Clavia Nord Electro 2 73

What could be easier? Practially weightless and smaller than a guitar case, it's a breeze to transport. The controls are laid out sensibly and clearly. The control ranges are appropriate, easy to dial up the features & FX you want. The set of FX is a good selection of the old standards.

The action is great for organ, clav, and wurli. It's tolerable for piano and rhodes, assuming you already have your skills. Not the right keyboard if piano is your main instrument and this is your only keyboard.

Built-in FX are superb, sound good and easily adjusted live.

Expansion is decent; you can download different sounds from Clavia.

48 presets, plus 8 Hammond drawbar presets (similar to white-on-black keys in a B3).

It suffers as a live MIDI controller for external units (rack or computer), because you can't save MIDI channels or local mode on/off with presets.

Worst feature: lowest note on the keyboard is F, rather than E. A truly idiotic design choice.

Piano is single-strike, decent for 2002 but not on par with good ROMpler pianos of 2009. Also, difficult to control well from unweighted keyboard. Not suitable for a jazz trio. HOWEVER, this piano sits well in the mix for rock, blues, and soul.

Hammond sounds great except for the Leslie overdrive, which is grainy rather than ballsy. Some criticise the Leslie spinning effect, but when played through a stereo PA or monitors, I'm happy with it.

Wurli sounds great and is a blast to play. Nearly as good as Scarbee, which is remarkable considering the difference in the amount of memory. Sounds good even when A/B'd with the real thing.

Clav is great, especially once you find the right registrations for the tone you want.

Rhodes is quite good, very playable, and you get 3 or 4 choices to download from Clavia site. Using the "presence" filter (1-band semi-parametric EQ) and the FX you can tailor the sound to work with your style.

When this unit was new, I'd have given it a 9 or 10. It's still useful, but I'm dropping it in comparison to today's offerings, which of course come at a much higher price.

It's great for what it is: a small unit that can serve (with some compromises) as a sole keyboard, and works even better as a 2nd tier with piano below. Excellent keyboard for a quick jam with friends or for band practice sessions (but not for personal piano practice).

These have held their value remarkably well on resale market over the years, and I predict that they will continue to for years to come.

I play blues, soul, and rock. I'm a serious amateur with over 30 years experience, gigging and studio. I used to lug around a CP-70, Rhodes, and synth-du-jour (or two). I currently use NI-B4 but will be replacing it with the NE2, for convenience.

All you do is press buttons and turn dials. The Electro 2 dials kind of 'snap' in place on levels, for example - say you have the Overdrive dial at 12 o'clock in Bank A, Slot 1 --- if you switch to Bank A, Slot 2 (lets say the Overdrive is off) and then you turn Overdrive slightly on, it snaps to 12 o'clock.

Other than that, it's very easy to use. The programs from the Nord website to load/unload patches are so easy a caveman can do it. You connec, click the setting, press the button to unload it, select the file for the new nord patch and the load it in the corresponding slot. Simple stuff.

When it comes to features, Nord is more like Keyboard meets Effects Pedal technology that's been around for a long time.

A lot of this stuff has been around for a long time, just not as accessible as Clavia has made it.

Alright, here's where I am going to differ with everyone else.

I've heard better sounds my Yamaha Motif ES. The Rhodes sounds are OK, but they don't sound as real as my Motif - granted you can't put effects on them on the fly like how you can with Nord, but with a crappy Rhodes sound, does it really matter?

The Whultz is the best sound I think, this comes very close.

The Hammond B3 sound sounds very fake. Clavia's attempt to create rotary sound is a huge failure, and the B3 percussive simulations is terrible. (i.e. the sound the B3 makes when playing it, it's a suble clicking sound --- if you don't know what that is, ask Jimmy Smith)

The Clavinet is OK, by it self it's not that great at all. But when you modify the sound, it's a really fat sound Clavinet.

I really bought this for the Rhodes sounds though, and it's not really that great. If you're looking for a good Wultz or Clavinet, this is probably your best choice.

It's good, sturdy construction. It did develop a rattle at one point, but nothing major.

Never had to deal with them.

If you're looking for a Rhodes, I'd go with Yamaha. If you're looking for a good B3 sound, this is NOT your keyboard. It's a terrible Hammond sound --- even Alan Pasqua, who uses Nord, does not use the keyboard for the Organ sound AT ALL.

I have a new NE 73, with the last OS version (3.04). All functions are easily accessible from the panel.
Editing is easy, and so saving patches.

Nice keyboard action, especially for organ, but it's also suitable for playn' piano sounds.
It's a Fatar TP 80 (with thre keys less it's 73 not 76 keys), a quality brand in keyboards!

Faithful and realistic sounds. The B3 (truly it's an A 100 emulation) emulation is fantastic.Overdrive at low level gives a warmer sound (but if you play it through a tube amp...), and the Lesie emulation is absolutely the best.Better than Hammond Suzuki's clonewheels!!
Wurly multisample is the most realistic: it really bites when you play very strong on lower notes, an so thne Rhodes.
Acustic pian isn' the best, I'm searching the best sound in the library..
It's ashame that it hasn'tabuilt in reverb unit!!

It's a dream becomin' real..all my favourites pianos and organ in a light, stilish Swedish keyboard!!!

Firmware 3.04.

This clonewheel really matches up to my demands. Being an owner / player / transporter (!) of an M100/122RV and Rhodes Mark II, this is a very, very, very good alternative to the real thing.

The organ section is simply amazing. It takes a little time to covert from the real drawbars to the buttons, but at least the up/down buttons are placed logically and I really found it easy to get used to.
The rotary speaker emulation is also very convincing. Since I have a 122RV it's very easy for me to compare - and I have nothing but warm words for it. It takes the top of the key-click, which is a little to aggresive in my opinion.

Editing and using of the presets i another gift and is very easy to use and makes the gigs much easier for me..

The manual is perfect and leaves no questions unanswered..

I haven't met any limitations in the use of the NE2. It repsodices every tone, I want it to - no matter what. Keeping the sustain pedal down and challenge the polyphony leaves me with a great smile. There will not be any limits for my playing style.

The build in effects does precisely as they are supposed to. Perfect.

Again - they thought about it in Sweden..

The keyboard action on the organ sounds is so close to the real thing, but in the piano section, I have to adjust the touchsensitive level, since - even though the sounds (Steinway ie) are great - it doesn't feel right as it is in the standard setup.
The Rhodes, Clavinet and Wurlitzer sounds and playing experience is the same - compared to my Mark II (which might need a bit of service to be ideal). Again small differences in keyboard action..
I have had great pleasure in downloading the piano sounds I need and it was easy and convincing to do it. Thank you Clavia.

I use it in blues, soul and folk-music bands and it really does the job. It's funny to be the first one to be packed after the gigs and carry it away in the gigbag. This is absolutely not common with the old setup of Hammond, Leslie and Rhodes hardware.. ;-)

I haven't met any reason not to rely on this keyboard. I treat it with the same care in transport as with my original setup and I have no need for backup - yet..

Customer support via the internet is absolutely OK. I haven't had any desire to talk to anyone, since the Clavia website is logical and very easy to use in upgrading OS and downloading new sounds.

The overall rating is that I will have a Nord Electro 2 at all times - since the software updates are easy to handle and the waterfall keyboard is very convincing compared to the Hammond. Still, the keyboard action is best for me in the organ section and it doesn't give the same convincing Rhodes feeling as the Hammond feeling I have playing it.

I bought the additional and needed 3 pedals: sustain, slow/fast and expression.
The sustain works as excepted.
The slow/fast is placed with velcro on the upper left next to the control section on the keyboard and it reminds me of the fact that I'm not playing the real thing (I have the half-moon swithes on my Hammond).
The expression-pedal really amazed me in being not just a volume-pedal, but it also includes the famous tube-overdrive, you have when you step on the swell-pedal on the real thing. This is very convincing.

Plug it in and play as soon as it is out of the box! You don???t need the manual ??? just mess around tweeking a few knobs until you hear the sound you???re after.

I've had the Nord Electro 2(73) six months now and I'm still as excited everytime I sit down to play it. The creativity just flows.

(I have OS 3.0)

The Nord Electro is uncomplicated, allowing you to really get to know the few sounds they offer and hone them to perfection.

The big kick in the teeth is no reverb, which is essential to making the acoustic piano they offer useful. Delay would have been nice too!

The rotary simulation is the best I've heard - the way it gathers momentum is absolutely stunning! The distortion, whilst not great it adds the neccesary grit. Tremolo /wah / autowah are good. The other phasers / flangers / choruses etc are ok. Use the "presence" control to add some more bark to the rhodes and wurly - nice!

The keyboard range is a bit mad. Starting at F instead of A or even C. Catches you out every so often.

I think the instrument simulations are the best around!! Even the acoustic piano (the new steinway close) can be brought up to scratch with the aid of some reverb and compression from TC Electronics. The reason I don't give a 10 here is because I don't like the velocity curves in the Electro. However, the compression sorts that problem out.

I love the keys action for the organ and clavinet. It's a little trickier for the pianos, but still feasible with practice.

I recommend getting a control pedal such as the Roland EV5 asap. It's essential in controlling the organ volume and wah effects.

Seems like a solid construction considering its weight!

It took 3 months of delays due to limited stock, (causing a restless honeymoon) but they are only a small company after all. You forgive them the second you open the box and with all those OS updates / new free sounds you???ve gotta love those people at Clavia! (New wife VS new keyboard ... it's been a tough one!)

I am in love with the Nord Electro! It is my prized possession in the whole world and I would be devastated if it was stolen. I would however seriously consider the Nord Stage, so I could jack in my Roland 300SX and Korg Triton Rack for an all-in-one music station.

The Roland organ fades into oblivion in comparison. Korg CX3 is a worthy competitor, particularly with it's "real" drawbars VS the "virtual" (led/button) drawbars on the Nord Electro. However, the Korg CX3 doesn't have the piano sounds and it is NOT RED!! I rest my case!

It's not cheap ... but it IS worth every penny.

"PRAISE THE NORD" has become my legendary catch phrase ... even managed some-how to get a mention in the wedding ceremony sermon!

Very simple to use, compared to other keyboards of this price. I like how the distortion and other effects are controlled by knobs rather than buttons.

Great keyboard action. The keys feel just like waterfall organ keys. You can download new crap online but I dont feel the need to.

Every instrument is extremely realistic. The organ and leslie are better than the xk-2 and even the xk-3 I think. Great rhodes, clav, and wurlis too. I just wish it would include the farfisa and vox sounds from the stage 88 model.

Dependable and lightweight, a perfect combination.

Never needed it.

If you like all the vintage keyboards (hammond, rhodes, wurlitzer, clavinet), and if you have the money, then buy this keyboard! All you could ever want in one package. Nothing else can compete.

Software V2.20
Good preset Sounds
Editing possibile on the fly
No need for manual:-)

Keyboard Aktion good for all Stiles!
Effects are amazing and easy to use

Best key i ever had have!
Usefull Sounds i ever heard!

2 Years only gigging with my Electro, i love this red Monster!
The Auditorium loves me:-)!

Clavia are a 20 People Company, but good Eys on the Custumers Place!
Upgrades are costless and very usefull.
Never a Problem with my NE 73/2

I`ll definitive never buy a Keyboard thats not red!
I own a Clavia Nord Electro 2-73, Nord Modular G2X,
will buy a Nord Stage when its availible and when i have the money
i buy the Nord Lead 3!

Clavia i love you for that good Stuff!
I`m gigging 30 Years and my wishes comes true!
Keyboards with Character!

My next Childs name is Clavia!

Operating System 2.2 or whatever the latest is. Very easy to use. The presets for all the instruments (clav, rhodes, wurli etc) are spread across the banks, not grouped together. I over-wrote all factory presets and arranged banks by instrument. This was simple. The keyboard action is perfect for organ and Clavinet but tricky for piano and electric piano. It is do-able though and if Joe Zawinul and Scott Kinsey can do it........??? I would read the manual, it is brief and good and can be downloaded as a pdf from www.clavia.se

no sequencer and doesn't need one. It is not multi-timbral and at its price it should be. The effect section is good but lacks reverb and delay which have to be provided by another
unit. The distortion is horid and digital but is better than nothing if used sparingly. For really good phazer and flanger use a boss or ibanez pedal. Midi functions are very limited, you can select broadcast channel and which chanel it recieves on for the lower manual of the organ, good for playing authentic jazz/gospel etc. No pitch bend or Modulation so no good as a synth controller. All parameters have dedicated knobs and buttons so no farting around with sub-menues on miniture LCD. The piano patches do lack enough polyphony for lots of sustained arpeggios and legato playing. I'll take the good with the bad

The yamaha electric grand is the best patch I've heard anywhere, very very warm, think Tania Maria, Hermeto Pascoal, Herbie Hancock, George Duke etc... The Clavinet is good and warm and as variable as the real thing but lacks the distinctive click of the hammer coming off the string. Thus it lacks a really funky sound (and what indeed is a clavinet for??). Wurlitzer EP is good and better than any of the Rhodes which lack definition in the higher octaves but are perfect for comping and sound good with chorus and/or pan. The acoustic piano lacks the polyphony to use as a real piano but then the lack of weighted keyboard has already done that for you, however I think it sounds very nice and warm and fine for pop/rock/reggae. The organ is probably what it does best, the Leslie sim is the best I've ever heard, better than Hammond XK-3, Korg CX3, Native-Instruments B4, Voce etc. It is not tweekable but has the right ramp up and down time between fast and slow. The sound of the draw-bars (draw-buttons) is very good, and percussion is good but not loud enough for me and again not editable. The key click is there but I would like it louder. The vibrato/chorus is good but not as good as others. overall a very nice organ indeed.

seems very reliable, has a nice power cable, no wallwart. Metal casing, very good. I would gig without backup.

I emailed them and got no reply, but then I did buy 2nd hand. The website is very good

Would maybe get Hammond XK-3 if stolen, but would then need a real leslie, so on second thoughts might get it again. I have been playing for 20 years and professionally for 10, I have owned real tonewheel Hammonds and Leslies, several Rhodes and a Wurlitzer. Other gear I use is a GEM Promega 3 (amazing) Yamaha p90 (good action) Viscount DB3 organ (as good as the organ on the Electro but has very bad leslie sim, but more key-click) lots of analogue and VA synths, G5 iMAC with Logic 7.1 and every plugin out (almost). I can say this: for ease of use and portability the Electro is heaven. For unbeatable Rhodes, Wurli and Clav I use the Scarbee Vintage Gold Bundle that includes amazing amp modelling and FX, I use these Live with the Promega. I think the eletro is a great all round hardware board for smaller gigs and rehearsals and as a great organ controller or part of a bigger rig.

It has a very straight-forward and intuitive interface. No one should have any problems figuring this thing out.

Every Electric Magnetic keyboard you could want with effects built into one keyboard. The keyboard action is a little on the light side I found it very easy to play.

This is the reason I felt compelled to write this review! I currently own a Hammond XK2 which I play through a Motion Sound Pro3T & Low Pro rotating speakers. I went to the Guitar Center to check out the new Hammond XK3 and this Nord Electro II-73 was on the stand above it. After playing around with them both for about an hour I was really impressed with the sounds and versatility not to mention the size and weight of the Electro. The Organ sounds were all there plus some of the best Rhodes, Wurly and Clav sounds I have heard. I still have not made up my mind yet but now I am leaning toward replacing my XK2 with the Nord Electro II. The rotory speaker effect sounded good as well.

I will more than likely buy this keyboard within the next 6 months. I do not know yet if I will get rid of my XK2 and Motion Sound rig but it is possible that I will.

The Nord is extremely easy to use - very well designed.

Keyboard action was very nice for Clav, EP, and Organ, but horrible for Piano. Perhaps Nord shouldn't have ventured into the piano simultation arena for this one...

I've never felt compelled to write a review of an instrument before, but today I bought a Nord Electro 2 73 and took it home without even trying it since the reviews were so incredibly positive. I played it in parallel with my new Korg CX-3 (drawbar setting for drawbar setting) and I realized I made a huge mistake buying this instrument. After 2 hours of trying to make it sound good, I returned it to the dealer. I was desperately trying to make it sound good because I loved the idea of selling my new Korg CX-3 and Yamaha 88 key piano to being able to carry this extremely light-weight Nord under one arm to gigs/rehearsals. The acoustic pianos are unusable primarily due to the keyboard action/response/decay, the electric pianos are very good, and the B-3 simulation sounds like a million African bees in my ears (not good compared to my CX-3). I hate to say it, but it was a waste of a few precious hours of my day. I'm thankful that the dealer took it back without any questions.

Only had it for 2 hours, but I wouldn't doubt that it is incredibly reliable.

If you read the rest of my review, it is obvious that I would never buy another Electro 2.