There's no doubt that the tonewheel organ is the grandfather of keyboard instruments, and its sound is as relevant and useful now as it has ever been. Modern pop, rock, and country music is still saturated with organ parts, inspired by the classic music recorded by Steve Winwood, Jimmy Smith, John Lord, and Kieth Emerson. Tonewheel organs, though, are big, bulky instruments that are often quite difficult to carry around, and their cost puts them out of reach for most musicians. In recent years, clonewheel organs - keyboards that emulate tonewheel organs by producing the sound digitally - have dominated, yet their prices and weights rarely make them a practical substitute for the real thing.

Enter the Nord C1 Combo Organ, a dual-manual clonewheel with all of the massive vintage sound of its tonewheel forebears, with a price and weight that make it accessible to most musicians. At just 33 pounds, the C1 is the most portable organ available.

What makes classic tonewheel organs sound the way they do is a complex set of electromechanical interactions - metal discs rotate beneath magnetic pickups to produce the fundamental sound, and mechanical drawbar positions regulate the volume of component waveforms. Instead of merely imitating the result of these interactions, Clavia has used advanced modeling technology to emulate the individual components of the tonewheel organ, making the resulting sound more authentic than any other clonewheel in the world.

The C1, though, isn't just a tonewheel clone. Included on the instrument are two transistor organ models. In the 1950s, 60s, an 70s, transistor organs provided an alternative to tonewheel organs, and their sound was just as popular. Transistor organ parts made songs like "96 Tears" and "House of the Rising Sun" hits. The C1 includes two of the most popular transistor organs from that era - based on the Vox™ Continental and Farfisa™ Compact Deluxe - both as faithfully emulated as the C1's tonewheel model.

Apart from its size an weight, the C1 provides many other useful benefits. Not only is the C1 easy to transport, but its compact size makes it an easy fit in home studios or small performance stages. The semi-weighted waterfall action provides a playing experience akin to original organs. The C1's metal chassis makes it strong enough to survive any gig, and the lack of moving parts sustains its life by removing potential service issues. Rich on-board effects give you the sound-sculpting tools to not only enhance your organ performance, but provide sonic opportunities that never existed with classic organs.

Whether you're a pro, a weekend warrior, hired studio gun, prog rocker, head of your own organ trio, blues cat, gospel band leader, or just laying down some texture fort a singer-songwriter, the C1 is the best organ you can get under your hands. Click on the buttons to the right to get more information about the C1 and to hear audio examples.