Analog Keyboards

So, I used to be completely insane. I carried the following with me to gigs for years:

• Hammond B3 chop
• Leslie 122 speaker
• Rhodes or Wurlitzer electric piano
• Hohner Clavinet E7
• Pedal board
• Fender Twin Reverb amp

There was indeed a method to my madness. I wanted all those sounds, and I had enough friends and van space to make this happen. But it was still totally crazy.

Nord recently sent me their newest vintage performance keyboard, the Nord Electro 3 to review for Electronic Musician magazine. And while I will save most of my comments for the article, I can say that it sounds great, is quite easy to use, and is incredibly portable. I was able to dial up very personalized Hammond, Wurly, Rhodes, and Clav sounds quite quickly, and tweaked them on the fly at the gig with no trouble at all.

Lest I betray my analog bias, I will certainly say that it is not identical with the real thing - it is a bit bright, a bit harsh, and a bit…digital. But certainly not enough to make any difference on the stage. For studio work, I will continue to use my real instruments - the sound and the interactivity are different enough to make it worth my while. And for jazz organ gigs, I will still continue to cart around my chop and Leslie, or my digital Hammond XK-3 and Leslie. But for more general purpose gigs, where straight up organ is not the primary focus, the Electro is absolutely the way to go.

Here is a video from a recent gig with the Electro:

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