Clavia DMI Press release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Fredrik Hylvander
Int +46 8 442 73 60
Stockholm, Sweden, January 16 2003

Nord Lead 2X

The original Nord Lead and Nord Lead 2 are among the most popular synthesizers ever built. Used extensively in studios, on stage and on records by the world's greatest artists, the Nord Leads have contributed with their characteristic sound on hit song after hit song. And of course, that's how we like to keep it!

Therefore, Clavia has now redesigned the Nord Lead 2 with state-of-the-art hardware and more memory and created the Nord Lead 2X. So why change a winning concept, you may ask. Well, we didn't change the concept - or the sound, for that matter. We just put in new hardware to make it possible for this great synth to live on for many more years to come!

The Nord Lead 2X has the same powerful sound engine and specifications as the Nord Lead 2, except for the new internal memory that holds a huge amount of great factory sounds and a lot of space for your own sounds! Thanks to the large internal memory, there is no longer any need for additional PCMCIA cards! The Nord Lead 2X comes with 3 x 99 user Programs, 100 user Performances and 3 x 10 user Percussion Kits plus 7 x 99 factory Programs, 3 x 100 factory Performances and 7 x 10 factory Percussion Kits! The Nord Lead 2X is 100% patch compatible with the Nord Lead 2 which means that you can transfer sounds between the models via MIDI.

The Nord Lead 2X will begin to ship in March 2003 and will then replace the current Nord Lead 2 model. The price, which will be announced later, will be very attractive!

Technical specifications

Polyphony
16 voices. 4 part multi-timbral.

Special features
Velocity programming: Each function that is controlled by a knob, can be programmed to be controlled by velocity.
Morphing: Each function that is controlled by a knob can also be controlled by the modulation wheel/pedal to continuously fade between two sets of values.

Performance controllers
4-octave velocity sensitive keyboard.
Octave Shift buttons (+/-2 oct.)
Keyboard Split, two sections.
Wooden Pitch Stick, designed to change the pitch continuously without any dead spots. It gives you complete control of the pitch and allows you to make true and natural vibrato. The effect increases exponentially as you move it further from the center. Patent pending for the "Pitch Stick".
Modulation Wheel for modulating a number of selectable destinations. Looks great, feels great, works great.
1 pedal input for sustain and 1 for expression pedal.

User interface
3 digit LED display, 26 knobs and 27 buttons for program editing.

Oscillator section
Oscillator 1 generating sine, triangle, sawtooth or pulse wave with adjustable width. Oscillator 2 generating triangle, sawtooth or pulse (with adjustable width) and can also generate noise with a color control. Oscillator 2 can be hard synched to oscillator 1. Linear deep frequency modulation of osc 1 from osc 2. A wide range of new waveforms with a strong formant character is achieved with the new synchable noise, where noise can be synched to Osc. 1.

Filter section
12 dB "2 pole" lowpass, 24 dB "4 pole" lowpass, bandpass or highpass, Notch + Lowpass. Cut off, resonance, envelope amount, envelope amount controlled by velocity. ADSR envelope. Filter keyboard tracking can be set to full, 2/3, 1/3 or off. Filter distortion.

Amplifier section
ADSR envelope, gain control.

Modulation section
Lfo 1 generating triangle, saw, pulse, LF filtered noise and random staircase routed to Osc 1+2, Osc 2, filter, pulse-width and FM amount. Lfo 2 produces a triangle waveform, routed to Osc 1 and 2 or amplifier. It also controls the rate for the arpeggiator. Arpeggiator: Range: 1 - 4 octave. Modes: up, down, up/down, random. Echo can be set between 1 and 8 repeats. Modulation envelope (attack, decay) for Osc 2 pitch, FM amount and pulse width.

Performance section
Play mode: Poly, legato, mono, unison mono, unison poly. Manual mode. Four program slots for layering possibilities. Portamento / auto portamento.

Percussion kits
100 (30 user) "analog" percussion kits. Each percussion kit holds 8 independent sounds, configured in 8 zones across the keyboard.

Internal memory
Programs (single sounds): 297 (3 x 99) user, 693 (7 x 99) factory.
Performances (multi sounds): 100 user, 300 (3 x 100) factory.
Percussion kits (multi zone sounds): 30 (3 x 10) user, 70 (7 x 10) factory.

Audio Out
4 outputs. Each slot have its own output. Modes: Stereo, mono and multitimbral mode. Headphones output. High resolution and low noise DACs.

MIDI features
All control knobs and switches for program editing send and receive Control Change messages. System exclusive bulk dumps. One Program/Performance or all Programs/Performances. MIDI clock synchronizing LFO 1 and LFO 2/arpeggiator. Triggering of the filter and amplifier envelopes and velocity control from separate programmable MIDI channel and note numbers. Fully patch compatible with Nord Lead 2/Nord Rack 2.

Dimensions
865(W) 265(D) 90(H) mm. Weight 5.3 kg.

(Specifications subject to change without notice)