Clavia Nord Wave

I'm using OS 1.08. This synth has massive potential, but the presets don't show that off at all. If you're spending this much money on a synth, you'll probably be programming your own sounds, so the bad presets are not such a big deal. Lots of emulations of orchestral instruments, apparently to show off the sampling side of this synth, but these presets are pretty unusable. It seems to me that the whole point of this synth is to mangle samples into new sounds, not to badly emulate string sections. That's what workstations are for, right? There are better orchestral patches on 10-year-old workstations.

Luckily, editing is easier on this synth than on any other modern synth I've ever come across. It's SOO nice to not have to deal with menus and multi-function buttons! Just grab a clearly labeled knob and twist--sonic heaven! A patch editor is completely unnecessary for a synth this easy to use.

Contributing to ease of use is the built-in power supply. No wall warts to get kicked around on stage, stepped on, or lost! No extra thing to carry around. $3 for a spare power cord to stash in the car instead of $50 for some proprietary piece of crap. I'm a customer for life.

The only ease-of-use flaws that I can think of are these: a MIDI through port would make life in the studio much easier, and an easier-to-read display would be, well, easier to read. Bright white letters on a blue background instead of dark grey letters on a blue background, for instance. But honestly, if this is the worst I can come up with, I'm doing pretty well. 9.5 rounds up to 10.

Specs are better found on Clavia's website, since I've seen incorrect ones here. The keyboard action is lighter than I'd like. I really like the semi-weighted feel of the Virus C/TI and Supernova II. Effects are basic but easy to use and sound great. No physical expansion, but loading gobs of your own samples is a great expansion opportunity. The pitch stick is more intuitive for me than a pitch bend wheel.

This section is a mixed bag. The Nord Wave is in many ways a very simple synth. Sometimes I think that's great--forget all the distracting bells and whistles and focus on the most important sound-mangling features. At other times, I wish there were just a few more bells and whistles. An arpeggiator would be great, for example, as would a third oscillator, a third LFO, a real ADSR modulation envelope instead of the simplified one here, and a real mod matrix would be welcome. Real pressure sensitivity that was not limited to vibrato would be nice, too. On the other hand, I have those features in other synths, and a LOT of music making can be done with the tools on this synth. It is what it is. Luckily, it sounds good enough and is easy enough to use that I stopped caring about its deficiencies pretty quickly.

Having said all that, the Nord Wave does have some great features: 2-op FM on single oscillators, virtual sync oscillators for sync effects using just one oscillator, and vibrato (albeit limited) via a dedicated, hidden LFO without having to use up one of the two "real" LFOs. Green lights for morph functions that let you see at a glance what's being changed is a great feature, as is the almost entirely one knob per function architecture. Very nice.

Throw out the factory samples and start loading in your own! This is the sampler I've been wanting for years. Easy, stable storage, instant loading, and real synthesis power. It's so great. (Yes, I know it's not *technically* a sampler, it's a sample player. Whatever.)

The factory waveforms and built-in sampled waves are great for sonic diversity, and many of them are very rich and interesting. They introduce a little confusion, though. First, despite Clavia's ongoing misuse of the word, there are no "wavetables" in this synth--not in the sense of a list of waveforms that can be scanned through using an LFO or envelope, as in the PPG or Wavestation or various Waldorf synths. This is no more a wavetable synth than are the JunoG or X-Station. The "WAVE" option for osc 1 is simply single-cycle digital waveFORMS (not waveTABLES), and the "SWAV" option for osc 2 is just short sampled waves that still have some attack transients that you can use or skip. They're all static waveforms, though--no wavetable scanning or wave sequencing.

They sound great, though. The analog-style waveforms are modeled, not sampled. And the best part is that there's no zipper noise anywhere here, and I've only heard the tiniest hint of aliasing on one or two of the samples when the keyboard is transposed as high up as it will go and the top few notes are played. Most samples don't alias at all even under those torturous conditions, and the modeled waves don't alias at all. For practical purposes, aliasing is a thing of the past. Hooray!

The filter types are fantastic, the resonance can shatter windows (or ear drums--be careful!), and sync and FM (multiple types) are musical and interesting and fun. This synth sounds incredible!

You get the impression that you could hammer nails in with this thing. I don't understand why other manufacturers can't do what Clavia does with synth construction. The Nord Wave is all metal, rigid and tough-feeling with a built-in power supply and jacks bolted to the chassis, but it weighs practically nothing. What a joy to use and carry around! The buttons feel lightweight, but when you bang on them hard there's no give at all. Rock solid. The knobs have some heft, they move smoothly, and they don't wobble at all. Perfect. I'm giving it a 10 here for apparent build quality.

I haven't had to use them yet, since this is my first Clavia keyboard. I've heard nothing but good things, though.

I'd replace it in a heartbeat, and worry later about whether or not I could afford it. It's expensive, but it's the only thing out there like it.

The Roland V-Synths come close, but they have some serious limitations. The new one can layer sounds (in 2008! Go figure!), but it uses the same archaic tone/patch architecture that drove JX10 and D70 owners crazy. Also, it can warp formant, time, and pitch, but with big limitations--only on sounds that are encoded in particular ways (which may end up changing the character of the sound radically), and loop points for sustaining sounds are lost. Yes, you can use drum loops that have bits of silence in them, but a loop of yourself saying "aaah" will have a pop or glitch in it after encoding as often as not.

There are some great software synths out there for mangling samples, but the problem with them (for me, anyway) is that they're software. Dealing with latencies, incompatabilities, and carpal tunnel from editing with a mouse is about the most efficient inspiration killer I can think of. Plus, all those software synths are really like subscriptions, anyway--if you stop buying the latest version, they go obsolete as soon as your computer does. I want something that will let me program and play it for 20 years, and hardware is the only way to do that. Yes, you need the Wave Manager software to load in new samples, but I'd happily keep my Macbook around for 20 years for that.

What I love about this synth is almost everything--the sound quality, the flexibility of real synthesis applied to my own samples, the ease of use, the lack of menu-diving, the size and weight, the pitch stick, the build quality, and the simplicity and reliability of hardware.

What do I hate? The color, for one thing. I know it's Clavia's little attempt at cachet and they'll never change it, but I still think it's incredibly ugly. I like this synth enough, though, that it's got this so-ugly-that-it's-cute thing going on, like a pug or a hairless cat. When I gig with it, I'll be wrapping black tape around the back and sides. There's nothing else I hate, but I'd prefer a weightier 5- or 6-octave keyboard, a little more distance between the pitch stick and mod wheel, a MIDI through port, an easier-to-read display, and a few of the missing synthesis parameters described above. This list is petty and easily forgiven, however, once you start playing and programming this synth. It's a classic!

OS v1.14, Nord Wave manager v1.14
I never used presets on keyboards, so i scrolled through the presets and they were not quite my taste.
Editing patches is super easy. It is probably the simplest keyboard on earth, more simple than Casio and definitively more simple than my Korg MS2000. There is no patch editor, Nord Wave Manager is just a librarian and sample editing software for creating new sample instruments.
Manual was really short and quite unnecessary for me, but I have one of the early versions, the latest version contains synth overview, nord wave manager software manual and synthesis explained, and also they are having a hystorical part about mellotrons which they seem to be fascinated with.

Polyphony is 18 notes. Keyboard action is alright for me. Effects are: chorus/unison, delay, tube amp, and reverb with 5 algorhytms. All the effects sound quite nice although you can't do much editing on the chorus, but this keyboard is about simplicity. You can't really expand it but it comes with 180 MB of memory and the sample format is compressed into lossless format so effectively you end up with around 500 MB which is quite enough for me. There is aftertouch on this keyboard but I don't like using it so it doesn't make a difference for me. There is no sequencer. Also there is no arpeggiator and that confuses me...also there are two LFO's and there is no posibility to modulate more than one target at a time and that is a bit annoying. There is no syncing to BPM or whatever else so I can not sync my LFO to BPMs and the settings are not really precise so forget about modulating the sound in time with your song. Also there is no modulating output level with an LFO and I think that is a shame. However I believe they will add some features in future OS releases. For instance, in the first version pitch stick was fixed to -2,+2 semitones and now you can change this to a full octave.
There are usual waveforms, on both oscillators (saw, triangle and pulse/square) but on the first oscillator there is also a wavetable, FM, and Misc section which holds white noise for now, the other oscillator features full mutisampled instruments with 100 slots for those and another form of wavetables. Also ther is featured another 2 operator FM oscillator. Also you can modulate FM oscillators betwwen themselves so you get something like 4 op FM synthesis that you edit with knobs and it's a breeze, I think I quite like the FM sound on this board I'm making crazy radiohead pads in an instant.
So on one hand it has some crazy features oscillator wise but not so much modulation wise...I guess it is more powerful than my MS2000...

there are realistic instruments as far as the mellotron goes. This synth is very expressive, there is very easy to program morphing capability and overall my playing sounds much more interesting than when I play on MS2000 although MS2000 has some nice modulation possibilities. I think it's perfect for 70's and 80's stuff, not so much for modern dance production where you really a lot of modulation, also I think it sounds quite good for some indie stuff..
Effects are nice, it responds to my playing and I actually love it for it's expressiveness..

I think it's sturdy enough

They are the fastest guys on planet. I discovered a small bug and they responded to my email within minutes and overall they were rushing me to help them solve my problem :) Thomas Johansson was the guy I was in contact with so this is in his honour.

I would buy it again, for my needs the only other board is V-synth GT which is really complicated and even more expensive. I own Nord Electro v3, Korg MS2000, Roland XP30...

I really miss the output level modulation with an LFO and more precise adjustment on the LFO's so I can sync it to my songs maybe even MIDI sync.

I wish it had more modulation targets for it's LFO's

This is definitely huge help and I'm going to use it live a lot because it shines there with it's simplicity...

I'll give it a 9 because I would like more modulation possibilities and I would also like more precise adjustment of LFOs

The Clavia Nord Wave is being marketed here as a more user friendly, more creative & instantaneous, lower latency alternative to software synthesizers. This is what I believed it to be too, unfortunately however this was not my experience when I first started using it.

I expected to be able to fire it up and start playing, scroll through endless (virtual-)analog sounds, getting inspired along the way. But in fact after only a mere 150 presets, consisting mostly of flutes, Mellotron strings, a few corny piano's and the occasional analog lead/bass, the fun abruptly stopped. Turned out that this hardware synth, not unlike most software synths, first needed to be updated to have access to a semi-respectable number of presets. Easier said than done though.

First I needed to install I believe a Nord Wave usb driver, then the Clavia Wave Manager, then download a rather large update package from a slow server (took 3 tries, was not able to unpack the file the first 2 times, which was also a first), then you will have to get familiar with the Wave Manager program, and then finally you are able to get your HARDware synth up-to-date, only to discover that after this whole ordeal you have only gained about 200 new preset sounds and a headache as a bonus.

Most people buy an expensive hardware synth also just to avoid software-related annoyances like these, and Clavia indeed strongly promote this important advantage of their Nord Wave over a 'clumsy' software synth, so hmmmmm........

The Wave features a rather noisy internal power supply.
The less annoying features are listed on the Clavia website.

I have not owned any of the Nord Leads, but I am sure the Nord Wave delivers equally well soundwise. The sound quality is excellent, basses are punchy, pads are wide, highs are sparkly, no noise whatsoever, no complaints there.

Having said that, I do not feel the $2000,- price tag the Wave carries is worth it, since really it does not do anything special either. There are plenty of synths that sound good that cost only half as much, and as for the sample player the Wave incorporates, there are indeed some nice samples in there like the Mellotron's, there is that flute in there from that 70's television series Kung Fu, which is kind of nice, I doubt though that I will be using that sound any time soon..

No idea, I only had it a few weeks. I returned the Wave within 30-days for a refund.

The Wave is not a bad synthesizer, after the stupid update-thing I did really like the sound quality and the solid feel of the instrument, but I do feel it is a little overpriced.

Here's a stong point about the Wave : it's a powerful machine that can be used almost instinctively, with a little help from the manual.

The OS 1.0 comes with 384 programs memory, including some very fat sounding analog patch. Many of thoses presets aren't impressive, though, but all the undesired stuff can be tweaked and/or overwritten in a wink. A total of 1024 programs can be saved and editing the sound is absolutely easy with all those knobs.

The manual is simple and well done but a bit short on exemples and further explanations.

180 mg are available for the sampled instruments (up to 99 of those can be assigned to oscillator # 2 as a sound source), which is good, but no enough to hold simultaneously all the 62 instruments from the Mellotron bank. On my Wave, I choosed to keep the 25 best sounding 'trons, in order to keep some memory available for other stuff.

The best sounding trons sets are (as far as I'm concerned) the "classic" ones : 8 choir, female 4 choir, male 4 choir, M300 string section 1, MK2 3 violin (King Crimson!), MK2 Flutes, MK2 Church organ, M400 Cello.

Some other are quitte funny and can be useful (Tubular bells, MK 2 Mandolins, Wine glass, Alto sax, Oboe, etc.) The list of available sounds is included in the downloadable manual.

The Wave Manager (the software that should be used to load the Wave with new sounds or organise your sound library) is easy to use and allow the user to interchange memorized instruments in a couple of cliks. Haven't try to create a sample from a .WAV source yet, but it seems quite simple.

Multimbrality = 2. A bit short for a machine of this price, but can be used with *tremendous* effect, especially when overlapping two mellotron sounds!

Nice built-in effect section : reverb (several types), delay, tube overdrive, treble and bass booster.

The aftertouch isn't the best I've used, but it's not a big problem, considering I'm not using this machine a classic piano emulator ! Sensitive enough to make the machine expressive.

Morphing : a cool thing is the possibility to assign quickly the morphing control of any knob to the modulation wheel (or to the pedal control, if you prefer). You press a button, move the knob you'd like to be morphed, and that's it !

Other features : Two LFOs, glide control, auto chord option that can be used to great effect in lead sounds, wooden tremolo stick, etc.

Well, here's why this machine stands out : it really sounds great, and the Wave offers a surprising versatility. As a big lover of 70's sounds, I'm really pleased by the classic Tron/Moog emulation possibilities, but it's quite easy to tweak the presets to obtain some 80's or Techno oriented lead sounds. Also, you can add your own stuff from any .wav file, which is a very nice thing.

Too soon to judge, but seems robust : my daughter played it rough a couple of times, and it's been recently abused in a party by a bunch of Emerson wannabes, and kept working perfectly !

Hopefully, Clavia won't drop the developpement for the Wave too soon. Considering they did for the Modular 2 and Nord Lead 3, I hope this one will sell enough to be supported for some time.

For a synth, it's an expansive one, considering the fact it's only a synth with sampling playing options : no sequencer, no arpeggiator, no pyrotechnics : only sounds (but, at least, powerful sounds indeed!) So, from a "rational" standpoint, I think it should be admitted that some cheaper synths can offer you very nice sound for half the price of the Wave.

That said, I love this machine, and would have it replaced for sure if a tragedy occurs. It's an ergonomical, cool looking and light-weight synth, easy to use and a real grin factory !! With the Wave, no use for a M-Tron or other Mellotron sampler, and moreover you have a very enjoyable analog modeling machine under the same keyboard.

Firmware v0.96 (beta?).

There is about 150 presets on this synth.
My favorite is the Grand Piano. I think it sounds great and with some help from release and reverb... Perfect. :)
There are sampled strings and brass sounds, mellotron sounds and some few synth sounds. And they sound crystal clear and very expressing. I like the presets.

The typical thing about Clavia Nord synths (nord lead etc..)
There are hardly any sub menus, you rarely use the system menu.
And by looking at the synth; you will understand how to program it, if you know basic analog modelling. It's extremely easy to use!

Instead of using a Pitch Wheel (where you need to move your hand); This synth have a Wooden Pitch stick instead, and its better to use because you only have to move your finger.

The manual is 30 pages. I notice there are some things missing and some typos. It simply explains the way of analogue synthesis. and it explains each synth section. A very simple manual. Which is a good thing, because this synth is so easy to use!

At this time the technical specification for this synth say "XX "Polyphony. I don't know if its unlimited, I just held my arm over the keyboard and the sound was massive. Good enaugh for me :P.

The keyboard is standard semi-weighted. But I notice the keys bounce up faster then other synths I've tested; (it's like a tighter spring). So it's good if you play fast :)

The synth have an effect section. With delay, Reverb, Chorus and Tube amp (sounds like overdrive). The options are few, but very well sounding.

Hardware upgrades: No. not that I know of. I wonder what that could be.

Midi:Pressure sensitive keys, all knobs, mod wheel and pitch stick are all midi transmiters.

What this synth doesnt have is a Sequencer (PC/Mac is easier anyways) and arpeggiator; I got to admit. At times I miss arpegiator, but I think of this synth as a lead synth for my songs, so I wont need arpeggiator as much.

To look at the bright side. This is a slightly reduced Nord Lead 3 with the ability to store sampled wave forms on the synth and use them as a Oscillator source. You can even use the sampled wave as a source for FM (Frequency modulation) and PM (Phase Modulation), so you can make some insane patches on this thing.(Simply make any sound in to the mic, save it on your pc/mac, save tranfer it to the Nord Wave and use it to modulate..um.. Saw wave? Square wave?) on top of this, there is also wavetable waveforms.

This synth is 2 part multitimbral.

Again. It's very easy to use!

I think this is one of the best things about this synth, it's not only flexible with waveforms, but it does sound good as well!

You can make some very cool sounds. I've been playing around with the vocal filter, and you can make many cool patches.

On top of all the sampling and wavetable possibilities, you also get the standard waveforms like saw square triangle and sine. You get FM and PM also. 2 Oscillators.

The response is superb!

The buttons, knobs and body of this synth is rock solid.
The Modwheel is made of stone (rock solid indeed).
As far as I've tested, I think this synth is very reliable.
It takes 15 seconds to boot. it also takes about 1 sec for a patch to load 100%, where I can play before the effects are loaded. but it doesnt bother me at all.

I noticed there wasnt any Sound Init patch where I could start from scratch with a new patch. Didn't find anything in the manual. so I sent clavia an E-mail. Where they explained I could just hold shift and press the Sound Init button <.<.

Nothing negative about the customer support so far :)

I need the sample options so yes I would buy this again. A unique synth.

I've been playing for about 6 years.

I own a Novation Supernova II Keyboard with 48 voices. (I love this synth). I also own a Novation KS5 wich is being replaced by the Clavia Nord Wave. I use Korg Electribe ES for rythms.

What I love about this synth:
Very Flexible.
Sample playback.
Easy to use.
Sounds crystal clear.

What I hate (maby a bit hars):
No arpeggiator. I wish it had arpeggiator.
Only 2 part multitimbral. Wish it would be atleast 4.

What did I compare it with?
Waldorf Q (Too long delivery, not much new stuff compared to SN2)
Roland SH-201 (Mono timbral, not much new stuff compared to SN2)
V-synth GT (Too expensive and probably too complicated)
Korg Radias (not much new stuff compared to my SN2)

Nord Wave? (Sample/VA synth. New stuff)
I needed a synth I could use along with my Supernova II and I ended up with Nord Clavia Wave.

First of all, my software version is 0.96 so this has to be kind of a pre-release version I guess. But everything works, and I have not found a single bug in the software. There are about 150 presets, and registers for total of 1024 sounds (in 8 banks of 128 patches each). A software editor for PC is not available yet, so I have not been able to connect to the Wave through its USB port, and I do not know how much space there is left for own samples. But editing the patches on-board is the simpliest thing, and I actually figured out about 95% of the functions without opening the manual. The manual, although very brief, describes all the functions in a satisfactory manner. I did miss the patch register charts though, now there's not a single word about the samples. But the main thing is that there are no menus in this thing, everything is adjustable on the front panel, and this is great!

I have not checked what the spec says but the polyphony is sufficient for my use, I have not heard any notes stop because of polyphony overload so far. And I've played it for hours a day for the entire two weeks I've owned it... the effects (Chorus, Delay, Reverb, Tube overdrive) are kind of simplified in function, but sound just great, and do not leave you wishing for extra flexibility. Well, the three (not adjustable) choruses sound close to identical to me, they could have had a bit more variety. Tap tempo button in the delay section is very useful. The Nord Wave cannot be expanded, and it does not have a built-in sequencer (not that I needed one). There's just the very basic MIDI In and MIDI Out, one stereo output, a phones jack, a USB port and that's it! This guy is obviously focusing on the essential (more about this in the next chapter...).

One thing is that the preset sounds that come with the product are pretty gorgeous as such. Another thing is that by tweaking them with the panel controls they get even better! I believe I could explore the sounds for months, and still be able to invent more new ways of producing unique soundscapes. In matter of minutes I have been able to tweak a preset into a completely different sound, and usually much better than the original one! This is just a question of how much imagination you have. Of course all the original Mellotron samples sound magnificient, and they can be used as such, but it is much more rewarding to create new sounds out of those yourself, and store them as you go. Aftertouch is a bit on the hard side but this is a matter of opinion. Because Nord Wave can use and combine all the synthesis methods (virtual analog, FM, PM, waves/samples), I cannot really imagine which line of music this would NOT work perfectly for! Except anything where you need a sequencer of course...

I have not gigged with this yet, but I have no doubts on its robustness. The metal cover feels quite strong and everything has worked perfectly so far. But at this point I don't think I am not able to rate the reliability.

Have not needed the customer support yet. Well, actually I called Clavia in Sweden directly before I bought this, but the reason was I wanted to know if a US model of a Nord could be converted easily into accepting European voltage/frequency. And they answered my phone call right away, and explained how this could be done by opening the cover etc. But I ended up buying this locally in Finland anyway, there was no big difference in the price after all.

I had a Yamaha Motif before this, and still have. Nord Wave is complementing my stand perfectly since Motif is not able to generate these really expressive, living, and on-line adjustable sounds like Wave can, and the Wave on the other hand lacks some of the advanced features like an in-built sampler and sequencer which Motif has. Nord Wave is very inspirational in character, and I believe it shall enhance (and has enhanced) my creativity a great deal. I made the final selection between Nord Wave and Roland V-Synth, and I would make the same choice again. But of course sooner or later I have to buy the V-Synth, too... (just kidding).