Nord User Forum

Which nord A1 or L4 is more useful for "melodic" synth sounds: pluck, bell, lead, pad, keyboard?
I am not interested in arpeggiator sounds and non-melodic sounds / effects.
And I know 1 well, but I know L4 only a little. Can someone say what he had both?

Err.... the word is in the name: Nord "Lead". They both excel at this. The Lead 4 is basically a Lead 2x plus expanded morph-like features and other performance controls (leaving out the fairly useless effects section). The Lead series are well known as being extremely competent "melodic" (as you say) synthesizers, among the best out there.

Any of them (including the original Nord Lead, the NL2/2X, and 3, also) will do a superb job at these types of sound, the question is more exactly what workflow do you prefer - the A1 has a simplified workflow which is optimized for getting the sound you want faster, but maybe not as perfectly, and the L4 has a workflow oriented more around being able to tweak and refine the sound further (especially while performing it) but maybe not starting off quite as quickly until you're more of a skilled and experienced programmer - but both of them are quite "fast" compared to many/most? other synths out there.

So... neither is "more" useful. They're both perfectly and differently useful - and the main difference is in workflow and available modulations for performance (and onboard effects, if you care about those).

I really like reverbs in nord lead.
That's why I don't like the fact that L4 has either a delay or a reverb .
But on the other side - delay bpm in nord leads is weak ....
The L4 has more options for creating the sound...?...

Personally I'm fine with reverbs being external (e.g. a pedal or a rackmount) so I'm not so concerned with onboard effects - they're "nice to have" but not "essential" for me. With some good use of envelope release and judicious unison, you can make some really huge sounds without any reverb at all in fact, but this is all subjective to the user - if you really require a reverb and delay simultaneously in a synth then your only option in the Lead series is the A1. That said, I don't think it's a big deal at all, personally.

You can read the specifications on the website and look at the front panel to get a good sense for what the Lead 4 offers and compare that to the A1 to get a feeling for the increased level of control you have on the Lead 4.

RafalSC wrote:"melodic" synth sounds: pluck, bell, lead, pad, keyboard?

What do you mean by "keyboard"?

anotherscott wrote:

RafalSC wrote:"melodic" synth sounds: pluck, bell, lead, pad, keyboard?

What do you mean by "keyboard"?

This sounds like a list of synth categories you might find in the interface for a synth VST. I just peeked in Analog Lab, filtered by Synths, where the list of categories isn't exactly the same, but does include one called "Keys", in which you find synthy versions of EPs, APs, organs etc. I think the OP might have taken a list of categories from a VST and left out the uninteresting (to the OP) stuff like SFX, percussion and sequencer.

Well, no Nord Lead is going to be much good for EPs, AP, organs...

You can definitely get some great EP and certain organ sounds out of the leads. Plenty good enough for cover work at least. They won't be "authentic" but they'll sound excellent and fit the role fine. AP, not so much.

23skidoo wrote:You can definitely get some great EP and certain organ sounds out of the leads. Plenty good enough for cover work at least. They won't be "authentic" but they'll sound excellent and fit the role fine. AP, not so much.

Agreed. In fact in the A1, there are 9 wavetypes dedicated to various organ drawbar registrations, 4 dedicated EP and Clav wavetypes, and some bell & tine wavetypes. Aside from the limitations of the keybed itself, these sounds are all quite usable.