Clavia Nord Electro 73

The Clavia Nord Electro 73 is the type of board that has that, the more you play it the more you love it type of feel too it. It is not for everyone though, a lot of people really don’t like most of the sounds that are on board with this board. To me they are ok it just depends on what kind of a style you have and which sounds you prefer to use in your own compositions. But this board as grew on me over that last few months.


UTILIZATION

Its very easy to understand this board, not hard t all. You will have no problem understanding the basic functions of this board. You wont even need a manual to use it.


SOUNDS

The sounds are up and down to me, some of them are so good I could mess around with them for hours and some of them just don’t do it for me. Like the Rhodes, the Rhodes on this board fell terribly short for me. They seem to be very thin and plastic like, most of the Rhodes on my other boards have a lot more bottom to them and have a full thick sound. These Rhodes sound more like the Rhodes from way back like 30 years ago. That is a be downfall for me because I really love my Rhodes sounds and using them in my work. The Rhodes are suppose to be something that can really fill your music out and give it a full sound but these Rhodes didn’t help me in that department. But as I stated before this board has grown on me and I find my self like new sounds all the time.


OVERALL OPINION

Overall it’s a great board / instrument but be aware that its not for everyone. Go to your local store and play around with the sounds on it and you will see if you like it or not. Do not just order this board based on reviews because it has a very unique feel and sound set. Its not for everyone, so make sure you test it out first. But it has a very good quality and can take some dings and drops when moving it from place to place so you have nothing to worry about.

Good effects, easy to tweak. I find the waterfall keys too short for real piano playing, but the semi-weighted action is a good compromise for piano and organ. Its monotimbral, so you cannot split the keyboard and play organ and piano at the same time, which something I like to do in some songs. And it means that an outboard MIDI weighted-key controller makes less sense.

UTILIZATION

The controls are very simple to use, but if you want to tweak, you need the manual, since the display is two cryptic characters! It's wonderful having direct access to effects, as I hate digging through levels to tweak them.

SOUNDS

Sounds are great, with one exception: the acoustic piano is absolutely terrible. I did an A/B comparison with my XP-80, and the XP-80 blew it away. And the XP-80 patch is very average! I thought maybe the patch would sound okay at a gig with some EQ, but it sounded awful there, too. The electric piano sounds lame to me, too, but I never like this patch on any board. The EP sounds are great, but at a gig they did not blow my XP-80 patches away (I have the Vintage expansion module). The Clav, on the other hand, is really something special, especially with distortion and phaser. I did an A/B with my VK-7, and the Electro 2 organ sounded better is every way: better Leslie, more punch, better vibrato, etc. I would say the organ is the best patch this unit has, and during my gig I kept coming back to it. The acoustic piano is crucial for me, thus the 7 rating.

OVERALL OPINION

I tried this board out, and I did not buy it for two reasons: the terrible acoustic piano and the short waterfall keys. But if the acoustic piano were better, I would just buy it and get used to the keys, it would be worth it. I know that the acoustic piano patch was a "bonus" patch, but for me, I wanted the Nord to be the only board I would need. If I have to get a separate digital piano, then I would also try and get one with great EP sounds. In fact, M-Audio has one out for $600 (ProKeys 88) that is getting good reviews. With a separate digital piano, I would be using the Nord just for organ, and then maybe it makes sense for me to keep using my VK-7, or buy a CX-3 or XK-3. I'm going to wait for the Stage 88; that might be the ultimate board for me.

The Clavia Nord Electro 73 is a general synthesizer, with specific sections for organ and piano. Like the name states, it has 73 keys and in addition to the organ and piano sections, it has a section for effects and general parameters. It doesn't have pitch or modulation wheels, but since it has only piano and organ sounds, you don't really need them, although they would be nice to have. The Clavia Nord Electro 73 has full polyphony and you can get a ton of different organ and piano sounds.

UTILIZATION

The configuration and interface of the Nord Electro 73 is pretty straightforward, although there are a lot of parameters that one must get used to when using it. For the organ section, it has a digital representation of draw bars, as well as options for vibrato and percussion. The piano and effects sections have a good deal of control, and since there are a ton of parameters, it takes a bit of practice to see exactly what everything does, but this shouldn't take too long as the keyboard is easy follow. The manual is pretty thorough and is helpful to have around while you are learning this versatile instrument.

SOUNDS

The sound quality of the Clavia Nord Electro 73 is top notch all across the board. I love both the organ and piano sounds you can get, which are both quite versatile on their own, and especially so when you introduce the effects section to them. Both the organ and piano tones are extremely realistic, and is great for both live shows and recording.

OVERALL OPINION

I've been using the Clavia Nord Electro 73 for around three years, mostly for use in the recording studio. While the price of this isn't cheap, it is designed for professionals looking to get both great piano and organ sounds within a single keyboard. I can't say enough about how realistic the sound are from this keyboard and I would recommend it to anyone serious about getting great piano and organ sounds all within one unit. Overall, this is one my favorite digital keyboards on the market and I highly recommend it to all professional keyboardists.

Piano simulation> wurlitzer, rhodes, clavinet, acoustic and CP 80
Organ> b3

UTILIZATION

Trs super enjoyable and easy to program, the effects sound good, but it lacks a good quality rverbe keyboard but do not put gnrale (except on modular I think)

The quality of the keyboard is good and even if it is trslger (great advantage for dplacement) it is solid because it mtal and borders of real wood.

SOUNDS

I would say ironically jOperation more pianos than the organ (I prfre), while the touch keyboard is better suited to a touch organist.
I would say there's ear have 4 layers in layers of 5 or 6 notes this means primarily on the Wurlitzer (unfortunately the sound I prfre).

Trs for me and I would put staff in terms of quality subective:

Number 1> CP 80 trs trs is really good! sounds a serious> (info I saw that the brand Prominy out a super accumulation: https://www.prominy.com/elec.htm)
Number 2> rhodes that sound good and compete the same samples scarbeehttp: / / www.scarbee.com/ (which are nevertheless in 12 layers layer!)
number 3> B3 great and very easy programmable (B 4 I tried the native home it sounds differ in appearance but it's almost the same quality of the samples only slightly better sound charlie less fit but has a composition because they are samples figs.
number 4> I love playing the Wurlitzer THIS SON! obectivement I would say it sounds great in the bass and treble in less compared to only rival> Scarbee WEP the samples that are about 16 notes per layer notes, ironically, well sometimes I prfre Nord electro ? especially in the low register.
I like the clavinet number 5 a little less this kind of a funk and it is trs at the games do not like the agreements.
last acoustic pianos I use even when their dynamics.
(Elektrik Piano Native Instruments is out of the race for the comparison of sound for much less than the Nord Electro finally it's my personal opinion ...)

OVERALL OPINION

In conclusion I would say that currently there is still the king of vintage keyboards, but that their noses pointed DIFFERENT concurents> Scarbee, Native Instruments, Prominy.
For the price it is still the best price because quailt sil we want the equivalent in software it means much more CHRE> requires the computer, sound card, a good master keyboard and software, Exceeds that every penny.

For me the biggest default is paradoxically also the best quality? that is to say that to put the organ with the piano is a great concept but the basic causes concrtement a game in terms of claviriste DIFFERENT?
The touch keyboard is a compromise between these two sets DIFFERENT prfre I play the piano so I'm a little frustrated an organist he will say is the walk!
In short do the compromise that the keyboard is super lightweight (10 kilos) so super transportable
I wait impatiently version 3!