30 thoughts on “Nord Electro 5 Series Offers Expanded Memory, Splits, Layers & More”

1. YAWN…..

   1. 1 dissapointment down, 1 more to go…. yamaha

   2. They look stunning, build quality is superb, BUT, sooooo sonically safe and dull…

   3. No excuse for 256Mb of memory for the synth samples. The keyboard has hundreds of slots for samples but the memory holds about 40-50. What a joke. Can’t even attempt to compete with Korg. Extremely disappointed with this lack of memory as I cannot make this do a fraction of what it is capable of.

2. Is this, analogs and modulars the only hardware synths that sell anymore? Has everything else been replaced by VSTs?

3. Dammit, Nord. Just Stop.

   Just stop.

4. The commenters on this site are insufferable. It’s an Electro. What did you expect, a Swedish espresso machine? They’ve made some very welcome enhancements — things that users have been requesting for years, things that made the Electro legitimately better. How awful that a manufacturer should listen to the people that buy their instruments! How awful that they should improve an industry standard! Quit yer bitchin’ and go stroke it to the new Aphex Twin EP, Euro rack, or whatever it is that gets you off.

   1. At least we don’t stroke it to Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver

      1. Piano, Rhodes & organ sounds are applicable to the last century of popular & art music and remain applicable in almost every genre created recently. Nord make one of the best & most reliable gigging-ready bits of gear to facilitate those sounds, and it also functions as a great weighted MIDI controller for synths old and new running on a laptop or hardware. You’re an idiot.

         1. Your logic, rational, and cool headed sensibilities are lost on the Twitter Generation. Better to act entitled and bored.

         2. As a gigging keyboard player, I use organ, piano, EPs, and clavs all the time. These things sound great, feel great to play, and are really well made as well as easy to use. I can’t wait to check it out. I have all my analog gear, VA’s and soft synths for all the crazy wacky stuff I do on my own. Gear like this pays the bills.

      2. Bon Iver, Bon Jovi, Bon Scott…whatever it takes.

   2. The commenters on virtually EVERY site are insufferable. My g/f says Mankind is in its adolescence. I say we’re still screaming toddlers. In general, anyone who raises sneering hell about a SYNTH, or any other ultimately paltry issue, is really saying “My dick is too short.” Ah, shuddup. 😀
      I have a different view. I admire the instrument makers immensely. I don’t like every new release, but a really big So What to that. Where else do you really have so much fun and often, for a relatively small cash outlay? C’mon, posers would never buy a Nord Electro-anything anyway. Its made for more traditional keyboard-playing types. For others, Live and Push are more the way to go. No harm, no foul, unless you MAKE it foul. Stop telling me what you “hate.” Tell me what you LIKE and why. That’s far more useful and interesting. It also doesn’t make you come off like an anal-expulsive brat. That’s win-win.

5. no G3, no sale.

   1. It would have been nice to see some kind of G3… Maybe someday…

      1. There’s no new G3 because its not cost-effective to gear up for a hardware + exclusive-software modular that’s based on the current OS du jour. You go to Eurorack etc. for that, because basically, a modular is like a cello, with a singular purpose. Memory and wavetables for them will always be nice but secondary, because a modular is hands-on to the bone. That’s why you can buy software *or* hardware modulars, but mixing the two kinda goes against the grain. I have no doubt that trying to serve a small G3 user base would just drain resources from their proven and more utilitarian sellers. Nord has made the right choices, which is why you see a lot of red in many rigs.

6. wonder if the sympathetic resonance is modeled? that would be interesting. haven’t heard samples do that.

   i’m sure you could make cool, weird sounds with this if you wanted, with a little creativity.

7. I can fully understand people expecting Synthtopia to concentrate on synth- and electronic music news commenting “yawn” on this.

   But for all of us readers playing in a band and being in the need of a lightweight portable good sounding source for piano-, e-piano and organ sounds the Nord Electro 5 will be a big step forward in the Nord Electro development, not at least because of the long time missed splitting and layering functions. This and the earlier introduced “real” draw bars on the “D” models will many users of the Electro up to v3 thinking about an upgrade.

   As a keyboard player having his roots in electronic music, I can fully understand the wish of a G3, but nowadays it seems that the only way to survive for a maker of “well priced” hardware instruments is to focus on live musicians, because most of the studio people will buy a new Macbook, a controller and some modular plugins instead of a modular hardware unit needing a computer to patch sounds that would cost them almost the same. 😉

8. I think this is a good move for Nord in the live player department. The 4D’s memory compacity was hilarious and that was the complaint of most users, so, they fixed it. Now, if they would only combine the Lead 4 and A1 features and add Wavetable modulation………….

9. This is a pro musician keyboard and the 4d is a dream. Fantastic quality throughout, nay Sayers are all the kind that make ‘sick beats on micro keyz’ nord make real instruments for people who actually have to lug gear up an down the country for gigs. Try jamming a b3, mellotron and rhodes piano into your tour van and there ain’t room for much else

   1. If you are trying to put a B-3, Rhodes or Mellotron in a van, you are seriously nuts and have bigger issues than getting people to help heft it all. 😛 There’s a lot to be said for the pleasure of laying your actual hands to an instrument, but I’ve had the privilege of playing all three for real and trust me, having them in a Receptor or Mainstage is way better when playing live. Its even better at home, since changing out a snarled Mellotron tape rack is something they make you do in Hell! (Tip: It can eat up an entire Saturday. Don’t ask.) Yes, you lose a little something by going digital, but you gain a lot more. My only snag: the onboard sample memory is just too restrictive. Kurzweil just put 16 GIGAbytes in the Forte. It seems a bit stingy not to offer at least 2, if not 4. That’s a more real-world amount of room in 2015. Nord’s library is too good to be hampered by a lot of swapping in and out.

10. Again a good and solid machine and wooden corners. Now a combination of the A4 and the A1 with wooden corners the A3.

11. I need a MIDI controller with a Semi Weighted Waterfall keyboard of this quality (I tried preivous version). Is there any? No. Why?

12. Good and in fact crucial improvements, especially increased memory capacity.

    But there are few important features missing which is why I probably never buy it:
    1. External zone/panel. Lack of this makes it very difficult use with external synths. Nord Stage has it and it’s very powerful feature but yet easy (and cheap?) to implement.
    2. Bender and mod.wheel. It’s a shame that Nord Sample library has all those sounds from Moogs, ARPs, Prophets etc,etc, but cannot bend them for example. You cannot have everything, but synth without these is a handicapped one. I don’t know if t responds to bender/wheel via MIDI. I doubt that.
    3. (Related to previous one:) Filter. Synth without filter…?!? Of course this one that you might want to control with wheel (or foot pedal).

    I am quite sure that these features could be implemented quite easily but Nord didn’t for a quite obvious reason: those are deserved for Stage owners. Let’s see if we get Stage 3 at NAMM….

    1. This is not a synth. Synth section is kind of layer sound maker for overall richness, nice bonus …

13. Was really hoping for a Stage 3 :(. Damnit Nord, how long are you going to make me wait.

    Btw those hoping for a Nord Modular G3, don’t hold your breath:

    “When we made the Nord Modular, we had a very nice community around it, but the demands from that community were increasing all the time, so the work developing a system like that takes a lot of software engineers. We were draining the company on the R&D department, for a very small market. So we almost killed ourselves. After that we said no more modular systems.

    “We still use the modular system in our work, almost daily. It’s very important to me. We use it almost like a laboratory; when you’re thinking of an idea for a new synthesiser you can use that to build it up, so it’s still a good system. I want to improve it but if I even whisper about improving it my software engineers and my partner go crazy…”

    http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/in-pictures-inside-the-nords-stockholm-factory-613549

14. More of these on stage and gigggin than the tripe from Roland …. but I still love my Nord Lead “3” … and apparently I’m in the minority on that 😉

15. Why no Wave 2?? This looks cool, but…why no Wave 2? Did Nord abandon development on that also?

16. holding out for the Nord Wave 2 or G3 or combiinned

17. Having gigged since the 70’s with the accompanying hassles of toting around my much loved Rhodes, various combo organs, Leslie, etc., I can say that for all their feet dragging, Nord is manufacturing the exact keyboard for my needs. The dirty Wirlies alone are worth the price of admission. And yes, love is messy.