Clavia Nord Electro 3 HP User manual

User Manual
Nord Electro 3
OS Version 3.x
Part No. 50316 Copyright Clavia DMI AB 2011
Print Edition 3.1

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| 3
1 Introduction
Thank you! .................... 4
About this manual............. 4
Disclaimer ..................... 4
OS and internal memory ...... 4
Factory presets ................ 4
Restoring the factory presets . . . . . . . . 4
OS upgrades .................. 4
2 Overview
Knobs & buttons .............. 5
Knobs.......................... 5
Selector buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
On/Offbuttons ................... 5
Shift button ...................... 5
Drawbars........................ 5
3 Connections
Audio connections ............. 6
Headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Left Out and Right Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Monitor In ....................... 6
USB Connection .................. 6
MIDI Connections.............. 6
MIDIOut ........................ 6
MIDI In .......................... 6
Pedal Connections............. 7
SustainPedal .................... 7
Rotor Pedal ...................... 7
ControlPedal .................... 7
4 Getting Started
About the programs........... 8
Select a program .............. 8
Select a program ............ 8
Edit a program ................ 8
Storing a program............. 9
The Live buffer ................ 9
Octave Shift ................... 9
Adding effects................. 9
Let’s try the wah effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Activate an amplifier emulation ....... 9
Selecting a piano or a sample10
Using the Organ...............10
The Rotary effect..............10
The Delay Electro 3 HP........10
5 Nord Electro 3 Reference
Masterlevelknob .................11
Organ section .................11
Organ Model button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
The B3 model....................11
The VX model....................11
TheFarfmodel ...................11
RotarySpeed ....................12
Vibrato/Chorus...................12
Percussion ......................12
Preset/Split ......................12
Using an additional keyboard . . . . . . . .12
Thedrawbars ....................13
OrganPresets ...................13
Store your own organ preset.........13
Piano section ..................13
Clavinetsound ...................13
Pick-uptype.....................13
Pick-up Type Description . . . . . . . . . . .13
Clav EQ .........................14
SampEnv.......................14
Piano Type.......................14
Mono...........................14
Model ..........................14
Piano section Electro 3 HP ....14
Acoustics .......................14
Dynamics .......................14
Program section ..............15
Up/Down buttons .................15
Display..........................15
Store/Store Org. Preset . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Prog A - Prog B ...................15
Live............................15
Instrument selectors ...............15
Shift............................15
Octave Shift......................15
Program section Electro 3 HP 16
LiveMode.......................16
Effects .........................16
EQ .............................16
Effect1 .........................16
Effect2 .........................16
Speaker/Comp...................16
Reverb..........................16
Delay / Reverb Electro 3 HP .........17
Feedback .......................17
PingPong.......................17
TempoTap ......................17
Gain............................17
6 The Menus
System Menu..................18
Memory Protect – On, Off ...........18
Output Routing ...................18
Transpose .......................18
Fine Tune........................18
Sustain Pedal Polarity ..............18
Sustain Pedal Configuration . . . . . . . . .18
Rotor Pedal Polarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Rotor Pedal Mode .................18
CtrlPedalType ...................18
Ctrl Pedal Type Electro 3 HP.........19
CtrlPedalMode ..................19
Organ Trig Mode ..................19
Drawbar Speed...................19
MIDI Menu.....................19
MIDI Channel.....................19
LowerChannel ...................19
Local Control.....................19
Control Change (CC) Mode..........19
Program Change Mode.............19
MIDI Split Mode...................19
Send CC ........................19
Dump One.......................19
DumpAll........................19
Sound Menu.................. 20
Treble Horn Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Treble Horn Acceleration........... 20
Bass Rotor Speed................ 20
Bass Rotor Acceleration ........... 20
Perc.SlowDecay ................ 20
Perc. Norm Level................. 20
Perc. Soft Level .................. 20
Tonewheel Mode................. 20
Perc Drawbar 9 Cancel ............ 20
KeyClickLevel .................. 20
7 Nord Sound Manager
System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Overview ......................21
The Toolbar ......................21
The Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Partition Memory Indicator . . . . . . . . . .21
File Formats..................... 22
The Quick Tour ............... 22
Transfer pianos to the Electro ....... 22
Deleting a piano ................. 22
Download a new sound . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Upload sounds from the Electro 3 . . . 22
Upload a complete partition ........ 23
Download sounds to the Electro 3 . . . 23
Organize the program partition...... 23
SearchBox..................... 23
Updates and samples............. 23
Nord Sample Editor........... 23
8 MIDI functions
About the MIDI implementation . . . . . .24
Keyboard velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Program change ..................24
MIDI Sysex (System Exclusive) . . . . . . .24
Nord Electro 3 with a sequencer......24
Connections.....................24
LocalOn/Off.....................24
MIDI Channel.....................24
Program Change..................24
Controllers.......................24
Controllers and “chasing” ...........24
Program and Controller dumps . . . . . 25
Sending program dumps . . . . . . . . . . 25
Sending MIDI Controller dumps . . . . . 25
Receive MIDI SysEx dumps . . . . . . . . 25
MIDI Controller list................ 25
MIDI Implementation Chart ......... 26
9 Index
Index ...........................27
Nord Electro 3User Manual

Thank you!
We’d first like to thank you for purchasing the Nord Electro 3. Our
goal when we developed the Nord Electro instruments was to create
the best emulations of traditional electromechanical keyboard instru-
ments on the market, and to make these instruments compact and
lightweight. With the Electro 3 we have taken our commitment a step
further, by upgrading the organ, the piano and the effects sections and
also by introducing the ability to use sampled instruments from the
Nord Sample Library in the Nord Electro 3.
The new addition to the series is the Electro 3 HP with a keybed that
has a weighted hammer action in a very light-weight package and
some additional features.
This allows us to e.g. include some of the fabulous Mellotron sounds in
the factory sound bank. Each and every piano and sample in the Nord
Electro 3 can be replaced by you, using the free Nord Electro 3 Sound
Manager application. New pianos and other sounds are found on the
enclosed Nord DVD and on the www.nordkeyboards.com web site.
No compromises, just a good selection of outstanding, classic key-
board sounds with true feel, from a natural keyboard response to the
authentic sound quality – that is what we have been pursuing during
the development. To make a great tool you have to put all the focus on
a few things and that is exactly what we tried to achieve. We hope that
you will have as much fun owning and using the instrument, as we had
developing it.
About this manual
You are probably very eager to start using your new instrument, and
we sure don’t want to keep you from having fun. We will try to cover all
the essential aspects on how to use the Electro 3 in the very first few
pages of this manual. After that follows the reference section where all
the functions are explained in detail.
The Electro 3 HP, the Electro 61 and the Electro 73 versions share
most of the features. The sections in this manual that explains the
additional Electro 3 HP features will be indicated with the Logo you see
here.
Disclaimer
All trademarks and brand names mentioned in this manual are the
property of their respective owner’s and are not affiliated or associated
with Clavia. These trademarks and brand names are only mentioned to
describe the types of sounds reproduced by Nord Electro 3.
OS and internal memory
The operating system, programs and pianos and samples in Nord
Electro 3 are stored in a Flash memory. A Flash memory keeps the
data also when the power is turned off. Another big advantage is that
you can replace data in the Flash memory at any time. This means that
you will be able to download OS upgrades, pianos and samples and
programs to your Nord Electro 3 from a computer. The Nord Electro 3
features a USB port for quick and easy download of new piano and/or
instrument samples.
Factory presets
The internal sound memory of Nord Electro 3 consists of 128 pro-
grams. In addition there is the Live buffer memory, which will continu-
ously store any changes as they are made, and remember these
settings after the power is turned off.
All of the 128 factory Programs of Nord Electro 3 can be replaced.
To make sure you don’t accidentally overwrite Programs you want to
keep, it’s a good idea to back up your sounds regularly on a computer
using the Nord Sound Manager application.
Restoring the factory presets
The factory Programs are available as Nord Sound Manager backup
files for download at the Nord web site at www.nordkeyboards.com or
on the included Nord DVD.
OS upgrades
The latest OS version for Nord Electro 3 series is available for download
at the www.nordkeyboards.com website.
only
1 Introduction
4 | NORD ELECTRO 3 USER MANUAL OS V3.X

The front panel of the Nord Electro 3 has four main areas, Organ,
Piano, Program and Effects. We’ll familiarize ourselves briefly with the
panel here and describe the functions in detail in the following chapters.
On the left part of the panel is the Master Level knob, the organ model
selector and the Rotary Speed section. The Master level controls the
entire instruments output level at the two output jacks and the head-
phone output. This control is not programmable, that particular func-
tionality is instead available in the effects section with the Gain control.
The Organ section is lit and active when the Organ selector in the
Program area is activated.
Moving towards the middle of the panel, the Piano section behaves just
as the organ. The controls are lit when the Piano selector is active.
The Program section contain the parameters and functions that are
used to select and store programs, to set the System, MIDI and Sound
functions and to select the instrument to be used with the Organ or
Piano selectors. We’ll describe the functions in this area in greater detail
starting at page 15.
The Effect section contains the functions of the effects. Please refer to
page 16 for more information.
The functions and settings of the System, MIDI and Sound menus are
conveniently printed to the right on the panel.
Knobs & buttons
Knobs
The knobs control the continuously variable pa-
rameters in the Nord Electro 3.
!A parameter value can be totally different from the knob’s physical
position when you load a Program. As soon as you start turning
the knob, the value will ‘snap’ to the knob’s physical position.
Selector buttons
Selector buttons are used to activate one setting
in an array. Selector buttons have a set of round
or triangular LEDs to indicate the current setting.
Press the button several times to cycle through the
possible options.
!Holding Shift and pressing a selector button (with the exception
of the Type button) will cycle through the settings in a counter
clockwise fashion.
On/Off buttons
On/Off buttons are used for activating a parameter
or a group of parameters such as effects.
Shift button
Some buttons have a secondary function, which
will be available if you hold down Shift while
pressing the button. The name of the secondary
function is printed below the button. Shift is also
used together with the Up/Down buttons when
you want to change a setting in the System, MIDI
or Sound menus.
Drawbars
The nine drawbars of Nord Elec-
tro3 are represented by up/down
buttons and LED chain graphs
instead of ordinary mechanical
drawbars. This gives you a big
advantage; when you change
presets, the correct drawbar set-
tings are shown immediately by
the LEDs.
2 Overview
2 OVERVIEW | 5

Audio connections
Headphones
This is where you connect a ¼" stereo connector from a pair of head-
phones.
Left Out and Right Out
The left and right line level outputs from the Nord Electro 3 are unbal-
anced. Use ¼" connectors to connect the Nord Electro 3 to an amplifier
or recording equipment.
The Nord Electro 3 is a stereo instrument, with separate signal paths for
the left and right audio channels. To properly experience the Electro 3,
use both outputs in a stereo operation.
The System functions allow you to separate the pianos/samples and
the organ sounds in the left and right outputs. Read more about this
functionality on page 18.
General guide on audio connections:
• Make all the connections before you turn on the power to your amplifier.
• Turn on the power to your amplifier last.
• Turn off the power to your amplifier first.
!Playing at a high volume level can result in hearing impairments
such as permanent hearing loss.
Monitor In
Use this to connect and monitor a signal from an mp3 or a CD player at
the Nord Electro 3’s headphone output. This allows you to e.g. rehearse
with the Electro 3 to pre-recorded music.
!Signals connected to this input will not be processed with the
Electro 3’s effects or appear at the Electro 3’s left and right output
jacks.
USB Connection
The USB connection is used for the Nord Electro to communicate with
a personal computer in order to update the OS or to add or replace
any of the piano and/or sampled sounds. The computer can run the
Nord Sound Manager application, or be used to transfer the operating
system if the unit needs to be updated.
!Computers running Microsoft Windows operating systems need
a driver for the USB connection to work. The driver can be found
on the enclosed Nord DVD, or at the www.nordkeyboards.com
website.
MIDI Connections
MIDI Out
MIDI connection used for sending keyboard and panel generated MIDI
data from the Nord Electro 3 to other equipment such as sound mod-
ules or computers.
MIDI In
MIDI connection used to receive MIDI data to the Nord Electro 3 from
other equipment such as keyboards or computers.
3 Connections
6 | NORD ELECTRO 3 USER MANUAL OS V3.X

Pedal Connections
The Nord Electro 3 has three pedal inputs; one for a sustain pedal, one
for a pedal to control the rotor speed and one for a control pedal (an
expression type pedal), which can be used to control various param-
eters.
Sustain Pedal
¼" connector for a switch type pedal. When a connected pedal is
operated, the notes you play will be sustained.
Rotor Pedal
¼" connector for a switch type pedal. When a connected pedal is
operated, the rotary speed will change.
!Two types of pedal polarities can be used with these inputs; you
select the one that applies to each pedal, in the System menu
which is described on page 18.
!It is possible to use only one pedal connected to the sustain pedal
input to control sustain for piano sounds and rotary speed selection
for organ sounds (see "Sustain Pedal Configuration" on page 18 for
details on how to configure this).
Control Pedal
¼" stereo connector for a pedal of the potentiometer type (also known
as expression pedals). A connected pedal can be used as a swell pedal
for the organs, a volume pedal for pianos and samples and also as a
controller for two of the effects: the P-wah and the ring modulator (RM).
When connecting an expression pedal to the Control Pedal input, you
should use a stereo cable with a Tip-Ring-Sleeve connector. Please
note that the pedal must have a stereo output jack. The resistance
range of a control pedal should be 10 or 50 kOhm. To simplify setup,
the most common pedal models (Roland, Yamaha, Ernie Ball and Fa-
tar) are pre-configured in the Nord Electro 3, and you simply select the
type of pedal which you want to use in the System menu. The System
Menu is described on page 18.
3 CONNECTIONS | 7

About the programs
Complete sound settings are stored in the Program memory of the
Nord Electro 3. This memory area has 128 locations that are numbered
1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, etc up to 64B.
The Electro 3 HP organizes the memory in 32 banks with 4 programs
each.
Every program can be edited and replaced as you wish. A complete
set of the factory programs are available on the Nord DVD that accom-
panies the unit and on our website.
Select a program
Press the Up or Down button repeatedly until you’ve selected the
desired program number. The program will be loaded immediately.
Press the Prog A or Prog B buttons to quickly switch between the
program number A or program number B. Press Shift and Up/Down
to scroll continuously in the program bank.
Select a program
Use the Up/Down buttons on the Nord Electro 3 HP to select the bank
and the program buttons 1 ~4 to select the programs within each
bank.
Edit a program
Editing a program is just as easy as grabbing a knob and change a set-
ting, or press a button to select a different setting. The knob’s physical
position isn’t always as the stored setting in the program that is active,
but as soon as you start turning a knob, the parameter will snap to the
knob’s position.
When you have edited a program, a dot will appear in the lower right
display corner next to the program number. This will alert you to the
fact that the program has been edited but not yet saved. If you select a
new program without saving, any edits you have made will be lost and
the program will have its original settings the next time you select it.
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4 Getting Started
Let’s take a few minutes to get familiar with the Electro 3. The user interface is designed to be as intuitive as possible, and to perform as well as you
do in a live situation. We hope that you soon will feel confident in using it, and by following this short chapter, we will go through most of the functions.
8 | NORD ELECTRO 3 USER MANUAL OS V3.X

Storing a program
If you are happy with an edit that you have
made, you should probably save or Store the
program.
!There is a Memory Protect function that
is set to On when the Electro 3 leaves
the Nord Factory. This has to be turned
Off in the System Menu before you can
save a program.
!The setting of the memory protection will be remembered even if
the Electro 3 is turned off.
1 Press Shift + System and use the Up/Down buttons to select
the Memory Protect Option – this is the very first option in the
System menu. Set the memory protection to Off by pressing and
holding Shift and the Up or Down buttons. Exit the System menu
by pressing the Prog A / System button again.
2 Press the Store button.
The program number LEDs starts flashing.
3 Select a new location where you want to store the program.
Use the Up/Down buttons and the program buttons to navigate to
a new program location if you do not want to overwrite the original
program.
4 Press the Store button a second time to confirm your choice.
The edited program has now replaced the previous one in the location
you specified.
!To cancel the procedure, press the Shift button before you press
Store the second time.
!With Memory Protect set to Off, a double tap on the Store button
will store a Program in its original location.
The Live buffer
The special Live buffer can be described
as a “live program memory”. If you activate
the Live button, all changes to the panel set-
tings you make will be continuously saved. If
you switch the power off, or select another
program, the settings are still stored in the
Live memory, so when you power up next
time (or return to the Live memory) all set-
tings will be exactly as they were when you left them.
If the Live memory is selected and you decide you wish to store the
settings permanently as a program you can do so using the stan-
dard methods (see above). You can also store programs into the Live
memory location, in which case the program settings will replace the
current Live memory settings.
Octave Shift
Press either of the Octave Shift buttons to
shift the pitch up or down in whole octaves
within the instrument’s note range. Each
instrument has a finite note range, read more
about this in “Octave Shift” on page 15.
Adding effects
1 Select a program, e.g. number 1A
which is a Grand Piano with a hint of
reverb.
2 Turn on Effect 2 (the On LED should
be lit) and press repeatedly on the
Effect 2 selector.
The effect options are indicated with the
selector LEDs and changes in a cyclical,
clockwise fashion for each time the selec-
tor is pressed.
Some of the effects have three options that
indicate the depth of the effect. Flang1 is
the shallowest version, Flang 2 is a more pronounced effect and when
both Flang 1 and Flang 2 LEDs are lit, you have selected the most
dramatic tremolo effect.
3 Turn the effect rate knob.
This changes the rate of the active effect.
4 Hold Shift and press repeatedly on the effect selector.
This allows you to reverse through the effect selections.
5 Turn off the effect.
If you now continue to press on the effect selector after the effect is
turned off, the effect setting will change even though the effect is not
active.
!This method can be used to select a certain effect setting while
playing, without affecting the sound until you actually activate the
effect.
Let’s try the wah effect
1 Turn on Effect 1 and activate the A-Wa.
The A-Wa is a dynamic Wah-wah effect. It will affect the sound de-
pending on the volume of the signal.
2 Play a few notes with varying velocity while turning the Effect 1
knob.
!The P-Wa is a manual Wah-wah effect that can be controlled
manually by turning the knob while playing or by using a control
pedal connected to the Control Pedal input on the rear panel.
Activate an amplifier emulation
1 Press the Speaker/Comp button to activate the Amp emulation.
The Speaker/Comp LED will be lit.
4 GETTING STARTED | 9

2 Press repeatedly on the selector to cycle through the various options.
The knob controls the drive for the three amps and the rotary simulator,
and the amount when the compressor is selected.
Selecting a piano or a sample
1 Make sure that the Piano instrument selector is active.
2 Press repeatedly on the Piano Type selector to cycle through the
six types.
3 Select the Grand and press the
Model button.
This allows you to select the various
Grand’s within this particular type.
4 Press the Type selector again until the
Samp Lib is activated.
Use the Model selector to select one of the
samples that are included in the Electro 3
from the factory.
5 Press the Samp Env button repeat-
edly.
This will cycle through the four options for
the sample’s attack and velocity settings.
6 Press and hold Shift and the Samp
Env button.
This allows you to select one of the four
available release time settings.
!This button doubles as the Clavinet EQ selector, when the Clavinet
type is active.
Using the Organ
1 Press the Organ instrument selector.
This activates the Organ section.
2 Press the Organ Model selector repeat-
edly to cycle through the three organs – the
B3, Vox and Farfisa emulations.
The settings for the three organ sounds are made using the digital
drawbars. The Farfisa uses these in a switch mode, with only two set-
tings for each.
3 Make a setting with the drawbars and then press the Preset/
Split button.
This activates the second preset, which allows you to keep two dif-
ferent settings for an organ sound available from the panel at any
time. The settings of both Presets 1 and 2 are stored in the Electro 3’s
program memory.
4 Press and hold Shift and the Preset/Split button.
This activates the organ split mode. The keyboard will be split at C4.
The lower half will use the Preset 1/Lo setting; the upper half will use
the Preset 2/Up setting.
!If you press and hold both the Shift and the Preset/Split buttons
for a couple of seconds, the Split LED will begin to flash and you
can press a key on the keyboard to set a new split point as long
as these buttons are held down. The key you press will be the first
upper manual key.
The Rotary effect
The rotary effect adds some great sonic drama
to the organs, but can of course be used with
any other sound as well. The Electro 3 rotary
has three available speeds: fast, slow and
stop. Stop does not disengage the effect; it
only stops the rotating speakers
1 Make sure that the Speaker/Comp effect
is activated and select the Rotary by
pressing the effect selector.
The drive knob now controls the overdrive of the rotary amplifier.
2 Press the Slow/Stop button in the Rotary Speed section to the
left on the panel, to cycle between the Fast and Slow speeds of
the rotary.
The rotors will speed up and slow down, producing a nice swirly effect
without the negative side effects that e.g. alcohol intake might induce.
3 Press the Stop mode button to activate this one-speed mode.
The Stop Mode LED will be lit.
4 Press repeatedly on the Slow/Stop button to cycle between
Fast and Stop.
The rotary will now emulate the functionality of an early, one speed
original rotary speaker that had only the fast and the stopped rotary
speed options.
!If you connect a foot switch to the rotor pedal input, you can
control the rotary speed with this pedal.
The Delay
1 Activate the delay/reverb.
2 Hold Shift and press the reverb selector
button. The Delay LED lights up.
3 Tap the desired tempo on the Tempo Tap
button.
4 You can also set the delay time by hold-
ing the Tempo Tap button and adjust the
tempo with the Up/Down buttons.
5 Adjust the number of repeats (Dly1, Dly2
etc.) by pressing the selector button repeatedly.
This finishes our little tour; we hope that you now have the
initial knowledge on how to operate most of the functions on
the panel.
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