Nord electro 2 sw73 or NE2 rack + midi controller?

[ardude]

Hello everyone! I've got a question and I hope you can give me some helpful feedback

 

I'm a student and I play in a cover band, use a lot of piano and hammond patches, but we're also planning on playing more modern electronic music (david guetta, Rihanna et cetera). I've set my mind on buying a nord electro 2 Sw73 for a while now (it's just perfect). I'll be using the nord electro mostly live on stage and in the practice room. My current board, kurzweil PC3X is broken and the repair bills are quite expensive (PC3X at the shop currently but maybe the PC3X can't be repaired). I'm planning to replace it with a novation mininova and a nord eletro 2 to give me all the sounds I need. 

 

I was planning to buy a second-handed nord electro rack 2 for the price of 380 euro's. I've never owned a rack + midi controller before (always "normal" synthesizers or keyboards), so I'm really inexperienced when it comes to make this decision. 

To complicate things a bit, I just got a phone call by someone who can sell me a NE2 electro SW73 for 700 euro's (was not expecting this at all). 

 

Are the nord electro 2 semi weighted keys worth paying 320 euro's extra for the keyboard. Or can I just as easily get a midi keyboard to serve as my set of keys and pay a lot less? How good are the keys on the Nord electro 2 and what quality of keys can you find on midi keyboards (especially in accordance to the price). Aside from the quality of the keys I also don't like to be surrounded by a huge amount of keyboards on stage and stand passively next to the drummer. I prefer having a small amount of keyboards in front of me because this feels more authentic. 

 

For example I prefer (both great players, just talking about the place they are on stage):

 

 

over

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep51oQXDA_I

 

To my surprise, it's quite hard to find good information by google on the comparison between getting a rack + midi controller and getting the actual keyboard. Therefor I really hope you could give me feedback on whether it's a good idea to get the rack (for 380 euro's) or get the keyboard for (700 euro's). I've never owned a rack or midi controller before, but I'm guessing many of you have and can make a good comparison on what the advantages and disadvantages are. unfortunately I don't really have a situation in which I can demo and compare the nord electro 2 SW73 with the NE2 rack. I need to make my decision on whether to buy a nord electro 2 SW 73 or the NE2 rack this monday, so I hope you're able to give me some feedback before tomorrow  . Thanks in advance! 

[AnotherScott]

Functionally, there is essentially no difference between the NS2-73 and the combination of the NE2 rack plus a keyboard, except for the ergonomics of having the controls built into the same box.

 

For the money, I'd be inclined to get the rack, and then maybe a NumaCompact. It's lightweight, and I think its action is a reasonable compromise if you must play piano and organ from the same action. It will also give you a better piano sound than what's in the NE2. It has front panel buttons that make it easy to switch between playing its internal sounds or playing the external sounds (i.e. the rack).

[JeffLearman]

 

I have an NE2/74, and I love it as a top board, for organ, wurli, and clav, above a fully-weighted keyboard for piano, or by itself for rehearsals. It's really great in those application, being lightweight and great sounds & features.  (If I hadn't added the low E, I'd rather have the 61; I can't abide the missing low E!)

 

Its piano sound isn't good enough for gigs or even jams.

 

Anyone who's serious about Hammond needs an unweighted or semi-weighted keyboard. Anyone who's serious about piano needs a hammer-action keyboard. Going with a single keyboard is a compromise. (I've done it, and managed -- compromises are fine when the situation calls for it. So I do mean "compromise" and not "deal-breaker".)

 

The problem with a rack is if you plan to have a 2-board solution, you've now unnecessarily complicated your rig. The NE2/73 would be far better in the long run, in that case. If using it alone is a stopgap, it's tolerable -- and frankly, the action, while bad for piano, is less annoying than the piano sound.

 

Contrary to my opinion, though, I know a serious pro player on another board who uses the NE2 rack and loves it, playing it from any number of backline fully-weighted boards. He's a monster player. (The one time I got to see him play, it was on an acoustic grand.) But I think he's the only person I know who considers the NE2 acoustic piano sound to be adequate for gigs. I think he's just so damn talented he can find the virtues in anything and make it sound good. Lesser beings like me depend on good sounds to pull it off.

 

I don't know what NE2 prices are, across the pond. I got mine used, 3 or 4 years ago, for US$1100, which was a good deal at the time (typical was over $1200). They've come down a bit here, but $1000 isn't unusual, and I believe that's not far off from 700 Euros.

 

Meanwhile, NE2/racks are VERY hard to find. If it ends up being what you want and you pass it up, ... sigh. I'd argue against it, though. The greatest things about the NE2 are how light and easy it is during setup, plus all the top panel controls being within easy reach. Using a rack and a controller you'd lose that simplicity and add weight, and the knobs would be farther away.

 

I'd spend the extra and get the keyboard, and then save up for a good fully-weighted bottom board. It's great to be able to play piano and Hammond at the same time!