The Nord Electro is a series of

electronic keyboard An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument, an electronic derivative of keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs ...

s, developed in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

Clavia Clavia Digital Musical Instruments (Clavia DMI AB) is a Swedish manufacturer of virtual analog synthesizers, virtual electromechanical pianos and stage pianos, founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1983 by Hans Nordelius and Mikael Carlsson. Since 19 ...

, that digitally emulate electro-mechanical keyboards, such as

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

s and

electronic organ An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has since developed ...

s, while designed to be highly portable.

Features

The original Nord Electro has two sections. One was a sample-player intended for electric pianos, although samples of acoustic grand and upright pianos are also available. The sample libraries are exchangeable, and Clavia has made several samples libraries available for free for Nord Electro owners. The second section is a digital emulation of electronic organs. This is not sample based, but instead generated by the digital modelling of several types of organs. Unlike many other keyboards that feature tonewheel organ emulation, the

drawbars The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated ...

on some models of the Nord Electro are represented by LED bar graphs and up/down buttons instead of the traditional mechanical drawbars. The Electro 3 added a sample player which offered the ability to play a wider range of sounds, notably including those from the

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. ...

and

Chamberlin The Chamberlin is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument that was a precursor to the Mellotron. It was developed and patented by the American inventor Harry Chamberlin from 1949 to 1956, when the first model was introduced. There are several ...

libraries. There is an effect section that emulates popular "stomp box" effect pedals from the '70s and amplifiers including the famous Leslie rotary speaker cabinet. These can be applied to piano, organ or samples.

Reverb Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abs ...

and

Delay Delay (from Latin: dilatio) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Delay 1968'', a 1981 album by German experimental rock band Can * '' The Delay'', a 2012 Uruguayan film People * B. H. DeLay (1891–1923), American aviator and ac ...

effects are also available. As with other Clavia products, it is distinctive for its red color. Unlike the Clavia

Nord Stage The Nord Stage is a digital keyboard or stage piano, manufactured by Clavia Digital Music Instruments of Stockholm, Sweden. There have been five editions of the instrument: the original Nord Stage in 2005, the Nord Stage EX in 2008, the Nord ...

, earlier models could only play one instrument at a time, although a second keyboard could be attached via MIDI as an additional organ manual. The Electro 5 allows for a maximum of two sound sources to be used simultaneously in layered or split-keyboard configuration while the Electro 6 allows for a maximum of three sound sources (organ+piano+sample).

Models

The original Nord Electro was released in 2001. It contained emulations of a

Hammond B3 Hammond may refer to: People * Hammond Innes (1913–1998), English novelist * Hammond (surname) * Justice Hammond (disambiguation) Places Antarctica * Hammond Glacier, Antarctica Australia *Hammond, South Australia, a small settlement in Sou ...

as well as samples of a Rhodes Stage 73, a

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is concept ...

, a

Hohner Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Since its foundation, and though known ...

Clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tens ...

and an acoustic grand piano. The Electro was released in 61- and 73-key versions as well as a rack version, which featured all the same controls as the keyboard versions. In 2002, the Nord Electro 2 was released. It contained new and updated software, but the electronics were identical to the original Electro, which permitted the original Electro to be updated to Electro 2 functionality through a software update. Like the original Electro, the Electro 2 was also released in 61- and 73-key versions as well as a rack version. In 2009, the Nord Electro 3 was released. It expanded the functionality of the Nord Electro 2 with

Farfisa Farfisa (Fabbriche Riunite di Fisarmoniche) is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professio ...

and Vox organ emulations as well as improved B3 emulation and more effects. It also includes samples from the

library and support for the entire Nord Sample Library. It was initially released only in 61- and 73-key semi-weighted versions. In 2011, the Nord Electro 3 HP (Hammer Portable) was released, which replaces the organ-style semi-weighted "waterfall" keys of the original models with a light-weight 73-key hammer-action keyboard. In 2012, the Nord Electro 4D was released, which replaces the digital organ drawbars of prior models with physical drawbar sliders and has updated Hammond B3 emulation. It has a 61-key organ-style semi-weighted "waterfall" keyboard. Later in 2012, the Nord Electro 4 HP and 4 SW were released. They have the same features as the Electro 4D, except with the digital drawbars of the Electro 3 and earlier, increased sample memory, and 73-key keyboards like the Electro 3 HP and SW. On January 16, 2015, Clavia announced the Nord Electro 5 on their website: two 5D models, one with 61 (5D 61) and the other with 73 keys (5D 73), and a 5 HP with 73 hammer-action keys. On January 19, 2018, Clavia announced the Nord Electro 6. As with the previous generation, there are two models with physical drawbars and waterfall keys (Electro 6D 61 and 6D 73) and one with a 73-note hammer-action keybed (Electro 6 HP). This model has for the first time multi-timbrality (3 parts) and a "Dual Organ" mode to allow the player quick access to split keyboard setups to emulate a dual-manual organ on a single-manual instrument.

References

{{Clavia Clonewheel organs