Clavia Nord Electro 2 - 73, 61 and Rack

Made by Swedish firm Clavia, the Nord Electro's stated aim is to provide the most accurate emulation available of classic electromechanical keyboard sounds. Three models are available; 73- and 61-note keyboards (both with semi-weighted "waterfall" keys), and a rack-mount module.

The Electro's front panel is in two parts; the left-hand side is a dedicated digital Hammond emulation while the right is devoted to sample-based electric piano sounds. The organ and piano functions share a DSP unit, including Leslie simulation. There is no facility to use organ and piano sounds simultaneously.

Unlike most clonewheel instruments, the Electro has no physical drawbars. Instead, it uses nine pairs of chunky pushbuttons (color-coded in standard Hammond drawbar fashion), each of which is placed below an LED "ladder" display showing the "position" of the "drawbar" from 0 to 8. The bottom button of each pair increases the footage level and the top one decreases it.

The Nord Electro has rapidly become the industry standard for an alternative to vintage electric pianos, and its upgraded form, the Electro2 boasts a fully functional sample-based recreation of Hohner's Clavinet D6 among others. Earlier models can be upgraded to version 2 via USB from the Web. The original Electro's organ facility suffered from a few bugs and quirks - these have been fixed in the version 2 operating system.