The Nord Modular is Clavia's Nord synth with modular abilities using virtual sound modeling. The keyboard itself is small and compact. It houses the synth engine and all DSP processors. However, the Nord Modular must be connected to a Pentium PC with Windows 95 or a PowerMac. Be sure to get the latest OS version which is v3.03.

The software is the Nord Modular Editor. It is simply an editor, but a powerful one that graphically shows you a the modules you want and is where you graphically make patches between modules and synthesize a sound. It features over 100 modules! It's true modular synthesis meets computer synthesis. It sounds awesome too! The keyboard still has MIDI to be controlled and sequenced from your standard sequencer. The programs you create in the editor can be stored on the computer or in one of the 100 memories in the keyboard. Once you've created a sound you can quit the editor program and use the keyboard controller stand-alone.

The keyboard has multiple outputs, pedal input, has a very easy and intuitive layout and a nice LCD screen. It also features a very good sequencer! The Nord Modular system is expensive but it's like a Nord Lead 2 on steroids and without limits! If you're not interested in the keyboard, a desktop/rack-mount version was also available.

Software version 2.1 adds many new features including a Ring Modulator, 14-Band FilterBank, Vocal Filter, FM Sine wave, Digitizer (bare-bones sampling) and many more tricks. The latest OS is version 3 and adds more features such as a 16-band vocoder and Mac compatibility. The Nord Modular is already being used by Astral Projection, Autechre, BT, The Chemical Brothers, Somatic Responses, The Crystal Method, Junkie XL, Mouse on Mars, and Nine Inch Nails.

Mark Duff

October 22, 2008 @ 8:23 am

I have one of these and have to say its fantastic . Sounds amazing live and you can really get some retro and odd ball sounds from it. Programming it is great fun. The keyboard version is great on stage [beep] a bass line synth or even lead line.
myspace.com/duffkeys

Danny

October 10, 2008 @ 2:35 pm

Great synth for exploring sound, for experimenting soundprocessing etc
It is still programmable on Vista (setting in win 98 compatibility) i use it on a old dedicated PC on 98, planning to get a small mini solid state hardrive xp laptop PC to program it . An open source editor NOMADE (multi platform) is iavaillable. Does not realy work on MAC (mac dont realy care about backward compatibility They Drop the ball on all old Mac programs) you cannot expect every compagny to follow the ever changing MAC processor base and system... Dont blame the small compagny but the big MAC corpo...

Mattsynth

October 9, 2008 @ 2:52 pm

The Nord modular is a great sounding synth and lots of fun to program. Very warm pads and sharp cutting leads. The down side is that it can only be programmed using a computer and Clavia does not upgrade their Mac OSX software. Programming from the front panel is just about impossible. PC's works fine but if you use Mac in your studio this synth is not programmable. Clavia dropped the ball on this one.

Neva

August 19, 2008 @ 12:23 pm

This Synthesizer is just Amazing. Would be perfect with a usb connector instead of 4 midi ports and pitch stick - modulation wheel like the new one (G2). such a pity! but awesome wen you find the perfect place in your studio set up. a must for all kind of music.

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