Nord Wave Review?

jonathap · Post by **jonathap** » Fri May 09, 2008 9:16 pm

Does anyone who owns one of these want to testify as to its strengths/weaknesses/pluses/minuses? I'm really desiring one, but the price tag is steep. Hope I'll be able to find one used...

-Jon

maindeglorie · Post by **maindeglorie** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:41 pm

I wrote one. Let me see if I could dig it up on the forums, if not I'll do my love/hate run down again. It really ISN'T worth the high price tag, but I paid it anyway, and I do enjoy it. It's always gigging with me.

theplateauxofmirror · Post by **theplateauxofmirror** » Fri May 09, 2008 11:53 pm

there's a thread somewhere on it. the consensus seemed to be that it was neat, but lacked some features to make it worth such a big price tag.

Post by **Jack Spider** » Sat May 10, 2008 12:31 am

Sound On Sound gave it a very good review - you can actually purchase the review as a .pdf file for 99p from their webseite if you don't fancy buying the full magazine.

clusterchord · Post by **clusterchord** » Sat May 10, 2008 3:14 am

i play<ed with it for some half n hour the other day in the store. ina few very very short lines:

pros:

from gigging point of view, i liked the idea of having both a decent VA/FM synth together with ROMpler capabilities doin mellotron choir/strings, in one neat small package. great programming UI as always.

-sound of samples is very good. i really liked mellotron n some other stuff. good fidelity.

-great sound design/fresh sounds potential by combining FM/VA/RAM elemnents.

cons:

-i find the filter n resonance, pwm and sync, the standard stuff i check for analog in "virtual analog" rahter harsh n unpleasant, more in style of G2 n to an extent NL3, than their earlier code found in NL2/2x, which i strongly prefer in this context.

-no arpeggiator !!! or am i mistaken. thats totally SUCKS. on a board of this type ?!? wtf?

-lotta cheesy ROMpler patches a la acoustic guitar etc.. who d phk needs those. some banks made me feel as if i was browsing a new Juno-D -G -c**p somthing repackaged form Roland.

-truth be told, i felt some combinations of the bfr-mentioned different synthesis sound only good on paper, in reality the results aint always easily musical.

im going back in a few days for a round two on the Wave. will try to record some too. my friend runs the store.. they also got Snow and MPC2500 that i want to check out.

Synthprophet · Post by **Synthprophet** » Sat May 10, 2008 8:10 am

They have indeed taken some steps forward with this, but I don't understand why the arp was left out. Another thing is the decreased multitimbrality - only two parts where it used to be four on the Lead models.

jonathap · Post by **jonathap** » Wed May 14, 2008 10:43 am

It can't do keyboard splits can it? I flipped through the manual and didn't see any mention of this.

As someone mentioned, as a tight, small live package that can cover a lot of different ground this seems very attractive, but I would need keyboard splitting in a live situation...

toonelind · Post by **toonelind** » Wed May 14, 2008 10:51 am

i had such high hopes, so it was really a big dissapointment, especially soundwise. spec and construction are great though.

Paddyt · Post by **Paddyt** » Wed May 14, 2008 3:18 pm

i own one. I just bought it in Germany and brought it with me to Ireland, where for sure, none are for sale.

I'd say; Great synth! I like the fact that I can use VA, FM, wave and (outerboard) sampling. Clavia calls it a mellotron function, but really, with the provided software, 99 internal storage places, Pitch + phrase sampling, the whole synth's signal flow and the onboard 160 mb, it becomes a fair sampler(the mellotron sounds provided are brilliant, by the way!). Since this function is a part of a two oscilator setup, you can do nice things with the sample and the first oscillator part(ad FM, VA or noise for example). Think of sampling a voice and mix a carrier sound to it (vocoder-ish). Loop sampling can be very interessting this way. the VA part is simple, with square, saw and triangle wave. The FM part is -to my knowledge- 4op, but has around 25 'waves' to choose from. Since i just own it, i just scratched the surface of this synth-VA and FM wise, but what i have tweaked on it, it sounds like a brilliant synth-warm-responsive and a very 'musical' filter(LF, BP, HF, combi and vocal). I have aside of this synth a JD800 and JP 8000 and I think that they are suffering from a lack of attention, since the NW moved in..

-ah well..they'll get their turn

Strenghts;
-Sampling (phrase and pitch)
-Nord engine
-Great filter(s)
-Nice keyboard action
-The variety of synth option (VA, FM, Wave, noise, sampling) and the fact that you can combine two of them
-Onboard quality fx (distortion, delay(s)-which is tappable, reverbs and Chorus) can all be switched on at the same time.
-USB connection (alltough i am not sure if this is only for the sample funtion)
-3 morph options; keyboard, footswitch and wheel. When morph button pressed, u can select almost any function from the front panel.

Weaknesses;how painfull it is to admit..
-No keyboard split (buy a second one!)
-No arp (Be creative and use a midi sequencer!)
-Not much polyphony(i believe 18 note), but more then I ever whished for, since i also own a JP8000 and know many more VA synths with less.
-Only 2 part multitimbral.

Hugo76 · Post by **Hugo76** » Wed May 14, 2008 4:36 pm

SOS indeed gives it a very positive review. One thing that seems brilliant is the included software & its handling of samples. It 'intelligently' handles samples by automatically assigning them to their correct notes as I understand it.
Plus the synth has 108 (or 180?) megs of flash rom, something which is fantastic in my book. In many ways it looks similar to the V-Synth, but that may be just on the surface. I must say this is one synth I would seriously consider - provided it sounds good

Regarding the Mellotron samples - Clavia actuallt bought the rights to use these exclusively afaik:
"The Nord Wave comes shipped with a selection of the 68 tapes used by the Mk I, Mk II, M300 and M400 Mellotrons. The rest of this amazing library will be available for free to the Nord Wave users on a DVD or as downloadable archives. By sampling the sounds using fresh tape copies and a newly manufactured Mellotron instrument - built using vintage components - the Nord Wave reproduces these sounds with all hisses and fizzes exactly as they were meant to be."

Read all about it here:
http://www.clavia.se/main.asp?tm=Produc ... =Nord_Wave

redchapterjubilee · Post by **redchapterjubilee** » Wed May 14, 2008 4:38 pm

I haven't played one but I was on the other side of one Friday night in Portland. A local electronic artist Dave Fulton used one during his set along with his gigantic MOTM modular and Voyager. Sounded fine from the audience! He used it mostly for analog-esque pads and Mellotron sounds. When I talked to him after his set about the Wave it was the all-inclusive nature of the engine that he liked the most. He could have all the sounds he liked in one synth.

megawatt · Post by **megawatt** » Tue May 27, 2008 6:07 pm

I’ve been eying the Nord Wave since it was first announced and then was devastated once I saw the price. Synth karma must have been on my side this weekend as I found a local seller who was selling his for 2K. I lead off with this comment as the price (due much to the weak dollar) is the number one problem that this synth will face in the US market. For 2k this synth delivers exactly what I needed – a multisynthesis instrument with a knob per function interface. The philosophy of the instrument seems to be more of a performance synth – things like the LFOS and delays are more for adding texture than hard synching to a clock

Interface
I can’t overstate what a joy it is to play the Nord Wave. The interface is simply revolutionary for this kind of hybrid synth and is what makes programming an absolute pleasure. Having all the synthesis options within a subtractive environment makes programming FM patches dead easy. A FM and sample playback synth with knobs – crazy! I was up and running without the need for the manual in no time. The keyboard is good – not amazing – the aftertouch is good but not as expressive as on my P08. The magic is really in the Dual layered nature of the Wave – Stacking the four osc sounds massive – really massive.

Synthesis
Filter
The filter is a real charmer on the Nord – from smooth to rude the multi-mode filter covers a lot of ground. All of the demos that I’ve heard online do not provide an accurate sound – they all sound grating and harsh. In actuality the Nord has a very flexible sound. Nord really need to get some proper demos up. The resonance is both LP modes is great and very musical.

VA
Fairly straight forward – but sounds different than my old NL2 – and not that different then my DSI P08 though it lacks the “analog touch”. From leads to basses, pads, clavi, ect.. The VA offered all the tones that I was used to from my Poly analog synth – the difference is the great FX and fusion that one is capable with this type of Hybrid synth. Frequency and Phase modulation are both offered – though often harsh sounding I’ve found that I use this with a LFO or wheel to add a bit of grind to sounds.

FM
I use FM7 casually – I love FM sounds but have never truly dug deep into programming my own. The Nord lets me get all the standard FM sounds like bells, Rhodes, electric piano’s, basses and so on really easily.

Single Cycle Waves with attack / Wave”tables”
Nord does not do wavetables – more like the single wave slices found in the Prophet VS/ Evolver and the waves with attack as heard on the Ensoniq ESQ. In Fact – the Nord wave reminded me a lot of my SQ80 in the ease of programming and diversity of sounds I could get from it. You can program the slices with an external sequencer for typical wave-sequenced sounds – seems odd that it can’t be cycled with an LFO or something…

Samples
The sample manager is easy to use – I was up and running backing up and loading new samples into the Nord without the need to look at the manual. This will be most peoples gripe against this synth as a “sampler” should well sample. I think this may have been needed before most studios have a computer but the sample manager is so easy to use that I prefer doing the process there. The included samples sound very clear and are of great quality. The Mellotron samples are dusty and grimy and add a great texture. I loaded up a few ethnic samples from my collection but find the included samples to be enough as I’m learning the instrument.

Hybrid
Overall the best new sounds come from mixing the synthesis styles together. I love having an instrument that has all of my favorite synths packed in but having the ability to fuse these together without digging through menus has been a revelation.

FX
After not having FX on my P08 – having built in FX on the Nord Wave was a serious wake-up call. Just the basics are here but are enough to add a bit of flavor as you need it.

Dislikes
The obvious ones have been stated:
No Midi sync for LFO – WTF?
No Arp – again this goes back to the player’s synth philosophy but on a sound design powerhouse like this one – it would have been nice.
The retail price – managed to duck this one through luck – but man $2700 is WAY too much for the common man to pony up.
I’m a little bummed sometimes that I can’t FM or PM two different Samples together – this probably doesn’t sound so great anyway.

Comparisons need to be made between the Vsynth and Wave. I’ve owned both and find they offer very different experiences both in sound and programming and performing. While the touchpad and laser beam on the V-synth are good tools – they don’t compare to level of expression that I’ve gotten from the pitch stick and wheel combo on the Nord. Though I’ve not tried AP synthesis. From a design perspective the Nord is simple and elegant while the V-Synth screams “Future” and while nice is a little gaudy in my opinion. This has been stated in other reviews but if you are interested in mangling loops that are tempo slaved then the Vsynth is for you – if you are more into using samples as part of synthesis the Nord provides a much nicer experience due to the better sounding sample playback engine combined with the interface. They are both great synths.

Conclusion
This one is a keeper – I wanted a solid rompler, a good VA/analog poly and a FM synth with knobs – the nord delivers it with style and then some – it’s all of these but becomes something else when you start to experiment. I’m getting new sounds that I’ve never been able to achieve before and getting them quickly. The presets are meant to be a springboard and I find they are great starting places but am quickly filling my own banks with new patches. Programming is a dream – this is a synth nut’s nut right here. My DSI Prophet 08 is up for sale and I have no regrets – obviously an unfair comparison – but I’m just a small home studio dude – I can’t afford to keep them all and like to find gear that are “future” classics. I’m sure most folks here can relate. I just love having all of my favorite sounds in one box.

Let me know if anyone has any questions. I hate making demos – Not sure if they would ever paint the full picture – the synth needs to be played to be understood.

MrFrodo · Post by **MrFrodo** » Tue May 27, 2008 7:31 pm

Can the Wave's morphing function (or any Clavia's morphing function) be controlled from a synth/keyboard with a vector joystick (Prophet VS, SY77, TG33, Wavestation, Kawai K1, etc)? The plethera of sound-creating/editing possibilities does seem that extensive. Can it be done?

megawatt · Post by **megawatt** » Tue May 27, 2008 8:48 pm

@Frodo

The morphing function is really just a fancy modulation bus - as you are able to attach a great number of functions to the morph destinations (Wheel, Velocity, keyboard or midi ccs).

I've not used a joystick with it so I can't say whether it will work - are those 3 or 4 directional joysticks that mostly played with osc volumes and blends? I had a TG33 for a minute - never really got into it.

clusterchord · Post by **clusterchord** » Fri May 30, 2008 3:49 am

yeah i forgot to mention, the FX Section is TOP NOTCH.

really really good - delay with HF rolloff ala BBD, chorus a la Juno with simple i, ii and i+ii settings, and reverb - all algos sound really convincing n smooth to me, and im a reverb nerd. i feel fx complement sounds in the right way. a HUGE step forward for live use. tho no split is step back (didnt know this until Paddyt's review)

Nord Wave Review?

Nord Wave Review?

Splitting?