Nord User Forum

Just curious as to why Clavia Don't fit Midi thru sockets to their synths(ok its probably negligible anyway)but the Nord Lead 3 DOES have a Midi thru socket.

Anyone know why that particular Model has one and why Clavia haven't included it on any synth since that?

I feel like a number of manufacturers skimp on MIDI thru these days. "Soft thru" via the out port is also nearly useless. My Moog LP has the same shortcoming.

AdamStage2 wrote:Just curious as to why Clavia Don't fit Midi thru sockets to their synths

Perhaps because one can get a MIDI thru box, so manufacturers save the socket and trivial circuit (!?) and shift the cost to the user
Same with the aftertouch. By now, I would have expected that every synth to have individual note (polyphonic) aftertouch, rather channel AT, but what do you see? none at all.

Mr_-G- wrote:Perhaps because one can get a MIDI thru box, so manufacturers save the socket and trivial circuit (!?) and shift the cost to the user

Of course there is a workaround,I never found the the Lack of Thru socket on the Nords a problem I've either put the Nord last in the chain like when I had one Nord device or like in my current setup utilising a Midi patch bay which works as a secondary thru for my Midi system on devices that lack such,Clavia and Roland seem to be the only manufacturers I've come across that lack hardware thru sockets on some synths they make,(maybe there are others)The JP8000 doesn't have one but it wasn't exactly a cheap synth to buy when new so don't think that Roland excluded one due to simply cost reasons.

I was more curious as to why Clavia included a hardware thru on the NL3 and not on any other device,it must have been a conscious decision by Clavia at the R+D stage to include one on The NL3 when they previously never and something that perhaps has more to do with just cost or is it something to do with the circuit boards used for that particular Nord Lead model,surely the addition of a thru socket isn't going to inflate cost that much if so why did they fit one to the Lead 3?or maybe it was no expense spared for the NL3 Given the luxurious LED encoders they splashed all over it.

Mr_-G- wrote:Same with the aftertouch. By now, I would have expected that every synth to have individual note (polyphonic) aftertouch, rather channel AT, but what do you see? none at all.

But, apart from an old Yamaha synth (I don't remember the name), what other synths have had polyphonic aftertouch? I cannot imagine controlling polyphonically the AT.... well, maybe just with 2 fingers, but no more....

Ramon

mon8169 wrote:

Mr_-G- wrote:Same with the aftertouch. By now, I would have expected that every synth to have individual note (polyphonic) aftertouch, rather channel AT, but what do you see? none at all.

But, apart from an old Yamaha synth (I don't remember the name), what other synths have had polyphonic aftertouch? I cannot imagine controlling polyphonically the AT.... well, maybe just with 2 fingers, but no more....

Ramon

The keyboards with polyphonic aftertouch:
YAMAHA CS-80
YAMAHA DX1
ensoniq SQ-80
ensoniq VFX, VFX-SD, SD-1
ensoniq TS10, TS12
ensoniq EPS, EPS16+
ensoniq ASR10
Roland A-50, A-80 MIDI Master Keyboards

.....What else??

I learned something new today!!

Ramon

I LOVE polyphonic after touch. Once you experience with it, you'll never be able to live without it. Opening LPF or adding pan LFO modulation on just one or few keys without affecting the entire chord etc, like Vangelis or Eddy Jobson.

I'm the one who also wonder why nord synths don't have MIDI Thru. It's convenient to have it when you're recording both MIDI and audio to a DAW.

Didn't the Sequential Prophet T8 also have polyphonic aftertouch?

The list above is longer than I'd expected. While a CS-80, DX-1 or T8 would be out of a lot of peoples reach economically,the EPS/16+ or A50/80 would probably be reasonable.

As for the lack of MIDI THRU, I think it comes down to cost. With the NL3 they most obviously made a machine that was far more expensive than the general market wanted to pay. I've heard that the NL3 and the NM G2 almost sunk the company, brilliant pieces of equipment, but not enough customers shelling out the cash. Looking at the machines that came after, it appears they've learnt their lesson and try to severly optimize (some would say minimize) the hardware used, while still keeping to their 'what you see is what you get' philosophy. Hence no LCD, no LED rings, and no MIDI THRU on the NL4 or A1.

Sure, a 5 pin DIN socket isn't that expensive, but when you begin to add up the extra components needed to drive it, the additional area needed on the circuit board inside, the additional testing in production to make sure it works, it all adds up. Same with the knobs. An extra knob or button would seem like much, until you factor in what comes with it.

The "problem" is that they're competing in a market where 90% of the machines have tons of menus and very few knobs, and a lot of customers are willing to put up with those shortcomings. When they introduced the Nord Lead in 1995, they were basically alone in the market, not so these days where there is stiff competition from the likes of Waldorf and Access.

"Sure, a 5 pin DIN socket isn't that expensive, but when you begin to add up the extra components needed to drive it, the additional area needed on the circuit board inside, the additional testing in production to make sure it works, it all adds up. Same with the knobs. An extra knob or button would seem like much, until you factor in what comes with it."

It adds up sure, but Clavia doesn't produce cheap products. In the price bracket they sit in they are short on some things.