Clavia Nord Electro 73

I just demo'd this keyboard about 30 minutes ago for an hour and a-b it w/ a korg CX-3. I'm sorry to say that although i had intentions of buying it when i walked in, i left empty handed. this keyboard is very easy to use. no manual necessary; w/in 15 minutes i had everything but the midi-implementation figured. figured out the 64 clav "samples" in about 2 minutes. a kid could figure out how to use it

demo'd the version 2 software. keyboard feel is just right. it's somewhere between a piano and an organ feel, which is needed since the only sounds on this keyboard are hammond and electric pianos. the key length though was a problem. the keys are rather short, and found myself having problems playing piano style w/ the shorter keys. the feel is good, but the keys are too short. no reverb, which the acoustic piano desperately needed. clavia has been constantly upgrading the keyboard's sounds. can't beat that.

unlike most people who reviewed this, after playing it (and a korg cx3) for about an hour, i grew tired of the keyboard's sounds. acoustic piano sample is from the 80's; sorry, it's not that good. i know they continue to attempt to upgrade it, but the upper register is especially bad, little sustain and no reverb. i tried to use the "presence" knob to inject more life into the acoustic piano, but it didnt help much. rhodes are very good, but not great. clav w/ the pickup variations is good; wurly was unimpressive; i.e. i wouldn't use it that much based on how it sounded. The item i really was interested in was the hammond, which is why i did an a-b w/ the korg cx3. had the store move them side by side w/ identical settings and amplification, etc. went back and forth between the two. bottom line, korg CX-3 sounded more authentic. The Korg's leslie simulation sounds very close to a real leslie. the electro's leslie simulation sounded a little phony, almost like it was an LFO rather than a leslie simulation. hard to explain, but it just didnt sound as genuine as the cx3. the korg's hammond "tone" is dead nuts on; the electros had a grit to it that didn't sound natural to me. i tried full out 888888888, i tried 888800000, i tried 808000008, and all settings in between; bottom line the korg sounded like a hammond w/ a leslie, the electro sounded sort of like it but not nearly as close as the korg. i stop playing for a while and would go back, but my opinion didn't change. the distortion on the electro when turned up was a complete washout, totally unreal. the korg's distortion sounded more like true distortion. also, a previous review indicated that the waterfall keys aloud a better glissando than the korg's non-waterfall keys. i actually found no difference between the two keyboards in these terms.
As i indicated, i was rather disappointed. i went in thinking that i was going to walk out of the store w/ the 73 key electro, but walked out empty handed. the board sounds good, don't misunderstand me, but not as good as i had read through reviews. it's not the best hammond simulator out there and for sure its not the best leslie simulator. if you're looking for a hammond/leslie combination, the cx3 is the cat's ass. the cx3 has the vibrato/chorus nailed.

The keyboard is expensive for what it does, a handful of electric pianos and hammond. needs to be priced $400-500 cheaper to be a real value.

korg's leslie: can adjust slow speed, fast speed, ramp/ramp down speed and can have 122 and 147 leslie simulation. electro cannot be adjusted (at least as far as i could tell; no apparent adjustments noted.) also, if you turn the leslie off, it didn't sound like a hammond at all and had the loudest click i've ever heard. when you turned the leslie off on the korg, it sounded like a hammond played through a pr40 tone cabinet.

also, one other comment. i've read reviews where someone indicated that to get the rhodes to dig in, you have to slam the keyboard unnaturally. well, if you ever owned a rhodes you'd know that to get a rhodes to dig in, you DID have to slam the keys. the electro's keyboard response on the rhodes is correct. if you actually owned one, you'd know what i was talking about.

on board effects are limited.

the electro locked up on me twice in the store over the course of an hour. also, the leslie ramped up even when it was in slow mode, couldn't get it out of fast mode other than switching to piano then back to organ. this happened about 4 times. The f key below middle C was sticking in the store. very annoying.

rather disappointed vs. the hype. the keyboard sounds good, but not great. i've heard better rhodes (yamaha), better hammond (korg) and better wurlies (many simulations). the clav is pretty good, haven't heard a keyboard simulator w/ the # of variations that the electro has.

Using version 2. This keyboard is extremely easy to use; it's the perfect keyboard for live gigging. No menus to wade through. The knobs and buttons control the sounds, effects, and EQ easily and intuitively. The USB interface is bulletproof. Thanks to Clavia for making OS and sound updates free via the Internet

I like the keyboard action. It's an excellent compromise between having a semi-weighted action which is needed for electric pianos while allowing you to play the organ patches convincingly. The "waterfall" keys avoid tearing up your hands the way other keyboards (like the CX3) might. The effects are useable and sound great; the Leslie sim is best I've heard, and I've tried most of them. This is the only Leslie sim that I would consider using other than a pro-3T. The chorus, flanger and tremolo are perfect--the make the Rhodes and Wurlys shine. The auto-wah makes the Clav very funky--so much better than the sterile Clav patches I've heard on other keyboards. No problem with polyphony--it's full as best as I can tell. MIDI is basic, but I don't miss it, because this keyboard really is meant for live gigging; it's not a controller. I suppose that having velocity sensitivity control might be a useful addition, even though I think that it's calibrated well for my style of playing. The action and reponse is very close to my Rhodes; I disagree with the reviewer who says that it's only very loud or soft. I guess it depends on your playing style.

This is what you buy this keyboard for--the sounds. It's relatively expensive, but it emulates the classic keyboards awesomely. The Hammond sounds are the best I've heard in a clone; I own the real thing, so I should know. I've played on just about every Hammond clone there is (and I currently own an OB3-squared and a Voce V5), and this is by far the best when you also consider playability. The Korg CX3 comes close, but I like this better. The electronic drawbars were easy to get used to; I made a few presets of my favorite registrations and they call up instantly. The Rhodes sounds are also better than anything I've heard out there; they come closest to my Mark III than anything else. The Wurly and Clav are also excellent, although I don't tend to use them much in my playing style. I'm especially impressed with how "organic" the Clav sounds, compared to the sample-playback keyboard patches out there. The acoustic pianos are fine; I never played on the original version in OS 1; Clavia has definitely paid attention to user feedback, because their currently available acoustic piano patches work very well. The CP80 patch makes for a great rock piano sound. I use a Kurzweil SP88 as my piano keyboard for most gigs, with the Electro on top, but this keyboard could easily serve as the only keyboard you'd need for bread-and-butter sounds, including the acoustic piano.

It's built like a tank--steel body, cool wood blocks on the ends. Looks like it will hold up well. The knobs are well-constructed and work smoothly. The keys are lightweight but don't feel cheap.

Haven't had to deal with Clavia at all. Their internet site is easy to navigate, and I downloaded new sounds via their USB software tool easily; it was a breeze to use, compared to other companies which require you to use a sequencer/sysex dump to upgrade OS or sound patches.

This keyboard comes closest to what I've wanted for many years--an all-in-one, portable, playable keyboard which has the best vintage electric piano and Hammond organ sounds, for live performances. The acoustic piano sounds are good enough to make this your only keyboard. Add a synthesizer and you'd have a truly complete setup. I would replace this in a week if it were lost or stolen. It's a bit expensive, but the sounds are top quality, and it's built well.

I am using OS 2 downloaded with the acoustic piano 4 ,The presets are interesting but are begging to be modified ,by you!Editing patches are a breeze as well as transposing.I would like to hear a slight reverb on the piano samples as well as the ability to play with the octave as you can do this only in Organs. the manual is well written and the internet site has all the info you require

Velocity on the piano side is less than desirable,but it doesn't make a difference with the organ,frankly there are better piano samples and keyboards out there and if you're gigging you need at least two keyboards.The Hammond sounds are why I bought it ,I use a Roland for my piano sounds.
Clavia appears to be very supportive of this offering and will probably upgrade the piano samples,I believe a reverb dial would have been helpful,but every body who plays this thing has a wishlist.
The machine is Midi capable but velocity is an issue.Want a synth?buy a synth.This is a hammond emulator of the first degree.

see above

very reliable and sturdy,not only that it's pretty to look at too!

very helpful and professional

I love the expressiveness of the hammond sounds,plus if you want to load up for bear and use a pre amp and a Leslie you can.
I compared the sounds available with the Korg cx-3 and the Hammond xb 2 ,this was clearly the better and more flexible instrument .The electric pianos were a bonus .
I am flying with this instrument,with the Roland on top and this on the bottom,I can create any sound I want easily and quickly.
I am invincible!If I lost it or it was stolen I'd have another one in a week.

First off, I've had the Electro for about a month and gigged with it twice (the last two nights). So I am still in the late honeymoon period. BUT, I am pretty sure that my overall impression won't change much...

In terms of ease of use, the Electro is designed as a stage keyboard and all the parameters are up front where you need them. Couldn't be much easier, except for the lack of patch naming, etc inherent in a simple 2-digit LED (but you don't need a lot of patches with this beast, because it's so easy to tweak in real time). Would be nice to have more of the controls closer to the left side of the keyboard, particularly the drawbars and leslie speed control.

It is the best semi-weighted keyboard I have ever played-- smooth and with just enough resistance so your hands aren't aching at the end of the night. Particularly wonderful for the Hammond B3, but more than adequate for the electric pianos.

MIDI implementation is very basic, and is one of my only -- very minor-- gripes about the Electro. It's part of the retro vibe of this instrument, but it would be nice to be able to split the keyboard or access a second patch from an external MIDI keyboard. No aftertouch, pitchbend, mod wheel -- OK. But some global tweakability of velocity response and leslie ramp up/down speeds would be a plus (maybe via a software editor?). Also, it seems strange to me that, although you can transpose the keyboard +/-6 semitones, the MIDI out port transmits the original note number. Kind of a drag if you want to use the Electro to drive an external module.

This is why you pay the price for this instrument. And here's the key-- these sounds are not designed to sell keyboards in the shop, dripping with reverb and pseudo-stereo thickening. They are designed to sound magnificent played live through an amp and/or PA. And they do.

My favorites, based on the last two nights of gigging through a Barbetta 32c:

1. the B3. Slow Leslie, a bit of overdrive. Really, these organs are worth the price of admission alone.
2. the CP-80 Electric Grand with a bit of overdrive and some tweaking of the EQ -- played live was a great rock piano. Surprised me becasue initially I wasn't that impressed with the sound. This thing is, when you dig in on this keyboard, you start to see why the velocity curves are fixed the way they are-- gives you great dynamic control on stage.
3. Rhodes3: Stage 73 Mark II.
4. The Clav -- particularly with the velocity-sensitive AutoWah(3). You have to try this to believe it-- it is soooo funky.

Again, the velocity response can seem hard in the store (I think there have been some comments on that). But, play it on stage with a bit of energy and it feels just right.

Feels very solid. And yes, use it without a backup -- total rig weight around 50 lbs. But have not had it long so cannot say anything about long term.

I sent one email carping about the MIDI transpose and they responded the same day. Our drummer uses Clavia DDrums, and when he needed a spare part they shipped it the same day to Cairo Egypt, no charge. My impression is that they take care of their customers.

This is a wonderful instrument for a gigging musician to cut loose on. It is incredibly fun to play. I would probably not bought it based on a music store audition via headphones or otherwise, but it just comes alive through an amp on stage.

Using OS 2.0, it has worked perfectly. Some presets are really good, but you'll always find yourself tweaking before you know it... Clavia says so in the manual too. But they've made some good suggestions about how it can sound.

Full polyphony on OS 2.0, do you need more? The FX are as good as they are supposed to be, except maybe for the Flanger/Phaser. It would have been nice if you'd been able to play the rhodes sound on another keybord, whilst still playing the organ on the NE. At least bitimbrality in every mode would raise it even more. I've never played on a better semi-weighted keyboard.

Well, what can I say? Marvellous. Except for the acoustic piano, which is'nt even on this scale. Perhaps -10 would be the appropriate grade for it. But, it's only a bonus sound as Clavia says, and I didn't by the Nord Electro for the acoustic piano. But who knows? Maybe there will be an upgrade soon, and you'll be able to use the Nord Electro as the "ultimate stage keyboard". I wouldn't be suprised...

No problems what so ever.

Free lifetime upgrades, free OS upgrades... I don't say more.

This is the instrument i've been looking for all my life. It's a real backsaver with it's lightweight 10 kg. There are no mechanical "breakable" parts who you can't get because the instrument isn't made any more, which was the problem with my Rhodes and Wurlitzer. The free upgrades makes me look happily into the future, who knows what Clavia has on their mind...

*Note I will compare to Kurzweil PC2 and Yamaha Motif 6 which I owned.

Very easy and intuitive to use. One of the few keyboards that has preset changes on the left side of the keyboard. Manual is great.

THe keyboard action is great and gives you a quicker response than Kurzweil PC2 or Yamaha Motif 6. I missed having a reverb which the piano really needed as it had no sustain.

I hear most of the complaints I will make are addressed by the Nord Electro 2. Overall the sounds were not as good as the Yamaha Motif 6 largely because the piano was barely usable (A sound man told me it was one of the worst he ever heard) and it needed some sustain. The organ on the Nord was great, and was much better than the Motif, but he Rhodes were not as good as the Motif by a long shot. THe Pc2 didn't have a rhodes sound, but a decent wurly sound.
The Nord clav sound was so trebely if I wanted some pop in it that it hurt my ears- I tried but never programmed it well for live performance. The PC2 has good clavs, and so does the motif.

Very reliable and solid feeling. Everything felt very tight inside- like nothing would move around inside if you dropped it.

I never had to use it, but I heard it was good.

I would only get a Version 2, which is what I want now. The biggest selling point for me was that it had a great semi weighted action at less than 20 pounds. The PC2 weighs about 40 pounds and has a slow response action. The Motif action was just flat, no bounce adn the keys felt cheap- but what an amazing rhodes sound it had.

I have an Elctro 73 version 2.0. The presets are good samples of Hammond B3, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Clavinet, Yamaha CP30 and a tinny acoustic piano. Especially the organ sounds great. The editing is in real time with panel knobs.

The action is not very good. It feels like a low end synthesizer action, not very fast or responsive. The effects sounds fine but there is no reverb effect even though they included a bad acoustic piano sample.

The organ is very good, it is beleivable sounding. The two Rhodes sound quite good too, but like some people said below the touch response range of the Rhodes is uneven, meaning it drops suddenly from loud to soft with little in between. You do need to play fairly hard with the Electro Rhodes synth action. A synth action is more accomidating for a lighter touch and can become painful if you have to pound on it constantly because there is no support or cushion at he keybed. It's like running long distances wearing thin soled slippers instead of supportive cushioned shoes.
So I give a 10 for sounds but a 3 for expressive control over the sounds.

I have used my Nord on gigs, no problmes so far.

I have not had any customer support issues.

This review concerns my Nord Electro 73 OS2 which I bought secondhand two weeks ago.

Ease of use is excellent. The interface is fantastic and well designed with a knob or button for every major function. Manual is great, especially the Electro 2 manual which has a colour section with very detailed and interesting info on the original instruments.

Start with keyboard action. I agree to some extent with the comments of the guy below (who I believe has only tried the board in the shop I believe) although it's not as bad as he claims.

The keyboard does require some getting used to. The keys are pretty short but I really like the semi-weighted feel which is an ideal compromise for the organs and pianos. They do feel a bit cheap though and have a lot of side to side wobble. It's also a noisy action but you won't hear the clunks when playing live.

Otherwise this board has all the features you could possibly need. I thought the lack of reverb would be a problem but this is not the case. I tried it through a reverb unit and preferred the sound dry actually, especially when playing live.

Ok I don't like the sound of through headphones or monitors. It sounds lifeless, sterile, plastic, artificial to me. It sounds ok, but not inspiring. Perhaps a real Rhodes or Hammond would also sound like this through headphones too (if this is possible). The amplification and loudspeakers are a huge part of "the sound"!

However I am totally thrilled and stoked when I plug this thing through a PA or keyboard amp. The pianos sound just like the real deal and are wonderful to play. During rehearsals I am always tinkling away on the Rhodes, Wurli or Clav between songs and the guys in the band love it. Especially the clav through the autowah which always gets them grinning. Nothing, nothing else comes close.

The Grand piano sound which is much criticized is passable in a live context. I find it is improved by using a bit of distortion (more bite) and a lot of sustain pedal use.

Organ is ok. Actually I haven't found good settings yet for cutting through when comping and screaming when soloing. It sounds a bit muddy in the middle registers and weak at the top. Actually I prefer playing the organ without the leslie simulator, but then again I listen to a lot of Brian Auger and he does the same. I'm not keen on vibrato/chorus either no matter how realistic it is. Sounds cheesy to me :)

The organ distortion is amazing. Again it doesn't sound special through headphones in the shop but the overdriven organ through the PA sounds astonishingly good!!

Velocity sensitivity is ok, although sometimes when playing soft chords or arpeggios one note will stand out loudly above the rest. I agree that sometimes it is a bit all or nothing with nothing much in between which is completely unlike a real Rhodes or piano.

The rumour is that Clavia are addressing this in the next OS, it would be great to see user selectable velocity curves as everyones idea of the perfect response is different.

Great solid board, metal construction with very sturdy connectors on the back.

I can easily carry this around on public transport using the Clavia softcase (which buy the way is also great quality and good value for money).

New sounds and OS being developed all the time, what more can I say.

I'm really impressed. I never liked it much playing it in the shop but one came up used which was the perfect opportunity to buy one and try it out live. So you could say I'm a converted sceptic.

This keyboard really shines for a gigging musician. If you desire the sounds of the old vintage instruments then I can warmly recommend it.

Version 2.0
No onboard Reverb. The pianos suffer without it.
The action is like playing on feathers. The keys feel a little wobbly too, just like a Nord Lead 3 action. Playing fast Rhodes jazz runs, a la Chicko Corea, is not easy on an Electro. There isn't enough stiffnes in the keys, they don't rebound quick enough and the bottom of the key bed does not feel firm or cushioned in the least. I did not notice this problem so much when I played a Korg Triton with a 73 key synth action. The Triton has a deeper key dip and stiffer springs and that made a big difference and gave the fingers some support during fast runs. The Electro felt more like playing on a table top.

When I played the organ there was no touch sensitivity, like on a real Hammond, so it's not an issue. The velocity curve response for the Rhodes was terrible. It is not even,. You have to pound the synth action to getan even sound. If you play less than hard the notes drop about 75 % in volume. I won't keep a keyboard with a synth action that requires me to pound the keys to keep an even sound.

I hate the velocity scale or touch sensitivity in the Electro when
playing the Rhodes sound. I had to strike the keys too hard to get a
full sound. When I played with any medium or lighter touch the
note velocity dropped about 75% in volume almost to ghost notes. The Rhodes on the Electro required that I pravticly pound the keys to get the sound even.

I then tried playing the Electro through a MIDI cable from a Roland FP digital
piano with 88 weighted keys (simulating a "rack version" situation) the Electro Rhodes still had the same velocity scale problem. Anything less than a pounding key
stroke practicaly vanished. The store owner said "Ah, I see you noticed the problem with playing soft on an Electro. Let me look at the Electro's manual and see if the velocity is adjustable. He discovered in the manual that Clavia says that they
have strived to replicate a velocity curve that is "authentic" (no adjustments)
I explained to the store owner my suitcase Rhodes 73 does not have a huge drop in its velocity curve as you gradualy play softer and softer down from heavy key strokes.

I am talking about the dynamic levels in between loud and soft. Yes, the Electro responds to loud (hard strikes) and very soft strikes, but the many dynamic levels of touch in between loud and soft react as if they are not there. Medium touch to medium soft all get transmitted as very very soft. To get an even sound, the Electro Rhodes velocity scale forces you to pound on it consistently which is not fun. Basically, the Electro Rhodes velocity curve does not respond in many gradual levels of dynamic touch in between loud and very soft. It drops you abruptly from a medium loud right down to very soft with little in between.

The Electro needs a more "Linear Velocity Curve" A velocity curve scaling that is even. A linear velocity curve plays like a well regulated keyboard action. A linear velocity curve gradually increases and decreases in volume according to the gradual increases and decreases in your touch (key stroke weight/velocity).

The Electro velocity curve is so uneven. It suddenly drops to super soft as soon as you stop hard striking the keys and use a medium range or lighter touch. You cannot play a full range of dynamics with such a handicap. It is ridiculous to have programmed a velocity curve as uneven as the Electro's. It lacks much of the middle range of dynamics.

I am able to play at about 8 different dynamic levels on my real Rhodes 73.
But I can only get these three dynamic ranges from the Electro:
1) Striking the keys SUPER HARD (it barks)
2) Striking the keys HARD it sounds at medium volume
3) Striking the keys at anything LESS THAN HARD and it drops off a cliff to super soft almost ghost notes.

The key action seems flimsy. The housing seems sturdy.

Unknown

Using version 2.0. Most presets are very good and show off the various ways you can change the basic sounds. Editing patches is a breeze once you get the hang of it - just dial in the sound you want and store it. The manual is very thorough. The virtual drawbars don't take long to get used to, and drawbar presets are very easy to set up and use.

Plenty of polyphony with version 2.0. Keyboard action is perfect compromise for organ and electric pianos. Built-in effects are great. Reverb would have been nice. Free software downloads via the USB port from the clavia web site are very cool, and they're constantly working on new samples and software improvements.

I have owned a slew of Hammond "clones" (orignal Korg CX-3, Hammond XB-2 and XK-2, Voce Micro-B and V3, NI B4) and the Electro is the best by far (okay, the B4 is pretty darn good, too). I also have a '64 C-3 and 145 Leslie, so I know what it's supposed to sound like. The 3 different Rhodes samples all all great, as are the Wurli and Clavinet. You can really lay into all of those instruments. I don't use the acoustic or electric grand pianos. A "10" rating because nothing else even comes close.

So far it seems very solid and dependable (but see comment in next section).

I had an intermitent problem initially with my Electro, but the dealer took care of it right away by swapping it with a new one. So, this rating is really for my dealer and his distributor, not Clavia per se, but it seems their support channels are excellent.

I have been playing keyboards for 32 years, and the list of gear I have owned is very lengthy, and includes two of the instruments the Electro emulates (Hammond C-3 and Suitcase Rhodes). The Electro is BY FAR the coolest keyboard I have ever owned; it does what it does great. The only Hammond clone keyboard that's in the same league is the Korg CX-3, but it's bigger, heavier, and doesn't have the electric pianos and clavs. Now that I have it, I can't imagine being without it. Everyone that hears it loves it. Not that there isn't room for improvement: for example, being able to split the piano and organ section, or at least play the other via midi would be nice. A usable acoustic piano would be a plus, although it's technically not an "electro-mechanical" keyboard. For me, the Electro (less than 20 lbs) and the Kurzweil SP-76 (27 lbs) make a great lightweight pairing covering all the bread-and-butter keyboard sounds.