Clavia Nord Lead

Thus I met the Nord Lead virtual analog synthesizer. What changed my mind was the return of a knob-laden synth that reintroduced the analog timbres of yesteryear, amid the crystalline-sounding, pushbutton-synth universe spawned by the Yamaha DX7 in 1983. Here at last was an electronic instrument I could fully relate to in real time, like I could with a Minimoog, Sequential Prophet-5, or Oberheim Four-Voice from the past.

But there was a big difference between the red synth and those earlier beasts of glory: It generated sounds using virtual analog synthesis. The Nord Lead sounded analog to my ears, but it was all done digitally. And not only is its control panel adorned with 26 fixed-function knobs and 48 LEDs, but it introduced some fresh concepts and capabilities. First, there’s only one wheel, albeit one that feels gritty, like it’s made of pumice rock. It’s for modulation. Next to it, though, is the innovative “pitch stick,” which promptly became my favorite note-bender. It offers a stiff resistance and tactile response, sensibly moves left-to-right, and there’s no dead zone or center detent to cause unwanted jerkiness in a bend. Beautiful!

Clavia co-founder Hans Nordelius invented and patented the pitch stick, so you won’t find it on non-Nord instruments. The idea came from a Minimoog whose pitch wheel was stuck at its center detent. “When you pushed it,” he explains, “it would move a little bit and the pitch would shift. I thought it felt nice to bend notes this way, without making big movements. The pitch stick feels natural, like bending a guitar string. The more pressure you put on it, the more you bend the note. A pitch wheel feels sloppy in comparison.” During the design phase, he first tried an optical reader but found its resolution too coarse. He then discovered the strain gauge used in the steering joystick mechanism of Swedish fighter planes and found its feel and precision perfect for the task.

Another Lead function that I enjoy using during performance makes use of its “slot” buttons. In Program mode, with one of the four slot buttons activated, you can step on your sustain pedal while one slot is sounding — try an arpeggiated patch — and select a different slot before releasing the pedal. The previous patch will continue to sound glitch-free, and you can accompany it with the patch assigned to the newly selected slot. You can also return to a slot that’s sounding and tweak the patch’s volume, filter and envelope settings, and more. Or simply step on and release the sustain pedal to stifle the sound.

There’s also morphing, which allows you to assign multiple parameters to be varied between two values using velocity or the mod wheel. That way you can morph, or crossfade, between two similar or very different sounds. And in case you’d like to start making a sound from scratch instead of relying on patches in memory, engage Manual mode; now all the knobs and buttons function as they’re currently set.

Clavia started a virtual analog craze with the Nord Lead. Soon to follow were analog-sounding digital synths with knobs from Access, Korg, Novation, Roland, Waldorf, Yamaha, and other companies. As far as I’m concerned, red still rules.