I Saw Red
Written: Feb 05 '08 (Updated Feb 05 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: control, ease of use, layout, overall sound is quality
Cons: lacks fx, may require understanding of basic synth components & parameters, i can't marry it...legally
The Bottom Line: Must have for sound creators/designers. Sounds off this thing are great. It's also not 3 trillion dollars like other synths, overall a great piece of gear
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| hewhocanreview's Full Review: Clavia Nord Lead 3 Rack |
Ah, the Nord Lead 3. Some would say that it's the most solid thing you can add to your studio. This board lacks little and has become a staple in my studio. It's time I gave back a little what's been given to me by this great piece of equipment.
Design
Nord has more or less monopolized the red metal you see on this board. Every time you look on a stage, you're bound to know it's a Nord by it's distinguishable red color. But really, it goes beyond that doesn't it? The Nord Lead 3 separates itself from other boards in many ways. To start, the layout is pretty practical and easy to work with. All of your global controls, pitch stick (yes, it's a wooden stick), modulation wheel (made out of some type of stone?), master volume, etc. fall on the far left side of the board. Moving right, you find 'automation' controls or morph controls (we'll go into this later), then your typical synth controls (i.e. oscillators, envelopes, course tune, lfo mods, and so on). The layout is easy to figure out, and in some ways reflects the signal flow of a typical analog board. The style used for the pitch stick is great and a bit easier to use than a wheel when playing. But admittedly, I can't use a pitch stick on a synth without cracking a smile. They always sound so cheesy.
The selling point
Perhaps the most important feature on this board are the led lights that surround each parameter knob. I know this might seem like a gimmick at first. It's not at all. This feature is what separates the Lead2 from the Lead 3, and also, what separates this board from every other board out there.
-A Problem in other boards-
Basically, when you turn a knob on a 'normal' synth, you're dictating the position of that parameter by where the knob marks it. Well ok, that works right? Well, let's say now that you change your program number (in other words, you change the sound you're playing with to another sounds with different parameter settings). The place where that knob was, probably doesn't apply now as the parameter setting has changed.
-An example, breaking it down a little easier-
Let's say you're playing with a sound on a keyboard. The lfo rate is at 100hz. You decide to change the sound and mess with another one. The new sound has a lfo rate of 150hz instead of 100hz. Well in the typical synth (at least on a synth that has a physical knob representing that parameter), that knob is still there, pointing to 100hz, even though this sound's lfo rate is 150hz, right?
Most companies resolve this in one of a few different ways. Typically, the parameter (the lfo rate in our case) jumps to that point, but because the knob is still there (100hz instead of 150hz), the knob is useless until you turn it to the predetermined setting the parameter is at (in our case 150hz). So you can move that knob all you want below 150hz, and it doesn't do anything, but as soon as it hits 150hz, the knob starts working again. This is know as the latch method. Another method to resolve this is to have the parameter jump to the setting as soon as the knob is touched. So, in our case, we were are 100hz, the new sound sets the lfo rate at 150hz, but as the knob is still at 100hz. While the parameter is actually at 150hz, the knob is at 100hz, so as soon as you touch that knob, the parameter gonna jump back to whatever rate the knob is at, in our case it's going to jump from 150hz to 100hz. It won't do this slowly; It's going to be a quick change from 150hz to 100hz. This can be traumatic in a live setting. You can have a sound set, touch a knob, on accident or on purpose , and suddenly the sound alters dramatically; It can sound like doo-doo if it's the wrong parameter, and all of the sudden, the sound you're playing with sucks. It can be a cool trick if used on purpose and with the right parameter, but otherwise it's awful and ruins your sound.
-The Solution is apparent-
So, after going through all that, what was the point? Well, this board solves it all. Each knob (26 of them to be exact) has a led around it. This determines where that parameter is. In other words, the lfo rate might be at 100hz like in our example, and when I turn the knob to say 50hz, the led shows that. The knobs don't have lines on them, so the position of the knob is determined by the led's location.
So... when we change sounds, the led's change to reflect the changing position of the parameters.
-Now, I know that was a bit of a long breakdown for a simple feature, but it's really what makes this board easy to navigate and use. I've never come across a board since I've had this one, that I haven't wished they had this exact feature. It really resolves some major issues in synth use. I cannot stress how important something like this is for a live application.
Use
You can look up stats on this board, there's no need for me to break all of that down. 2 osc, 4 part multi-timbral, 24-note polyphony. If you don't understand those important stats, you need to read up on synth programming before you buy one, because it makes a difference. While it doesn't hold up with some of your big boards (korg triton, roland fantom, yamaha motif, etc.) in some respects, the amount of control you gain by having pretty much every parameter physically present on the face of the board makes it much easier to work with. On the typical Triton or Fantom, you spend lots of time in menus and sub-menus. In truth, those boards are meant for different things, and you need to understand the differences between a board like this and a workstation. They have significantly different uses. The Nord does not have a sequencer on it, so you'll be creating sounds and often hooking it up to another sequencer via MIDI. With this board you'll really be constructing sounds more. You can combine them in several ways, and you can combine up to 4 sounds or use as many as 4 sounds at once on this board (4-part multi-timbral). It's great for sound designing, and the amount of control you gain by having all of your parameters physically on the board in front of you caters to that style. This is opposed to the all-in-one, sample based, expensive workstations like the Triton or Fantom that are more used for their sounds that are 'close to the natural instruments' or the fact that you can do everything on them, from working on a sound to sequencing a song together. The Nord acts as more of a component in your song, and isn't the hub in which you make your song. I had both a Triton and a Fantom, and though they sounded okay, they were hard to work with and had many features I didn't need, so I sold them. The Nord Lead 3 will never leave my possession. I should make it clear, however, that I like this type of board better. I don't need a sequencer on my keyboard. I use Cubase SX or ProTools to do most of my stuff, so an outboard sequencer just gets in the way for me.
The Sound
The sounds on this board are going to be synth-like. It's an analog modeling board (meaning it functions like an analog board, but is not actually using voltage change to alter the sounds). So if you're looking to buy a board that has guitar sounds, or piano sounds, or orchestra sounds in a realistic way, this isn't your board. Instead, it works very well for synthetic elements in music. Pads are lush, leads are sharp and crisp, arps are tight, clear, and modifiable in several ways. Im some ways it may lack that 'descrete' quality a real analog synth has, but then again, you don't have to tune this board (though you can) to keep it in key like you do with an analog board. It's also not expensive like many comparable analog boards are (see the monophonic Moog Voyager for reference in price [great board but expensive). In turn, this board isn't sample based, so you're working from the basic oscillator waveforms to create sounds (sine, square, triangle, sawtooth waves). It kind of straddles the fence in-between digital workstation and analog synth.
Additionally, the user can add sounds from other users, create their own sounds, modify the already preprogrammed sounds, and tweak sounds they've created before. The name of the game here is control. Every important parameter is in front of you, set to a physical knob with a led around it. You can also initialize a sound (two modes to start from) and work from the ground up if you want to be 'original' in your sound design.
Control
Having explained how the led's work, it should also be stated that any of those controls can be automated or controlled through several means (Nord calls this "morphing"). By simply holding down a controller button (a button corresponding to a controller which can be the mod wheel, aftertouch [this is when you press down on a actual keyboard key, you can press a little bit harder to initialize a parameter change or an automation], foot pedal, velocity [how hard you initially hit the note on the keyboard], or keyboard [literally, where you play on the keyboard [higher or lower] will affect a parameter setting), you can then twist a knob that you want to change via the specified controller.
-An Example-
So, if you want amp release time to become longer as you play higher on the keyboard, you hold down the keyboard-morph/controller button, then twist the amp release time so that it's longer. Now when you play higher on the keyboard, the release time will be longer.
Note: you're more or less specifying a ranger here, so playing low in our example will set the release time at whatever it was defaulted at, and as you play higher, the release time will increase, ultimately reaching the highest specified time (the highest point which you turned the knob to).
Similarly, let's say you want every knob on the keyboard to change when you move the mod wheel. So, no matter where these knobs are going, when you move the mod wheel, every parameter alters in some way, drastically changing the way that particular program (sound) actually sounds. You can hold down the mod wheel morph/controller button, turn every knob on the board to then point you want them to go to when you move the mod wheel, and then let go of the button. Now, every knob will turn to the point you set them at whenever you move the mod wheel. That's automating 26 parameters by moving just the mod wheel. Suffice it to say that this can really produce some weird and random results. And, you can do this with any of the controllers listed earlier.
-The Fact of the matter-
Automation is just too easy on this thing. The amount of control you gain by this setup (the led's around the knobs) is just astounding. Put this up against another synth, in which you'd have to write all of these automations out for each parameter you want to automate, or navigate through sub-menus just to reach those parameter controls. There truly is no comparison. It saves loads of work and time.
What does this thing not have?
Effects. There are little to no effects on this board. I also have an Access Virus TI Polar, and that thing has effects, and it does really help to shape your sounds and to make the bigger. However this is the ONLY thing I wish the Nord Lead 3 had. The good news is that you can always record the audio into your sequencer (like ProTools, Cubase, Ableton Live, etc) and add the effects there. Or, you can use hardware effects (most guitar pedals are especially cheap and easy to use), be they rack mount or whatever else, and do your effects processing there. When it comes down to it, the lack of effects on the Lead 3 are not something to cry about. And really, when you compare the price to other boards what do have the fx (say a Triton or even an Access Virus), well let's just say that it's convenient that the Nord comes without those fx, less they jack up the price $1000 more.
Overall
This board can change the way you work in your studio. It's devastatingly powerful, and the amount of control it gives you over sound construction and automation is unrivaled by any synth I can think of. This board is not going to emulate natural instruments so well. It sounds like a synthesizer. While some of the sounds are smaller because they are lacking the effects processing to widen them and make them deeper, there are more than enough parameters on this thing to play with and work with a sound until it is immaculate. Also, fx processing can always happen later in the sequencer or on another piece of hardware.
In my mind, what it comes down to is this: In a studio, the goal is to write or record what you want with as few hiccups as possible. This saves you time, stress, and confusion. The best situation is for everything to flow naturally, enabling the songwriter to write their song without worrying about technical issues. For an engineer, it should enable them to work in a fluid manner, adding whatever they need to a song or mixing the song without having to deal with technical issues that slow the creative process. Anything that slows down the creative process is affecting the resulting quality, and also wasting time (a.k.a. money).
Being a good producer, or engineer, or songwriter comes down to one thing: control, being able to do what you hear in your head. With this keyboard, you have that control from the smallest parameter to an entire sound. It's easy to affect the sounds in a way that you want as long as you know the basics about synths. For someone who just wants a bank of sounds to play with, this synth delivers too much and isn't made to work that way. For someone who wants to make their own sounds to work with, this is it: the epitome of control.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
hewhocanreview
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Member: Tim Duncan
Location: Sacramento, CA, USA
Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 0 members
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