Clavia NORD-LEAD

Clavia NORD-LEAD

Added: 18-Dec-98 | Author: admin | New price: NORD-LEAD-1 : Ł (Keys) 999, (Rack) 799 ......NORD-LEAD-2: Ł (Keys) 1495, (Rack) 1295 | S/H price: ??

Company Link: No company link

Category: Gear / synth / modelling poly

Ok... the Nord Lead is not a new synth, it's been around a few years. I aint ever used one, but I just wanted to add it to the list, as after all, it's one of the main competitors in the Virtual Analog race.

The NORD-LEAD-1, is pretty cheap now compared to it's released price which was, if I remember right, about 1400 ish (UK)... You get a 4 part, 4 voice modelling synth, with 2 oscillators per voice.... so it's 4 seperate monosynths, or a 4 voice polysynth. You can expand the unit to go to 12 voices with an 8 voice expansion add-on, that also offers extra patch storage banks via PCMCIA cards.

All the controls on the Nord's have a dedicated control knob.... and they all output midi... and of course all the parameters recieve midi to, with some nifty extra's like midi trigger routing to control the LFO's or Arpeggiator clock.

Both units are versatile, fat sounding studio or live machines, well respected and well rated.

Anyhow... I just leave the spec's, cos there's nothing I can say except they do sound nice and fat... Hopefully, some Nord-Lead users will add comments to give us a real user experience.

The NORD-LEAD-2, is a higher power unit available again as Keyboard or Rack, this unit bumps the voices up to 16, retains the 4 part multi-mode, but gives you 4 seperate outputs to mix 'em on seperate channels.....You also get a Sine wave oscillator choice, ring modulation, distortion on the filter and extra LFO wave coices and destinations amongst others.

Again... I haven't had a chance to try this one either... so again, I'll just add the spec's, and hope for some cool user notes... No demo audio seems to be available from the Uk distributor, so I cant really say if it's possible to get some RA of these units, unless I go and get a demo somewhere.... anyhow... here's the spec's... add yer comments please... and if you do own & use one, as much info as you can muster please.... cheers... Oh yes... Visit the Clavia site, where there is loads of info, and you can also check the Nord 'Modular' system which operate with a hardware unit and onscreen computor patch creation....

SPEC'S

NORD LEAD 1

(Nord Lead Rack)

Voices
4 voices expandable to 12. 4 part multi-timbral.

Special features
Velocity programming: Each function, controlled by a knob, can be programmed to velocity. Morphing: Each function, controlled by a knob, can also be controlled by the modulation wheel / pedal to continuously fade between two values.

Performance controllers
4 octave velocity sensitive keyboard with octave shift buttons (5 oct.). Modulation wheel, the "Pitch Stick" (featuring no dead zone at zero crossing), pedal input for sustain or expression pedal. Patent pending for the "Pitch Stick".

User interface
2 digit display, 26 knobs and 19 buttons for program editing.

Oscillator section
Two oscillators generating triangle, sawtooth or pulse (with adjustable width) waveforms. Oscillator 2 can also generate nolse with a color control. Oscillator 2 can be hard "synched" to oscillator 1. Linear deep frequency modulation of osc 1 from osc 2.

Filter section
12 dB "2 pole" lowpass, 24 dB "4 pole" lowpass, bandpass or highpass. Cut off, resonance, envelope amount, envelope amount controlled by velocity, keyboard tracking and ADSR envelope.

Amplifier
section ADSR envelope, gain control.

Modulation section
LFO 1 generating triangle, saw or random routed to Osc 1 +2, Osc 2, filter or pulse-width. LFO 2 produces a triangle waveform, routed to Osc 1 and 2 or amplifier. It also controls the rate for the arpeggiator. Arpeggiator: Range: 1 - 4 octave. Modes: up, down, up/down. Modulation envelope (attack, decay) for osc 2 pitch or FM amount.

Performance section
Play mode: Poly, legato, mono, unison mono, unison poly. Manual mode. Four program slots for layering possibilities. Portamento / auto portamento.

Audio Out
Stereo output. Modes: Stereo, mono and multitimbral (A C + B D) mode. Headphones out. Stereo 18 bit DAC.

Memory
40 user-programs, 59 factory programs and 100 factory performances. With the 8 voice expansion card, the Nord Lead can hold an additional 297 (99 x 3) user-programs and 100 user-performance programs on a PCMCIA 128 kilobyte battery backed RAM card.

MIDI features
All control knobs and switches for program editing send and receive Control Change messages. System exclusive bulk dumps. One program or all programs. MIDI clock synchronizing LFO 1 and LFO 2/arpeggiator. € Triggering of the filter and amplifier envelopes and velocity control from separate programmable MIDI channel and note numbers.

Dimensions
865f W) 265(D) 105(H) mm. Weight 6.7 kg 34.0"(W) 10.4"(D) 4.1"(H). Weight: 14.71bs.

NORD LEAD 2

(Nord Lead-2 Rack version)

Voices
16 voices. 4 part multi-timbral.

Special features
Velocity programming: Each function, that is controlled by a knob, can be programmed to be controlled by velocity. Morphing: Each function, that is controlled by a knob, can also be controlled by the modulation wheel / pedal to continuously fade between two sets of values.

Performance controllers
4 octave velocity sensitive keyboard with octave shift buttons (5 oct.). Keyboard split, two sections. Modulation wheel, the "Pitch Stick" (featuring no dead zone at zero crossing), 1 pedal input for sustain and 1 for expression pedal. Patent pending for the "Pitch Stick".

User interface
3 digit display, 26 knobs and 27 buttons for program editing.

Oscillator section
Oscillator 1 generating sinus, triangle, sawtooth or pulse with adjustable width, wave forms. Oscillator 2 generating triangle, sawtooth or pulse (with adjustable width) wave forms and can also generate noise with a color control. Oscillator 2 can be hard "synched" to oscillator 1. Linear deep frequency modulation of osc 1 from osc 2. A wide range of new waveforms with a strong formant character is achieved with the new synchable noise, where noise can be synched to Osc. 1.

Filter section
12 dB "2 pole" lowpass, 24 dB "4 pole" lowpass, bandpass or highpass. Cut off, resonance, envelope amount, envelope amount controlled by velocity. ADSR envelope. Filter keyboard tracking can be set to full, half or off. Filter distortion.

Amplifier section
ADSR envelope, gain control.

Modulation section
Lfo 1 generating triangle, saw, pulse, LF filtered noise and random staircase routed to Osc 1+2, Osc 2, filter, pulse-width and FM amount. Lfo 2 produces a triangle waveform, routed to Osc 1 and 2 or amplifier. It also controls the rate for the arpeggiator. Arpeggiator: Range: 1 - 4 octave. Modes: up, down, up/down, random. Echo can be set between 1 and 8 repeats. Modulation envelope (attack, decay) for Osc 2 pitch, FM amount and pulse width.

Performance section
Play mode: Poly, legato, mono, unison mono, unison poly. Manual mode. Four program slots for layering possibilities. Portamento / auto portamento.

Percussion kits
10 analog drumkits. Each percussion kit holds 8 independent sounds, configurated in 8 zones across the keyboard.

Memory
40 user-programs, 59 factory programs and 100 factory performances. An additional 297 (99 x 3) user-programs, 100 user-performance programs and 30 drumkits can be saved on a PCMCIA 64 (or more) kilobyte battery backed RAM card.

Audio Out
4 outputs. Each slot have its own output. Modes: Stereo, mono and multitimbral mode. Headphones output. High resolution low noise 18 bit DAC.

MIDI features
All control knobs and switches for program editing send and receive Control Change messages. System exclusive bulk dumps. One program or all programs. MIDI clock synchronizing LFO 1 and LFO 2/arpeggiator. Triggering of the filter and amplifier envelopes and velocity control from separate programmable MIDI channel and note numbers.

Dimensions
865(W) 265(D) 105(H) mm. Weight 6.7 kg. 34.0"(W) 10.4"(D) 4.1"(H). Weight: 14.7 lbs.