CLAVIA NORD ELECTRO 3 REVIEW

You can read more reviews like this, along with Tony’s productions at his personal site -> Tony Long Music.

CLAVIA NORD ELECTRO 3 - INTRODUCTION

I have been anxious to get my hands on a Nord keyboard for a while and it is very strange that at the time Nord have just announced the release of the Electro 4D at Musikmesse in Frankfurt, I am about to look at the Nord Electro 3. However, this may be the right time as there is a possibility that the Electro 3 will come down a little in price, with its successor just around the corner. Obviously the Electro 3 is the third incarnation of Clavia's virtual electromechanical range of bright red wonders. The first is now over ten years old and Clavia have slowly updated the software and hardware since then.

CLAVIA NORD ELECTRO 3 - WHAT IS IT?

I know that I have said this many times in the past, but you cannot please all of the people all of the time. Many keyboard players want one keyboard to be able to do it all, but that just is not possible. Even the Korg Kronos with its nine synth engines was very let down by its keyboard action on all of its models.

Your requirements may be that you want a great fast moving keyboard action to play organ and synth sounds and then at the same time, you also want the feel of an Acoustic Grand Piano to play all the subtle dynamics. You may also want a vast range of sounds that go above and beyond the usual bread and butter presets and for these sounds to be of a very high quality as well as being very natural and believable. On top of this, you may want it to be user-friendly and very portable, possibly lightweight. 'Compromise' is the word and Clavia set out to solve many of these needs.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Clavia Nord Electro 3 HP"]](https://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/store/keyboards-10/stage-pianos-108/clavia-nord-electro-3-hp-hammer-action-portable-73-note-keyboard-44808)[/caption]

The Electro 3 is part of Clavia's virtual electromechanical range of keyboards and they now have three different models of the Electro 3 on the market in an attempt to cater for everyones needs. There is the 61 Key, the 73 Key and the Electro 3 HP with a hammer action keyboard. All three models give you authentic vintage Acoustic and Electric Piano sounds, modelled organs that have rotary speaker simulation, strings and other 'real' instruments. To meet your other needs, each Electro 3 also gives you full access to Clavia's large and ever-growing sample library.

You have to bare in mind that the Electro range of keyboards are not synths and whilst there is a great sample library available, you do not have all the controls on the Electros that most synths have today. All three keyboards have a great weight and here is the model comparison:- the 61 note is just 7.65 kg (15.3 lbs), the 73 note is an incredible 9.1 kg (18.2 lbs) and even with weighted keys the Electro 3 HP is just 11 kg (24.25 lbs).

CLAVIA NORD ELECTRO 3 - KEYBOARD ACTION

As always, different people have different ideas about what makes a great keyboard action. Therefore, before you make any decision, I always recommend that you try before you buy.

Personally, I think that the feel of the Electro 3 could still be improved, but Clavia have attempted to please everyone by giving you the fast synth-like feel combined with a springiness that can assist with a piano performance. However, if the Piano sounds have greater priority in your requirements, then perhaps the Electro 3 HP is the model for you.

I must say, I do prefer the action of the Electro 3 to that of the Korg Kronos when comparing the 61 key models. I think it is a reasonable comment to say that nearly all the big companies do not provide us with fantastic keybeds. I really wish they would stop trying to impress us with their new sounds and new effects and controls and spend a much greater amount of time creating the keybed. After all, it is the main part of the keyboard, it is the tool we use to make our sounds, but more importantly, it is the key to a good performance.

CLAVIA NORD ELECTRO 3 - CONTROL

You can easily control the Nord Electro 3 as you play live, using the controls on the front panel, which has four main areas: Organ, Piano, Program and Effects. There is also a Master Level knob, which is not programmable, but Clavia have very cleverly given that function to the Gain Control in the Effects Section. The Electro 3 has no modulation or pitch bend wheel as you may have expected and the LED with its three-character display, although very small, does an adequate job for your needs.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Clavia Nord Electro 3 61"]](https://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/store/keyboards-10/stage-pianos-108/clavia-nord-electro-3-61-note-synth-3344)[/caption]

The slight issue I have here for live use is remembering my patch locations. Strangely enough, the Nord Electro 2 had a better (although somewhat smaller) setup for its preset patches and it allowed you to save a bank of 8 patches in Banks A to F. However, the Electro 3 has only 2 Bank buttons (Patches A 1-64) and (Patches B 1-64 patches). With the Electro 3 HP, Clavia must have listened to user feedback because they have implemented four program buttons that access four sound banks, making it quicker to navigate than the standard Electro 3.

The Nord Electro 3's 128 factory preset programs can all be replaced and over-written. You can and should backup your sounds regularly on a PC or Mac using the included Nord Sound Manager application. For help on other functions, Nord have printed Sound and MIDI parameters on the keyboard itself.

The Organ section is a big part of the Electro 3, allowing you to authentically recreate classic organ sounds of the past and present. My starting point was in the Program area, where I could make an initial choice between 'Organ' and 'Piano'. As I selected 'Organ', the Organ section lit and activated ready for my use. I could then press the Organ model button to cycle through the three classic organ models; the B3, the Vox Continental and the Farfisa. For each of the Organ Models, you get 17 presets. What I did next was to select the 'Preset/Split' button. This gave me a second preset, which allowed me to keep two different settings for an organ sound available from the panel at any time. You can also split the keyboard by pressing the 'Shift' and the 'Preset/Split' button, which defaults to a splitting point at C4.

Another great feature that Clavia have implemented in the Electro 3 is that it will support an extra MIDI keyboard when the Organ Split mode is activated. This would allow you to use the Nord Electro 3 like a classic dual manual organ. You could also have different drawbar settings for both keyboards - great stuff.

Clavia have based their Electro Organ on their own famous C1 Combo Organ. I really like the updated key click, giving a lovely percussive sound and feel to it. For the John Lord in you, you will find enough purple, gritty, rotary Hammond sounds to keep you playing 'Child in Time' to the early hours of the morning! To my ears the Electro 3 is a really great Hammond replica; not quite a Leslie Speaker in there, but it's pretty close!

My favourite organ sound seems to be patch 32b, which is called 'Mercy Vox'. There are some awesome effects on this patch and the sound phases in and out, allowing you to play fast notes that smooth into each other to great effect. To play an organ and recreate sounds authentically, you need Drawbars. Clavia provide nine digitally controlled drawbars, which are represented by 'Up' and 'Down' buttons and LED bar graphs - very clever. This is so easy to use live and the LEDs instantly show you what is happening, even in poorly lit areas. The Farfisa organ model uses the drawbar controls as toggle switches, just like the rocker switches on the original Farfisa.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Clavia Nord Electro 3 73"]](https://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/store/keyboards-10/stage-pianos-108/clavia-nord-electro-3-73-note-synth-3345)[/caption]

I always like the percussive sounds on organs. Perhaps it just the drummer in me. The Electro 3 does an awesome job here and provides you with (amongst other user-adjustable parameters) percussive levels, decays and key clicks.

Ok, let us move onto the Piano section, which is divided into six types - Electric Pianos, Uprights, Grands, Wurlitzers, Clavs/Harpsichords and those from the Sample Library. The Electro 3 has 256MB of RAM, which is eight times as much as the original Electro, giving you a bit more room to load some of your favourite piano samples. 185 MB of the flash memory is allocated to the piano types. Personally, I found the Nord's acoustic pianos a refreshing change from the Roland and Korg pianos that I am very familiar with. Every manufacturer seems to have its own slant on the sound it creates. Every time I play, for example, a Roland Piano, it is as if I know what to expect before I have heard it. With the Nord, I can't put my finger on it (no pun intended) but the sound is, for some reason, different.

There are a couple of Yamaha and Steinway grand pianos on the Nord Electro 3, but if these are not quite to your taste, you could replace them free of charge with a bigger velocity-layered Steinway D from the sample library. My favourites are the electric pianos (with four different tine electric pianos and a reed electric piano). These work well if you add a touch of phaser to it to give you that classic Steely Dan sound. Also, try adding tremolo and you will time-travel back in time to the seventies. Some of the electric pianos are much brighter and give you that nice gritty bite as you dig into the keys and I love the Wurlitzers; they just feel and sound so right and you can still tweak them, add effects and make them your own.

The Clavs are based on the famous Clavinet D6 and with the right effects and EQ will make you sound like Stevie Wonder and you should also try these with flanger and auto-wah for a great funky sound. The delicate harpsichord sound is very accurate. There are also some Boutique sounds on-board, including some that came from the vintage tape player the, Mellotron, which will give you the perfect recreation of the Beatles' Strawberry Fields. Also, the Mellotron's bright aggressive string sound will really cut through anything.

Moving on to the program section, you can select, manage and store programs, access the System, MIDI and sound parameters from here. There is also a handy extra - the live buffer, which is really like a program memory button whereby all changes to the panel settings are constantly saved. If you switch the power off, or accidently select another program, the settings are still stored in the memory, so when you power up next time (or return to the Live memory), all settings will be exactly as they were when you left them.

CLAVIA NORD ELECTRO 3 - SOUND MANAGER & SAMPLE EDITOR

You can install the Nord Sound Manager on your PC or MAC. With this you can do tasks such as download or upload pianos, samples or programs to and from the Nord Electro 3. It can also function to backup and restore the entire Nord Electro 3 memory. There is also a Sample Editor where you can load your own samples into the Electro 3. You will find full instructions of all this on the included DVD.

CLAVIA NORD ELECTRO 3 - EFFECTS

I like the layout of the effects section with its quick access to turn effects 'on' or 'off'. If you press and hold the Shift button and then press the Effect selector, you can cycle through the effects. The Effects section is divided into six parts and at the top is the EQ section, providing you with a 3-band EQ with treble, bass and a sweepable midrange. These frequency ranges can be boosted with the separate +/- 15 dB gain control.

To the right of the EQ section is an overall Gain knob with selections from 1 to 10. The next four sections control the main effects and all have individual 'On' and 'Off' buttons, selector buttons and a suitable control knob. The 'Effect 1' section gives you a choice of Auto-Panning and Tremolo and both of these have three selectable depths. There are also two types of Wah-Wah and a Ring Modulator. You can also do some strange things with the Ring Modulator and it certainly brings a bit of fun to the table against the serious nature of the Electro 3.

The 'Effect 2' section adds three types of modulation effects: Phaser, Flanger and Chorus, with three selectable depths and a Rate knob to control the rate of the effect. The next Section, 'Speaker and Compression', provides Speaker and Amplifier emulations, the rotary speaker emulation and a compressor. I like the Rotary emulation but the other controls allow you to get some dirt, grit and aggression into the sounds.

Finally, the Reverb section (which was not on previous versions of the Electro) gives you a Dry to Wet control and selections for Hall, Stage or Room. All of these options sound very natural. I found that adding a touch of 'Hall Soft' reverb really added warmth to the sounds. Interestingly, Clavia added a delay effect to the Electro 3 HP, with tap tempo and Ping-Pong mode, which sounds very analogue-like.

CLAVIA NORD ELECTRO 3 - CONNECTIONS

Around the back, from left to right, the Electro 3 has three standard jack pedal inputs; a Control Pedal to control various parameters (such as a Swell for the Organs or control effects like the P-Wah); a Rotor Pedal to control the Rotor Speed and a Sustain pedal. You then have MIDI In and Out but no Thru.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Clavia Nord Electro 3 73 Connections"]](https://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/store/keyboards-10/stage-pianos-108/clavia-nord-electro-3-73-note-synth-3345)[/caption]

Next comes a USB connector for connecting with your PC or Mac for O/S updates, backups and for use with the Sound Manager or Sample Editor software. Next is the addition of a 3.5mm input for external sound sources (like a CD or MP3 player), routed directly to the headphone output. Finally there are the Left and Right Main Outputs and a Stereo Headphone Output.

CLAVIA NORD ELECTRO 3 - CONCLUSION

There is no doubt in my mind that if you are a vintage keyboard player who loves electromechanical and real sounding instruments, then the Nord Electro 3 is the keyboard for you and if you want weighted keys, then go for the Electro 3 HP, which is still incredibly lightweight at only 11 kg (24.25 lbs) and also has a couple of useful extras.

With the Organ, you have some truly great simulations, authentically taking you from the heavy rock sound of the Hammond to the thin transistorised sounds of the Farfisa and Vox organs. The Electric Pianos are stunning and I certainly enjoyed playing them the most.

The Electro 3 has the looks of a fast red sports car; it replaces the need to carry heavy vintage keyboards about and gives you a reliable authentic-sounding keyboard in a very portable and quality package. But don't forget the extensive sound library to make this instrument what you want it to be. You just can't help but love Nord keyboards.

For more information on any Clavia Nord Electro 3, give us a call on 01202 597180 or click the links below:

Clavia Nord Electro 3 61 - More Info/Buy

Clavia Nord Electro 3 73 - More Info/Buy

Clavia Nord Electro 3 HP - More Info/Buy

Clavia Nord Electro 4D 61 - More Info/Buy