So - Nord Lead A1?

[Rusty Mike]

I have not owned a legitimate hardware synthesizer since about 1991. I did my fair share of synth programming in the 80’s and thought I was pretty decent at it. One of my main synths was the Oberheim Matrix 6, which was pretty powerful stuff for its price point at the time. I was working in a music store that had a good relationship with the rep, and a couple of my custom patches made their way into the factory set of the Matrix 1000.

Sold all my synths in the early 1990’s. Been pretty much playing straight piano and organ since then. While I had my Stage 2EX, I dabbled a bit with the synth for some stuff my former jazz fusion group was playing.

Fast forward 30-ish years, and I’ve been starting to think about buying a synth for the home studio. I own a whole bunch of VST synths which sound amazing, but nothing feels like turning real knobs to dial in sounds. Using the mouse or mapped controllers to change settings is as tedious as programming that old Matrix 6!

The new Sequential Take 5 and Oberheim TEO 5 have caught my eye. One of them is just big enough for my space and have good quality sound engines. But, looking in the general price range (give or take a few hundred US), the Lead A1 comes into play. Certainly pros and cons about each. Easy enough to compare specs on paper, but I’m focused on some more real life type of attributes.

The Lead integrates well into the Nord ecosystem, so I can use my existing Sound Manager software to maintain the library. The Take and TEO both require third party software by SoundTower. People’s experience with SoundTower products have been mixed, and it’s an additional expense.

The lack of aftertouch on the Lead is something I think I can live with. I also think the Nord has more variety going for it, as well as the multitimbral capabilities. I know it also lacks a second LFO and the mod matrix is not as deep. My concern about the Nord is more regarding its age. It’s a 10-year-old product, and a replacement could be eminent even with Nord’s long lifecycles. Not that I care about owning older technology, but don’t want to pay the high price today only to see a fire sale in a few months where retailers and current owners are dumping them. I would speculate that if there was a next-generation model, it would at least have the OLED display integrated in, which is a huge plus.

Anyway, my questions to you Lead A1 owners are - would you buy the product again today? Do you still find value in it so many years down the line? Has other stuff in your arsenal taken its place? Are you still having fun with it?

Thanks for your thoughts!

[Rusty Mike]

Hi, Mike-

I had an A1 for a while and sold it to get the Wave 2. The A1 is a great-sounding instrument with a huge sweet spot. Great waveforms, easy to program, very small and light. I think it is one of the best VA synths released. However, the keybed has a distinctly cheap feel to it (Fatar's least expensive), very little resistance, and as you mentioned, no aftertouch. It is not too noisy, though. If that is not a deal breaker, I think it is a good synth to pick up used.

-dj

[Rusty Mike]

Thanks DJ,

Even the used prices on Reverb, eBay and craigslist are still pretty high, unfortunately. Maybe I'll need to dig deeper for better deals.

I recall playing a Lead model at NAMM in 2012 and remember the feeling of the key action. Agreed that it's not the most impressive, but also not a deal breaker.

That said, the Sequential Take 5 looks pretty good as well. The Wave 2 is nice but is way more than this hobbyist wants to spend.

[DJKeys]

I know, Nord's hold their value better than any other brand. They are still the same price as the others you mentions, $1499. But, the A1 can make 4 sounds at once-

-dj

[23skidoo]

I had an A1, made an EP with it, sold it for a Lead 3, would happily buy it again if I needed it. It's a fast, fun synth. After spending a few weeks exclusively with it, copying sounds by ear from other synths I liked (I do this habitually to get to know the workflow and architecture of a new synth) and then making my own, it became second nature to dial up pretty much whatever I wanted. The engine is simple but deceptive - those simples combine in some very nuanced ways: there's a lot of depth, if not a lot of width, if that makes sense. I made more patches for that synth than for any other I've ever owned, and I've had a lot and include VSTs in that.

However, I like the earlier Lead series keyboards strongly in preference - the Lead 3 has a wonderfully fast and still nice feeling lead-style board, and the 2/2x/4 all feel pretty good too. The A1 feels worse than those, not quite Akai cheap, but not terribly far off, either. I'm used to playing whatever is on hand live, though, so it wouldn't bother me, but it's not as nice to play for sure. Still, if Cory Henry can shred on a Subsequent 37 (which I also own and which has, hands down, the worst keyboard of my entire stable, past or present), then you can shred on the A1 if shredding is your thing.

In short, I recommend this synth. It's a lot of fun, even if it doesn't have all the bells and whistles the ones it has are very very good bells and whistles.

[DJKeys]

This is a good assessment, I had the same experience. But, as far as I know, the Lead 4 has the same keybed as the A1-

-dj

[23skidoo]

This is a good assessment, I had the same experience. But, as far as I know, the Lead 4 has the same keybed as the A1-

-dj

Per Pablo here, the 2x and 4 are exactly the same, which means they are not the same as the A1: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6131 and that's what my fingers confirmed, too.

[DJKeys]

Hmm, I guess my form of reference was wrong. I was referring to this thread:

https://gearspace.com/board/electronic- ... ate+keybed

which says:

Clavia

Nord Electro x (ohne HP): Fatar TP/8O
Nord Electro 3 HP: Fatar TP/100
Nord Electro 4 HP: Fatar TP/100LR

Nordlead 1,2(x),4, A1 (49): Fatar TP/7BA
Nordlead 3 (49): Fatar TP/9S, gewichtet
NordWave (49): Fatar TP/9S, ungewichtet
Nord Modular G2 (37): Fatar TP/9S

It shows the NL4 and A1 with the same Fatar TP/7BA which is lease expensive keybed from Fatar.

Guess it is mistaken-

-dj

[DJKeys]

Hmm, I guess my form of reference was wrong. I was referring to this thread:

https://gearspace.com/board/electronic- ... ate+keybed

which says:

Clavia

Nord Electro x (ohne HP): Fatar TP/8O
Nord Electro 3 HP: Fatar TP/100
Nord Electro 4 HP: Fatar TP/100LR

Nordlead 1,2(x),4, A1 (49): Fatar TP/7BA
Nordlead 3 (49): Fatar TP/9S, gewichtet
NordWave (49): Fatar TP/9S, ungewichtet
Nord Modular G2 (37): Fatar TP/9S

It shows the NL4 and A1 with the same Fatar TP/7BA which is least expensive keybed from Fatar.

Guess it is mistaken. I had a Nord Wave and it was indeed far superior to the A1 keybed.

-dj

[Mac06]

In the Nord spare part catalogue the keybed for NL/NL2/NL2X/NL4/NLA1 is listed with the same part number (40162). So it's definitely the same.