With the Nord Lead 3 Clavia takes Virtual Analog to the next level and introduces the Advanced Subtractive Performance Synthesizer. ‘Advanced Subtractive’ because of the extremely flexible sound engine, featuring a combination of traditional shapable waveforms and a very intuitive 2 or 4 operator FM engine. All this can be routed through the top quality multi filter for further shaping. 'Performance Synthesizer' because of its unsurpassed user interface and play control functions such as keyboard hold, parallel polyphonic glide in legato mode, single-key triggering of whole chords and even clusters of slightly detuned voices for super-unison effects.

A very important thing for creativity is to always have total control of the parameter settings. The solution is to use high-resolution rotary encoders combined with circular LED graphs for each knob. The LED graphs around the knobs guarantee that you always have total and instant control over your sound! To put it simple: what you see is what you hear.

The synthesizer is available as a 4 octave keyboard model with Velocity and Aftertouch, the Nord Lead 3, and as rack version, the Nord Rack 3.

     

Demos of the Nord Lead 3 Performance Synthesizer

Polyphony

24 notes, 4-part multitimbral.

Performance Controllers

4-octave Velocity and Aftertouch sensitive keyboard (not on Nord Rack 3) with Octave Shift functionality (+/-2 octaves). Keyboard Split (two sections). Modulation Wheel (not on Nord Rack 3). Pitch Stick (not on Nord Rack 3) with no dead zone at zero crossing. Chord Memory/Stack. Keyboard Hold. Sustain Pedal and Control Pedal (not on Nord Rack 3) inputs.

User Interface

A very important thing for creativity is to always have total control of the parameter settings. The solution is to use high-resolution rotary encoders combined with circular LED graphs for each knob. The LED graphs around the knobs guarantee that you always have total overview of your sound. As soon as you select a new sound, the correct values of all parameters are shown instantly by the LED graphs, and you can adjust the knobs from their current positions without glitches. In addition, the exact parameter value is shown in the backlit LCD as you turn a knob. No more ’trial and error’ editing!

2 x 16 character backlit LCD and 3-digit LED. 26 rotary encoder knobs with circular LED graphs for instant control. 4 regular knobs and 45 buttons. Big Rotary Dial encoder for system editing, sound selection, MIDI functions etc.

Morph Groups

The Morph function lets you continuously control defined ranges of up to 26 parameters in a sound, using only a single control source. This lets you produce radical changes to a sound in a very fast and easy way. There are four separate Morph groups available per sound and you may assign up to 26 parameters to each of the four Morph groups. The Morph sources are: Keyboard Velocity, Keyboard Range, Aftertouch/Control Pedal and Modulation Wheel. Of course, you can also control the Morphs via MIDI! When you control Morph groups, the values of every assigned parameter are shown in real-time by the corresponding LED graphs.

Unison

Nord Lead 3 features the new and innovative adjustable stereo Unison without reduction of polyphony! Imagine the power of 5 simultaneous detuned voices per note, in stereo, and still having full polyphony! A dream for pad lovers. And for fat monophonic basses, use the Stack function and stack up to 24 x 5 virtual voices and launch in a single keystroke! Overkill? Yes, of course, but FAT should be F-A-T, right?

The Unison consists of 5 detuned virtual voices per note ( 2 in the left channel, 2 in the right channel and 1 in the center) and you can control the detune amount among the voices.

Arpeggio

Nord Lead 3 comes with a separate Master Clock/MIDI-synchable Arpeggiator per Slot. Instead of using a bunch of preset patterns each Arpeggiator also features a Sub Arpeggiator and a Mask function. These functions make it possible to generate advanced and dynamic arpeggio patterns in a very easy way. In Performance Mode, you can have up to four arpeggios working together in sync (with different time signatures, if you like). Great for multi-timbral textures!

Vibrato

The global Vibrato acts equally on all voices in the sound. Great for the final touch!. Controllable from the Modulation Wheel or Aftertouch.

Polyphonic Legato

Nord Lead 3 features Polyphonic Legato. This means you are able to play overlapping chords without retriggering the Envelopes!

Polyphonic Glide

Nord Lead 3 has extensive possibilities for Glide (Portamento). For example, you can use Polyphonic Glide in Polyphonic Legato mode for parallel glide between whole chords!

Keyboard Hold

Press the Hold button to keep notes sustaining until you play new notes. Especially useful together with the Arpeggiator or with Polyphonic Legato with Polyphonic Glide.

Chord Memory

Play a chord and activate the Chord Memory function. Now you can play the chord by only pressing single keys. Great for octave or ”fifths” lead lines, for example. Add a little Glide as icing on the cake!

Stack

The Stack function is a variation of the Chord Memory function. It lets you stack up to 18 notes to be played from single keys. If you like, you can stack the same note several times for extremely F-A-T sounds. Add some stereo Unison and take cover!

Monophonic with Highest/Lowest note priority

Let’s say you want to play a layer with a pad chord and a monophonic lead sound on top. By selecting monophonic operation with Highest Note Priority, you will be able to play the lead sound with the highest notes while you have the pad chord depressed.

Modulation Section

Nord Lead 3 offers 2 x 24 LFOs per voice. If you like, you can use the LFOs as Envelope generators in Single Cycle mode. You can also use the Modulation Envelope as an LFO in Repeat Mode. The LFOs can be hard-synched to the internal Master Clock or to MIDI Clock. Imagine the combination possibilities with hard-synched LFOs and the Arpeggiator!

LFO1 and LFO2, each featuring: Master Clock/MIDI-synchable LFO. 6 waveforms: Square, Triangle, Sawtooth, Random Step, Smooth Random, Special. 12 destinations. Free running/Hard-sync/Single Cycle and Mono modes. Rate and Amount controls. Separate LFOs for each voice.

MOD ENV: Attack/Decay or Attack/Release Envelope with Lin/Exp Attack. Envelope/Repeat modes. 12 destinations. Attack, Decay/Release and Amount controls. Separate Envelopes for each voice.

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Amplifier Section

ADSR Envelope with Lin/Exp Attack. Level (Gain) control. Separate Envelopes for each voice.

Oscillator Section

There are two separate oscillator groups, each providing you with six shapable waveforms, plus an additional sync oscillator. The extra sync oscillators make it possible to create two separately synched waveforms per voice. In other words, no need to sacrifice one audio oscillator just to sync another. Clavia also introduces Dual Sine FM - a very hands-on form of FM. In Dual Sine FM mode the oscillator generates two sine waves that can be used to form a 2-operator FM engine. If you like, you can use both oscillators in Dual Sine FM mode to create 4-operator frequency modulation. Don’t let the word ”operator” scare you off. With Nord Lead 3 it’s extremely easy to create great FM sounds - you don’t really have to know anything about FM to come up with good results! A nice feature is the Sound Init function. By pressing the Sound Init or FM Init button, the synthesizer resets to a default sound making it really easy to create new sounds. The Oscillator section also offers great modulation possibilities: Amplitude- and Ringmodulation, Distortion, FM, DFM, Filter FM and the new Distortion Modulation.

OSC1 and OSC2 with six shapable waveforms each: Triangle, Sawtooth, Pulse, Sine, Noise and Dual Sine. 1 additional slave sync oscillator per oscillator group. Dual Sine mode for 2 or 4 operator FM synthesis. Synchable Noise for formant type of sounds.

OSC1: Shape/Sync/DFM Amount control.

OSC2: Coarse Tuning/Modulator semitones, Fine Tuning/Carrier partial, Shape/Sync/FM Amount and Keyboard Tracking controls.

Oscillator Modulation featuring Distortion, Linear FM, Differential FM, Filter FM, AM/RM, Distortion Modulation and Noise.

Oscillator Mix/Noise control.

Filter Section



The filters of Nord Lead 3’s predecessors are praised for their musical values and in Nord Lead 3 we added even more flexibility and real time control. The Filter section of Nord Lead 3 has two separate modes, Single Filter Mode and Multi Filter Mode. You can select between various filter types, including LP, HP, BP, Notch, Triple Peak and Triple Notch. The Classic Lowpass filter, which emulates a classic analog lowpass filter, has a more narrow resonance peak and also features resonance compression when swept over the fundamental frequency. In Multi Filter mode two or more filters are combined into real killer multi-filters. For example, the Multi Peak and Multi Notch filters can be used for phaser and flanger type of effects.

Single Filter Mode: Lowpass 6, 12 or 24 dB/Octave, Highpass 6, 12 or 24 dB/Octave, Bandpass 12 or 24 dB/Octave, Band reject 12 or 24 dB/Octave, Classic Lowpass 24 dB/Octave, Distorted Lowpass 12 or 24 dB/Octave. Frequency and Resonance controls.

Multi Filter Mode: HP-LP in series 12 dB/Octave, HP-LP in parallel 12 dB/Octave, LP-BP in parallel 12 and 6+6 dB/Octave, BP-BP in parallel 2 x (6+6) dB/Octave, Multi Peak, Multi Notch. 2 x Frequency and 1 Resonance controls.

ADSR Envelope with Lin/Exp Attack, Envelope Amount/Velocity, Positive/Invert. Separate Envelopes for each voice.

Keyboard Tracking and Oscillator 2 Bypass controls.

Internal Memory



Nord Lead 3 comes with an internal editable Flash memory holding 8 x 128 (1024) Programs and 2 x 128 (256) Performances. Enough to take you through a gig! Looking for a special type of sound? No problem! In Nord Lead 3 the sounds can be assigned to different Sound Category groups. Sounds can easily be transferred to and from a computer or sequencer. No backup battery is required!

MIDI

All knobs and buttons for sound editing send and receive MIDI Control Change Messages. MIDI SysEx bulk dumps: single Program or complete Program Banks, single Performance or complete Performance Banks. MIDI Clock hard-sync of LFOs and Arpeggiator. OS upgradable via MIDI.

Connections

4 separate assignable Audio outputs, Headphones, Control Pedal input (not on Nord Rack 3), Sustain Pedal input, MIDI IN, MIDI OUT, MIDI THRU. Detachable power cord.

Physical Dimensions

Nord Lead 3: W: 870 mm, D: 278 mm, H: 100 mm (incl. feet and knobs). Weight: 6.3 kg.

Nord Rack 3: W: 19", D: 100 mm (incl. feet and knobs), H: 5 U (incl. space for cables). Weight: 3.3 kg.