Clavia Nord Lead 1 & 2 (Keyboard and rack) owners, did you know that your synthesizer is hiding a big secret that no other synthesizers can pretend ?
One of the original creators of the famous red Nord Lead synthesizers had a very original idea…
The PELLE Mode
There is a complete different synthesizer implemented into the NordLead and NordLead2, and their Rack versions, of course. NOT into the NordLead2X and NordRack2X…
WARNING ! This is an experimental use of the synthesizer not officially documented, the levels can be very loud, you’ll be solely responsible of any damages caused.
By Ricard (Electro-Music Forum)
The person who wrote the firmware inside the Nord Lead 1 and 2 (Peter Jubel, aka “Pelle”) now works for Propellerhead software. Another Propellerhead employee who happens to be on an email list that I frequent asked Pelle if he remembered anything about it; even had a Nord Lead in the office so that they could play with it. Unfortunately Pelle didn’t remember anything in particular about the mode (don’t forget the Nord Lead firmware was written 15 years ago!), not even how to get into the mode, except that it was some form of string synthesis method. (Karplus-Strong comes to mind, but I don’t know if the Nord Lead mode is related to it.)
He did recall however that there were two sub modes, one ‘plucked’, and one ‘bowed’ (where the mod wheel would function as the bow of a violin), but could not remember how to switch between the two.
After a little experimentation, I determined that the LFO2 DEST (ARP.TYPE) button toggles between the modes, in that in ‘plucked’ mode a small ‘chirp’ or ‘click’ is inserted at the beginning of the sound. It’s not always noticeable though; it probably depends on a combination of the other parameters. (Note that the LEDs don’t change when the button is pressed in this mode, so you’d be forgiven for thinking that nothing is happening).
All in all, the synth behaves very weirdly in this mode (tried on my Nord Lead 2), very uncontrollable at times. I wonder if it works slightly differently on the Nord Lead 1; I would assume that it was implemented on the ‘1, and then just remained in the firmware when the ‘2 was made, so it could be that it doesn’t match any changes made in hardware between the ‘1 and the ‘2. All pure speculation on my part.
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