After years of compromise, it seems like a great time to be in the market for a stage keyboard. I’m biased coming from a piano background, but I’ve always loved hammer-action instruments, even for playing sounds other than acoustic. Earlier this month, I noted that Yamaha’s MOX line offered hammer action in a 32.6-pound keyboard for US$1699.

Nord has a hammer action offering of their own: the new Nord Electro 3 HP. It sheds some keys, with a 73-key E-E range keybed, but also some pounds, weighing a very luggable 24.25 pounds. The “handmade,” Swedish-built instrument has some other nice features, too:

• Nord piano/sample libraries, including licensed Melletron and Chamberlin sounds
• Modeled organs, tonewheels, and transistors (C1, rotary speaker)
• Four keyboard curves
• New delay effect with tap tempo, rate, stereo ping-pong
• Up to four live location settings

There’s also control pedal compatibility with Yamaha FC7, Roland EV-5/7, Korg EXP2/XVP10 and Fatar VP-25.

I have just one complaint in all of this. Nice as it is seeing these instruments with built-in – and increasingly nice – sounds, I would easily trade a computer piano instrument for the onboard samples. But that’s another story, and of course, I absolutely understand why gigging keyboardists might not want to worry about the added stress of operating a computer.

A representative of Nord tells us that the keyboard, shipping this month, will have an estimated street price of US$2599. (Like I said, the one complaint is, you’d better want to use the internal sounds.)

http://www.nordkeyboards.com/

If you don’t care about hammer action, the Nord Stage 2 released earlier this year added the new organ engine and MIDI over USB (’bout time). More details on that product page of all the sampled/modeled sound engines.

Nord owners, we’d love to hear from you. And, boy that red sure is purty.

Who woulda thunk it? Early 2007 has brought one big synth announcement after another. We’ve got some official details of the Nord Wave synth from Clavia, and this new keyboard looks like it may please long-time Nord fans and newcomers alike.

Clavia has released “Musikmesse preview information”, so specs may change. But here’s a basic look at what they’re promising:

1. Sampled waveforms: Oscillators can now use full waveforms (not single wavetables, Clavia hastens to add), while still routing through fully-analog circuitry.
2. Oscillator models: Virtual analog, FM, wavetable, sample-playback can be applied in combination (which I hear is all the rage these days). And you can load in custom waveforms, as well, via fully user-definable memory areas (so you can delete samples you hate). Clavia even promises it’ll offer additional, free waves on their website. An included software sample editor lets you tweak samples.
3. Morphing: Morph “almost any parameter” via mod wheel, expression, velocity, or pitch, with assignable “morph scenarios” and morph “timelines.”
4. Filters: 24db analog-modeled resonant filters, low-, high-, band-pass filters with envelope and velocity control, combinations of filter types, and formant filters.
5. Effects: EQ, delay with tap tempo, tube-style amp with overdrive, reverb.
6. Pitch stick: Clavia’s signature wooden pitch stick allows precise bend and vibrato.

So this means hardware makers no longer feel the pressure of software synths, right? Wrong. Clavia goes out of their way to tout hardware-specific features in the Messe preview brochure. They single out a number of points:

1. Onboard hardware controls for everything with no need for paging through menus (that’s good, and a lesson that could be learned by a lot of hardware synth makers).
2. No load times, because there’s no hard drive. (They have a point.)
3. “Ultra-low latency.” (Well, it darned well better have ultra-low latency. I don’t recall a whole lot of latency from any of my hardware synths. And I’ve had quite impressive latency from my software synths, as well. But I digress.)

Software defensiveness aside, the synth sounds like it may be terrific. To anyone who said this was a dull Messe trade show, all I can think is that you really aren’t fond of keyboards.

Pricing / Availability: Unknown / Soon-ish.

Nord Wave Coverage Elsewhere

Matrixsynth has some of the other details on the keyboard, via Harmony Central’s forums:

1. Resynthesized waveforms; no look-up tables, meaning no aliasing across the pitch range.
2. Onboard USB for controller use, transferring waveforms
3. 2 MB sample memory (so, not much, in other words — any upgrade possibilities there? Why not flash expansion?)
4. Pots, not endless rotaries, because users want to know “when they reached the bottom.”

For video coverage, see Sonic State.

And don’t miss the imaginary Behringer rip-off April Fool’s on Vintage Synth Explorer, via Matrixsynth.

I’d be afraid to even joke about that.

As you know, the Frankfurt Musicmesse opened on Wednesday the 28th. There were quite a few exciting announcements including the Nord Wave, Arturia Origen Keyboard, the Dexter and of course the biggest announcement in my opinion, the Solaris hardware synth by John Bowen Synth Designs. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the interview by James here. Aside from the major announcements there was quite a bit more worth checking out in the synth world including this gorgeous MacBeth M5N, a white version of the M5 with a few updates including snappier envelopes, greater signal to noise ratios for the filters, and more. You can find links to more Messepics here, many courtesy of sequencer.de, a great synth site based in Germany. Some of the synth related gadgets include the Tiefenrausch monophonic analog synth, the Anyware Instruments ClockBox, the SteckBox (an EMS style pin matrix with light risters), and more.

Rarities Set Loose

Fairlight Series IIIx

A Fairlight Series IIIx and MFX is up for auction with a whopping Buy It Now of $11,900 US.

Some details:
“Offered for sale is a very rare fully functional vintage rack-mount Fairlight CMI III computerised musical instrument workstation in excellent condition. Also fitted is Fairlight MFX2 capability, which adds a 24 track direct to disc recorder / editor. The system is a late model, and as such has the latest and best in technical innovations, whilst still retaining the classic legendary sound of the CMI.

The system has 16 voices, 16 Mbytes RAM, colour graphics card, digital sampler and 24 output router. It also comes with the later MFX alpha-numeric keyboard, and a proper weighted action music keyboard. A 15” LCD screen (not the one illustrated) is included. There are two 4 Gbyte hard discs, one empty for disc recording, and one full of the following libraries:

Complete Fairlight library, Prosonus Strings, Brass, Percussion, Sound
Genesis strings, plus many libraries collected over the last 20 years
dealing with top producers and musicians. These include libraries from: Pet
Shop Boys, Trevor Horn, Hans Zimmer, Frankie goes to Hollywood, Art of Noise
and many, many others. The complete Fairlight IIX library is also included.”

Yamaha FX-1

Next up, a Yamaha FX-1 for auction. The Yamaha FX-1 was an FM based Yamaha Electone behemoth with motorized sliders. Think DX7/DX1 on steroids. There are very few of these known to exist. There is one known model in the UK according to this Sound on Sound article and until this auction, only one that I was aware of in the US, owned by a dying breed, a one man club act from the 60s, Jimmy [BTW, Jimmy's story is pretty fascinating].

Via the SOS article:
“Lest you think that (other than the DX1) all FM synthesizers were small, neat affairs, let me tell you about the FX1. This was a huge three-manual beast very much in the mould of the GX1, but based entirely on FM synthesis. If you’ve never heard of it, I’m not surprised. Costing £36,000 in 1986, there’s only one working example in the UK, and not many more elsewhere.”

MOOG Model 12

Finally, a MOOG Model 12 modular recently went for $5100 US. The unit was sold as is from The University of Wyoming. You can see the auction here. I also backed it up on Matrixsynth for when it disapears. The price may seem high considering what you can get from current modular synth manufacturers, however this is part of history. You can barely make it out, but there’s a handle at the very top of the modular and latches to the site. The modular is was built into is own carrying case.

The Non-MOOG Modular

Below is a video of some MOOG modulars manufactured by Don Martin. If you remember from the March 16 Week In Synths, Don Martin owned the Moog name in the US after MOOG music went under. He released a Model E Minimoog commonly referred to as the Donimoog. In addition to the Mini, he also release a number of MOOG modules. Cary Roberts posted the following video on AH along with more pics you can find here. You can find a list of the Don Martin MOOG modules here. BTW, word is they actually sounded good. Note: unfortunately there is no audio in this video, but I prefer it a bit more to just the static shots.

Tie-Fighter Cockpit and Willy Wonka’s Music Box

Finally I leave you with two Buchla videos:

Buchla 700

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Video by Electric Parade.

The Buchla Music Easel

Note the Music Easel video is from the Analog Heaven Midwest synth gathering. You can find more videos from the event here.

BTW, credit for the Tie-Fighter analogy goes to Wingo Shackleford via the comments of this post.

For daily synth-related posts check out Matrixsynth.

The Clavia booth showcased the new Nord C1 combo organ (the product says C3, but they’re changing it to C1), featuring two sets of digital drawbars for the keys and a third one for bass pedals—in this case a Roland PK-7A connected via MIDI.

Emulations include the B3, Vox Continental, and Farfisa, which are based on the most intimate mechanical details. (Nice playing, dude—and the wheel crosstalk and coil energy robbing in your sound was hot!)

There are built-in rotating speaker effects, as well as a real 11-pin Leslie output. The C1’s Half Moon Switch (at the far left of the bottom keyboard) controls the speed of both.

The C1 is scheduled to ship in April with an MSRP of $3600.

Ed.: Back to the future seems to be the theme of this NAMM, between retro electric pianos, new, real Rhodes, new Waldorf synths, and more. But, Clavia, could we have a MIDI controller-only version? I love the two registers! -PK

Nord C1 Product Page
Clavia main site (currently showing NAMM show report — Stevie Wonder on the Nord Stage Compact? That’s some celeb sighting!)