Nord User Forum

For those of you who may be interested:

I am a relatively new Stage 3 Compact owner and I still have an A1 synth (actually I was thinking about selling the A1) - and so I was curious how similar they sound. I'm a fan of classic mono (moogish) sounds and I immediately noticed that the basic saw wave in the A1 sounds significantly buzzier than in the Stage. You can hear it clearly but you can see it very dramatically in the analyzer graphic (see below).
Well, I think I'll keep my A1

Sound: Sound init, Classic Saw, single osc, frequency fully open, "LP M" filter

WHITE line: Lead A1
ORANGE line: Stage 3

Thanks! This is the level I love to work at.

I don't own an A1, is there any way you could find the A1 frequency setting where the Stage 3 appears to start at? It looks like the Stage 3 doesn't open up as wide as the A1 can.

dmamfmgm wrote:I don't own an A1, is there any way you could find the A1 frequency setting where the Stage 3 appears to start at? It looks like the Stage 3 doesn't open up as wide as the A1 can.

Yes, no one know why but they obviously changed some parameters of the filter(s).
I've done a quick addition and recorded the A1 with the frequency reduced to "8.8" instead of "10" (there are no Hertz values). Then both sound similar and the graph also looks more similar.

The "treble loss" begins at 5 kHz and drops rapidly above 10 kHz. It's also interesting that the A1 offers a bit more of bass frequencies.

Yup, just eyeballing it, it looks like the Stage 3 adds another Low Pass pole with an additional 3dB/decade of filtering starting at ~12kHz and a Hi Pass pole with an additional 6dB/decade starting at ~120Hz.

This level of comparison would ultimately make it possible to convert programs "safely" back and forth between the Lead A1 to the Stage 3 Synth engine. It would take a lot more work, but this demonstrates it is possible.

(If I had a Lead A1 I would do it.)

Edit: Typos

Personally I think the NS3 Synth it's NOT an A1 Synth, it's just BASED on it.

So, If you buy a Nord Stage 3 thinking you will get an Nord A1 Synth plus Pianos, Samples and Organs you might be disapointted.
The Synth in Stage 3 is cool, but it's not an A1 copy. I don't think they even sell it this way

aureliopenna wrote:Personally I think the NS3 Synth it's NOT an A1 Synth, it's just BASED on it.

So, If you buy a Nord Stage 3 thinking you will get an Nord A1 Synth plus Pianos, Samples and Organs you might be disapointted.
The Synth in Stage 3 is cool, but it's not an A1 copy. I don't think they even sell it this way

Absolutely, but Clavia formulates this in a somewhat suggestive way: "Our outstanding new flagship instrument features our latest award-winning technologies including the Nord Lead A1 Synth Engine with sample playback (...) - all in one exceptional performance keyboard."

OK, they're talking about "including the engine" and not "including the Nord Lead A1", but anyway it's interesting why e.g. they changed basic waveforms or filter properties.

dmamfmgm wrote:...This level of comparison would ultimately make it possible to convert programs "safely" back and forth between the Lead A1 to the Stage 3 Synth engine. It would take a lot more work, but this demonstrates it is possible.Edit: Typos

I don't have the A1 and its parameters, compared to what's implemented in the Synth engine of the NS3.
But we have the Synth parameters of the NS3 and also information on the ns3f format.

One would first need to evaluate the differences between the 2 engines and see if it makes sense to decipher the NLAS/NLAP format to have the possibility to view the parameters and ultimately, convert .nlas/.nlap to ns3f.

Fred