Nord User Forum

I can't figure out what they were thinking reducing the LFO section? The LFO section was integral to programming on the original Wave.

This is less of a synth, and more of an oldschool AKAI sampler that is playback-only model.

Nord Wave



Nord Wave 2


I guess they thought it would be cheesy to have TWO LFOs for the Nord Wave TWO? But the reduction in routing options? THIS MAKES NO SENSE.

IMO, they've been Ikea'ing their keyboards sine they discontinued the Wave and Modular. It's like they stopped taking acid when they should have kept going.

Here's to hoping a new modular is on the way...

With reference to the images on Nords homepage, the mod env is still there, just placed above the osc section instead. It's not like two lfo and the mod env has been reduced to only one lfo, as the images may allude too otherwise.

You didn't say so in the text, so this is just to point out to anyone mainly comparing the images.

baekgaard wrote:With reference to the images on Nords homepage, the mod env is still there, just placed above the osc section instead. It's not like two lfo and the mod env has been reduced to only one lfo, as the images may allude too otherwise.

You didn't say so in the text, so this is just to point out to anyone mainly comparing the images.

Who cares, the Osc Mod is also so greatly reduced that it's barely significant. 2 routing options instead of 6.

Pretty much the only place you can route the One LFO or OscMod, is pitch and Osc Control and Filter Freq.

They should have had push-button assignment for the LFO to any or multiple parameters like the Mod WHeel.

ResonantMind wrote:They should have had push-button assignment for the LFO to any or multiple parameters like the Mod WHeel.

That would have been awesome. However there is possibly hope. I saw a post on another forum where someone was thinking of designing an LFO expander module for Nords that could control a much larger number of parameters via MIDI. I imagine at certain settings there would be glitchy-sounding output but this could really help expand the possibilities. The extra LFO's can be adjusted with the performance controls as well, and the expander is in sync with Nord presets so it isn't a global thing.

Yes the simplified modulation section is a BIG letdown, but let's wait for the manual so we can see how it's implemented.
Maybe there are more options in the menus, or maybe additional LFOs/envelopes will be added by firmware...we'll see.

The other big let down is they didn't design it to be forwards compatible with the Nord Wave, ie, because the design is different, I cannot load my Nord Wave patches into it.

The Nord Wave was already a fantastically designed synth and they could have easily stayed within that topology with a few new additions, tweaks, etc, and everyone would have been happy.

Instead they designed an entirely new synth and not only is the new design meh, it's also not a replacement for the Wave.. meaning, if Wave users were wanting a new Wave to replace their old... this doesn't really do it. which eliminate a lot of potential $$$$ market for them. I'd rather keep my Wave and find something else to compliment in the Eurorack department or the number of other options out there - Waldorf Quantom, Sequential Prophet XL, Yamaha Montage.

Not really sure what their thinking is. If not being Forwards Compatible based off the original - at least put more creativity into the topology... For instance, why not be able to route the Mod Envelope to the Layer Volume? As far as I can see, there is no way to modulate the Layer Mix.

Compatibility is nothing Nord is famous for - this does not exist for the various generations of Electros and Stages either

Their Morph sources could have included envelopes and LFO's - that's kinda what I was expecting by about this time in their development towards ever better and more flexible easy to use instruments...

But I'm still happy with my NL4, despite some strange choices.

Well, from the point of view of somebody that owned a A1, that owns a NE5HP and often play with a Nord Stage, my humble impression is that the real mistake Nord did with this one
is the name. If they called it a NL A2, nobody would had complained.
If you check the Nord Lead subforum, you'll find different posts asking for an A2 including the sample playback from the NS3, and a better ergonomy.
If you consider it as a A1 evolution, instead than an evolution of a Nord Wave, it is a great machine, exactly what people asked for.

But personally, instead, i consider it more in the category "more of the same"; the knobbed synth market evolved a great deal since the NL 4 and the NL A1 came out; the choice today is very large, in
all the market segments, including mono/poly and VA/digital/real analogue; i think Nord needs something new to stay in the synth market in the long term.

Maurizio

maurizio wrote: If they called it a NL A2, nobody would had complained.

I would not be so sure. The complainers seem to get more and more sophisticated all the time.