Clavia Nord Lead

The Nord Lead is one of the most popular synthesizers of the 90s. It utilizes a new (at the time) type of synthesis called Virtual Sound Modeling (no samples). As a result, this synth can produce sounds indistinguishable from the classic Prophet and Jupiter series, Arp or even Minimoog, but also more abstract timbres. Sounds is generated from 2 oscillators (triangle, sawtooth, pulse) and noise per part. 2 LFOs (triangle, sawtooth, random) control OSC1 or OSC2, filter, pulse width and ADSR envelope. Filters include 12 dB/oct 2-pole lowpass, 24dB/oct 4-pole lowpass / bandpass / highpass (both with cutoff, resonance, envelope amount, envelope velocity, key tracking, ADSR envelope). It has 12 voices and is 4 part multitimbral. Our Nord Lead has the v 2.6 Expanded upgrade (card slot, card, and 12 voices). The card allows for a total of 400 patches which includes 40 synth percussion kits. There is full Midi compatibility with control over all parameters. 40 performance patches in ROM and based on the factory presets of the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5. Here is a demo of the Nord Lead doing some abstract Autechre-like sounds.

Used on very notable recordings including:

Image
Type of unit
Synthesizer Keyboard
Brand/Make
Clavia Nord
Synthesis Technology
Physical Modeling
External control
MIDI
Parts Capability
4 Part Multitimbral
Polyphony
12
Patch memory
digitally stored
Decade of creation
1990s