Clavia Nord Micromodular

If you're familiar with modulars this is easy. If not, it may take a bit of time to get a flow out of this machine. If you're interested and know nothing about modular construction, go get a book to help. I personally think it's fantastic to start with a blank screen, and add the modules I want along the way. Very few mistakes are tragic...most lead to interesting and new sounds.

Polyphony is sort of a problem here. But you get what you pay for. Excellent for monophonic stuff...leads, basses. The Micro doesn't provide one with great common effects. There's no reverb, and the delay isn't really a delay at all. The beauty of it's modular approach is that you can emulate flangers, emulate reverb, phasers, etc. This means your effects are YOURS. Takes some practice though. This machine is damn important. Too many people out there just jamming on tired factory presets. The Nord won't let you. The sequencers are good, and flexible. Don't forget what a great effects processor this little unity can be. I may just dedicate it to that. Can be used as an analogue emulation drum machine...internally or externally sequencing

I'm really happy with the sounds I get from the Nord. The filters are great. You can layer as many filters together as you want. New added vocal filter and vocoder are very sweet. As many oscillators as you have space for. The sound is as good as you make it.

Very reliable. No problems yet.

The help I've gotten has been good. Plenty of internet resources as well as a good Clavia website. Version 3.03 is a must.

I would buy this again. I would buy two more. I would keep some extras in the closet. It's great. If you're happy with money, get the modular. Otherwise, this is just a very fun, versatile machine. Make sure that you don't mind getting geeky and becomming a little mad scientist programmer.

The Micromodular is very easy to use because the editting software is very straightforward.
But it isn't really a synth for beginners because the deeper you go into a patch the more complex it becomes. This means lots of cables connecting to al kind of inputs wich can be very confusing.
The manual is great, it provides info about all the modules and gives examples etc.

Okay, low polyphony. But that doesn't matter to me! I use the micromodular mainly for bass and leads and its great. The onboard sequencers are also nice.
Unfortunately, there are no effects such as reverb or delay, but it does have a compressor, chorus, phaser and expander etc.
The knobs on the thing are great for realtime altering the sound.

Well, what can I say about this? I thing the micromodular is my best buy EVER!
I bought one second-hand for just $400 and for that kind of money there isnt anything better you can get!
The best thing about the synth is that you can create almost any sound you want. For example, yesterday I was thinking about making a fat 10 VCO synth....well a piece of cake!
When my patch was finished it had 10 vco's, 2 filters, 3 ADSR's, 3 lfo's and a chorus...wonderful!...and the DSP load was 95%.
But don't think this is it because you can do so much more with it.
The sounds? GREAT! The filters are nice and the envelopes are very snappy. The audio IN is also very nice, because you can filter sounds in all kinds of ways.

I dunno....I just have it a week..:)
But it seems very sturdy built (though it is really a small unit...REALLY small)

I dunno

This synth is just great. Like a dream comes true!
How often don't you think: I wish I could create that sound..
Well with the micromodular you can!

Using software version 2.1
Presets are all impressive and most are usuable,however using the editor to make your own patches is so easy I don't tend to use the presets.
The manual is easy to navigate but sometimes doesn't give enough detail.

4 note polyphony (easily goes down to 1 note with more complex sounds).
Its very easy and effective to use the Micromodular as an effects processor.
Theres no expansion capabilities on the Micromodular itself, but you can run 2 simultaneously when using V3 of the editor
It is the most versatile synth I've ever used, you really need to try it to believe it.

It only creates sounds using analogue synthesis, so dont buy this for it's piano sounds!!
If you want analogue synth sounds and are willing to learn how to use modular synthesis, this is the best synth around.
The patches are as good as you make them. The only downfall is the lack of polyphony and multitambrany.

I've only used it in a gig once, but I've had it in my studio for a year and it hasn't given me any problems (and it survived being dropped on the floor).

I emailed them once with a problem (getting V3 of the editor to work with Win95 version A). I was emailed back the following day with several solutions and I got the editor working fine. Condsidering they are a Swedish firm, their English is very good.

I've tried quite a few analogue and fake analogue (Yamaha AN1x) synths and this has honestly been the best one yet. It doesn't yet have the classyness of ARPs or Moogs but give it 10 years and it will be a classic!