From ricard@brax.seThu May 18 13:33:16 1995 Date: Thu, 18 May 95 19:05:35 CET From: Ricard Wolf To: analogue@hyperreal.com Subject: NordLead (long) (part 1) Hi everybody! This is a bit of a blind date, as I'm not currently subscribing to the list, for thesimple reason that I don't think my current email provider can handle the volume properly, anyway...I had an experiance I wanted to share with you... So, Hi everybody I know and don't know (Juergen: I did get your mail, and tried to respond a few times to HJblabla@, but it bounced.). What follows is a bit long, and not very technical; it's an attempt at sharing my intial impressions of the Nord Lead. I was at the local synth emporium yesterday, having heard a rumour that they had a Memorymoog Plus for sale that they'd gotten in...so after having read up on the manual for the sequencer section (thanks Mark G!) I wondered in not finding a single knob from the MM+. "We had it a week, and then it was gone..."...well, it figures. There were lots of other analogs/vintage synths around as usual...a CS-80 in the corner, a few P-5's, a Polysix, a PPG Wave 2.2, Korg Trident, a few monophonic Moogs...ah, a JP-8...one of the most colorful synths I've seen...(sorry you Mini-Korg and 800DV owners...), even a Polymoog (got to give that one another run-over one of these days), but no MM+. (Even saw a Wasp in really bad condition: case cracked, keyboard rubbed bare..."It doesn't work", they said, "it beeps...owned by Eurythmics you know...given to me by a friend of a friend..."). So I wondered about a bit having a few hours to kill, and ght wondering which synth to pick out for a closer going-through, when a red small-ish synth cought my eye in another room. I immediately recognised the synth as the new Clavia Nord Lead, so I thought, what the heck, I'll take a look (I'd read a raving review about it in a Swedish music magazine - always a bad sign). I'd only seen the Nord Lead in ads, even mailed Clavia to send me what info they had (which turned out to be the data sheet + a sheet entitled 'The Nord Lead Synthesizer - Design Philosophy and Background Information' - I'd be happy to type it in if no-one's done it already and if anyone's interested.), but I've thought it was interesting for a few reasons: 1. It's Swedish, not Japaneese. Although I'm not Swedish myself, I live in Sweden, and find it interesting that anyone would attempt something like this. The only Swedish stuff people seem to have heard of are the ddrum digital drums and Per Linne's sequencer mod for the Pro-One. 2. Although the notes clearly say it's digital (wot! off the list! - yeah, like the Dx-7 and Wave-2? :-), I still found there to be a new approach. According to the notes ... 'while other instruments use wave tables and interpolation techniques to digitally simulate an oscillator, Nord Lead uses a mathematical model of an analog oscillator generating a sawtooth, and then derives square and pulse wave from this, just as in a traditional analog design'. Which is either a lot of marketing mumbo-jumbo, or they've actually put some work into programming some hefty DSP's to simulate VCO's VCF's etc. The notes mention 'an extermely high sampling frequency' and '24 bits used throughout the entire computational system'. They call it 'virtual analog' (which is a term which scares me off to start with...) So...is this another D-50/JV-800 in disguise? Or is it the Mini of the 90's? Well, first appearances first...the machine is cased in a red/black _metal_ case, which makes a nice change from the contemporary grey graphite- colored plastic. The knobs and buttons are minute, and gathered on the left hand side of the panel, giving the machine a bit of a home-bred look. So I began playing. They keyboard is 4 octaves, and touch-sensitive. A bass patch was called up, and I immediately took a liking to the sound - ah - the UNISON button was depressed - so, remove UNISON - hm still doesn't sound half bad...and no outboard effects or EQ that I can find (the machine doesn't have EQ or effects onboard). Hm...interesting... So I started playing with the sound - there are knobs for each parameter, and although small, they seem to work with some precision, are made of some rubbery plastic, and move easily, actually nice to work with. I found making adjustments very intuitive, not like other digital machines I've experimented with. After having tried out the 99 patches (I'm told 40 are programmable and the rest are presets - they didn't have a manual at the store so I couldn't verify this, nor try out the intricate details) I was convinced that this is a very real machine...so...IS IT ANALOG I hear you cry out...frankly... I don't really care...strange feeling, but I found that no matter what I patch I called up, the result was very musical, and I felt very inspired by the machine. When switching the panel to MANUAL, adjustments were easily made, and it was hard to beleive that the pots didn't directly control the parameter that they said they were controlling. Architecturally for those who don't know, the Nord Lead is a 4-voice multitimbral synth (expandable to 12 voices), with each voice comprising two oscillators, to ADSRs, a filter (switchable 24dB/oct LP,HP or BP, or 12dB/oct LP), a VCA and two LFO's. Basic, and nothing really out of the ordinary. There is, however, FM between the oscillators, oscillator sync, PWM, and other stuff you'd expect to find on a standard machine). An AD envelope can be used for osc 2 pitch or FM amount. So, your basic VCO-VCF-VCA with some added bonus. The filter has resonance, of course. Note assignment is either poly or mono with or without multitrig (called MONO and LEGATO), or UNISON, which seems to work in some sort of UNISON-share mode, i.e. all voices are always used, split up among the notes played. There are some curiuous deficiencies, especially considering it's a digital machine: you'd expect there to be more, especially mod routings: although there's FM (VCO2 modulates VCO1) there's no VCF modulation by any of the oscillators. There's no SAW UP on LFO1, only SAW DOWN. Mod routings aren't terribly flexible, although there are two LFO's: LFO1 is the main LFO, with switchable waveforms, and LFO2 is triangle only, but doubles as an arpeggiator clock (yes, return of the good old-fashined arpegiator). Filter keyboard tracking is either on or off. And the only 12dB filter is LP - why not HP and BP as well? The AD envelope works nice as an autobend EG, but why only for the second oscillator alone, and not both? But the crux of the matter is that it doesn't seem to matter...although I usually miss not having variable keyboard tracking (my favorite range is 1/2..2/3 of 1:1), I didn't really miss it, strangely enough. And there are some goodies: 1. There's no pitch wheel. Instead there's a 'pitch stick', whose closest resemblence would be a cross between an Oberheim lever and a Roland bender. It's a small wooden chunk (yes, wood ... now _that's_ analog at least) with a recess for your finger, that moves about half an inch left or right. It's strongly sprung, and has a bit of a stiff feeling about it, but is truly a pleasure to use. Apply a little force and you do semitone bends. Wiggle your finger and you get nice vibrato. Bend it all the way and you move an octave up or down. Wow. Very nice. I loved it. 2. A feature called 'morph/velocity' means you can apply velocity sensitivity to _any_ parameter. Press the 'morph set' button, hold it, and turn the parameter you want to control the amount up or down you want to control it. Positive or negative. Any parameter, or how many you want. Very nice, although there's no way of telling how it's all been set, so if you find a preset you like and want to figure out how it's been done, you're out of luck. For those who don't like velocity sensitivity, the 'morphing' can be controlled by the mod weel alternatively. (BTW, the mod wheel feels like it's made of stone...a rune stone, perhaps :-) 3. FM was a surprise. When I think of FM in an analog, I think of the Poly-Mod section in a prophet, i.e., mostly inharmonic noise except at certain settings which only work for one voice...on the Nord Lead, the FM knob produces all sorts of weird stuff, but none of it inharmonic, unless you set the oscillators to odd ratios. (BTW, osc two can be set +/- 5 octaves away from osc one...nice). I found putting touch sensitivity on the FM knob several times. Osc 2 can run disconnected from the keyboard, as a third LFO if you want too. But only four voices? At a price of SEK 17.000:- (which translates into about $2300 - don't know what the price in the USA will be)? Well, there's some clever voice allocation going on. I played a four-note chord with my right hand, then a bass note, then released the bass note. What was left of the chord? Well, no matter which order I pressed the keys, the Nord Lead had cut the same note from the middle of the chord, rather than chopping the oldest, newest, top or bottom. So the impression I got was that the voice allocation made it feel more like 6 voices than 4. And remember, it's a lead synth, not designed for poly playing with both hands (although I couldn't keep both hands off usually...the keyboard is only four octaves, but even that felt ok). They keyboard, btw, felt ok to me, but might be a little light to some. Something like the old DX-7 keyboard (but I wasn't thinking of it at the time). Might be a bit difficult to control, I had trouble with many patches where the velocity sensitivity got a bit out of hand, although I think the sensitivity was programmed high to start with). Program selection is a drag: there are four 'preset' buttons which can be set to any program number for direct access, but otherwise you have to resort to two 'up' and 'down' buttons. They do auto-repeat, but still... awkward. I've heard of some nice stuff you can do, like triggering the filter EG separately from a certain MIDI channel, but I didn't have the oppertunity to try this kind of stuff out, and frankly couldn't figure out how it would be done considering the minimal number of controls there are for programming). A minus is that there are no individual outs: only left and right, and I'm told the machine has its own idea of where to pan things at times. (The reason for this is probably to save on DACs: this way they can use a standard stereo audio DAC, like for CD's or whatever). [ more to follow ] /Ricard -- ricard@brax.se (Ricard Wolf) Braxen Infosystems, Public Usenet Access Site, Sweden - INT+46-46-712396 From ricard@brax.seThu May 18 13:33:40 1995 Date: Thu, 18 May 95 19:07:35 CET From: Ricard Wolf To: analogue@hyperreal.com Subject: NordLead (long) (part 2) So what did I think? Well, I stood playing for an hour and a half on the machine, gettig more excited all the time. It seems Clavia have managed to use digital technology to build a synth with lots of SOUND (I had to check several times while playing that the UNISON switch wasn't on, because the sound was so rich), a lot of small ideosynchricities, but without the haggle of keeping X analog oscillators in tune for more than five minutes, instead of making a machine that tries to cut as many corners as possible to churn out in the thousands. As for the analog vs. digital battle, yes, I found the sound very analog (nice low end. Nice top end. I usually have to play octave bass notes to get a good bass. Not on the Nord Lead), but I didn't do an A-B comparison, and frankly, I wasn't really interested. The bottom line is that for _once_ this is an _instrument_, in the same way that the MiniMoog or CS-80 is an _instrument_ and not just a collection of circuits or DSP software thrown together to make a large sale. There are lots of limitations and quirks (so, not for you modular guys), like, the whole panel flickers when notes are being played (remember the Ensoniq Mirage?) (I actually found it pleasant on the Nord Lead, gaveth machine a bit of life), but all machines we know and love have limitations (can you do filter mod by oscillator on an OB-Xa?, portamento on a P-5?, touch sensitive resonance?), which is probably why the Nord Lead attracts me so much - it's intriguing. I liked it enough to want to play some more, but couldn't figure out everything in one go. Besides, the basic sound is great (which is something I can't say about my CS-80, for instance) to start with. I wsn't happy about everything. I tried to do a standard string patch, but couldn't really get any life into it. A JP-8 nearby provided a much livelier string section. But as for slightly-out-of-the-ordinary stuff, I felt I could always use whatever I managed to create. Franly, I'v never been so excited about a _new_ synth since I first started getting into synths in the eighties. (I'd also like to put in a word for the Yamaha VL-1, which I think is way overpriced currently, but watch out...what the GS-1 and GS-2 were to the DX-7 when it came to FM, that's what the VL-1 (et al) will be to Yamaha's next synth generation). It's not analog. It won't be a machine for those who stay away from CD's because there's some digital electronics in there. For me, I don't really care, as long as I like the sounds and feel inspired by the machine. So does this review belong on AH? I'd say yes, because I feel this is a machine in the true analog tradition, in the same way that we might discuss a PPG or Fairlight. Ground-breaking (for its time) technology, pushing our limits of creativity further. So, yes, after this initial try-out, I want one. Will I buy one? Well, the price is steep. Here in Sweden, the DX-7 cost SEK 13.000:-, $1700, when it came out, which I feel would be a more reasonable price, especially considering it's a four-voice machine with a four octave keyboard (and no aftertouch, which is a real pity). I'll have to think about it. Maybe wait a few months until the first sods buy it, discover it wasn't what they wanted, and sell it again... I'd say, if it shows up, try it out. You may be pleasently surprised. At any rate, the red panel would look nice next to my blue homebuilt... :-) /Ricard -- ricard@brax.se (Ricard Wolf) Braxen Infosystems, Public Usenet Access Site, Sweden - INT+46-46-712396 From borch@tsd.itg.ti.comWed May 31 10:02:01 1995 Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 06:12:15 -0500 From: Mark Borcherding To: analogue@hyperreal.com Subject: Nord Lead I just got my hands on a Nord Lead yesterday at a local music store. Overall impression: okay but not worth the bucks 1. knobs to small, felt cheap -tho not as bad as OB-Mx 2. wood stick did not work as well for me 3. mod wheel was to thin and a little wobbly 4. 2 character LED display -come on 5. sound was okay but nothing really grabbed me or my cash on then plus side: 1. it has knobs 2. knob and button layout is decent 3. its compact Overall I think you could buy 2-3 older synths for the price of the Nord Lead and have more fun and get a better range of sounds. The filters on the Nord Lead seemed to lack something. I did not try any midi stuff at all. The bottom line is that it emualted analog well but it did not have its own personality like a jupiter 6, minimoog, xpander, prophet 5, MKS80, or memorymoog. -mark From cord@lance.colostate.eduWed May 31 10:03:44 1995 Date: Wed, 31 May 95 07:24:25 MDT From: Cord Mueller To: Mark Borcherding , analogue@hyperreal.com Subject: Re: Nord Lead >I just got my hands on a Nord Lead yesterday at a local music >store. > >Overall impression: okay but not worth the bucks Oh sorry, I played she yesterday too and I was impressed. The price is high, for the 4 Voice version you almost get a used Matrix-12 but the approach is fantastic. A lot of sounds reminds me at my Siel Opera 6 and the FM is a way much too clean, not what like my ProOne (it sounds much dirtier!). But it is definetely a Synth for music oriented people, the whole interface is build for the left hand (fantastic) therefore it is a little bit tiny. The octave shift works well so that the 4 octave keyboard seems not a big disadvantage. The sound is tariffic. The Oscillators are full, but not in the lower octaves. It has a nice multimode filter, however the resonance is a way too clean when you sweep it, on the other hand you have to see the nord lead as something new, the filters sound that correct, I never heard this before. The morphing is something completly new, I wouldn't buy the nord lead to substitute my Matrix-12 but as an addition it is worth the money. Unfortunately it sucks when it comes to Midi and sequencer because it is only Polymode. I guess this synth is build to make music: fast and efficient. >1. knobs to small, felt cheap -tho not as bad as OB-Mx I know synths the knobs feel cheaper, but they are small! >2. wood stick did not work as well for me >3. mod wheel was to thin and a little wobbly Definetely, this is the best modcontroll I ever playes. It fits in the hand, thus the pitch wheel seem very small. Never used something that touchable like this stick, sorry! >4. 2 character LED display -come on >5. sound was okay but nothing really grabbed me or my cash It is all there what you need. You cannot give the sound a name but you have a bunch of storage. This whole concept reminds me that they looked straight to the Prophet (FM), PPG (3rd envelope) and Moog (octave shifts). Put this together in a red box and made it good sounding. I have no $2100 left for it, but if you see what you get, it is worth. For the plus side you missed the velocity function. You can choose a parameter and set the velocity min and max (for all parameters), so that you can morph a sound with the velocity! Show me another synth who can do this (except the Xpander, but I doubt that 20 Mod sources are enough to programm that). >Overall I think you could buy 2-3 older synths for the price >of the Nord Lead and have more fun and get a better range of >sounds. a rompler or what??? >The filters on the Nord Lead seemed to lack something. >I did not try any midi stuff at all. The bottom line is that >it emualted analog well but it did not have its own personality >like a jupiter 6, minimoog, xpander, prophet 5, MKS80, or >memorymoog. Taste is subjective, but I guess you try not hard enough. Only to scan factory programms cannot be good. I like the filter very much. Like I said before, no substitute to the moog filter it sounds more like the SSM 2044, thin and very correct. I like it very much and I'm really impressed about this beast. Also in Unisono with 12 Voices I couldn't hear any timing problems, but it might change with using Midi. For sequencer freaks it is ok, because you can morph a lot. I wouldn't buy that 12 voice version because of no Midi Mono-Multimodes. But as a synth is it tarrific. Please excuse the long mail!! Cord Xpander.....It's a MAN'S SYNTHESIZER. Now take your little silver chiclet-thingies and sit in the corner... (g) Cord Mueller cord@lance.colostate.edu___________________________________________________ Colorado State University, Department of Chemical & Bioresource Engineering Fort Collins, CO 80523 Numbers(#) (970) 491-3451 (O), (970) 491-7369 (FAX), (970) 223-1808 (H)