Clavia Nord Electro 73

If you've played a B-3, this keyboard is "unpack and play". I bought it in the morning, never having seen or played the Nord Electro before, and gigged with it that night. It took all one wailing palm smear up the keyboard to convince me. All of the B-3 (actually A-100) features are present, just in a slightly different form and location on the keyboard. Other features are relatively easy (you need to read the manual) but I'd have to say editing and saving presets is a snap.

For a B-3 player, the keyboard action is outstanding. The waterfall keys are appropriately sized and weighted for B-3. Piano action is severely compromised as a result, but still acceptable. Keys have a substantial feel to them. Only negative on the features is that it would be nice to have pedal control of leslie on/off rather than just rotor speed.

B-3. B-3. B-3. This is far and away the best B3 emulator I've ever played or heard. Vibrato and Percussion operate and sound authentic. The Leslie sounds best with stereo output. Overdrive needs improvement. I use a Presonus two-channel instead of the built-in overdrive for necessary wailing. Electronic piano sounds are outrageous, particularly the updates with v 2.0. The Rhodes and Clavi in particular are accurate and it is obvious that Clavia spent a considerable time on the various setting options for a Rhodes. The Accoustic piano sounds just don't cut it, however, and I prefer to use another keyboard or midi-controller for accoustic piano sounds. I suspect this has something to do with the keyboard action and the bottom line works for me.

I had one key crap out after six months but it was an easy fix. Other than than that, it's had a lot of play and has held up well. I strongly recommend an ATA flight case for gigging and travel.

The factory repair on the dead key was lightening quick. I was without the keyboard for about three weeks.

I would definitely buy another one and I have considered buying the rack version which is functionally the same and which I could use with a weighted action keyboard. I regret that Clavia has not distributed more piano sounds for download and I hope they deliver in the future. Bottom Line: An exceptionally well thought out, well-designed, well-executed B-3 emulator that is highly recommended for recording or gigging. And ditto for the Rhodes and Clavia sounds.

It's the easiest of all the clones to use, because it probably has the fewest features. For instance, only 48 programs, etc etc.

The virtual drawbars initially don't feel so easy to use, but with time you appreciate their advantages - ie they instantly reflect the settings for the program you have chosen, which the competitors don't.

Compared to general purposes synths (Triton etc, which I own) it has very limited functionality. But then you knew this already.

Compared to the clones, it has a lot of functionality - other sounds, rhodes, wurli, clav, and crappy piano. It doesn't have reverb, which most do, which I don't miss (I go through PA and therefore have reverb available) but a lot of people do

B3 sound is tremendous. The best out there that I have heard, and I spent a lot of time comparing. The C3 chorus is spot on, and the dry sound of the organ is better than the competitors. The Leslie is good, but perhaps not as good as the Korg CX-3. I think that the Electro has the best pure B3 sound, while the CX3 has the over-the-to
hammond sound that people like to use on commercials these days. I would pick the Electro for playing Jimmy Smith, but maybe the CX3 for swirls behind a rock band.

The Rhodes is great. The best. The Clav is absolutely out of this world. It is better than the Rhodes or the B3. It is spot on and as playable as the real thing (and I have a real B3, Rhodes Mk1, and Hohner Clav E7 to compare against). Innervisions, anyone?


The Wurli is also great.

The acoustic piano is hopeless. Like really, really, unplayably bad. I have to carry around another module just to make up for this. The action of the keyboard I find OK for piano, in spite of the fact that it is obviously optimized for B3 (not as much as the Roland or the Korg).

BTW, the Roland double-triggers notes when you play fast. Try doing a Jimmy Smith style shotgun or really fast funky bouncy playing and the triggering goes to pieces. I think that is is because they made the keyboard so incredibly light, which feels great for Hammond until is screws up.

I have had it for two years and played maybe 50 gigs using only this keyboard without a backup. I do not take care of my stuff and treat it rough. I have had no problems at all. The build quality is way better than most stuff made today.

I emailed them once and they answered.

They did give a free full upgrade to ver 2 for version 1 owners, and I appreciate that, especially as we got the clav that I raved about above.

I've had a lot of good use for this keyboard, and have had greate value from it.

I would compare the new Hammond to it if I had to take another look. It wasn't available when I bought the Nord. I don't know how great it sounds, but it looks like a single manual my cherry wood '65 B3 that I'm looking at while typing this.

The only thing that I regret about the purchase is that it doesn't have a flat top to rest another keyboard on, like the other clones, which makes stands a bit more elaborate, and prevents you getting the manuals together as close as I would like.

Otherwise, I love this board.

Easiest interface I've ever used. It's all right there, in front of you. No LED screens. No "drilling down" into endless menus.

Midi in out, even though I'll never use it. Effects include Phaser, Flanger, Wah, etc. All cool to use with the EPs. Leslie sim is top notch, and the overdrive is pretty cool too/.

Almost perfect. I use NI B-4, and this thing is darn close if not better for a B-3 emulation. Palm smears ?!?!? Turn up the overdrive, put the leslie on fast and instant Jon Lord ! Wurli, Rhodes and Claivnet are all top notch. It's fun putting them through different effects. Piano is only drawbck, but it's not THAT bad....

Only had it two days, but it seems to be built like a tank

Haven't had to contact them

This thing is THE BEST live gigging keyboard I've ever played. My band hadn't rehearsed in 6 months, and we got together for a backyard birthdat party. I literally took it out of the box new, plugged it in, and jammed for 4 hours. We brought the house down ! Intuitive, cut's through the mix....Oh, and those palm smears !! I'll own it until someone pries it out of my cold, dead hands. Gave this a 9 because it is, IMO, a little pricey.

And, yes, I'd replace it.

the electro has one of the easiest-to-use interfaces, if not THE easiest, that i've seen.

the manual is pretty descriptive and also available online.

the polyphony is great. the effects are pretty basic, but decent. i don't really have a use for them (not many people do), so i don't have much to say about them. the software can be upgraded, mine has the newest software update.

you can update the sounds, using samples from clavia's website, but the keyboard only has a limited amount of memory. if you want to put in a really, really good new sound, you may have to delete two existing sounds on the keyboard.

mac users: good luck updating the software with osx. i got so frustrated with it that i dusted off my pc and updated the software in about five minutes.

the rhodes and wurli sounds are amazing, the organ sounds could be better. seeing as i don't play stevie wonder settings, i really don't care about the clavichord sounds. the piano sound is a joke, it sounds like a $100 casio keyboard piano sound. that's really all it has in it. the piano sound was a real let down, but that's not why you're buying this keyboard anyway, so it shouldn't matter that much.

it's extremely well built and extremely light (compared to lugging around a rhodes and a b3). with a road case, it's still lighter than my combo amp.

i tried to contact clavia before i purchased the keyboard asking if there was an electro 3 being released, seeing as it's been about 2-3 years since this one came out and, before that, the electro 1 was out for about 2-3 years. i figured it was time for a new model, and since this one is now discontinued i figured it was coming out soon. i got no response from them. i emailed them again and waited a month. nothing. so, have fun trying to get anything out of them.

here's the real reason i'm writing this review: THIS KEYBOARD IS MONO-TIMBRAL. this means, if you are playing an organ sound, holding it with your right hand and with your left you hit the 'a1' button and change to a rhodes, the organ sound does NOT sustain. the second you change voices, the previous voice stops sounding.

for a keyboard that costs $1700 new, that's absolute crap. granted, not too many people are changing back and forth constantly, but the reason i purchased this keyboard was because i wanted an organ and a rhodes and i figured, 'hey, why not get them all in one keyboard?' if i had enough money, i would get an organ (both the korg cx-3 and roland vk-7 are light years ahead of this keyboard in terms of realism) and use this as a rhodes, because it's about 100 lbs lighter. but i don't, so i'm selling it.

it really says something when you can buy an actual used rhodes and an organ clone for the price of this one keyboard. it's convenient to have them in one light-weight package, but at the same time, it's impractical to use in a live setting because not every song is going to have rhodes 100% of the time and not every song is going to have organ 100% of the time.

only buy this if you have money to burn or if you are a studio musician with a car too small to bring a hammond and a rhodes to a session. using this keyboard live is a dissapointment.

It's a nord!

No reverb? I own a NL2 and the lack of fx on a modeling based instrument seems a shame to me. I don't know if the dsp can't handel it or what, but i get sick of hooking up fx or pedals to a keyboard that should'nt need it.

It does'nt cut it for me. It has the same "square" sort of fattness that I both love and hate with the NL 2. I hate to say it, but the organ sounds similar to the NL2 organ sounds if you bypass the leslie
sim. It could be the D/A conveters but it still has a nord lead sound and a virtual organ/electric piano should not sound like a nord at all! same goes for the pianos. FX are pretty good but I down right hated the sound without FX. The wurlie sounded like a square wave patch off the NL 2.

never - ever had a problem with a clavia product.

armadillo ( distributor ) does a great job with support.

I like clavia products but would not buy one for its intended purpose.
The cx-3 is the best I have heard for hammond but bought a vr-760 v combo for the fact I could gig with this keyboard by itself. The leslie sim in the vr-760 has all the parameters to make some pretty good patches, still wish it sounded as good as the cx-3.
good luck finding any of these at your local guitar center, every store i checked did'nt have a single hammond emulator, but did have about 20 bad digital pianos "with some organ sounds" Ha.

Plug in and play. Unless you want to use the B3, then you need to read the manual to get the most of its features. If you want to save settings and other stuff, read the manual. Otherwise, it's easy to use.

Organ action. Great feel for piano, too because it saves wear and tear on my hands. I've been playing for over ten years and the bones in my hands finally needed a break from weighted keys. Sometimes during gigs I really hit those keys for piano expressions. When I rock, I rock hard. When playing the B3, the keys have a perfect feel.

I don't use midi. I just wanted a keyboard that has all the sounds I'll need and the Nord has them.

My fingers love playing this keyboard.

Nothing sounds as good as a real Hammond B3. But the Nordelecto has THE BEST B3 sound of all the synths. I've tested them all and Nord is it! The best B3 sound under 40 pounds. I'm too old to be lugging around a 500 pound organ.

I bought the Nord because it had B3 and piano on one keyboard. Very convenient. Extra surpises are the Rhodes, Wurlitzer and Clav sounds. Top notch. The Wurlizter and Rhodes sounds are the best I've heard for such a small package.

The only disappointment is the piano sound. The bottom and top ranges are freat for rock but the mid range sounds weak to my ear. I'm using the effect groups to modulate the midrange for the piano. One day the industry will make a piano sound that actually sounds like a piano. But maybe nothing will ever sound like an acoustical piano except an acoustical piano.

The actions of the keys are great as far as I'm concerned. And I don't have to tear up my fingers on weighted keys when I'm doing 3 long sets in one night.

One more thing about the B3. When I need to compete against the guitars or I want to get a Wow from the crowd, I let the B3 wail. The B3 on the Nord is a power house when used right. I just love the B3 sound.

The first Nord electo that I bought crapped out on me two months after I bought it. Since it was still under warranty I sent it to Florida for repair. It took them about 3 weeks but the put a whole new inside for me. According the the tech, the Nord that I had bought had a board whose failure rate was high. According to the tech, Nord has fixed the problem at the factory and the high failure rate has been brought down. I've been using my Nord for about a year since the new board was replaced and no problems. I do not have a back up. I'm confident that the Nord won't let me down. If it does, I'll post it on the internet somewhere.

As I said above, I had to use customer support. The dealer who had sold it ot me and the tech who fixed it did a good job of getting it back to me, considering they had to order a new board for me from over seas.

If it got lost or stolen, I'd get another one.

I love this keyboard because I can carry it in one hand (using the wonderful carrying case with soft handle. Now I can go to a gig and not have to carry anything heavier than what the guitar player carries. For such a small size and light weight this keyboard delivers a Big sound in its B3, Wurlitzer and Rhodes. I know I've said that I'm not satisfied with the midrange of the "grand piano" but I've asked non-musicians and they think the Nord "grand piano" sounds like a "real piano." So, maybe I should quit ragging on that one piano sound and give the Nord an overall +10. I think I will.

The electro is very easy to use.It's a keyboard for people who want rhodes and organ sounds in one keyboard with good waterfall keys.

Keyboard action is not bad, but less sensitive than a real rhodes.
Only good for organ.

I am sorry to say this but this instrument is far too expensive .
The organ is quite good as is the leslie, but the distortion is really bad, forget it!
I use a voce V 5 with a Reussenzehn tube preamp and a CLS Dynacord Leslie Sim: THIS IS IT, much better than the Electro, sorry!
Okay: the V 5 is also expensive and you need an external tube and a good leslie SIM, but hear the difference!!!

I think it's okay.

Surely o.k.

I would not buy a Nord Electro.It surely has some pro's (all sounds in one keyboard) but if you are out for a real good organ sound: Forget it.
I just built some Rhodes sounds on the Yamaha S 30 and they do sound better.No joking!

I own a NE2 73 (that means OS 2.0 and included sounds)
There are 8 programs in every of the 6 banks (=48) and they are are completely filled with presets. some of the presets show effect combinations you would never even have thought of, so you can learn from them.
editing of the sounds is really simple, especially the virtual drawbars. when you load a preset, the "led-bars" show the current state, so you always see what you hear.
all the editing is done with a dedicated button or knob for every function.
storing a program is done by simply pressing two buttons.
the manual (in my cas 73 keys) feels good when you once are used to it

polyphony for organ sounds is 100% (even if you add a master keyboard for a second manual). i don't know what it is for piano, but i think its enough. as the NE2 is mono-timbral, you don't need that much polyphony at all.

the keyboard action is somewhere between organ and piano feel and that's exactly what we need here.

the effect section is as good as the sound themselves. there are 4 effect-groups:
1) Modulation - Pan, Tremolo, Wah-Wah, 2x Auto-Wah and RingMod
2) Effects - 2x Flanger, 2x Chorus, 2x Phaser
both sections are controlled by a rate and an amount knob and an on/off switch:
3) Overdrive
controlled by an amount knob:
4) Rotary Speaker
Fast/Slow knob, Stop knob, on/off knob:

the NE2 can't be expanded, but you can change the piano sounds via USB with the free software. additional piano sounds are available on clavia's homepage and the CD included in the package

the NE2 has MIDI-In and Out but unfortunately no Thru. the keyboard of course is velocity-sensitive, but there are no more masterkeyboard-functions.
on the other hand, all the electro's parameters are controllable via MIDI exept for the master-volume

i unfortunately never had he chance to play a real B3 / rhodes / wurly / clavi, so i can't really say how realistic they are
i can only compare with the (many) recordings i listen to almost every day

i think the organ sounds really great, especially in combination with the leslie-emulation. without that, it sounds a bit flat.
the e-pianos also sound great and i like the "rhodes 2" sound very much, but all others are good, too
together with the effects, they sound even better (e.g. rhodes + pan, clavi + wah, etc.)
i especially like the sound of the lower keys, 'cause it's really fat. the high notes sometimes sound a bit short, but this may be the same with the real things
the only thing i don't 100%ly like is the acoustic piano sound
maybe this is because i can't use the presence and EQ knobs right, but in the standart-preset it sounds a bit too thick. maybe the additional sounds are better (i didn't have the opportunity to check them out yet)

i think the electro is mostly suitable for musicians who play things like rock, blues or jazz, because this is the kind of music where you could use a B3 or rhodes sound

the onboard effects are a perfect addition to the great sounds
with the usual combinations (b3 + leslie + overdrive, rhodes + pan, etc.) you get the common sounds.
but you should also try some strange combinations because they create sounds you don't hear very often (very useful for solos etc.)

the pianos are velocity-sensitive of course and after a short period of practise you can play with the right feel.
clavia says that a new OS will be released soon, including the ability to edit the velocity curves.
the organ sound does not react to velocity and the keyboard doesn't support aftertouch either. (but what would you need it for anyway?)

i don't own it that long yet so i actually don't know.
i can only say that i had no problems so far

didn't need support so far

if it was stolen, i would DEFINATLY get a new one although it's kind of expensive for the number of sounds it has.
but these sounds are really great. in combination with the effects, you don't really hear the difference between the electro and the real thing. of course there IS a difference, but when you think of the trouble the real things make (weight, tuning, hard to repair) you can disregard that

i think, this keyboard can be half of the gear of a good rock keyboardist, especially for live players.
the other half would be a good synthesizer. convinced of the great work clavia has done on the nord electro, i'd try a nord lead 3 for that

B3, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Clavinet, CP80 and a Grand Piano in a box
what do you want more?

It's as easy as pie

Many great features and effects but no onboard reverb-vital for my Hammond. I use an ART reverb to supplement but a reverb instead of the ring modulation effect would've made major sense.
Easy to use and upgradable, but I haven't bothered to try. I'm having too much fun playing it.
It's light as a feather, too.

It does all it's press claims and more. Effects are great.

No problems yet. Only had it a month. I do not use a backup.

I emailed and asked what sort of amp they reccomend and got a prompt but vague response.

I'm putting my Hammond XK-2 on Ebay. This is my new axe. More keys, more sounds, less weight. Nad I don't need the NanoPiano for my non Hammond tones anymore. Just what I needed. 1/2 the weight of the Hammond which is also a great unit.
I'd replace it if stolen. FOr the music I play tradtion sounds-Hammond-Piano-Electric Piano are the tones I need and this is perfect for me.

It doesn't get much easier...45 minutes of experimenting yields all that the manual tells you. The presets are easy to find and modify. I have the Electro 2 73 key model.

I don't know exactly what the polyphony is, but it is unnoticable, therefore adequate. The action is awesome for the organ, and more than adequate for the pianos (keep in mind that I am used to the PA-4 action on my XV-88 Roland). Expansion sounds are free and available on the Clavia website. Within the scope of what this instrument was designed, I consider it to be extremely flexible.

With the exception of the acoustic piano sounds, this thing really cooks. Onboard effects really are tailored to the onboard instruments,and they work like a charm. No aftertouch here (why would you need for a vintage simulator, but the velocity works quite well after you get used to the action.

I haven't had it long enough, but if my Nord Lead 3 is any indication, it should be extremely dependable. I would definitely gig on it without a backup piece.

Here again, from my Nord Lead 3 experience, Clavia and Armadillo (the American distributer) are both very friendly and helpful.

I would definitely replace this monster board if it were lost/stolen. Here again, keeping in mind what Clavia was trying to achieve, I think that they achieved another tremendous success. A minor gripe: the acoustic piano could be improved (I'm sure that Clavia is working on a free piano software upgrade as we speak).