Clavia's Nord Electro keyboard has become a fixture in studios and on stages across the world - it's a go-to instrument for anyone who wants quality vintage keyboard sounds - and its reputation is set to be enhanced still further with the launch of the third-generation model.
As with previous versions, the Electro 3 comes in 61- and 73-note configurations, with both models having semi-weighted waterfall keys. However, this Electro is much more flexible, as it's able to load any content from the extensive Nord Sample Library (it reads the same format as the Nord Wave).
What's more, users will be able to create their own sampled instruments via the Nord Wave Manager. This effectively means that the Electro 3 can contain any sound you like.
Improved sounds
If you're more interested in off-the-shelf content, you'll be pleased to learn that the new Electro comes with some "exquisite" new pianos as standard. The internal memory size has been bumped up to 256MB and 125 programs can be stored.
There are new organ and effects sections, too, plus three amp sims, a three-band EQ, a compressor and a an enhanced rotary speaker emulation. Finally, the Electro now has a monitor input, making it easy to plug in your iPod (or other music-playing device) and jam along.
Despite all this new functionality, the Electro 3 is actually slimmer and lighter than its predecessor, which was actually pretty portable anyway. It'll be available in December; prices are £1399 for the 61-key version and £1599 for its 73-key sibling.
