Clavia Nord Lead 3

The worst purchase of my life.
I never used this synth because it spent time in the test, repair, test, repair ...
So much so that it made me disgusted with the music.
Purchased in 2008 and finally sold in 2013.
In short it was a nightmare SYTHE for me.

The service is inexistent Clavia, these snobs, never answer your email, and it is a hassle to find a répérateur.

Now just be a new keyboard, it could make.

UTILIZATION

I used just 10 minutes.

SOUNDS

Not bad, but Unfortunately never worked with me.

OVERALL OPINION

At avoid.

VA synthesizer, touch sensitive keys 48 and after touch,
pitch stick (very practical) + modulation wheel assignable to any parameter in the facade (morph group)
4 output audio jack, no audio inputs
2 pedal inputs (sustain and expression)
analog modeling synthesis, subtractive synthesis and FM simplified, no effect
20 voice polyphony
4-way multitimbral.

UTILIZATION

Editing is very simple, a model of its kind. All parameters are displayed on the facade. A button = one function.
Rotary potentiometers his endless, and led a series of shows around its position, far dêtre a gadget, you see the exact configuration of the sound even when you change patches. Display values ​​in real units on the screen (eg in Hz for a filter, an envelope in ms).

The manual is very clear (and almost useless except for a little more complex functions such as setting noon, output assignment, ...), only downside, I did not manage to get it in French, so must have a minimum knowledge of English.

SOUNDS

Great sound, well brilliant. perfect for the lead, tablecloths, ... against by a little less good for bass.
The parameter provides detune sounds very large and very fat.
The synthesis is quite complete, many things are possible, including some FM (up to 4 operators).
The filters are sufficiently numerous and really very good.
For the rest: 2 LFO modulation matrix, 2 + 1 envelopes Envelope / LFO modulation matrix ...

An interesting feature of Nord Lead is the 4 morph groups, which allow one to support her. Each morph group is not assigned several variations of parameters, which are modified according to the type of morph group (velocity, tone, aftertouch, mod wheel). This provides sound expressively rich enough.

the -

No audio input.
No effect (but it happens).
It is quite difficult to ring in the synth bass, and it takes a little work for bass sounds.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for a year. I said that it was my first real synthesizer.
I love the sound of this synth, very clear and soft, but can be either dirty or aggressive.
One of the great strengths is probably its interface (may be the best?), One can spend hours fiddling a sound, there's no fetching in menus, submenus ...

It may be a bit expensive, but I do not regret at all, I would do this choice without hesitation.