I have a Nord Electro 2. What 2nd keyboard for 60s/70s soul???

[Limeydog]

Title really. I’m a keyboard noob, come over from guitar although childhood playing piano. I want a two keyboard set up so left and right hand can cover different electro piano and organ parts on 60s soul. Two Nord Electro 2s or am I missing something??! Thanks in advance…

 

[Hank]

I am in an old school soul band. I use a Hammond XK-3c with lower keyboard, Roland BK7m sound module, and Leslie Studio 12. Doesn't quite get me to my 1968 B3 with 122RV Leslie sound but at least I can lift it myself.

 

[mwtzzz]

Title really. I’m a keyboard noob, come over from guitar although childhood playing piano. I want a two keyboard set up so left and right hand can cover different electro piano and organ parts on 60s soul. Two Nord Electro 2s or am I missing something??! Thanks in advance…

You've got the organ covered with the Electro, what you need is piano. The Nord Stage has good piano. So does the Yamaha YC73. Both these are portable enough to take to gigs.

If you don't need to go to gigs, then you could get a digital piano.

 

[anotherscott]

You might prefer to play your piano sounds from a more piano-like action (the NE2's action is well-suited for organ). What's your budget? How heavy a board would you be willing to travel with?

 

[mwtzzz]

Actually even the Numa StudioLogic has a good piano, at 1/3 the cost of the Stage and the YC.

 

[Limeydog]

Thanks for these. Already uber helpful with the guidance that the second keyboard should focus on the piano side. I do need it to be portable my budget is £600/$750 but I’m happy to get second hand. I’d been thinking that on quite a lot of soul you may get Rhodes and organ hence my thought of another Electro. Looking into your suggestions above online. Tyvm

 

[anotherscott]

Some possibilities in a lightweight hammer action board that might be available in your price range (used), that I think are likely have piano/EP sounds as good or better than what's in the Electro 2 (allowing for the fact that the quality of sounds can be subjective): Kurzweil SP6, Casio PX5S (or PX560), Korg Kross 88, Yamaha MOX8. The Casios have some nice additional EP sounds that can be downloaded for free from the Casio forum. There are two versions of the Kross, either should be fine, but you're more likely to find the older one in your price range.

 

[happyrat1]

Numa Compact 2X.

Well within your budget and meets all your requirements.

 

[Limeydog]

Thanks guys, yes I've watched the above review of Numa and this seems like a good choice if I want to buy new... looking into those EP suggestions Another Scott thanks.

 

[anotherscott]

Numa Compact 2X.

Well within your budget and meets all your requirements.

Thanks guys, yes I've watched the above review of Numa and this seems like a good choice if I want to buy new... looking into those EP suggestions Another Scott thanks.

Note that the Numa Compact 2X (and the cheaper Numa Compact 2 which is the same in its piano functionality) does not have a hammer action, it doesn't feel as much like playing a piano/EP as the ones I was talking about.

If you decided a non-hammer action (something that feels closer to your Nord) is also something you want to look into further, there are some other options you could consider as well. If you want to look at those, would 61 keys be enough or do you want at least 73? (I don't know how many keys your Electro 2 is, it came both ways.)

 

[happyrat1]

The OP said he was looking to cover mainly organs and EPs.

I seriously doubt he was looking for a concert grand action.

For organs and EPs the Numa is excellent.

 

[anotherscott]

The OP said he was looking to cover mainly organs and EPs.

I seriously doubt he was looking for a concert grand action.

For organs and EPs the Numa is excellent.

He has an Electro 2 which is covering organs and EPs, BUT he wants to be able to play organ and EP at the same time, on a 2-keyboards setup. Which means there's no need for the second board to have organ. (Even if he wants to occasionally do "2 manual organ," there's no need for a second organ board, it would be better to take advantage of the Electro's feature that allows a second board to be used as its own lower manual, which keeps the Leslie effect properly in sync for both organ sounds.)

That's why I suggested that what will actually best address what he's trying to do is to add a board for the piano stuff... where, ideally, he can also address a second issue, that pianos play better from a piano-oriented action.

(As an aside, the Electro 2 is a better organ than the Numa Compact 2X.)

Adding an additional wrinkle, Limeydog, if your goal is literally only "so left and right hand can cover different electro piano and organ parts," you don't necessarily have to add a second board... you could also replace your Electro 2 with something else that supports keyboard split. If you are happy with Nord, for example, you could sell your Electro 2 and look for a used Electro 4, 5, or 6, which added that feature. But of course, when you split, you have fewer keys instantly available for either sound, so that could be a reason to still prefer to use two boards.

 

[anotherscott]

too late to edit... the Electro 5 and 6 do splits, the 4 did not.

 

[Limeydog]

Thanks for all this, honestly it's all useful reading to me. I am specifically trying to address playing 60s soul music, where it would be useful to be able to have two of the core sounds from the genre at the same time, one for each hand or for swapping in song. so either two organ sounds, or a pair from organ, Rhodes and piano. I'm not looking to get a better piano performance per se, although the discussion here has got me thinking. Maybe I should be and that is partly why I asked the forum because if someone out there plays a lot of 60s soul an knows they are always falling back on a piano on one of the two instruments then this would make sense. But Currently, although I know it receives criticism, I'm happy with the piano sound and action of the Nord 2 (probably because Im simply not that good).

The comment about splitting is valid to a point. The Nord 2 does split but only with Organ. So this is an option I have considered but it limits me to an organ and organ rather than two different instruments such as organ and Rhodes or piano. The Numa seems to be the answer, my only reservation is that it does the whole MIDI keyboard link to a computer thing which I don't need and won't use. So I am just mulling over some of the other suggestions, but I expect I will get a Numa.

 

[anotherscott]

The Nord 2 does split but only with Organ. So this is an option I have considered but it limits me to an organ and organ rather than two different instruments such as organ and Rhodes or piano.

Right, and that's something that was addressed on the Electro 5 and 6 (as well as options from other brands). those let you split an organ and a piano or an organ and a Rhodes (though still not a piano and a rhodes, though other boards--including the Numa--let you do that as well).

The Numa seems to be the answer, my only reservation is that it does the whole MIDI keyboard link to a computer thing which I don't need and won't use. So I am just mulling over some of the other suggestions, but I expect I will get a Numa.

Pretty much any board that does everything someone wants will also do some things they don't care about. ;-) Numa is a good value, and is even one of the options that would let you split piano and organ on a single board. I'd say your Electro will be the better sounding organ and maybe also Rhodes, but you may still find the Numa sounds good enough, which would also allow you to travel with just one board instead of two; and with 88 keys total, not worry so much about running out of keys for one sound or the other.

Though if you will continue to be using the Nord regardless and are strictly looking at your new purchase as a second board (your original proposition), then you won't need organ sounds in your second keyboard, and therefore you could save some money by buying the Numa Compact 2 instead of the 2x. That said, even if you don't need your second board to have anything but acoustic and electric pianos, there are some potential advantages to the 2X for you:

... it does give you the option of being able to sometimes use just the one board for everything, even if that's not always what you want to do

... when using it in conjunction with the Electro as a lower manual for organ, you can set its 9 sliders to be drawbar controls

... you'd have the option of using the Numa for drawbar organ while using the Electro for a piano or Rhodes sound, in case you prefer the Nord's piano/EP for some songs (whether because of sound or action), as long as the Numa's organ sound is still good enough.

If none of those three things are important to you, then the cheaper Numa Compact 2 (and for that matter, some other boards as well) could become options.

 

[delaware dave]

Sell the electro 2 and purchase an electro 5 or 6 (73 key). That version will allow you to split the keyboard so that you can play organ and a piano variation at the same time by splitting the keybed (organ above/below the split point and non-organ below/above the split point). So one keyboard will do the work of two. Less to carry plus the 5/6's sounds are improved.

 

[Limeydog]

Delawar Dave you just entered the matrix with that thought!!! I hadn't even contemplated this... it would be a great solution if I can make the numbers add up... you are right that's its close to the budget I have - its a very cool thought. Really got me thinking.

 

[anotherscott]

Delawar Dave you just entered the matrix with that thought!!! I hadn't even contemplated this... it would be a great solution if I can make the numbers add up... you are right that's its close to the budget I have - its a very cool thought. Really got me thinking.

LOL, I made the same suggestion in post #12!

 

[Limeydog]

LOL, I made the same suggestion in post #12!

It's a good suggestion. Having looked in to it II might be a little short on bucks to do it tho.