Nord has introduced the Electro 4 SW73 keyboard.
The Nord Electro 4 SW73 has twice the memory capacity of its predecessor, Nord Electro 3 SeventyThree, letting you use more sounds from the Nord Piano and Sample Libraries. The Organ section has been upgraded to the latest Tone Wheel engine from Nord’s dual manual organ Nord C2D, including a new 122 Rotary speaker simulation and Drive.
The Nord Electro 4 SW73 joins the Nord Electro 4 HP and Nord Electro 4D SW61, introduced earlier in 2012.
Here are the details:
Key features:
- 73 Semi-Weighted Waterfall (F-F)
- Digital LED Drawbars
- 380 MB memory for Nord Piano Library sounds
- 128 MB memory for Nord Sample Library sounds
- C2D Tone wheel engine with 122 Rotary simulation and Drive
- Delay Effect with Tap-Tempo
- 4 Dynamic Response Curves
- Long Release
- 4 Live Locations
- Nord Sound Manager 6.x support for Bundles
- USB MIDI
Audio demos:
The Electro 4 SW73 is priced at 1,999 EURO / US MAP 2,399 USD and is shipping in December 2012, and to US & Canada in January 2013. See the Nord site for more info.
Nord and Moog obviously market their gear to affluent musicians!!
Sounds great but wow very expensive.
When do we get a cheapo rack synth from them?
Have you ever played a Nord or a Moog?
The quality is amazing on both. Not many modern keyboards are made as well.
I actually find that after the Nord Modulars, they got rather boring… But then again, I guess they opted for more classical instruments, and there is a market for that.
Is it just me or do those memory allotments seem skimpy? I understand that its a hybrid piorgano and not a workstation, but I wonder if that’s irrelevant to the more piano-centric players while being maddening to synth players who’d like to make it central to a rig? Nords are high-class ‘boards; I’m just curious as to how that memory actually plays out in use. 380 mb used on just one piano would still seem to be inadequate for a decent range of expression. Are their samples efficiently compressed in some way to make better use of the space? Are people doing a lot of piano and Mellotron splits? 😛
zzzzzzz. wake me up when they release the nord modular g3.
This is my obligatory ritual comment damning all things non-modular from Nord.
Sigh.
So how well did their Modular really sell? The problem is simple: if it didn’t feed the company and keep those folks employed, our esoteric group desires mean squat. After all, its not just the hardware at stake, its fussy software support and updates. What if its simply not cost-effective? Since they still retain a bit of their boutique cachet, a campaign that led to enough pre-orders and a pledge from Nord to support it for, say, 2 years, might motivate them. They might have one on the board due to the resurgence in modular use and this very matured Electro. It does ‘feel’ as if its time for a new KIND of Nord. I simply suggest some perspective. There is our group synth fantasy and then there is the potential reality of unsold units in a pile and the budget required for a couple of capable programmers to back up the user base. Everyone would LIKE a T.O.N.T.O.; few would like the maintenance realities.
Clearly, it didn’t sell enough, so they stopped doing it. It just makes me sad. What *does* surprise me is that they haven’t released it as a VST (or, given how long ago it was, it could probably run decently on an iPad).
But yeah, I don’t think there’s a chance in hell they’re going to release a new hardware unit for it, as sad as that makes me.
It ounds awesome, even with the compressed Soundcloud files! In addition to the organ sounds, the piano patches have gotten a lot more realistic too. My only disappointment is that the 73 key Electro doesn’t come in a “D” version with real drawbars. Just because I want a greater range on the keys doesn’t preclude me from wanting the most user-friendly organ!
I just bought the Nord Electro SW4 73 and it is mar va lus, nothing is perfect, but this board is dam mean. Bought mine off ebay with case, 1975.00, been jamin ever since, beats the hell out of the Korg M1 I use to play. So bite the bullet and have some fun and breath new life into your playing.