Nord Electro 3 73-Note Semi Wieghted

With the introduction of the Nord Electro 3, the legacy of the original Electro and the knowhow that have shaped some of the other Nord models have been combined. The Electro 3 features a great organ section, fantastic pianos, a selection of extremely versatile effects and a feature that allows the Electro 3 to use any samples from the Nord Sample library. This is the performance keyboard that sets the highest standard based on its impressive sound quality.

Easy-to-use manager

The Nord Sound Manager is an easy-to-use tool that allows you to load the Electro 3 with new pianos and samples, and to arrange and make backups of the memories.
These operations are done by simple drag and drop operations or from toolbar- or menu activated actions in the application.
This application is available for free to Electro owners, and is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OSX.

Sample Library

The Electro 3 is compatible with the Nord Sample Library, with the free Nord Sample Editor software you can super-charge your Electro 3 with your own samples, or use the free samples provided by us.

Portable

Having a bunch of great pianos, a tower of effects and three vintage organs in your studio is fun, but the Electro 3 is designed to allow you to easily bring all those great sounds to the gig.
The Nord Electro 3 is extremely lightweight and portable, yet sturdy enough to cope with the rigors of the touring life. With the optional gig bag, you can carry this massive power in one hand; weighing in at merely 7,6 or 9,1 kg (15.3/18.2 lb).

Nord Piano Library

New instruments are being added on a regular basis to the Nord Piano Library.
These additions can be downloaded for free by Electro 3 users. More details about the library and additional sounds to download can be found in the Libraries Area.

XL memory capacity

The Nord Electro 3 has a flash memory for pianos and samples with a total size of 256 MB. 68 MB of the memory is reserved for the sample partition. The program memory holds 128 programs.

Vintage libraries

A great addition to the electro-mechanical bliss in the Electro 3 is the ability to use the fabulous Mellotron and Chamberlin Libraries. These samples are available for free in the Sample Library area, and getting them into a 3 is achieved with a simple drag and drop operation using the Nord Sound Manager.

Tailored effects

It doesn't matter if you are in for a discreet pan or chorus, or want to get real nasty with the amp and speaker simulations or the ring modulator; you are going to love the smoking effects in the Electro 3. Ever had the idea to put a 9 foot Concert Grand in a very small room and process it with a wha-pedal, through a rotary speaker at full distortion? Now you can.

Monitor input

Just plug in your music player to the Electro 3 to be able to play along, rehearse or jam with previously recorded music without the need of an external mixer or sound system.
The signal that is present at this input will be monitored through the Electro 3's headphone output.

The demands from a performing keyboard player haven't really changed all that much, good quality never goes out of style. We just want to offer you some of the best stuff we have, in a affordable and easy-to-use instrument. We hope that you will have as much fun owning and using the Electro 3, as we have had developing it.

The Electro 3 has a semi-weighted keyboard with a waterfall profile. This is a great set of keys to play organ and pianos with.

The Nord Electro 3 is compatible with the Nord Piano library. It takes full advantage of the Library's multitude of velocity layers, pedal-down samples and extremely high quality samples providing you with an unprecedented expressiveness. Any current or future piano that is available in the Nord Piano Library will also automatically be available to the Nord Electro 3.
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Exquisite pianos

Right from the start, the Electro 3 is loaded with a great selection of pianos from the Nord Piano Library v5. There are two acoustic grand pianos, the Grand Lady-D and the Studio Grand 2. You will also find the CP80 electric grand and the Rain Piano upright. Electric piano aficionados will love the selection of the tine-based types; a Mk I, a Suitcase Mk I, a Mk II and the Bright Tines, all with their unique and distinctive personalities. A great Wurlitzer A200 is of course present, as is the mighty Clavinet D6.

The Clavinet type includes the Harpsichords as well, with one Italian harpsichord in the factory sound bank, and more to choose from in the Nord Piano Library download area. Each and every one of these piano sounds can be replaced if you wish. All the sounds in the Nord Piano Library are available for free.
Samples from the Nord Sample Library

Not only loaded with great piano sounds, the Electro 3 contains some great samples to add more flavor to your sonic arsenal. You'll find some of the classic Mellotron sounds, a selection of strings, a celeste, a vibraphone and many others. And just as with the piano sounds, all of the samples can be replaced if the factory selection does not suit your immediate needs.

You can add virtually any sound you want to the Nord Electro 3. Sounds that we offer for free are from the Mellotron and Chamberlin libraries or any other instrument from the expanding and extensive Nord Sample Library.

By using the free Nord Sample Editor, you can add any sound you want to the Electro 3. The Sample Editor can use audio files in the .wav format and is equipped with some great tools to assist you in getting the results you want. Mapping several samples across the keyboard or creating perfect loops has never been easier.

You can even start assembling your own samples today in the computer, without having the Nord Electro 3 present - just download the Editor, the manual and fire away. The Nord Sample Editor is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OSX.

The sample memory in the Electro 3 is 68 MB and our high efficient lossless compression algorithm makes it possible for us to use samples of up to three times the size compared to a standard linear sample player.
The samples are automatically encoded within the Nord Sample Editor and decoded back in realtime when played on the keyboard. This way we can preserve all the important character of a sound without having to compromise in quality.

The growling sound, and the soul of a B3 is hard to replicate faithfully in a digital instrument. Sampling is definitely not an option if you want to create a living, breathing tonewheel sound. We've spent years perfecting our digital models and the Electro 3 contains our award winning second generation tonewheel model.

The attention to minute details is stunning, the Electro 3 is even equipped with four selectable tonewheel modes, that stretches from a clean sound to battered unit with the most dramatic setting; vintage 3. This setting even produces a sound in the background of its own, even if you don't touch any keys.
It's all in the details

Every function in a B3 has been considered and examined in great detail, to make the Electro 3 as true to the original sound as possible. There are key clicks derived from the original busbar behavior and the energy robbing that produces the gentle compression when you do that massive palm smear across the keyboard. To get the response right, we have included the option to trigger the organ sounds at the very top of a key's range, making it react just as fast as the original. And sometimes we couldn't resist adding functions that went a bit further, like the option to either include or exclude the 9th drawbar when Percussion was activated.
Vox and Farfisa

The Farfisa* and Vox* models are just as impressive as the B3. The massive savage sound created by their 12-top oscillator frequency-divider designs is of course another nosample zone in the Electro 3; you have the same behavior and unique response from our models as in the original instruments. The Farfisa Compact Deluxe, considered by many to be the mother of transistor organs, involves routing matrixes and complex filter combinations that offer a tailored sound with massive energy and high-end.

The Vox* Continental's brute design brings you a more hollow tone, but with a very intense character. Both these transistor organs have their own unique, irreplaceable personalities. Combine them with any of the Electro 3's speaker simulations, add some distortion, adjust the EQ and they will definitely get you through any organ gig with flying colors.
Organ split

Using the Organ Split mode, you can play two different organ registrations in a dual manual fashion, one sound on either side of a user definable keyboard split point. Connect a second MIDI keyboard to the Electro 3, to use the organ split functionality, but in a true, dual manual setup.
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Great Effects

The Nord Electro 3 is equipped with a great selection of high quality effects including a lush sounding reverb with five different algorithms. There is also a selection of tremolo, panning, wah-wah, phaser, flanger and chorus effects, and a ring modulator.

User can further sculpt their final sound by choosing from a selection of three amplifier simulations that can add any amount of grit and distortion from gentle to manic levels.
A three-band EQ with sweepable mid-range and a compressor can be added to the final stage of the audio path.
Enhanced rotary speaker emulator

The rotary speaker emulator originates from the award winning Nord C1 Combo Organ, with its acclaimed sound quality. This rotary speaker emulator incorporates the acoustic variations that occur when a physical speaker spreads the sound in a room, providing the full experience of when the air is moved around.

The Electro 3's rotary also features a great function in the addition of the Rotary Stop Mode. This allows users to switch between fast and stopped rotation and back again by using either the controls on the panel or with a foot pedal connected to the Rotor Pedal input. This is a crucial functionality that mimics the behavior of early one-speed original rotary speaker units.

Those of you who are picky about the rotary behaviors will be pleased to find several user adjustable settings like speed and acceleration times for both treble and bass rotors. These options, as well as all the other System, MIDI and Sound Menu functions are written on the right side of the panel, a great help for all those moments when the manual decided to stay at home.

* Steinway, Wurlitzer, Hohner, Clavinet, Farfisa and Vox are trademarks of their respective owners and are not affiliated or associated with Clavia. These trademarks are mentioned here as a reference to a sound only. Leslie is mentioned to describe a connector standard.