Clavia Nord Lead 3 Keyboard

Advanced Subtractive Performance Synthesizer
Clavia presents its latest synthesizer innovation - The Nord Lead 3. The Nord Lead 3 is a 20-voice synthesizer offering a wide range of features. A new type of unison with maintained full polyphony opens up extremely rich and fat polyphonic sounds. With the Nord Lead 3 Clavia also introduces the industry's most user-friendly and intuitive user interface with endless rotary knobs and LED graphs for total and immediate control. Creating and editing sounds has never been easier.

Not Just "Virtual Analog"
At first glance Nord Lead 3 may look like a "beefed up" Nord Lead 2 but don't let your eyes fool you - it's a completely new synthesizer. With the first Nord Lead, Clavia introduced the "Virtual Analog" concept: analog synthesis emulated in real-time by digital signal processors, coupled with a fast and immediate "one-knob-for-each-function" user interface. With Nord Lead 3 "Virtual Analog" is not a correct definition anymore - it can do so much more. Take for example the new sound engine: a combination of traditional shapable analog waveforms and an extremely user-friendly 2 or 4 operator FM engine. It's about all you need to create most types of electronic sounds. Like before, no samples or wavetables are used - everything is generated in real-time for outstanding sound quality and expressiveness. With Nord Lead 3 the 'Virtual Analog' synthesizer steps up to a higher level. That's why Nord calls it an "Advanced Subtractive Performance Synthesizer."

Top Quality Sound
The Nord Lead 3 comes with 20-voice polyphony. A lot of effort has been put into developing the sound engine of the Nord Lead 3. High-speed DSP's and high-quality DAC's guarantee supreme sound quality.

Get F A T without Losing Voices
The Nord Lead 3 introduces Adjustable Unison without voice reduction! Imagine the power of 10 detuned oscillators per note, synched or non-synched, and still having full polyphony. A dream for pad sound lovers. And if that's not fat enough, hit the Mono button and launch all Nord Lead 3 oscillators in a single keystroke! Overkill Yes, of course, but FAT should be F A T, right?

The New Extensive Oscillator Section
The redesigned oscillator section has much to offer. There are 2 separate oscillator groups, each providing you with 6 different waveforms, plus an additional built-in sync oscillator. The extra sync oscillators make it possible to create 2 separately synched waveforms per voice. In other words, no need to sacrifice one audio oscillator just to sync another. Clavia also introduces Sinus Modulation (SM) - a very hands-on form of FM. In SM mode the oscillator turns into a 2-operator FM engine. If you like, you can use both oscillators in SM mode to create 4-operator frequency modulation. Don't let the word "operator" scare you off. With Nord Lead 3 it's extremely easy to create great FM sounds - you don't really have to know anything about FM to come up with good results!

2 High-Quality Filters
The Filter section of Nord Lead 3 has 2 separate modes: Single Filter Mode and Multi Filter Mode. In Single Filter Mode only one filter is used per voice. You can select between LP, HP, BP, BR (Notch), Classic, and Dist LP with selectable slopes of 6, 12, and 24 dB/Octave. In Multi Filter mode 2 or more filters are combined in series or parallel to form more complex characteristics. You can choose between LP-HP in series, LP-HP in parallel, LP-BP in parallel, BP-BP in parallel, Multi Peak, and Multi Notch. With the Multi Peak and Multi Notch filters you can create vocal-like and phaser effects. Instant nostalgia!

Modulation Heaven
The modulation section has been thoroughly upgraded. The Nord Lead 3 now offers up to 3 LFOs/Envelopes PER VOICE plus the additional Global Vibrato. The Global Vibrato acts equally on all voices in the sound. Great for the final touch! Each LFO can also be hard-synched to MIDI clock.

4 Separate Morph Groups + Timbre Select
The Morph function lets you continuously control defined ranges of up to 26 parameters in a sound, using only a single control source. This lets you produce radical changes to a sound in a very fast and easy way. There are 4 Morph groups available for each sound and you may assign up to 26 different parameters, distributed as you wish among the 4 Morph groups. The Morph groups are hardwired to one control source each: Velocity, Aftertouch, Modulation Wheel, and Expression Pedal. With the Timbre function you can switch between 2 complete parameter setups in a sound.

The User interface: What You See is What You Hear
Clavia combined endless rotary knobs with circular LED graphs for ultimate control. This means that you always have full visual overview of a sound. As soon as you select a new sound, the correct values of all parameters are shown instantly by the parameter LEDs, and you can adjust the knobs from their current positions without glitches. The exact parameter value is shown in the backlit LCD as you turn the knob. When you control Morph groups and Timbre the values of every assigned parameter are shown in real-time by the corresponding LED graphs.

Aftertouch and Velocity sensitive keyboard
4-octave Velocity and Aftertouch sensitive keyboard with Octave Shift functionality (5 octaves).

4-Part Multi-timbral
The Nord Lead 3 is 4-part multi-timbral with dynamic voice allocation. Each part (Slot) can send and receive MIDI on a separate MIDI channel.

Technical Info

Connections
4 Audio outputs. Each part (Slot) can be routed to a separate output or to 2 outputs for stereo. 1 Headphone output, 1 Control pedal input, 1 Sustain pedal input, MIDI In, MIDI Out, MIDI Thru. Software upgradable over MIDI.

Note: Specifications subject to change without notice.

Audio Samples