Nord Electro 2 Released, More polyphony, more sounds -Sonicstate.com

Nord Electro 2 Released

More polyphony, more sounds 19/08/02

Clavia proudly announces the Nord Electro 2 stage keyboard. The Nord Electro 2 is the next big step in the development of the Nord Electro series of stage keyboards. Among the features of the Electro 2 you'll find the new Mega Clavinet sound which offers all the filter and pick-up variations of the original Clavinet D6! This means that you'll be able to access no less than 60 + 4 different Clavinet D6 sounds in the Electro 2!

Thanks to the remade piano sample playback engine, the polyphony for the piano sounds is now greatly enhanced. The new piano sample playback engine also made it possible for us to digitally model the sounds you get when you release keys on a piano instrument. For example, the Clavinet and the Wurlitzer have very characteristic key release sounds. In Nord Electro 2 this is very faithfully modeled. The new sample playback engine also allows for playback of stereo pianos. In the new factory sound library Clavia has included a great new Acoustic Grand piano - in stereo. The Electro 2 also features great new vintage-style effects in the Effects section. We also beefed up the Overdrive distortion to sound more like an overdriven tube amplifier.

Nord Electro 2 fully supports USB download of Nord Electro piano samples. Now you will be able to download new piano instrument samples using our specially developed Electro Tool sample dump program for Mac and PC! Additional piano sounds are available on the CD-R that comes with the Nord Electro 2 and also for download at www.clavia.se - free of charge! More piano sounds will be added in the future. Currently the following exclusive piano sounds are available:

AcGrand1: Steinway Model D acoustic grand piano.

AcGrand2: Malmsjö acoustic grand piano in stereo.

Clavinet1: Clavinet D6 featuring all filter and pick-up variations of the original D6.

ElGrand1: Yamaha CP-80 Electric Grand.

ElGrand2: Clavia Electric Grand Model G. Custom modified Gärbstedt acoustic grand piano fitted with CP-80 pick-ups.

Rhodes1: Rhodes Stage Piano 73 Mark 1, built in May 1978 and adjusted to ‘deep’ timbre. The so-called volume adjustment was set to ‘low’.

Rhodes2: Rhodes Suitcase 73 Mark I, built in January 1975. We fine-tuned the mechanics and adjusted the tines according to the ‘ideal’ timbre adjustment. The volume adjustment was set to ‘close’.

Rhodes3: Rhodes Stage Piano 73 Mark II, built in April 1981 and adjusted to ‘shallow’ timbre. Remember this sound? It became famous thanks to the great Chick Corea. The volume adjustment is set to ‘close’.

Wurlitzer1: Wurlitzer 200A.

For those who owns the original Nord Electro, Clavia offers the V2.0 Software Upgrade which includes all the software features and new piano sounds of the Nord Electro 2 - free of charge when downloaded from www.clavia.se! The Software Upgrade can also be ordered on a CD.

The Nord Electro 2 and the Nord Electro V2.0 Software Upgrade come with a brand new manual which includes an additional chapter describing the history behind the original instruments simulated by the Nord Electro 2/V2.0.

The Nord Electro 2 sounds The organ in the Electro 2 is based on a digital simulation of the mechanical tone wheels of the B-3 organ. It offers innovative solutions to mimic the typical B-3 sound, for example:

A complex digital model of the original chorus and vibrato scanner.

Modeling of the individual random contact bounces for each partial.

Modeling of the unique frequency characteristics of the built-in pre-amplifier which forms the ”body” of the B-3 sound.

Simulation of the energy stealth on the tone wheels that results in the typical compressed sound.

Authentic tuning of the tone wheels according to the original -B3 design.

The piano section comprises five carefully multi-sampled electric piano instruments: Rhodes Mk I Stage Piano, Rhodes Mk I Suitcase Piano, Wurlitzer 200A, Clavinet D6 and the custom modified Clavia Electric Grand Model G. As a bonus we also included an acoustic Malmsjoe Grand Piano - in stereo! The Electro features a unique multi-sample playback, catching every nuance throughout the whole dynamic range. Additional piano sounds can be downloaded at www.clavia.se - free of charge!

Technical specifications

Organ section
Polyphony: Full polyphony
9 electric drawbars with memory functionality: The drawbars of Nord Electro 2 are represented by up/down buttons and LED bar graphs instead of ordinary mechanical drawbars. This gives you a big advantage: when you change presets, the correct drawbar settings are shown immediately by the LEDs. In other words, no need for the regular ’trial and error’ method. It's very easy to get the hang of changing the drawbar settings in a natural way with the buttons.

Drawbar settings presets: 9 drawbar presets in ROM and 9 user configurable drawbar settings.

Effects: Swell (the characteristic B-3 volume pedal function) - Percussion (2nd, 3rd, normal/soft, fast/slow). Chorus/Vibrato (C1, C2, C3/V1, V2, V3).

Keyboard Split: Makes it possible to play an organ sound with two different drawbar settings (Lower and Upper manuals) on the internal keyboard.

Dual manuals - MIDI Split: Nord Electro 2 is designed to support an extra MIDI keyboard in addition to its own. This makes it possible to play the Nord Electro 2 as a 2-manual (Lower and Upper manuals) organ with different drawbar settings for each manual.

Piano section Instruments: 5 multi-sampled electric piano instruments in Flash memory: Rhodes Mk I Stage Piano, Rhodes Mk I Suitcase Piano, Wurlitzer 200A, Clavinet D6 and the custom modified Clavia Electric Grand Model G. As a bonus we also included an acoustic Malmsjoe Grand Piano - in stereo!

Effects: Presence (or Filter and Pickup selectors for the Clavinet D6 sound).

Global features:

Memory: 48 user memory locations (6 Banks holding 8 Programs each) in which you can store complete setups, including instrument settings (organ or piano) and effects settings.

Effects: Tube type Overdrive, Rotary Speaker simulation (slow, fast, stop), Equalizer, Chorus (2 types), Flanger (2 types), Phaser (2 types), Tremolo, Wah-Wah (2 types), Auto Wah, Auto panning and Ring modulation.

Keyboard: 61-key (5 octaves) or 73-key (6 octaves) velocity sensitive semi-weighted ”waterfall” (square front) keyboard.

Connections: 2 Audio outputs, 1 Headphone output, 1 Control pedal input, 1 Sustain pedal input, 1 Rotary Speaker speed switch pedal input, MIDI In, MIDI Out. USB interface for fast and easy download of new piano sounds.

Weight: 7.8 kg (Nord Electro 2 SixtyOne), 9.4 kg (Nord Electro 2 SeventyThree).

Shipping August 2002

http://www.clavia.se

Nord Electro 2 Released

More Stories: