to see what you could do with one of those. Gary
When it comes to b3,farfisa,and vox continental organ I found it,s hard to beat my Nord Electro 4d an now 5d& 6d! I sure would love to have it serviced plus get my sounds renewed! They,re great keyboards Woody! Enjoyed your video!
Hi barbara. serviced and sounds renewed? you can do the latter yourself and digital keyboards don't need servicing... thanks for the comment, have a good one! :)
Brilliant Woody.. beautiful sounds and great looks. The machinery is out of my range but I have a couple of 3rd party NORD VSTs which sound great.
A dream machine I'd love to own one day.
i did eventually buy the NE2 61 brand new from Patrik in Estrad, but all the others have been used for about 2/3 the retail. Actually, the rather beaten NE2 61 I bought 5 years ago cost just $400.
A great retrospective.
The price and limitations in sound storage led me to buy a MacBook Pro and controller keyboard instead of a Nord stage 2 (at that time) Looking back the convenience of the Nord and hardware build quality would have made a better experience than the laptop route.
What made the laptop + midi keyboard inconvenient?
@@LOW-E DAW + VST(s) + computer + cable(s) + keyboard isn’t as immediate as a single keyboard with a mostly knob-per-function setup. The former is my first and current setup and I’m regretting it. The VST + controller route just doesn’t inspire me to play - I’d rather have something that’s standalone, tactile, and turn-on-and-jam.
Excellent! I really enjoyed this; thank you very much!
Do you remember "Felix - Don't you want me"? I think that was an organ sounds from a Roland JX-1. Just a random notice on 90ties excitement.
I love my Nord Electro 4SW73.
Nice story telling and overview of the Nord Electros, but as you concluded the Yamaha YCs are rather good and is on my shopping list.
hope you get the chance to try both and compare before you buy, it's a very personal thing.
Great content Woody, yet again!
I mean I have pretty much zero interest in the sounds you were chasing and therefore similar interest in the Nord EP but I was riveted and really enjoyed hearing about your journey. It was both interesting and educational. Top stuff dude.
brilliant, I'm chuffed to read that! now your homework is to go and listen to some hammond and rhodes :D
Always been impressed with Nord's sound. And I can see why lots of gigging musicians would use a Nord Electro!
Mighty Nord. Proud owner of Lead 3 here. You might also try Kurzweil k2661 and their KB3 pathes, i find them very natural. As it has regular keybed, I would test it with the waterfall form Nord as midi controller.
kurz not so widely available here in europe, but always fancied one!
Thanks Woody for another great video! Such an interesting story and overview including excellent playing. I still have the Nord Electro 2 sixtyone, excellent gear indeed! Cheers
thank you chris, lucky you, if only I had kept the NE2 I bought new from Patrik!
Thanks, Woody, for another great video! I agree with your complaint about limited memory in the nord keyboards, especially considering the top dollar they charge for their instruments. However, it is worth noting that the SIZE of the sounds (small, medium, large, extra-large) does not have any impact on the sound quality - it has to do with how fully mapped string resonance is, according to nord.
Hi Woody! Always loved your video about the NE2. I even got one because of your previous video, which I sold for a Stage 1, then for 2 pcs of stage 2, and then for another stage 1 and after getting some experience with all of them, I realized, the NE2 was the best from all, for aome reason, the hammond from the NE2 was super killer and cut through the mix like a damn knife through the butter - and for me - both stage didn’t work that well. Also for electric piano and piano, its awesome and I doubt anyone would need “more” or “better” piano/organ sounds than that.. :) Anyway, I hope I can find another NE2 in the used market soon which I will definitely keep it in the longer run.. :)
yeah, i so wish i had kept my original ne2 that i bought brand new, i'd take that over the ne6 any day. just don't get on with all the complexity in the later models.
Hey man, great video! Do you know if you can transfer sound programs between the different electro 6 models ? (from 6HP to 6D and vice versa) Or to even do a complete back-up restore from one model to another?
great question, i do not know even how you can export and import, let alone if the models are compatible.
Great video, as usual! Pitch bend and more sample memory is also on my wish list for the Electro, but except for those limitations I love my NE6D73. Yamaha doesn’t have a 73 key waterfall keybed in their YC-series, so I’ll stick to Nord. 🙂
thanks for reminding me about that, yeah, that would rule out the 73 for me too. you want that extra girth for organ splits, but not on a weighted...
Hello, would you be kind enough to let us know what setting and EQ you used for your organ tones, it seems much more realistic than what I am able to get, thank you.
Awesome video. I still love my Nord Electo 2
congrats, still the best!
Please make more DX7 videos!! Always good to watch your videos!
No, make videos on the CASIO SA-5 SongBank 32 key kids mini keyboard instead. Everyone knows that it's far superior to the DX7.
Leo, hmm, DX7 is long gone from the shack, but I do have some exciting FM synthesis coming to the channel soon, stay tuned!
Enjoyable video Woody. Thanks.
thanks espen, have a lovely spring!
Well woody our start with these is very similar, ie the sounds of acid jazz at the time, my journey starts and ends with an NE2 73, but its the only keyboard/synth i've owned so long and also the only one i can't ever see myself parting with :) I was saying to myself all the way through "was it an elcectro he built a 2nd tier for?" and then it came on :) so maybe my aging grey cells arnt so bad afterall :D Keep up the great work woody :)
good job remembering my ancient video topics! top subscriber, right there!
Lovely video! ❤❤ 👍👍 As a user of Nord keyboards myself, I was wondering why you went for the 6D even though you said in a previous video that you prefer the LED style drawbars?
just what i could find used locally, but still vastly prefer the NE2, not only for the leds but too many bells and whistles making it too complicated.
What is the name of song at 12 :50 ?
I love it.
got my first Nord last week: stage3 88
wicked, congrats!
Thank you for your review, Woody. Yes, this keyboard is definitely out of my price range, but I really appreciate the synth pop demo at around 3:00. The jazz chords in the rest of the demo sound terminally bland to my ears, so it's hard for me to really hear the beauty of this instrument within the context of jazz/blues alone. Would like to see more sounds outside of the scope of jazz-style tunes.
hi ivan, that comment brought a smile to my face, first time I've heard my playing as "terminally bland" but I don't mind at all! Yeah, that's the style I tend to play, but I do bust out some rock stuff occasionally.
@@WoodyPianoShack Thanks, Woody. I feel like what I wrote was a bit too harsh. It's not your playing that was a problem, at all. Actually, I got really impressed by your new Korg i3 demo that I ended up buying one. Your playing and demos have always been great, including here. It's just some of the jazz harmonies themselves that I am not terribly keen on, yet they dominate so many keyboard demos online. Just my own preferences, of course. I do like some jazz, folk and blues, but I have always thought these Nord boards would be a killer for dream-pop/atmospheric pop, where these leads would create a nice crunchy contrast against the Roland and Korg pads.
@@ivanl.8201 all good, congrats on your i3, what category of styles do you enjoy the most on the korg?
@@WoodyPianoShack I like all of them, really. What I like so much about the i3 is the independent buttons for each style's accompaniment. Reminds me of my ancient but absolutely wonderful Yamaha PSR-510, which I still have and use :). My favorite feature on the i3 is such a quick ability to layer sounds. Love it!! I also have a Juno DS, and I can layer many more sounds on the DS (up to 16, as opposed to only 3 + 1 on the i3), but it's just so easy to do in on i3. It's the best keyboard to use when I feel too unmotivated and depressed to bother playing a "proper" keyboard :). The i3 should really be marketed as the keyboard to use when you feel fatigued, lazy and just too burned out to do music. It's just so inviting to play with its glorious ease of use. I wish it had a little more sample memory and more multi-samples, but I love it just the same. I've been so sad, angry and depressed from watching the terrible war in Ukraine, but I am hoping to gather some energy and use my i3 and Juno and the Yamaha in conjunction with the Gforce string machine VST software I have. I really wanted a Waldorf Streichfett, but ended up without a budget for it. Trying to compensate with everything else. It just about kills me how great-sounding that little Streichfett is ua-cam.com/video/DU-xogc_9ts/v-deo.html. I loved listening about your latest 90's acid jazz discoveries, by the way. In the late 90's, I stumbled upon Blur's "Modern Life is Rubbish" album, and have absolutely loved it! Most of their music is very unknown here in the United States, but that album was just great. There's a song called "Oily Water" on it that is just so relevant even today in 2022.
I am about to purchase a Nord Electro 6D 73 waterfall semiweighted... Cause I alrealdy have an acoustic piano... But... how is the feel when you play piano music with the semiweighted keys and the sustain pedal'
safe to say NE keys absolutely nothing like the feel of a real piano. but maybe/probably you can adapt to it.
thanks for your videos, I seem to have found a used NE 4d 61, and a NE 2 73 in my city. would you say the electro 2 maybe isnt as practical nowadays because it's not compatible with current computer OS systems for loading samples? It looks like the 4D can work with more modern computers haha.
yeah, i needed to find a windows 96 32 bit pc to load samples onto the NE2, but on that board you never need to swap them out much anyway since it is not compatible with the newer sounds. NE2 still my favorite tho. if only electro would do a NE-lite that paid tribute to the clean simple and unpolluted design philosophy of the original electro.
I use my korg pa700 as my main keyboard. Should I pay the extra money to get an electro 6d as my second keyboard? It seems too expensive to me... Will I appreciate it? Or it's better to get the modx which has more features? 🤔
Thank you! 🙏
Which has better instrument sounds?
Nord, PSR SX900, MODX/Montage or Fantom?
Which fatar model did you use for the 2nd keyboard?
don't remember the model, a studiologic with synth action from the 90s!
Nord is fantastic :)
Just love my Nord Piano 4, and right now im trying to sell my Viscount Legend Live , it sounds great but so heavy to carry around ,
Playing in two bands and some other stuff, carrying a Legend several times a week is to much , i will change to a electro 6d
yeah, live is bulky and awkward, well compared to an electro, sounds like a good plan,
Hang on a minute - how did you get two different sounds out of an Electro 2 with that lower manual in the C3 shaped case you made? I thought it wasn't until Electro 5 that you could do splits/layers?
I think I've answered it myself - it only worked for organ lower manual, right? You couldn't have the piano sounds on it, and the organ up top?
that's right, lower organ manual on the midi keyboard!
@@WoodyPianoShack funnily enough, there are a raft of people who firmly believe that the older E2/E3s had a much bigger, rawer sound and E4 onwards was never the same again - more accurate and detailed but less thick, gooey and analogue-y. Oh, and by the way - my YC61 lasted one gig. There's something not right there at volume. Lovely at home, especially with the updated Leslie, but I wouldn't trade an Electro for one by any means ;-)
did you feel any loss of build quality, keys or even sound pressure over time? if yes, from which version?
myself no. only issue is that the wooden side models are made of very soft pine and get dinged at the slightest contact with anything.
Very comprehensive video, congrats! I'm just wondering if have you ever tried Kurzweils? As i suppose, the history you told in the video (lack of good rhodes/hammond emulations) was the exact reason why Kurzweil was made with cooperation with Stevie Wonder etc. Of course it's a biased opinion - I'm a big fan of that brand in those sound areas :) And that's why I'm asking this question abou your take on it :) Best wishes!
I was very interested in the PC4, but could never find one locally to try the “feel”. Actually, the PC4 and K2700 are straight up perpetually back ordered 🙁
I ended up playing with the Nautilus in the store for over an hour one weekend, at which point I realized “this will do nicely.” I’m not really a musician, I just drift between instruments after work for “music therapy”, so I don’t have the best technique. Having something that feels comfortable in my hands (compatible key action), and doesn’t deal out mental abuse after a hard day programming is valuable to me.
The Kurzweils look and sound nice, but I thought that about the MODX until I actually got to touch it. I also would like to see how Woody gets along with the K. His mention that the Nautilus had a premium feeling keybed got me curious a few months ago. I love the feel of Nords waterfall semi weighted key, but the Electro is too limited for my interests.
I’m rambling, sorry. So many tastes and goals, so many choices (often expensive) to wade through. Seeing somebody playing, and discussing the interaction, helps.
big fan of the brand, and their workstations from the 90s, but nope, no experience of them, rarely come across them in european stores.
I'm new to Nord and enjoy listening to your video. How did you add the drums?
the drums were coming from my phone and an app called drumgenius, plugged into line-input on NE.
@@WoodyPianoShack
Hey sorry for reviving an old thread but what is NE? Thank you
Honestly I am so confused about which way to go. I had a Hammond XK1c and Sk1 are returned them. I bought an Electro 5D years ago and returned it. I bought the Hammond B3-X software and it’s just not convenient to lug a laptop around. I have a montage 6 but the organs are rubbish. Do I buy the 6D or YC61?
most folks are loving their ycs with lstest firmware, give one a spin!
@@WoodyPianoShack Thanks Woody. Love your videos! I appreciate your insight.
i thought the sk1 and sk2 were awesome
@@WoodyPianoShack ycs is bad news
True!
Hi. Have you tried the Vox Continental 73?
no, i've never even seen one in the flesh, but looks and sounds cool.
This is an excellent video because you clearly really like Nord and their electros, yet you do state its shortcomings and give an alternative manufacturer (Yamaha). It's so hard to find unbaised videos nowadays. These video help me decide because I ilve too far away from the real things to play them myself.
so glad to hear that, it's always my goal. i don't hold back on calling out the cons, even if the brands sometimes don't like it.
Hi Woody, have you tried Chick Corea's Mark V collection for your MODX6? He used this collection himself to replace his real Rhodes. I wonder how it would compare to the Nord?
For organs, I would think an iPad Mini and the B-3X made by the Hammond organ company might even beat the Nord for organ/Leslie versatility. You could like use a small Korg Nano Kontroller for adjusting drawbars in real time. An iPad Mini would likely fit on top of the MODX6 with no stand, and transport in the sleeve of the back pack.
The MODX as you know, does a ton of other things too. Unlikely to get Clav sounds as good out of the MODX, but there may be some solution for the iPad Mini. I know on a small laptop the Arturia Clavinet is pretty good.
i have installed the Corea rhodes, and some 3rd party libraries for rhodes, wurli and clav, they are a big step up , the chick rhodes is a bit quirky due to the way he setup his preamps. for organs, haven't found anything decent and agree software is vastly superior, but hard to control, especially if like me you don't like tablets much!
@@WoodyPianoShack I use the original model Axiom 61 as a MIDI controller along with my MODX6 at gigs to control the laptop. The Axiom has 9 sliders I use as organ drawbars. It also has semi-waterfall keys. I'd prefer if the edges of the keys were less sharp, but it works pretty well. Pre-COVID I bought two used ones for about $100 each here in the USA, commonly found. They have aftertouch which I've tried with the MODX too, and works great (a lot cheaper than a Montage to get that)z I've had better luck in making the organ sounds with software than I have with a Nord in the amount of time at the stores I had to spend with them. Wasn't coming quick. I generally haven't liked the Nord organ presets for the rock sounds I play, but I know it's capable.
Funny, I always thought the name had a geographical origin, but now I suspect it's named after it's creator?
Bloody Vikings! 😁
hi frits, so it's a clever play on his surname Nordelius, and the fact the company is from the Nordics.
@@WoodyPianoShack And no back order, they are always in Stock-holm? :-D
@@fritsvanzanten3573 no idea about that.
@@WoodyPianoShack Woody, we go from nord play to word play ;-) But I''d like your opinion on a matter. I do think Yamaha makes very good products/instruments (I have one myself). But certainly in comparison with the Nord, I think Yamaha is rather sterile, where the Nord had character. And I think that's the case in many kinds of instruments. Yamaha lacks some soul. You rather seldom see artists being attached to their Yamaha. If so, do people have a trade off between quality and character/soul?
About a year ago, I had an opportunity to pick up an Electro 2 for just a shade under U$700. I passed on it, and have regretted it ever since.
well, seems quite a high dollar to me, you'll prob find a better deal!
@@WoodyPianoShack Not in this area. $700 is a pretty good price here.
Have to disagree with your opinion that the Yamaha YC keyboard is a far superior device. I have one and have waited over a year for Yamaha to fix the poor Leslie speaker effect (they finally added another one). You cannot just add your own or third-party samples and unless you're happy with 61 keys the weight of the YC73 comes in at almost 30 lbs, a third heavier than the Electro 6D. I'm selling mine in favor of a Nord Electro 6D.
Nice
Im surprised Woody that you call the YC61 superior to the NE 6d in every way. I have the NE6d, but would have bought the Yammy if it wasn't for the inferior lesley sim, one of the most omportant aspects of the organ...
The YC addresses all my complaints about the nords. you must have missed the recent OS update for the YC, users are raving about the leslie and organ tones now and even talking about ditching their MOJOs and Hammonds! :)
Exactly... And the weight of the equivalent YC keyboard model is about a third more than the Nord. As far as the improved Leslie effect goes, they just added a new one and left the broken ones in place. Still can't add any of your own samples. So not superior at all even though it had years to improve on the Nord before released.
I love Nord. I have a Nord Lead A1 which I adore, a real power house and very easy to program. I used to have a Nord electro 5HP, which I regret getting rid of. What about Kurzweil though? They were producing similar quality sounds around the same time as the early Nord Electro weren't they? I had a PC2x then a PC3x, the latter being the only single keyboard I have ever owned where every sound is pretty much spot on, especially the Rhodes electric pianos!
I didn't like the PC3x action and it was way too heavy to be portable at 25 kg. I personally didn't warm to the triple strike piano sample in spite of it being regarded the bench mark for years. If I could have one keyboard that does the lot, it would have to be a Kurzweil PC4 or a Nord Stage........probably the Nord, but I love the Kurzweil KB3 organs. But Nord just have this prestige about them that no other can match!
you never see kurz over here, so that's why you don't see them on my channel, but I'm a fan of the brand since the 90s!
like the A1 too when I had one, but there must be something wrong with me, because I like the NL2 so much more!
@@WoodyPianoShack what is it you love about the Nord Lead 2 over the others? I just wish the A1 had a screen just for naming programs.
@@germanshepherdlover2613 the UI was much simpler and more conventional, I cannot get my head around the new oscillator section. i'm sure they removed some of the capabilities too, although compensated with the MFX.
@@germanshepherdlover2613 jajajj, me too! A little screen yo see the presets name and the parameters value, just like at ne6. I love my ne6, the organ and mellotron samples are the BEST!
@@acheron4444 I'm Jealous LOL. probably get a stage 3 later. Really loving the Lead A1 getting all the 80's sounds
Was the electro better than the electro 2? Because I remember the electro 2 sounding like shit on every sound apart from the organ.
the new electros have the same samples for the e-piano and clav, plus a few enhanced ones. newer electros have much better acoustic pianos though, and an updated organ.
I had the electro 3 which I loved but the keybed was terrible. I ended up with a Waldorf Zarenbourg instead. No good for gigging though.
Interesting.
Hello brother, can you do a video to customize banks on the KORG N364 please? Im trying to put the sounds i need in one bank. Saves me from going through all the banks.
sorry buddy, but I don't have access to that board.
08:22 I think you rather meant 4, not 5 because of this ua-cam.com/video/T0ejXw-6KzM/v-deo.html but seems you kind of changed your mind with the 6? How do you feel about physical drawbars now? Did YC61 convince you?
hi, you'd be totally right, I noticed when I was adding the B-roll photos that I remembered it wrong. For me, I enjoy the physical draws, but still prefer the LED buttons, they just seem to belong, a design classic!
Interesting but I dont think I'd get one.
So it's funny that you both miss the simpler keyboard and also want more than the most complex one can do. There's an interesting paradox there. The problem with a laptop and a controller is that the complexity is just insane, and the potential for failure or "not doing what I want, when I want it" and "not really useful for live playing", and the problem with each stage keyboard, as it grows in complexity is that it's very nearly a complete laptop level complex thing. Take the Korg Kronos, it's basically a PC running Linux with a solid state hard disk and a touchscreen and basically is 90% of what a computer is. And then take the Nord Electro 2. No screen. No menus, not much "firmware updates", and fewer choices, and these free you up to just play. I think if theres a happy medium it might be to have one really great keyboard as your controller plus "most of your sounds", and then maybe a Mac with a few extra things loaded into Mainstage, which if it goes sideways, can always be switched off, and you play with what you've got in your main live keyboard.
hi, that's a great point and an interesting paradox for sure. But with all the features of the current model, and the extensive sound library available, then it should at least come with sufficient storage for the sounds and the controls to play them! Seems like Nord have always struggled to do storage right. I remember how the earlier Lead didn't have any space to store your own performance patches, unless you bought a clunky PCMCIA card! I think it would be cool if Nord did a feature cut-down line of the Lead and Electro, staying more true to the original design concept.
@@WoodyPianoShack You make a good point. I don't think the standard should be "100% of what you can download from the website", but lets consider for a moment that at the price of these keyboards, it's sad that they dont at least have say, 16 gigabytes of sample memory storage. Instead they are in the range of 1-4 gigabytes, not only on Nord keyboards, but also on Korg and Yamaha. At one point Yamaha sold 1 gigabyte expansions (2018) for $375. In 2018 you could buy a whole phone with 32 gigs of storage, and a 64 gb micro SSD card for less than that.
Anyways there is a technical reason why, and it has to do with the type of FLASH memory that keyboards use. They use a random access flash memory that is not like the flash memory used in phones and on SSDs.
www.norduserforum.com/general-nord-forum-f29/why-the-memory-limitation-t14689.html
@@WarrenPostma i don't buy any excuses not to just slap in a SSD and be done with it. My Nautilus, for example, has a 60GB SSD from the factory containing all their massively sampled pianos, each of which can be several gigabytes in size. No issues at all loading or playing those patches!
Yamaha has thinner sound, Nord sound is the best.
Stop whining, I had an E3 for 9 years and now have an E6D. Tried the Yamaha YC but the organ lacked something, The 6D is awesome. Use a second controller with a pitch bend for the samples it works a treat.
whining? was that the overall impression of the story?