Clavia Nord Lead 2

if you have trouble using this synth, you need to find a different hobby.

crappy keyboard. no aftertouch. no release velocity.
horrid little display. no fx. limited modualtion routings.
40 user slots. pcmia card sucks.

to be fair, there are some things i liked - feels sturdy, liked the size and feel of the knobs (some think they're too small), also liked the pitch stick and mod wheel. morph function is cool if you don't use extremely different parameter settings.

along with yamaha's AN system, i think the nord has the best raw, unprocessed sound.
you only run into trouble when trying to do pads because of the limited routings.
an extra oscillator would help, along with being able to use aftertouch.

no problems in the time i had it.

never had to use.

i used this board as a partial trade for a virus c keyboard.
despite its shortcomings, i am considering getting a 2X rack (i have absolutely no use for those keys).
however, it's a tough call between the nord and the alesis ion.
i like the sound of the nord better, but when it comes to features (except for polyphony), the ion absolutely blows the nord out of the water.
still deciding.

Can't be easyer then NL2. Editing is super easy.Presets are very good.

Poly is enough for me. Keyboard action isn't the best.No effects, but dry it sounds better then Viruses, or other VA's.
MIDI capabilities are great.

Sounds great, as i said Virus sounds like crap next to Nord.

Can depend on it.

I'd guess it should be fine.

Basicly other synths can't compete with it, ION sounds very good, but suffers from Alesis quality, JP sounds nice ,but too "Roland", Virus is more expansive and washed-out with effects, Waldorf is too expansive and is no more, MS2000 is built too cheaply and short on polyphony.I wish it had basic chorus/delay thing, and maybe some other type of mamory(not pcmcia).

Difficult to use and difficult to warm to. Accessing and storing programs, assigning midi functions and understanding sound modulation are all unintuative. An analog synth is about not having a barrier between the player and the sound creativity, and the nord lead user interface is one big barrier to an otherwise capable sound egine

Reasonable features for a virtual analog synth

Capable of many sounds but utterly unexpressive, from a players perspective

No issues other than a substantial hum from the power supply

Dreadful. I bought mine new from TURNKEY in london. I live in ireland. it arrived without the manual! I informed Clavia and asked if I could be sent a boutn manual. they didn't care that one of their distributers were so shoddy and didn't send a manual. They told me it was available on the web. i did print it off but its not the same - its not bound and i cant conveniently read it at my keyoard. A disgrace for a 'professional' company. This aloone will ensure my studio will never purchase another clavia product. i can't trust clavia

A waste of money. My studio posesses many synthesizers. Clavia's nord lead is bland. It's prophet emulations are an utter joke - they sound absolutely nothing like a prophet (i have experience with Prophet 5 and own a Prophet T8). Its false advertisment. the lack of vocoder makes this synth not worth it any more. Completely over rated. Don't buy one.

The Nord Lead 2 has the most character to its sound as compared to other VA synths.
I have sold all the VA's I used to own (JP, MS, Prophecy, K5000) without noticing any considerable loss.
Software synthesizers can pretty much emulate any of those boards.

I even got rid of basically all of my analog Roland MKS modules because they were not that outstanding (I am keeping my Juno 106 and the TB303 - can't live without those)

But the Nord Lead is raw, gritty and in-your-face unlike other VA synths.
The lack of effects is a professional touch really which makes it belong in a pro environment.
My one and a half cents.

As I'm sure you've heard from every reviewer of this synth, SIMPLE TO USE. I compare the ease of use to a Korg Polysix- There are no complex menus or semitones to click through. This is true analog control- every single parameter is controlled by a knob- with the push of 2 buttons you can save a tone, and when you dial back to it, your knob settings remain the same, regardless of the position of the knobs until you turn them. This synth is to analog as, say, a Macintosh is to computers- STUPIDLY SIMPLE.

The Nord Lead 2 is a 16 voice synthesizer. It has full MIDI control, but only 4(?) channels. No effects, a basic arpeggiator, and PCMCIA memory expansion. It's very simple, very minimalistic, and sometimes that turns people off.

I have found that for the current money (about 550-600.00), you cannot find a more "analog synth" unless you brave the world of true analog (in which case you better get out your chromatic tuner every other day).

I'd say the immediate competetors to the Nord Lead 2 are 1) Korg MS2000 2) Roland JP8000 3) Novation KS4 4) Quasimidi Sirius 5) Access Virus A. There is a LARGE inherant difference between these five synths and the Nord Lead. Many musicians are turned on to the afformentioned competetor units mainly because they seem twice as feature-packed as the Nord Lead. All of the above have full MIDI, vocoders, effects units, sequencers, etc. In my opinion, however, the Nord Lead is the only one of the lot that actually recreates the sound of the great analog synths. You can make the Nord Sound like a grungy Access Virus, or a detuned Oberheim OBxa. It can do strings, but it can do funky fusion basslines as well. It can be a Juno 106, and an Arp 2600. While other synths may impress you with the addons they seem to have, hte Nord will amaze you with the fatness, reality, expressiveness, and multi-functionality of it's tiny board.

The Nord Lead stands out from the above competing synthesizers because you are buying an analog synth in all respects. It is no-frills, just sound and is not pre-set to be used in a dance genre. The MS2000 and the JP8000 are old time favorites, but are all VERY electronica-minded synthesizers, and while they are all very good keyboards, they are really only fit in a techno-based setting. The The Access Virus and the Quasimidi Sirius output harsh, stabbing sounds that are perfect for industrial music, but wouldn't really work in an 80's Van Halen setting. Basically, the Nord Lead can be used ANYWHERE an analog synth needs to be- rock, indy, jazz, trance, industrial, trip-hop, fusion, etc. It is a true genre-less analog synth, the only one made currently that is home in multiple musical setups.

This keyboard can really do it all. I have owned a great number of analong, digital, and old hybrid synths from the 80's. I'm selling them off, one at a time as I am able to recreate their sounds perfectly on a Nord Lead. If you want a gritty DX7 synth, than you can easily create one. If, however, you need lush, ghostly strings, you can pull that off as well. The saw wave on this board is perfect for those stabbing lead synths used everywhere from Nine Inch Nails to euro trance, to Van Halen, to "Forever Young".

I base my perfect rating for this synth on the fact that it is a modern analog synth that, unlike other units, can be used outside of the electronica genre. That, in my opinion is a very important factor as most DSP analog modeling units today are all about the trance.

It's ALL metal. I have a hard case for it because I'm picky and freak out if any of my synths get dented or beat up on the road, but the Nord is very sturdy, very compact, and extremel light.

I've never dealt with the crazy Swedes at Clavia.

I would absolutely buy another. I *might* get a Nord Lead 1- having played this older revision, it's not that much different (half the polyphony) or as cheap as 300.00 US! If you're looking toi get into virtual analog, you can't do better than the Nord Lead for under 1000.00.

1.06

Presets are average but easily edited. Since I owned Nord Rack 2 few years ago and wasn't so impressed but now after many synths I think NL2 sounds great. It has most "analog" tone I have heard coming from DSP synth... and all those knobs. I think Virus has more "analogue" sounding filters but still NL sounds far better because good sounding oscillators. Editing patches couldn't be any easier, all synths should be like this (and JP-8000). Didn't have manual and didn't miss it.

This is where it lacks badly but then, it wouldn't be SO easy to use and would cost much more. Polyphony is 16, but mostly 8 using unison. No effects but you can use LFO2 for some echo... feed your old effect unit with this. Good MIDi but keyboard doesn't have aftertouch, would like one. There is nothing "new" with synthesis except Morph-function.

Straight analog-sounds: basses, leads, pads, FX, noise, sweep, etc, etc. Need the most analogue-sounding VA but still keep it simple -> get NL2/NL2x. Also some "cool" organ/e-piano patches but better use some other synths for those...

No problems...

Haven't used.

I love the pitch-stick, interface and keyboard which is fast to play and good for my taste. Synth itself sounds great. If I would hunt one, I maybe bought 2x. Since I don't have NL2 anymore, I use Nord Modular for those sounds and it does it well. If Modular would get lost, I bought the NL2 or NL2x.

Many regard this synth as having a great user interface, however i found this synth incredibly difficult to program. The interface is tiny which means that each knob is assigned many roles, why they have to cram everything into the left i don't know.

People tend to bang on about the lack of effects, this doesn't bother me because the nord makes up for this with processing power. Why we all think that a good synth has built in effects is beyond me. One of the worst features about the nord 2 is its keyboad, clavia really do take the piss in this way, the action is no better than you would find on a cheap keyboard from a toy shop and that really is no lie.

The nord 2 came about the same tiem as the Roland JP8000 and many think the nord has the edge, why i will never know. I owned both once and found that the nord really is a one trick pony, in the sense that for lead and bass sounds its one of the best, but pad sounds were very frustrating to make, and really good ones are impossible.

Never had and issue with clavia, however that mod wheel made me a bit concerned.

Clavia are full of really nice people who from experience do their best to get in contact with you. They are also very knowledgeable!

The Nord 2 is very over rated and the Roland JP8000 is a far better synth both for programing and build quality. However we must remember that the Nord 2 looks great on any stand so if you buy it for any reason do it because of this.

Software 1.06.
Presets are ok.This synth must be the easyest one out there.

Poly is ok. No effects-sucks!PCMCIA-sucks!
Midi capabilities are good.
The worst thing about Nord is it's awful keyboard.

Keyboard is awful! Sound is good(considering it is dry).

I used to like it's wheel and pitch stick concept, but not so sure anymore, i am afraid it can ware out too soon.

Nice synth, very nice, BUT i wish i didn't have to pay $1200.
I would price it at about $800.
No mamory, no effects, crapy keys, no vocoder - doesn't sound like $1200 to me. I would think twice or more before getting Volvo.

This is in response to Ben regarding softsynths vs the Nord Lead:

While software developers are increasingly making more powerful soft-synths each and every year, they are no where near making software that can create the richness and fullness of dedicated hardware, especially a Nord Lead. And to make the claim that software synths do a better job than a Nordlead,youd have to find a soft-synth which is comparable or equal to in quality to the Nord Lead, of which at the moment there are none. Arguably, there are a few soft-synths currently on the market which sound pretty good (NI's FM7 and Vokator as well as Arturia's Moog Modular) but even if you were to process any sound coming from those synths using the latest and greatest plugins, youd still fall short of anything truly outstanding. Great maybe, but not over the top phenomenal. In defense, however, I have run certain soft-synths through a dedicated effects chain and an analog filter, and achieved some amazing results. But even as a savvy programmer, those results did not come without the use of dedicated hardware.

Ive owned and still own both a fair amount of hardware synthesizers (including a Nord Lead)and software synthesizers. And comparing both platforms can be fairly complicated, especially when it comes to deciding what to buy. They both have their pro's and con's. If youre looking for cost effectiveness, a laptop with a good soundcard and some software will get you pretty decent results. But if youre looking for strictly quality and money is not an issue, a dedicated hardware synth like the Nord Lead and a sequencer puts a laptop set up to shame.

For what its worth, its like comparing oranges to apples. Personally, Ive wrapped my head around more hardware and software synthesizers to an almost repulsive level. I dont hate one less or more than the other, and I think the best "sound" you'll ever get out of your work is when you can successfully integrate both hardware and software together. To say that only one kind of platform is best is just too limiting.

I submitted a review on the Nordlead 2 a couple of years ago, but feel the need to address you fine people again, because I've sold it. Reason why? There are now softsynths that do a much better job, and at a fraction of the cost. True, it's tricky bringing a computer to a gig, but I never used the Nord for performances anyway, as it wasn't versatile enough. The Nordlead concept was a great idea when it was first released ('95, I think), but it can no longer compete with its virtual competitors. Just thought you should know.

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