Nord Lead 3

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Bad Name

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Im really, really thinking about getting one of these. ASAP, but Im not 100% sure about it. I mean, $3000 isnt that easy to just pay in a finger snaps time. But, I really think its worth it. I know for a fact, there some of the best sounding synths on the planet & all of them are infinitely expandable. But, percussion wise, that is the part Im not sure about. If you have hands on experience, not just using it in the music store but ACTUALLY own a Nord Lead 3, or the Nord Rack 3. I need your help here badly, a million thanks in advance. Peace, Bad Name.
 
$3000??? More like the $1600 or less range. Where the heck are you shopping at?
 
LOL

Im in Canada, so the exchange rate is where that happens. I just rounded off an estimate, I surfed Musicians Friend even though I know there overpriced. Im not sure how much it is exactly where Im shopping, but at least $2000+. It sucks, but I know I have to make the sacrifice to own it. Anyways, thanks F and if you would like to drop some of your thoughts on this piece then please. :)
 
Well, I think the Lead 3 rocks! I myself am trying to decide between one and the new Waldorf Q+. Big difference between the two, and big price gap. Your best price will come by asking someone if they know a good salesman, then calling them up and offering them an amount. You'll save several hundred dollars by doing that. On items like this you never pay sticker.
 
Bad Name said:
Im really, really thinking about getting one of these. ASAP, but Im not 100% sure about it. I mean, $3000 isnt that easy to just pay in a finger snaps time. But, I really think its worth it. I know for a fact, there some of the best sounding synths on the planet & all of them are infinitely expandable. But, percussion wise, that is the part Im not sure about. If you have hands on experience, not just using it in the music store but ACTUALLY own a Nord Lead 3, or the Nord Rack 3. I need your help here badly, a million thanks in advance. Peace, Bad Name.
Click to expand...

the percussion is pretty much useless compared to sampled sounds, but the nord rack is a tight piece...
but: personally i'd prefer a novation or waldorf product... the nord rack isn't in any way expandable.. (what you get is what you get, except for OS upgrades)

pros: dual filter (as on the novation series) and sick unison mode (really sick! gotta give em credit for that!)

cons: 24 voices, 4 part multitimbral, weak number of knobs & buttons, weak number of oscillators (2!! what's up with that?), only one sync oscillator, only one modulation envelope... small modulation matrix, only justified with the fm section...

compared to a novation supernova II Rack/nova you simply aren't getting enough for the money...
on a nova you've got up to 6 oscillators, 3 sync oscillators, 2 independant ring mod and FM generators and a noise generator per voice... (:eek:!) add 2 great lfos, 1 loopable and timeable amp envelope and 2 loopable and timeable (with sustain decay!) modulation envelopes and heaps of effects and extra little options you'd have never dreamt of... also dual/formant filters and modulable comb filter is available... now that's sick..
 
Wow!

Lai, I hear that man and I will do that. Looks like Ill be looking at the Novation synths & Waldorf models. Thanks for all the support, Anybody know where I can hear a demo of the Novation/Waldorf, if so thanks. Reason be, I wont be able to go to the music store for another two weeks. But, Id like to have an idea of what they have so I dont waste my time in the store, lol. Peace, Bad Name.

Oh btw, hella thanks to Chriss for the indepth response.
 
That is absolutely false! I own the lead3 and no other synth touches it!
First, it has NO effects. So big deal, it doesn't need effects. You can come up with sounds or layers of sounds with such depth of control, that it leaves you with no need for effects.
As an instrument, it is the best VA synth available. Not to mention, just the morph function makes it unlike any synth available... It allows you with the touch of a button to assign movement to up to all 26 knobs controlled with velocity, keyboard, wheel & aftertouch/pedal. Simply put you can turn all 26 knos at the same time just by pressing a little harder on a key, and at the same time, you can turn up to 26 knobs with the wheel, etc.etc.
Have you ever wished you could turn 2 or more knobs at the same time that your playing? I think that alone is worth the money, but just think about having up to 4 simultaneous program sounds playing at once, and with a spin of the wheel (or any of the other 3 controls) you can turn predetermined knobs on all four sounds at once!

Don't waste your time on any other VA!

PS Check www.synthony.com.
That's where I got mine about 2 wks ago for $1999 USD
 
Check out some more

If you're willing to drop that kind of cash, check out the Alesis Andromeda (deepest of them all not a VA but an AA). Pricey though. I played one next to a Novation and Waldorf..holy cow...the greed lust come on my harsh, quick, and without warning...it took all my wife could dish out to pull me from the register. Thank goodness one of us can keep our wits about them.

I have to say that I really like Nord Lead 3 myself but would probably go for the Nord Lead 2 (bang for your buck) if I went that route.
 
The lead 2 is an extraordinary instrument, but it doesnt have automated knobs... Find a salesman that actually knows something about it anhave them show you the morphing feature and how the slots work to combine programs to create performances. I was lucky because the guy I got mine from is ZON. He's one of clavia's main programmers for the lead 2 & 3. He's even featured on the website. He likes it best because of the quality of sound and depth of control for programming.
And it is upgradeable. Somewhat. Yes on the OS, but you can also d/l programs and patches as they are developed from clavia.

No other synth will do what a lead3 will do. It's worth the $$$!

The only thing I've heard about andromeda from people that actually own(ed) one is how much they sold it for.

Nord Rules!
 
subtractor said:
That is absolutely false! I own the lead3 and no other synth touches it!
First, it has NO effects. So big deal, it doesn't need effects. You can come up with sounds or layers of sounds with such depth of control, that it leaves you with no need for effects.
As an instrument, it is the best VA synth available. Not to mention, just the morph function makes it unlike any synth available... It allows you with the touch of a button to assign movement to up to all 26 knobs controlled with velocity, keyboard, wheel & aftertouch/pedal. Simply put you can turn all 26 knos at the same time just by pressing a little harder on a key, and at the same time, you can turn up to 26 knobs with the wheel, etc.etc.
Have you ever wished you could turn 2 or more knobs at the same time that your playing? I think that alone is worth the money, but just think about having up to 4 simultaneous program sounds playing at once, and with a spin of the wheel (or any of the other 3 controls) you can turn predetermined knobs on all four sounds at once!

Don't waste your time on any other VA!

PS Check www.synthony.com.
That's where I got mine about 2 wks ago for $1999 USD
Click to expand...

the morph knobs are cool, yeah, but you're seriously deluded if you run amok like that, saying it's the best and doesn't need effects... perhaps if you use it as a performance synthesizer it's way cool, but seriously, 4 parts and no fx... doesn't cut it.. it's also got a smaller modulation matrix than both the novation and waldorf in choise..
you'd need an extra synth to do the trick. i often use 6-8 synth tracks and i play alot on delay (which is fucking crucial in numbers and numbers of occations) and chorus/phaser.
sounds like you haven't got much experience with synths as far as i can tell. just because you own one, doesn't make it the best my friend..... and you're not right, it's just like any modular synth out there, just aimed for performance and with the morph knobs... just like the novation and waldorf synths have their own special fingerprints (comb filter, sync skew and formant whith and shit...)

as for demos, bad name. DON'T GO THERE!!! ... go out and try out the boards in a music shop (without the idiot salesman to bother you) and dig deep for a few hours... i've been a tester and demonstrater for quite a while and have had my hands on quite a few beasts, and personally i've found that you need effects, often it's more than half the essense of the sounds, and i've also found that only a few synths offer good presets (the virus does) but they're allways only the surface, so don't mind about the presets, play along on your own...
 
Really...

I own several synths ranging from modules like jv1010 and proteus2000 to a k2500s workstation to an ms2000, a roland jupiter4, an sh32 and on and on. I've had others and I'll have more because that's what I do. I eat sleep and shit synthesizers. Sounds to me like you dont have much experience figuring out shit about what other people know!

And I don't think any particular one is the best. They are all different and special in their own way. It's just that the nord is a little more special, capability wise.

I'm fully aware how cool effects can be. But how does it sound before you apply the effects? Not as good as the lead3. At least to my ear, and I'm sure I'm not alone. If a synth NEEDS effects, most likely it's a piece of shit.

Hmmm, what's wrong with this synth... It sounds like shit! Oh! The effects weren't on! Yeah... buy that one.

As for the fingerprints of other synths, I don't think a proprietary bank of effects or filters or anything else for that matter stacks up to what the lead3 can do. It's more than cool. It's revolutionary. Sure you can say " well, it's a performance synth "... Yeah, high performance! No other synth can do what it does.

And your stupid if you buy a synth based on the number of oscillators or effects. How does it sound?

But even if the lead3 didn't exist, my next choice would still be a virus! Then after that I might want a Q or Nova...

Get it Badname! You will love it! You've really gotta own it to understand how intricately cool it is! Beyond the fact that it is the best sounding, once you get into it and understand it's capabilities you'll be glad you got it!

And maybe for people who are testers and "demonstraters" (British?) it's easy to go dig deep for a few hours to understand the complexities of an instrument like the lead3. But unless you read the manual or have someone show you, your not going to figure out dick in a music store! I don't care what kind of "beasts" you've had your hands on!
 
subtractor said:

I'm fully aware how cool effects can be. But how does it sound before you apply the effects? Not as good as the lead3. At least to my ear, and I'm sure I'm not alone. If a synth NEEDS effects, most likely it's a piece of shit.

Hmmm, what's wrong with this synth... It sounds like shit! Oh! The effects weren't on! Yeah... buy that one.

As for the fingerprints of other synths, I don't think a proprietary bank of effects or filters or anything else for that matter stacks up to what the lead3 can do. It's more than cool. It's revolutionary. Sure you can say " well, it's a performance synth "... Yeah, high performance! No other synth can do what it does.
Click to expand...

and what does it do that other synths doesn't?... except the morph knobs? The supernova has got fm aswell, and so do most newer V/A's out there. If you're talking about the nice little unison it's got.

And you must really completely lack your usual medication... what if the dood needs a delay bass??? I often do... :confused: or a dub piano with delay? or what if he wanna make some nice fx with reversed gated reverb run through the delay unit? or a flanged delay on a synth stab??? You're missing a point here...

I've checked out the NL3 too, and i'm not very impressed... it's got loads of annoying limitations where a synth like the SNII or the Waldorf Q is much more free, wide and intuitive.

Revolutionary?? phuh?? why?? because it only got 4 parts and one mod envelope??
 
man, you're really pushing this... it's getting freaky... please note it says "this users rating" ... it might as well be u...

but this comment (the only other than a comment that it sounds like the most amazing sounding synth ever build, the oberheim matrix 12) : "This is a synthesizer which clearly represents the newest technology possible within synthesizer design. It's easy to use, yet highly complex - it's easy to make weird, awesome analogue effects with it which you'd normally need an Arp 2600 to accomplish otherwise, still you've got full polyphony on the NL3. This synthesizer is a new landmark in synth design. It will - hopefully - become available around December 2000; possibly January 2001. "
... sounds more like a sales person talking... nothing about the synth in itself, just a lot of boloney and an avaliabillity notice... kinda revealing..

if you wanna take this for good words, then you might as well go out and buy a tb303 and expect to make phatt pads.. sonicstate is the last place you wanna look for information... the synth shop is the right place.
 
hehehe...

and look at that... the waldorf q has got "the best analogue sounds ever" ... really... it doesn't sound like a personal perspective at all... :rolleyes:
 
you don't have one nearby? don't feel sorry... they probably have a korg triton and a few romplers down at the guitar center :rolleyes:
 
Actually the guitar center near me has the all the novations, waldorfs and pretty much every other synth out right now except nord...
And I live right by synthony music, which covers every other brand out. As a matter of fact I can't think of anything that you would plug in that makes noise that isn't available in the area.

I was hoping you were talking about a good online information source. I don't normally agree with most of the reviews on sonicstate either, but the info there is nonetheless helpful and you can normally tell by overall ratings and price trends how an instrument stacks up.

Don't get the wrong idea... I'm not dogging any synth. I'm just saying there is an order to purchasing, and I as a recent lead3 buyer am simply offering a thumbs up on it. I like it best, but that's not to say I won't have the others too. Because I'm sure I will... But I'm probably going to buy a virus first. That will be my twelth synth.

How many have you bought lately?
 
i thought you were punking me for not saying "guitar shop/center" like everyone else do...

anyway... seriously, if you have all these synths, you're newer gonna get full use of them if you just keep on buying more. it won't make your studio better, just bigger and more chaotic...
it took me forever to dig fully into the full potential of the supernova, on which i can now make any sound i want in a matter of seconds, and i haven't even thought of buying another synth... the next thing i buy will probably be the waldorf attack rack...

... there aren't very good resources out there, since the professional crew usually wants money for a review, so stick to sound on sound and keyboard magazine and stuff like that... they usually make some pretty tight reviews...
 
Noord Leads rock it

I personally don't know shit about synths. I dig the Noord leads because of how they sound. German synths have hard sounds. I could not get those sounds out of a triton. Maybe some synth guy could but I could not.

I will be buying one because you get to the hard sounds without becoming too much of a nerd.

Besides I have been to heavy duty raves in Germany and Holland and seen live performances on those synths. I liked how they sounded.

Fuck all of the god damn oscillators blah blah blah bullshit. Aren't you buying a musical instrument ??

If I buy a guitar I want it to sound good. If I buy a drumset its got to sound good. I like old 16 bit akai samplers too.

It's not cool to like stuff lower on the technology tree. But I don't really give a fuck about technology. I want to make some fucking music. I think counting oscillators and blah blah blah is for people that do not have a good enough mental picture of what they are trying to do.

I hear musical passages in my head before I touch my gear. I don't just fiddle mindlessly.

Thats my two cents. I don't want to piss anyone off. With me it's just about getting gear to get out the ideas.
 
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