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User Manual
Nord Lead 4
Nord Lead 4R
OS Version 1.x
Part No. 50407 Copyright Clavia DMI AB
Print Edition: 1.0
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CAUTION - ATTENTION
RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK
DO NOT OPEN
RISQUE DE SHOCK ELECTRIQUE
NE PAS OUVRIR
CAUTION: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK
DO NOT REMOVE COVER (OR BACK).
NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE.
REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED PERSONNEL.
ATTENTION:POUR EVITER LES RISQUES DE CHOC ELECTRIQUE, NE
PAS ENLEVER LE COUVERCLE.
AUCUN ENTRETIEN DE PIECES INTERIEURES PAR L´USAGER.
CONFIER L´ENTRETIEN AU PERSONNEL QUALIFE.
AVIS: POUR EVITER LES RISQUES D´INCIDENTE OU D´ELECTROCUTION,
N´EXPOSEZ PAS CET ARTICLE A LA PLUIE OU L´HUMIDITET.
Instructions pertaining to a risk of re, electric shock or injury to persons.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS
SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS
Warning - When using electric products, basic precautions should always be followed, including the following:
1) Read these instructions.
2) Keep these instructions.
3) Heed all warnings.
4) Follow all instructions.
5) Do not use this apparatus near water.
6) Clean only with dry cloth.
7) Do not block any ventilation openings. Install in accordance
with the manufacturer’s instructions.
8) Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat
registers, stoves, or other apparatus (including ampliers) that
produce heat.
9) Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized or
grounding-type plug. A polarized plug has two blades with one
wider than the other. A grounding type plug has two blades
and a third grounding prong. The wide blade or the third prong
are provided for your safety. If the provided plug does not t
into your outlet, consult an electrician for replacement of the
obsolete outlet.
Additional Safety Information
No naked ame sources, such as lighted candles, should be placed on
the apparatus;
Do not use the apparatus in tropical climates.
WARNING: To reduce the risk of re or electric shock, do not expose
this apparatus to rain or moisture.
The apparatus shall not be exposed to dripping or splashing and that
no objects lled with liquids, such as vases, shall be placed on the
apparatus.
The maims plug is used as the disconnect device and shall remain
readily operable.
The lightning ash with the arrowhead symbol within
an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the
presence of uninsulated voltage within the products enclosure that may be of sufcient magnitude to constitute
a risk of electric shock to persons.
Le symbole éclair avec le point de èche à l´intérieur d´un triangle
équilatéral est utilisé pour alerter l´utilisateur de la presence à
l´intérieur du coffret de ”voltage dangereux” non isolé d´ampleur
sufsante pour constituer un risque d`éléctrocution.
The exclamation mark within an equilateral triangle is
intended to alert the user to the presence of important
operating and maintenance (servicing) instructions in the
literature accompanying the product.
Le point d´exclamation à l´intérieur d´un triangle équilatéral est
employé pour alerter l´utilisateur de la présence d´instructions
importantes pour le fonctionnement et l´entretien (service) dans le
livret d´instructions accompagnant l´appareil.
10) Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched
particularly at plugs, convenience receptacles, and the point
where they exit from the apparatus.
11) Only use attachments/accessories specied by the manufacturer.
12) Use only with the cart, stand,
tripod, bracket, or table specied by the
manufacturer, or sold with the apparatus.
When a cart is used, use caution when
moving the cart/apparatus combination to
avoid injury from tip-over.
13) Unplug this apparatus during lightning
storms or when unused for long periods of time.
14) Refer all servicing to qualied service personnel. Servicing
is required when the apparatus has been damaged in any way,
such as power-supply cord or plug is damaged, liquid has been
spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus, the apparatus
has been exposed to rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has been dropped.
Il convient de ne pas placer sur l´appareil de sources de ammes nues,
telles que des bougies allumées;
L´appareil n’est pas destiné á étre utilisé sous un climat tropical.
L´appareil ne doit pas étre exposé á des égouttements d´eau ou des
éclaboussures et de plus qu´aucun objet rempli de liquide tel que des
vases ne doit étre placé sur l´appareil.
Lorsque la prise du résau d’alimentation est utilisée comme dispositif
de déconnexion, ce dispositif doit demeuré aisément accessible.
Trademarks: The Nord logo is a trademark of Clavia DMI AB. All other trademarks
mentioned in this publication are the properties of their respective holders.
Specications and appearances are subject to change without notice.
Copyright © Clavia DMI AB
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Nord Lead 4 User Manual
1 Introduction
Thank you! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Synthe sizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Morph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Effec ts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Progra ms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Perfo rmance s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Nord Sou nd Manag er . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Control s & connec tions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2 Panel Overview
The Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Progra m & Perfor mance are a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Displa y. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Synth an d Effect a rea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Knobs & dials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Knobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Dia l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
LED-di al . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Master Le vel knob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Selec tor button s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
On/Of f buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Shif t button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3 Getting Started
About Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Selec t a Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Edit a Prog ram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Storing a P rogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Selec ting Perf ormanc es . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Editing a Pe rform ance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Saving a Pe rform ance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Layeri ng two Prog rams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Creatin g a Split . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Settin g the Split . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Creatin g a Perfor mance fr om scratch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Shif t and turn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Perfo rmance s and Progr ams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Storing a s ingle Pro gram from a P erform ance . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Arpeggio with Mst Clk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Synce d Delay rep eats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Pattern s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Exter nal Syn c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Multiti mbrali ty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4 Morph & Mutator
Morphing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Availab le Morph d estinati ons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Morph Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Velocit y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Wheel a nd Contro l Pedal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Assig n a Morph sou rce to a desti nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Morph Lo ck Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Morph C ontinuou s Destin ations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Impuls e Morph bu ttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Impuls e Morph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Impuls e Morph Prote ction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Impuls e Morph Me rge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Mutator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
5 Nord Lead 4 Reference
Master Le vel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
MIDI LED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Morph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Dial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
LED Disp lay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Perf Mo de / Execu te . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Execu te . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Slot A ~D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
The Men us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Hold, Hol d Enable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Chord Me mory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Octave Sh ift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Global O ct Shif t. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Split . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Mst Clk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Pattern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Morph Lo ck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Impuls e Morph 1 ~ 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Pitch Sti ck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Shif t. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Mod Whe el . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Voice Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Unison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 0
Dly Vib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Mono/L egato. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Glide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Bend Ra nge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
LFOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
LFO 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Rate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Waveform Se lector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
LFO Dest ination Se lector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Amount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Mst Clk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Arp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
KBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Imp Sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
LFO 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Arpeggio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Rate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Arpeg gio Dire ctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Arpeg gio Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Arpeg gio Rang e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Modulation Envelope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Dec/Re l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Destin ation sel ector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
AR mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Imp Sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Amount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Oscillators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Oscill ator Waveform s elector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Sound In it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Osc 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Fine tun e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 3
Semi Tones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Oscillator Modulation (Osc Mod) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Frequen cy Modul ation (FM). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Oscill ator Sync (S ync) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Osc Mod A mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Panic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Oscillator mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Osc Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Amp Env . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Sustai n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Relea se . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Filter Envelope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Filter En velope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Sustai n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Relea se . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
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4 | Nord Lead 4 User MaNUaL v2.x
Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Filter Fre quency ( Freq). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Filter Re sonanc e (Res) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Envelop e Amount (E nv Amt) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Keyboar d Tracking (KB Trac k). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Type selec tor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Low Pass 12, 24, 48 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
High Pas s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Band Pas s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Ladde r M. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Ladde r TB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Velocit y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Amp Vel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
FX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Crush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Compre ssor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 9
Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Talk1, Talk2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Comb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Delay, Reverb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Feedba ck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Dry/ Wet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
On/Of f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Reverb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Dry/ Wet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Reverb S elect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 0
7 Nord Sound Manager
System re quireme nts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
The Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
The Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Parti tion Memo ry Indi cator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Right-C licking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Selec t in Instru ment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 2
Upload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Downlo ad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Renam e. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
File For mats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The Quick Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Transfer Per formances to the L ead 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Deleti ng a Perfo rmance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Downlo ad a new Per formanc e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Upload s ounds fro m the Lead 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Organi ze the progr am part ition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Search B ox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Auto Sele ct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Nord Sound Manager reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 4
Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 6
Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Progra m - Perfor mance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 6
Search B ox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Loc - Locat ion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
Name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Categor y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 6
Ver – Versio n Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Note. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Footer Ar ea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 6
Parti tion Memo ry Indi cator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Cancel B utton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Messa ge/Text Ar ea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 6
Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
9 Synthesis Basics
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
The “bui lding bl ocks” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
The Oscillators and waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
The Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
The Amplifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
LFOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
6 The Menus
System Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
1 - Memor y Protect – O n, Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2 - Transpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3 - Fine Tune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4 - Sustai n Pedal Pola rity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
5 - Ctrl Ped al Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6 - Ctrl Ped al Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
7 - Ctrl Ped al Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
8 - Impuls e Morph Prote ct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
A B C D - Slot Out put Routi ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
MIDI Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
G - Global C hannel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
A, b, c, d - Slot Ch annel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
t - Soft Th ru Chann el. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
1 - MIDI Inte rface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2 - Local Co ntrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3 - Control C hange (CC ) Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4 - Progra m Change Mo de . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
5 - Pitch Ben d Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
6 - Send CC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
7 - Dump On e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
8 - Dump Pro gram Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 3
Sound Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
1 - Mst Clk K bd Sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
2 - Delay Mo de . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3 - Vibrato R ate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
4 - Vibrato A mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
5 - Impuls e Morph Me rge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Mutator Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Pattern Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
11 MIDI
Slot MIDI C ontrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Exter nal Syn c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Soft Th ru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Panic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
USB MIDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Transmit Pro gram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Recei ve single Pr ogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Recei ve a Program B ank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
MIDI Controller list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
MIDI Imp lementa tion Char t. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
12 Appendix
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Audio Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Headph ones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
1, 2, 3 & 4 Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
MIDI Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
MIDI OUT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
MIDI IN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
USB Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
USB MIDI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Pedal Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Sustai n pedal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Control p edal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
13 Index
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 0
Page 5
Chapter 1 INtrodUCtIoN | 5
Introduction
1
emulations of classic, vintage analog filters, the Ladder M and the
Thank you!
First we would like to thank you for purchasing the Nord Lead 4. The
Nord Lead 4 is built on Clavia’s legacy of making virtual analog synthesizers for almost 20 years and we hope you will have as much fun
owning the instrument as we had developing it.
To us, details are everything - and an intuitive user interface is just as
important as the actual sound. We are musicians ourselves, and know
by experience how frustrating it can be to have to wade through menus
and page-plus buttons to change a setting.
That is why we have a physical button or knob for every sound related
parameter on the Nord Lead 4 front panel. We also know the importance of building our instruments as light as possible - some times it is
a long walk to that gig.
Ladder TB filters. The filter has a drive control which allows the addition of some distortion to the signal in the actual filter “circuitry.”.
• The Arpeggio, the LFOs and the delay can be synchronized to
master clock with individual divisions to create great rhythmic soundscapes.
Morph
The Morph function lets you continuously control defined ranges of
several parameters in a Program using only a single control source.
This allows you to produce radical changes in a sound in a very fast
and easy way.
The Impulse Morph buttons take real-time, instant sound manipulation
and creativity to the next level.
Features
The Nord Lead 4 is a virtual analog synthesizer with an extensive set of
functions which allow you to shape the sound in a variety of ways. The
Lead 4 is multi-timbral; its four independent slots make it possible to
layer up to four sounds on top of each other.
Synthesizer
In an classic analog style synthesizer environment, each of the
Nord Lead 4’s four slots consist of 2 oscillators, 2 LFOs, 1 modulation
envelope, 1 amplifier envelope and a multi-type filter section with an
envelope as well. There is an extensive effects section comprised of
six different FX units, and a selectable delay/reverb at the end of the
signal path.
• Oscillator 1 can produce analog style waveforms and wavetables.
The traditional analog waveforms (Pulse, Triangle, Saw and Sine) can
also operate in oscillator sync-mode and the OSC 1 MOD section allows the routing of Oscillator 2’s pitch to modulate Oscillator 1’s pitch
- Linear Frequency Modulation.
• Oscillator 2 can produce analog style waveforms and noise. The
color and resonance of the noise can be adjusted. The pitch of the
second oscillator can be shifted +/- 60 semitones.
• The LFOs have a wide array of modulation destinations and several
waveforms. The cycle of an LFO can be restarted by keyboard triggers and/or by pressing an Impulse button.
• The Modulation Envelope also has a wide array of modulation destinations and can function either as an attack/decay or as an attack/
release envelope. It too can be triggered by either the keyboard, or
an Impulse button
• The filter section has envelope and velocity controls and the filter frequency can be set to track the keyboard. The filter has no fewer than
seven different characteristics: Low Pass, 12 dB slope, Low Pass 24
dB slope. Low Pass 48 dB slope, Band Pass, High Pass and two
Slots
The four Slots make it easy to stack sounds in layers or to create split
keyboard performances. One Slot can be active for manipulation with
the knobs on the panel, while the others are making sounds in the
background.
Effects
Each program can be processed with the radical new FX section, and
a selectable delay/reverb.
Programs
There are 400 program locations in the Nord Lead 4. All of these can
be used to store your own programs.
Performances
Combinations of four separate programs with interlocking master clock
synchronization, with layer, split or isolated MIDI control capabilities can
be stored in the 99 Performance memory locations.
Nord Sound Manager
The Nord Sound Manager is delivered free of charge with the Nord
Lead 4 and will act as a librarian utility for the programs and performances in the unit.
This application is compatible with computers running Windows XP,
Windows 7 and 8 or Windows Vista. It can also run on a Macintosh
with Mac OSX 10.7 or later.
Controls & connections
The Nord Lead 4 has a 49-key keyboard which responds to velocity.
It is also equipped with a modulation wheel and wooden pitch stick, 4
line level outputs, 1 headphone output, MIDI IN & OUT, a USB port with
MIDI capabilities and inputs for a sustain pedal and a control pedal.
Page 6
6 | Nord Lead 4 User MaNUaL v1.x
Panel Overview
2
The Front Panel
The front panel on the Nord Lead 4 has two main areas, which are
identified by their background black and grey colors. We’ll familiarize
ourselves briefly with the panel here and describe the functions in detail
in the following chapters.
Display
The display is normally used for displaying the current program or
performance number. It also displays menu settings, pattern numbers
and the value of a parameter when you turn a knob.
By holding the Copy button and turning a knob, you can see the
current value of a parameter.
We’ll describe the functions in the Program and Performance areas in
greater detail starting at page 8.
Synth and Effect area
The synth area is where all the action happens. Every vital sound
generating function in the Nord Lead 4 has a dedicated knob or button,
and they are all there for you to go ahead and get crazy, to design the
sound as you wish. The traditional synthesizer specific functions are
augmented with a powerful set of modulation effects and a selectable
delay/reverb. All the settings of the parameters on the panel can be
stored in a Program.
A Performance in the Nord Lead 4 can contain up to four programs,
which means that you can use four individual synth engines. These are
controlled through the same panel, one at a time. You choose which
section to control by pressing any of the Slot buttons. There are powerful performance features that allows you to synchronize functions to a
master clock and to manipulate settings in real time, with for example
the Modulation Wheel or the Impulse Morph buttons.
Program & Performance area
The Program and Performance area starts at the Master Level in the
top left panel corner, and then sweeps down right towards the keyboard.
The parameters and functions in this area are used to select programs and performances, to set global and MIDI functions and to add
expression to your performance with the Pitch Stick, Mod Wheel and
the Impulse Morph buttons. This is also where you find the four Slot
buttons, which you use to activate one or several of the Nord Lead 4
synth engines.
We’ll describe the functions in this area in greater detail, in the reference chapter that begins at page 20.
Page 7
Chapter 2 paNeL overvIew | 7
Knobs & dials
Knobs
The knobs control the continuously variable parameters in the Nord Lead 4 synth engine.
• A parameter value can be totally different from the
knob’s physical position when you load a Program.
As soon as you start turning the knob, the value will
‘snap’ to the knob’s physical position.
Most of the knobs have a green LED indicator below them. This LED is
used for indicating when a parameter is connected to a Morph source.
Please refer to page 13 for more information on morphing.
The Dial
The Dial is used to select the programs
and performances. When an item in the
menus is selected, the Dial is used to
change this setting.
LED-dial
This dial in the Oscillator 1 section has an associated
LED display which shows the selected Wavetable
number.
Buttons
Selector buttons
Selector buttons are used to activate
one setting in an array of two or more.
Selector buttons have a set of round or
triangular LEDs to indicate the current
setting. Press the button several times
to cycle through the possible options.
On/Off buttons
On/Off buttons are used for activating a parameter
or a group of parameters such as effects. The LED
next to them indicates the On or Off status of the
function.
Shift button
Quite a few buttons have a secondary function,
which will be available if you hold down Shift while
pressing the button. The name of the secondary
function is printed below the button.
Master Level knob
The Master Level knob controls the overall amplitude for the audio outputs, the line level outputs
and headphone output. The Master Level knob’s
actual position indicates the output level.
Page 8
8 | Nord Lead 4 User MaNUaL v1.x
Getting Started
3
About Programs
Complete sound settings are stored in the Program memory of the
Nord Lead 4. This memory area consists of 400 Programs. Every Program can be edited and replaced as you wish. A complete set of the
factory Programs is available on the Nord Lead 4 CD and on the www.
nordkeyboards.com website.
Select a Program
1 Use the Dial to select a Program. The programs are organized in
4 banks with 99 programs in each, displayed in the LED as 1._1 -
1.99, all the way up to 4.99.
2 Press and hold the Shift button and turn the Dial, this changes the
“bank number”; 1, 2, 3 and 4.
3 Performances are indicated with a initial letter “P” in the display,
press repeatedly on the Perf Mode button to alter between Program and Performance mode. Stick to programs for a while, we’ll
get to the Performances in a while.
Edit a Program
Editing a Program is just as easy as grabbing a knob and changing a
setting, or pressing a button to select a different setting. The knob’s
physical position doesn’t always reflect the setting in the Program that
is active, but as soon as you start turning a knob, the parameter’s value
will snap to the knob’s position.
1 Go back to Program Mode, select a program and turn for ex-
ample the Filter Freq knob.
The parameter value will be shown briefly in the LED.
When you have edited a Program, an dot (.) will appear in the Display
to the right of the Program number. This is to alert you to the fact that
the program has been edited but not yet saved.
If you select a new program without saving, any edits you have made
will be lost and the Program will have its original settings the next time
you select it.
Storing a Program
If you are happy with an edit that you have made, you should probably
store the Program. But before we can do this, there is a Memory Protect function that is set to On when the Lead 4 leaves the Nord Factory.
This needs to be turned Off in the System Menu before you (and your
cat) can store anything.
1 Hold Shift and press the System button. You may have to use the
Dial to select the 1 Memory Protect setting.
2 Hold Shift and turn the Dial to set the Memory Protect to Off.
With the protection turned off, we can now store our edited program.
3 Hold Shift and press the Perf Mode/Store button.
The Display starts flashing and the original Program location is
shown.
4 Select a new location where you want to store the Program by
turning the Dial.
To select another bank, hold Shift and select another bank with
the Dial.
The Program that occupies the location that you select will be
active on the keyboard, making it possible to verify that you do not
accidentally overwrite something you wanted to keep.
Page 9
Chapter 3 GettING started | 9
5 Hold Shift and press the Store button a second time to confirm
your choice.
Your edited Program has now replaced the previous one in the
location you specified.
• To cancel the procedure, press any buttons on the panel before you
press Store the second time.
• With Memory Protect set to Off, a double tap on the Store button
while holding Shift will store a Program in its original location.
The programs in the 100 and the 400 series in the Nord Lead 4 memory are identical. This means that you can start saving your edits at
once, and as long as you have decided in which of these two banks to
do this, you do not risk overwriting anything that you might find useful.
If you at some point like to restore the entire memory content
of Nord Lead 4 to the Factory Settings, this can be done with a
backup file from the Nordkeyboards.com website and the Manager. This will be described later in this manual.
Selecting Performances
1 Press the Perf Mode button repeatedly to select either Program
Mode or Performance Mode.
Programs are numbered from 1.xx to 4.xx and Performances always
begins with the initial letter “P” in the LED. A Performance can use up
to four Slots at once, all with different programs. Program 288 to the
left, Performance 43 to the right.
3 Hold Shift and press the Store button a second time to store the
Performance.
Your edited Performance has now replaced the previous one in
the location you chose in step 2.
Slots
The Nord Lead 4 has four Slots labelled A, B, C and D. Each slot represents a complete synthesizer setup, a complete sound if you wish.
The Slots can be used for layering sounds or quickly switch between
sound settings. The Slots can also be used when the Nord Lead 4 is
controlled via MIDI.
1 Make sure the Nord Lead is in the Program Mode, by pressing the
Perf Mode/Execute button until a number between 1.xx an 4.xx is
indicated in the LED. Performances begin with a “P”, and this is
not what we want for this exercise.
2 Press the Slot A button, its LED should be the only one lit.
3 Play on the keyboard and turn the Dial. The various Programs that
you call up should make different sounds as they are recalled.
4 Press the Slot B button, so that its LED light up instead of Slot A’s.
5 Turn the Dial and choose a different Program for Slot B.
2 Turn the Dial to scroll through the 100 Performances, P01 to P99.
Editing a Performance
1 It is as easy to edit a Performance as it is a Program. Just grab a
knob and turn it.
Since a Performance may be using 4 different programs at once,
you need to make sure which of these program you are editing.
The Slot that uses the program that is in focus on the panel, is the
one with its Slot LED blinking.
2 If you want to replace one of the Programs in a Performance,
press and hold the Slot button for the program to be changed and
turn the Dial until you have found the Program that you want.
Saving a Performance
A Performance in the Nord Lead 4 can contain one program for each
slot, with a split set on the keyboard and the Hold feature active. There
are 99 Performances, all of these are used in the Factory setting.
By pressing the individual Slot A and Slot B buttons, you can quickly
switch from one program, to another without turning the dial.
Layering two Programs
6 Press and hold the Slot A button and then press the Slot B
button. Both the Slot A and B LEDs are lit and both programs will
be active on the keyboard.
The blinking LED
indicates the Slot
which is in focus
for editing with the
controls on the
panel (or selecting
another Program),
sometimes called
“panel-active”.
Press the other
Slot button to
move the focus.
The last 10 Performances in the Factory settings - P89 to P99 - are
duplicates of the first 10. You can use these to save your edits without
having to worry about overwriting something you’d like to retain.
1 Hold Shift and press the Store button.
The LED display starts flashing with the current Performance
number.
2 Use the Dial to select a new location if you do not want to over-
write the original Performance.
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Creating a Split
7 Press and hold Slot A and press the Slot C button. If you do this
right after the previous exercise, Slot B is removed, Slot A and C
will then be the active ones.
8 Hold Shift and press the Split button. This splits the keyboard in
two halves, where you can have Slots A and B to the left, and
Slots C and D to the right.
Storing a single Program from a Performance
1 Make sure that the Program you wish to store is in the Slot that is
active (its Slot LED is blinking).
2 Hold Shift and press Store once.
3 Release the Shift button and Press Perf Mode once to switch to
Program Mode.
4 Turn the Dial to select a location for the Program.
5 Hold Shift and press Store to confirm your intentions.
Copy and Paste settings
It is possible to copy all the settings in one slot to another. This can be
useful if you for example need to move a sound from the lower part (A
and B) to the upper part (C and D) in a split configuration.
1 Make sure that your source Slot is in focus by pressing its button.
The Slot LED should be blinking.
2 Hold the Copy button and press on the source Slot button.
“cPY” will be displayed in the LED display.
3 You can now turn the dial to select a different Performance, or
even switch to Program Mode.
Setting the Split
Hold Shift and press and hold the Split button. A note number will be
indicated in the LED display. While still holding the buttons, play a key
on the keyboard, this key will be the lowest key of the upper range.
Creating a Performance from scratch
By holding and pressing Slot buttons you can select any combination
of the four Slots. When you select two or more Slots at the same time
you are in effect creating a Performance, even though it is not Stored
yet.
To Store a combination of Slots that you have made, hold Shift and
press Store once. Then press Perf Mode, turn the Dial to select a
location (P xx) and confirm by holding Shift and pressing once again on
Store.
Shift and turn
If you ever wanted to change a variable parameter, like for example
the filter frequency or the output levels on all Slots at the same time,
hold Shift and turn the knob. The sounds in the Slots will retain their
parameter relationship, at least up until the point when one of them hits
the wall so to speak. This special editing process will even consider any
Morph settings.
4 Hold Shift and the Paste button, and then press the Slot but-
ton where you want your settings to be copied to. “Pst” will be
displayed in the LED display and the settings will be copied to the
edit buffer of the Program/Performance, the dot to the right in the
LED will be lit to indicate this.
The content of the copy buffer will remain until you copy another setting or parameter, or turn off the Nord Lead 4. This means that you can
paste the same data to several destinations.
M If you want to keep the new settings you have created by coping,
make sure that you save the Program or Performance before you
select a new one.
Follow the same procedure to copy individual parameters.
1 Hold the Copy button and turn a knob. The parameters current
value will be displayed in the LED.
2 Hold Shift and Paste, and turn another knob. The setting of the
source knob will now be copied to the second parameter.
The Copy/Paste functionality can be used to copy Morphs from
one program to another, and to copy Impulse Morphs within one
program or to another.
Performances and Programs
A Performance contains 4 separate Programs, one for each Slot.
The Slots do not have to be active on the Nord Lead 4 keyboard in a
Performance; you could control one or more Slots from an external
MIDI source.
When a Performance is created, the settings for all four Slot Programs
are copied to the Performance (regardless of whether those slots are
active or not), becoming separate and independent entities. This allows
changes to be made to either the original source programs or to the
Performance Slot programs without affecting the other.
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Chapter 3 GettING started | 11
You can change the range of the arpeggio with the LFO 1 Amount/
Arpeggio with Mst Clk
Let’s try some things with the arpeggio and the Master Clock (Mst Clk)
feature.
1 Hold Shift and press Sound Init (the Osc 1 waveform selector) to
start with a basic sound.
Range knob, from one to four octaves, but let’s stick with 1 for now.
The LFO 1 Waveform selector doubles as the arpeggio direction selection. Press repeatedly to listen to the various directions.
Synced Delay repeats
Keep the arpeggio running and we’ll add more things.
2 Hold Shift and press the LFO 1 Waveform selector three times.
The Mst Clk and the Arp LED should both be lit. Notice how the
three left LFO Destination LEDs light up. This indicates that the
arpeggio is stopped.
3 Hold down a key or a chord and press the Run/LFO 1 destination
selector. The three right LFO Destination LEDs light up and the
arpeggio starts running.
4 Press Shift and Hold to activate Hold Enable, and then press Hold
to hold the notes you play. Each Slot has an independent Hold
Enable control, providing greater flexibility when creating
Performances.
1 Turn both Delay knobs fully counterclockwise, press Feedback
once to light up the “1” LED, activate the Delay and then Hold
Shift and press Delay On a second time to synchronize the delay
repeats to the Mst Clk.
2 Turn the Delay tempo knob which now is selecting the Mst Clk
divisions, to “8d” and turn up the Dry/Wet mix until you hear the
delay repeats.
The arpeggio will play quarter notes, and the delay repeats will be dotted eight notes (the first repeat will “move” the following repeats by half
an 1/8).
3 Lets add a synchronized LFO sweep. Hold Shift and press the
LFO 2 Waveform selector once to light up the Mst Clk LED.
4 Select the Triangle waveform and Filter destination. Turn the LFO
2 rate knob (which now sets the division to the Mst Clk) to “2b”
(2 bars) and turn up the LFO 2 Amount knob a bit past the 12
o’clock position. If the LFO 2 Amount doesn’t seem to do anything, try closing the Filter Frequency a bit.
You will now hear quarter notes from the arpeggio, with delay repeats
that are synched at 8 notes, and the LFO 2 that opens up the filter
once every 2 bars.
5 Press and Hold the Mst Clk button and turn the Dial. This will
adjust the tempo (indicated as beats per minute in the display)
and you’ll notice that the three rhythmic things we have running all
change to reflect any new tempo that you set. A tempo setting will
be stored in a Performance.
5 Turn the LFO Rate knob, which now sets the division of the
arpeggio, to the Mst Clk and hear the arpeggio speed up or down
as the divisions change. Find the quarter note division (“4”) and
leave it there.
6 Feel free to adjust the filter and envelope settings to a short, nice
sound, I’ll wait here. Oh, you’re already done? Great, let’s move
on.
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Patterns
Let’s change the cyclic arpeggio from the example above to a pattern.
Each program can use a single pattern in either LFO or Arpeggio. Patterns are only available when LFO/Arpeggio is synced to Mst Clk.
1 Make the arpeggio play just one note and turn the LFO 1 rate
knob clockwise all the way to meet the “Pat” symbol. The rhythm
of the arpeggio will now follow the pattern. A pattern does not
contain any notes, just rhythm.
2 Hold down Shift and the Mst Clk/Pattern button and turn the dial
to select the pattern. The patterns are grouped in types, which are
labeled to the right side on the panel. Some patterns are in 4/4
and one bar long; others have other time signatures and lengths.
Pattern changes can be made on the fly using the Impulse Morph buttons. Hold down an Impulse button (or activate Morph Lock), hold Shift
+ Pattern and turn the dial to a desired pattern number. The selected
pattern will then be used when the Impulse button is held down.
Now we’ve experimented a bit with the Mst Clk in one slot. If you leave
this arpeggio running, you can select another slot and start all over to
add new things. As long as Mst Clk is selected, everything in all four
Slots may be synchronized to each other, following the one tempo that
you set.
External Sync
If you route MIDI Clock to the MIDI Input on the Lead 4, the Mst Clk
tempo will automatically lock to this incoming clock. Since the Lead 4
does not have any transport controls like Start, Stop etc, it is not suitable of being a transmitter of MIDI clock.
MIDI
Leaving the Nord Factory, the Nord Lead 4 is set to send and receive
on the Global MIDI Channel 1, using the USB MIDI interface. This
means that what you play on the keyboard will be transmitted as MIDI
Notes on MIDI Channel 1, and incoming MIDI on channel 1 will play the
current Program or an entire Performance on the Nord Lead 4.
The Slot that has its panel in focus (the blinking Slot LED) will be transmitting (and receiving) any CC data that occurs when you turn a knob
or press a button on the panel.
All MIDI settings are made in the MIDI Menu (you did see that coming,
yes?) on a Global basis. Anything you change in the menus will affect
the whole instrument, until it is changed the next time.
Multitimbrality
If you want to use the Nord Lead 4 as four independent synthesizers
controlled via MIDI, this is achieved by setting MIDI Channels for the
individual Slots, in the MIDI Menu.
E When you assign a separate MIDI Channel to for example Slot D,
this will make that Slot to always react to incoming MIDI, even if it
is not active on the Nord Lead 4 panel.
In the following sections you will find a chapter about the
powerful Morph function, a panel reference, a chapter that is
totally devoted to the Nord Sound Manager and a chapter that
describes a bit what this “synthesis” thing is all about.
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Chapter 4 Morph & MUtator | 13
Morph & Mutator
4
1. Press and hold 2. Turn 3. Play and use the Mod Wheel
Morphing
Morphing allows you to be very dynamic and creative in your sound
design, and is all about being able to control virtually any important
sound related parameter from the three Morph sources: the Modulation
Wheel & Control Pedal, the Keyboard and the Impulse Morph buttons.
The Impulse buttons provides you with up to 7 different instant Morph
settings for each program.
There are 36 available continuous Morph destinations and 21 “switches” to choose from. This gives you plenty of real-time control possibilities to augment your playing style. A Morph is very simple to set up
and use, and all Morph assignments that you make are stored with the
Program or Performance.
Many, if not all of the factory Programs have morph assigned parameters. If a Program uses the Velocity or Wheel Morph, the green Morph
Vel or Wheel indicators on the panel will be lit to indicate this.
• If for example the Wheel indicator in the Morph Prog section is lit for
a Program, you can move the wheel and experience how the morph
will influence the sound.
A Morph Source controls the range from the parameter’s original
position in the Program to a position you define when you set up the
morph.
This means that you can control a very small range on one parameter
at the same time as you control a very large range on a another parameter. One parameter can be controlled clockwise, and another can be
controlled counter clockwise.
Available Morph destinations
f you reach the limit of available Moprh Destination within one program, the next Morph assignment will simply not be activated. You can
also hit the ceiling if you copy and paste Morphs. In this case, “ErF” will
be displayed in the LED and the paste operation will not be executed.
Morph Sources
Let’s have a look at the Morph Sources:
Velocity
This Morph source uses the Note Velocity from the Nord Lead 4 keyboard and from any incoming MIDI messages.
• A key velocity of 0 represents the parameters original value.
• A key velocity of 127 represents the parameters maximum morphed
value.
Wheel and Control Pedal
Uses the modulation wheel and a pedal connected to the Control
Pedal input as the Morph Source.
Incoming MIDI Control Change messages on CC 01 and CC 11
will also act as a Wheel/Ped Morph source.
• The bottom position of the Modulation Wheel and/or Control Pedal
represents the parameters original value.
• The top position of the Modulation Wheel or Control Pedal represents
the parameters morphed value.
If the Control Pedal is set to control the overall volume of the Nord
Lead 4, in the System Menu, the wheel will be a solitary Morph
source when Wheel is selected.
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Assign a Morph source to a destination
1 Hold down a Morph Source button.
If this source has any previously assigned Morph destinations, the
current destination LEDs will light up.
2 Operate a Morph Destination parameter.
The selected Morph Destination’s green LED will indicate that a
Morph is active. Previously engaged destinations will be unaffected.
3 Release the Morph Source button.
When the Morph source is operated, the parameter’s value will
change accordingly and influence the sound.
To edit a morph range from a Morph Source:
• Press the corresponding Morph Source button and turn the destination’s knob to a new position.
To clear all morphs from a single Morph Source:
• Hold Shift + the corresponding Morph Source button.
To clear a single Morph destination:
• Hold down the corresponding Morph Source button and turn the
parameter knob to its original position, where the green Morph LED
will be turned off.
To copy and paste a Morph setup
• Hold Copy and press the Morph button(s) for the source. “CPy” will
be displayed in the LED. Hold Shift and Paste buttons, then press
the Morph button(s). “Pst” will be displayed in the LED.
Morph Lock Mode
Morph Lock Mode provides you with a great overview that can simplify
setting up and adjusting multiple Morph Destinations at once.
1 Press and hold one of the Morph Source buttons and press the
Copy/Morph Lock button.
The Morph Source button flashes continuously, and green LEDs
will show any of the Morph Destinations that are assigned to this
Morph source.
2 Operate a Morph Destination parameter.
The selected Morph Destination’s green LED will indicate that a
Morph is active.
Press any of the Morph Source buttons to exit
Morph Lock Mode.
When the Morph Lock Mode is active you can:
• Operate any Morph Destination to set-up or adjust a morph.
• Hold down the Shift button and operate a Morph Destination to clear
it.
Morph Continuous Destinations
A Morph Source can control virtually any important sound related knob,
Each one of these Morph Destinations has a green LED next to it,
which will be lit when a Morph is active for this parameter.
Parameter name
LFO 2 Rate / Clk Div Amp Env Decay Filter Env Amt
LFO 2 Amount Amp Env Sustain Output Level
Mod ENV Attack Amp Env Release FX Amount
Mod ENV Dec/Rel Filter Env Attack Del. Tempo/Clk Div
Mod ENV Amount Filter Env Decay Delay Amount
OSC 2 Fine Tune Filter Env Sustain Rev. Bright
OSC 2 Semitones Filter Env Release
Reverb Mix
Impulse Morph buttons
Impulse Morphs are for
fast, instantaneous parameter changes. The
Impulses can be used
to change switch-type
parameters, something
that the other two
Morph sources are not
able to do. The Impulse Morph buttons do not display that they are
used in a program in the same way as the Velocity and Wheel Morphs
do.
There are three buttons that can be used in combinations for a total of
7 different Impulse setups for each Program.
M It is not possible to change a Shift-parameter with the Impulses.
You can for example turn the arpeggio on or off, but you cannot
use the Impulse to activate the arpeggio from a normal LFO 1
operation or change from a keyboard triggered Mod Envelope to a
Impulse triggered Mod Envelope.
Impulse Morph
The Impulse Morphs are not continuous, they change the parameters
instantly. They can also change switch type parameters, for example
turning the arpeggiator on or off.
Available Impulse Morph destinations
Oct Shift Mono Mode Glide LFO1 Wave
LFO1 Dest. LFO1 Rate LFO1 Amount LFO1 Clk Division
LFO2 Wave LFO2 Dest. LFO2 Amount LFO2 Clk Division
Mod Env Attack Mod Env Decay Mod Env Amount Mod Env Dest.
Osc1 Waveform Osc1 Wavet. Sel Osc2 Waveform Osc2 Fine tune
Osc2 Semitones Osc Mod Select Osc Mod Amount Osc Mix Amount
Amp Env Attack Amp Env Decay Amp Env Sustain Amp Env Release
Filt Env Attack Filt Env Decay Filt Env Sustain Filt Env Release
Filter Select Filter KB Track Filter Drive Filter Freq
Filter Res Filt Env Amount Output Level Voice Mode Unis.
Chord Enable Arpeggio Run Arp Range Arp Direction
Arp Tempo Arp Clk Division Pattern Select Delay Clk Div.
Delay Dry/Wet Dly Feedback Reverb Type Reverb Bright.
Delay Tempo FX Type FX Amount
Parameter name
Glide OSC 1 MOD Amount Filter Freq
LFO 1 Rate / Clk Div OSC MIX Filter Res
LFO 1 Amount / Arp Rng. Amp Env Attack Filter Drive
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Chapter 4 Morph & MUtator | 15
Impulse Morph Protection
The Impulse Morphs have a protection feature that only affects these
Morphs. If this is On, you have to put the Impulse Morph in Lock mode
for any adjustments to stick, otherwise any new parameter settings will
be discarded as soon as you release the Impulse button.
This allows you to do parameter changes during the heat of a performance, while not “ruining” a previously set up Impulse Morph. The
protection disables the Morph Clear command as well.
1 Hold Shift and press the Slot A button to enter the System menu.
Mutator
The Nord Lead 4 is equipped with a powerful program generator, the
Mutator. This is accessed by holding Shift and pressing the Slot D
button, and then selecting a strength of a Variation or Mutation
process.
Let’s have a look at the three
different generation methods,
Variation, Mutation and Random.
2 Use the Dial to go the setting 8.
3 Hold Shift and turn the Dial to set this to Off.
Even if the Impulse Morph Protect is On, putting the Impulse in
Lock Mode will override the protection.
M All changes made to any Impulse (or other Morph) setting must be
Stored to the Program/Performance to be retained.
Impulse Morph Merge
The Sound Menu has a Impulse Morph Merge feature that allows you
to combine settings from Impulse Morphs 1, 2 and 3, to create “mixes”
of these to Impulse Morphs 4, 5, 6 and 7.
1 Make settings to Impulse 1, 2 and 3. If you try and avoid to use
the same parameter in more than one of these, the merging will
be more complete.
2 Hold Shift and press the Slot C/Sound button to enter the Sound
Menu.
3 Turn the Dial until you reach item 5. The LED display will show
“rG”.
4 Press Execute to merge the first three Impulse Morphs into the
remaining four.
Impulse Morphs 1 and 2 will now be merged to become number 4,
Impulse 2 and 3 will be merged to number 5, Impulse Morph 1 and 3
will be merged to number 6 and 1, 2 & 3 will be merged as number 7.
To avoid clashes and conflicting results, if there are overlapping
parameters, these parameters will be omitted from the merge. If
1 and 2 for example contain settings for Filter Freq, the merged
result in number 4 will not have any setting for Filter Freq.
E Any settings that were in Impulse Morphs 4, 5, 6 and 7 will be lost
when you execute the merge.
1 We will begin exploring the
Mutator options by initializing a Program - hold Shift and press the
Osc 1 Waveform selector button.
2 Turn the Osx Mix knob to hear both oscillators, and set the wave-
forms so that you can tell oscillator 1 and 2 apart.
3 Hold Shift and press the Slot D button to enter the Mutator
process.
The available settings are printed on the right side of the panel.
4 Select A1 and press Perf Mode/Execute once.
The A indicates that this is the Variation mode and the “1” is the
least dramatic process level. Listen to the sound and try to hear
any likeness to the original sound that you had before you pressed
Execute.
5 Press Execute again, without changing the mode or level - A1.
The Variation process will start all over again, and it will again use
the original sound that we made in step 2, as the source, not the
Variation created in step 4.
6 Listen to the sound and see if you can find out what parameters
have changed.
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7 Turn the dial to A5 and press Execute. This will most certainly
generate a program that is quite different from the initialized sound
in step 2.
There is a chance that you need to make some adjustments in
order to make this sound keyboard-playable.
8 Hold Copy and turn the dial one step at a time counter clockwise.
The display will count down from -1 for each step. This is the
Undo feature, and if you step backwards all the way, you will
eventually reach the original sound.
There are 10 undo levels, if you’ve pressed Execute more than
10 times, you need to restore the original program by selecting it
again.
Mutator Process Strength
Some parameters are excluded from the Mutator processes. Output
level is one of these, you don’t want programs that are silent. Another
thing to notice is that switches are not changed in Level 1.
Lets try the Mutation process.
1 Initialize the program and make some adjustments to the oscillator
mix and waveforms so that you can tell them apart.
2 Hold Shift and press the Slot D button to enter the Mutator
process.
3 Select b1 and press Execute. This is the least dramatic Mutation
level, and you should be able to hear a sound that is not too far
away from our starting point.
4 Press Execute again. The Mutation will now use the previous mu-
tation result and generate new settings on the basis of that.
This is the difference between the A and the b processes. The b/
Mutation will always continue from a previous result, the A/Variation will do another variation of the original source program.
If a Mutation is going in the right direction, you can continue with
another Mutation.
5 Select RND with the Dial and press Execute.
This will be a true randomization. Almost any parameter in the
Lead 4 will be randomized, and you may have to adjust several
things for the result to be playable on the keyboard.
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Chapter 5 Nord Lead 4 refereNCe | 17
Nord Lead 4 Reference
5
Master Level
The Master Level knob controls the overall amplitude for the audio outputs - the line level outputs
and the headphone output. The Master Level
knob’s actual position indicates the output level.
This is one of the very few functions in the Nord
Lead 4 that is not stored in a Program.
If you need to adjust the output level in indi-
vidual programs, use the Output parameter in the upper right area
on the panel. The setting of that control is stored in a program.
MIDI LED
The MIDI LED will indicate incoming MIDI note messages by briefly
lighting up.
• If the incoming messages are on a MIDI channel that the Nord Lead
4 is not responding to, these indications will be short. If the incoming MIDI channels matches the channel(s) you have selected in the
System menu, the LED indications will be longer.
Morph
These are the buttons that you use
to select the Morph sources when
you set up a Morph - Velocity and
Wheel.
Velocity
This Morph source use the Note Velocity from the Nord Lead 4 keyboard and from any incoming MIDI messages.
• A key velocity of 0 represents the parameters original value.
• A key velocity of 127 represents the parameters morphed value.
Available Velocity Morph destinations
LFO1 Rate LFO1 Amount LFO1 Clk Division
LFO2 Amount LFO2 Clk Div.
Mod Env Attack Mod Env Decay Mod Env Amount
Osc2 Fine tune Osc2 Semitones Osc Mod Amount Osc Mix Amount
Amp Env Attack Amp Env Decay Amp Env Sustain Amp Env Rel.
Filt Env Attack Filt Env Decay Filt Env Sustain Filt Env Release
Filter Drive Filter Freq Filter Res Filt Env Amount
Output Level
Wheel
Uses the modulation wheel and/or a pedal connected to the Control
Pedal input as the Morph Source.
Incoming MIDI Control Change messages on CC01 and CC11 will
also act as a Wheel/Ped Morph source.
• The top position of the Modulation Wheel or Control Pedal represents
the morphed value of the parameter.
Hold Shift and press a Morph button to clear all assignments for that
Morph source.
For a detailed description on how to set up a Morph scenario, please
go to page 13.
Available Wheel Morph destinations
Glide LFO1 Rate LFO1 Amount LFO1 Clk Division
LFO2 Amount LFO2 Clk Div. Mod Env Attack Mod Env Decay
Mod Env Amt. Osc2 Fine tune Osc2 Semitones Osc Mod Amount
Osc Mix Amount
Amp Env Attack Amp Env Decay Amp Env Sustain Amp Env Release
Filt Env Attack Filt Env Decay Filt Env Sustain Filt Env Release
Filter Drive Filter Freq Filter Res Filt Env Amount
Output Level Arp Range Arp Tempo Arp Clk Division
Delay Clk Div. Delay Dry/Wet Delay Tempo Reverb Bright.
FX Type FX Amount
There is a limit on how many Morph Destinations a program can use. If
you reach this limit during the setup of a Morph, the green Morph LED
next to a knob will not be lit. If a copy procedure will exceed the available amount, the LED display will show “ERt”.
Dial
The Dial is used
for changing the
current setting displayed in the LED
display. Usually this means selecting a new program or performance,
but when any of the menu settings are selected, the Dial is used to
select menu items and to change menu settings.
The dial is endless, though the array of parameter settings are not.
Once you reach the first or last possible setting, turning the dial further
will have no effect.
The Dial has an accelerator feature; when operated swiftly you
scroll through the values in larger intervals.
LED Display
The LED display will show you what program or performance is currently active. It can also display parameter settings, if the Copy button
is held while turning a knob, or indicate that a copy or paste procedure
has occurred.
When the Menus are active, the individual menu functions (as labeled
to the right on the panel) and their respective settings will be shown in
the LED display.
• The bottom position of the Modulation Wheel or Control Pedal represents the original value of the parameter.
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Perf Mode / Execute
The Nord Lead 4 is either in the Program or the Performance Mode. Program Mode is used when you
use one program in one slot at a time. Performance
Mode allows you to use up to 4 slots/program
simultaneously, in various combinations, like for example, split, layered,
keyboard- and MIDI exclusive input.
To switch between these modes, press the Perf Mode button repeatedly. When the LED displays a two or three digit number between 1.
1 and 4.99, then the Program Mode is active. Performance Mode is
indicated by the initial letter P, followed by a number from 1 to 99.
It is possible to create a Performance combination with several
slots while in Program mode, but you have to save this in a Performance location if you want to keep it.
Execute
The Perf Mode button will be used to execute the Mutator process,
read more about this on page 13.
Store
The Store button is used when you wish to store the settings in a
Program or a Performance in the memory on the Nord Lead 4. During
the process, you will get the opportunity to select a location where you
want to store the Program.
A complete Store process is described in the Getting Started chapter
on page 8.
M To cancel an ongoing procedure, press any button on the panel
before you press Store the second time.
Slot A ~D
Every Performance
in the Nord Lead 4
stores the settings
of the four individual
synthesizer setups, called Slots. This means that you can quickly
change from one sound in Slot A to another sound in Slot B, or to use
the sounds from several slots at the same time in a layer or split configuration. Any combination of the four available slots as being active is
possible.
Hold, Hold Enable
If Hold and Hold Enable are simultaneously active in a program or
performance, the notes played on the
keyboard will be held (for that program)
as though the sustain pedal were
engaged. This can be used to create continuous drones or to hold an
arpeggio. To disable Hold for just one Slot, turn off Hold Enable for that
slot. To disable Hold for all Slots simultaneously, turn off Hold.
Chord Memory
This feature can be used for memorizing note intervals and automatically adding them to notes which are played.
The Chord Memory settings are stored within a Program.
Activating a Chord Memory
1 Play and hold a chord, hold Shift and press the Chord Memory
button.
The four lowest keys in the chord will be memorized.
If you want chords that are bigger than Rachmaninov could reach,
use the sustain pedal.
2 Release the Chord button first, then the chord. The LED will show:
“Set”.
The note intervals are memorized and the Chord Memory function
is activated.
The intervals stored in the Chord Memory will be added automatically
to each note you play.
Deactivating a Chord Memory
1 Press the Chord Memory button to deactivate the Chord Memory
function.
Once deactivated, you can at any time press the chord button
again to re-activate with the previous chord memory setting.
E Since you use several notes in the Chord Memory function, the
polyphony will be reduced.
Only the actual key(s) you play will output MIDI Note information -
not the intervals included in the Chord Memory.
The Slot buttons are used to select which one of these four sounds
should be controlled from the keyboard. To select two or more slots at
the same time, press and hold several Slot buttons at the same time.
A slot that is controlled from the keyboard and other performance
controls on the Wave has the Keyboard Focus which is indicated by
the lit Slot LED.
The Slot Buttons are also used to select which one of the active slots
should be active on the panel for editing purposes. This is called the
Panel Focus, and only one Slot at a time can have the Panel Focus. If
several Slots have the Keyboard focus, the slot with the flashing LED
has the Panel focus. Press either Slot button to shift the Panel focus
from one slot to the other.
The Menus
Hold Shift and press one of the Slot buttons to enter the menus where
system specific settings are made. The menu settings are described in
a separate chapter that begins on page 42.
Octave Shift
The Octave Shift buttons transposes the
sound of the Slot that has the Panel Focus.
Range: -24. -12, 0, +12, +24
The center LED indicates when no octave
shift is applied.
• LEDs to the right of the center LED will indicate a higher octave shift
as you press the right Octave Shift button.
• LEDs to the left of the center LED will indicate a lower octave shift as
you press the left Octave Shift button.
Messages from the Nord Lead 4’s MIDI Out will not be affected.
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Chapter 5 Nord Lead 4 refereNCe | 19
Global Oct Shift
By pressing the Global button (Shift + Octave Shift down) you can
transpose the keyboard in octaves, which will affect all active slots. The
LEDs will be in a inverted state to indicate that you are in the Global
Octave Shift mode.
• In this mode, both Slots as well as the note messages from the MIDI
output will be effected.
E A combination of extreme Octave Shift and OSC 2’s Semi Tone
setting can produce sounds that are outside the hearing range.
Split
Hold Shift and press the Split button to split the keyboard in two
halves. The upper half will use slots C and D, the lower half will use
slots A and B. Hold Shift and Split and press a key on the keybed to
set the split point, The key you press will be indicated in the LED and
will be the lowest note of the upper range.
Mst Clk
Press and hold the Mst Clk button to be able to
select the tempo of the Master Clock by turning
the dial. The tempo can be set between 30 and
300 BPM.
Tap the Mst Clk to set the tempo to a beat. You need to tap four times
in order to set a new tempo.
When Morph Lock is active you can:
• Operate any Morph Destination to set-up or adjust a morph.
• Hold down the Shift button and operate a Morph Destination to clear
it.
Paste
Hold Shift and the Copy/Paste button and then select a destination to
paste the copied data. “PSt” (or the single value of a parameter) will be
displayed in the LED. “Er.E” is shown if an error occurs, like copying
a single parameter to a Slot or Morph, or vice versa, or if the available
Morph destinations in a Program would be exceeded by pasting the
data.
Impulse Morph 1 ~ 7
The Impulse Morph
buttons can be used to
instantaneously change
the setting of one or
several parameters. You
can for example use a
closed filter in the program, and have an Impulse Morph open up the
filter when you press the Impulse button. By combining two or all three
buttons, you have a total of 7 Impulses available for each program.
Hold one or several Impulse Buttons and change the parameter you
wish to control. The Impulse Morphs can control both continuous
parameters and switch-type parameters.
Pattern
Hold Shift and turn the dial to select a Pattern. The patterns are
grouped in types, which are indicated by a letter in the LED, followed
by the pattern number. These codes are printed on the panel, to the
right with the menu labels.
Patterns can be used by the LFOs and the arpeggio, to create repeating patterns that are more complex and rhythmic than the regular
cycles.
The Pattern selection is a Morphable parameter. You can jump to
a new pattern by pressing an Impulse Morph button.
Copy
The Copy feature can be used to view and to copy
parameter settings. Hold Copy and operate a knob
to see the programmed value of a parameter. The
setting will be copied to a virtual clipboard and can
be pasted to other parameters in the same program,
or to parameters in other programs.
You can also copy a complete Morph setting, or an entire Slot. Hold
Copy and press a Morph, Slot or Impulse button. “Cpy” will be displayed in the LED.
Available Impulse Morph destinations
Oct Shift Mono Mode Glide LFO1 Wave
LFO1 Dest. LFO1 Rate LFO1 Amount LFO1 Clk Division
LFO2 Wave LFO2 Dest. LFO2 Amount LFO2 Clk Division
Mod Env Attack Mod Env Decay Mod Env Amount Mod Env Dest.
Osc1 Waveform Osc1 Wavet. Sel Osc2 Waveform Osc2 Fine tune
Osc2 Semitones Osc Mod Select Osc Mod Amount Osc Mix Amount
Amp Env Attack Amp Env Decay Amp Env Sustain Amp Env Release
Filt Env Attack Filt Env Decay Filt Env Sustain Filt Env Release
Filter Select Filter KB Track Filter Drive Filter Freq
Filter Res Filt Env Amount Output Level Voice Mode Unis.
Chord Enable Arpeggio Run Arp Range Arp Direction
Arp Tempo Arp Clk Division Pattern Select Delay Clk Div.
Delay Dry/Wet Dly Feedback Reverb Type Reverb Bright.
Delay Tempo FX Type FX Amount
Pitch Stick
The range of the Pitch Stick
is set with the Bend Range
parameter, see page 20.
Morph Lock
Morph Lock provides you with a great overview that can simplify setting up and adjusting multiple Morph Destinations at once. Hold one
of the Morph Source buttons (Velocity or Wheel) and press the Morph
Lock button. The Morph Source indicator starts to flash continuously,
and all the green Morph LEDs are unlit, with the exception of the Morph
Destinations that are associated with this source.
Press any of the Morph Source buttons to exit Morph Mode.
Shift
The Shift button is used together with other buttons to access secondary functions. The name of these functions are printed below the
buttons in question.
These functions are described together with the primary functions of
the buttons in this manual.
Hold Shift and turn a knob, to change all active Slots in a Perfor-
mance at the same time. The parameters individual relationship
will be retained.
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Mod Wheel
The Mod Wheel can be used to add vibrato via the Wheel setting in
the Voice Mode section and/or as a Morph Source, to control one
or several parameters at once while you play. Read more about the
Morph on page 13.
Voice Mode
This section contains both performance and sound related parameters.
Unison
The Unison feature in the Nord Lead
4 adds slightly detuned voices “on
top of each other,” in the same fashion as on some of the classic analog
polyphonic synthesizers. This results
in a fatter sound.
LFOs
A Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) is an oscillator producing waveforms
just like an ordinary oscillator, but with a few differences:
• LFOs are capable of producing waveforms with a very low frequency.
• LFOs are normally not used for generating audible frequencies.
Instead the output from the LFO is used for modulating, that is controlling, other functions, like for example the main oscillator frequency
(vibrato) or the filter frequency.
There are two LFOs available, with slightly different features. One big
difference is that the LFO 1 can be turned into an Arpeggio generator.
LFO 1
E Since this feature uses several voices for each key, the polyphony
will be reduced.
Dly Vib
The Dly Vib1 and 2 can be used to get a delayed vibrato. The 1 and
2 settings give you the option with two different delays. If both LEDs
are lit, the vibrato will be manually introduced with the Mod Wheel. The
depth and rate of this vibrato is set in the Sound Menu.
Mono/Legato
There are two available mono modes; if either of these are activated,
the slot will behave as a monophonic synthesizer. These two modes
differ in how the envelopes are triggered, if you press a key without
releasing the previous one (legato).
• The Mono setting will re-trigger the envelopes; the sound will “restart” for each note you play.
• The Legato setting will not re-trigger the envelopes; the sound will
“continue” with only a change in pitch.
Glide
The Glide parameter can be used to set the time interval for the pitch
to glide from the previous note, to a new note,also known as portamento. With a setting of zero the pitch will change instantly. If the
Legato mode is active, the Glide will only occur if you play legato.
Range: 0 - 10.0
Bend Range
Hold Shift and press the Mono/Legato button to set the Bend Range
for the program.
Bend Range Description
1 ~ 12, 24, 48 Pitchbend range in semitones.
-12, -24 Pitch Bend range is 2 semitones for bending
downwards, and 12 or 24 semitones for bending
upwards.
Rate
The Rate knob is used to set the frequency of the LFO.
Range: 0.03 to 523 Hz
The LED to the upper left of the Rate knob indicates the rate of the
LFO. When several notes are played one after another, the rate of the
most recently triggered LFO will be indicated.
Pat
If the LFO is locked to the master clock and the rate knob is fully to the
right, the “rhythm” in the LFO will be set by a pattern instead of the traditional cyclic, repetitive cycle. The Pattern itself is selected by holding
down the Shift and Mst Clk/Pattern button and turning the Dial. Read
more about the patterns on page 19.
Waveform Selector
The Waveform Selector button determines the waveform that is generated by the LFO.
Waveform Description
Square
Used for abrupt modulation changes, suitable for trills, distinct tremolos, etc.
Sawtooth
Used for ramp type modulations.
Inverted Sawtooth
Used for inverted ramp type modulations.
Note that LFO 1 has four variations on the
traditional sawtooth waveforms.
Triangle
Suitable for natural vibrato effects and also
used for classic pulse width modulation.
Stepped Random
Creates an abrupt modulation with random intensity.
Smooth Random
Creates a smooth random modulation.
LFO1 LFO2
a a
a a
a
a
a a
a
a
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Chapter 5 Nord Lead 4 refereNCe | 21
LFO Destination Selector
The LFO Destination determines which parameter(s) the LFO will
modulate.
Press the Destination selector repeatedly to select the desired destination. The pitch of both Osc 1 and Osc 2 can be modulated simultaneously by LFO 2.
Destination Description
Filter Modulates the Filter Frequency parameter.
OSC MOD Modulates the Oscillator Modulation
Amount.
OSC MIX Modulates the Oscillator Mix Amount
OSC 1 Modulates the pitch of Osc 1.
OSC 2 Modulates the pitch of Osc 2.
AM Modulates the amplitude.
Pan Modulates the position of the sound in the
stereo panorama.
PW Modulates the pulse width of both oscil-
lators.
FX Modulates the FX amount.
LFO1 LFO2
a a
a a
a
a
a a
a
a
a
a
Amount
This is used to set to what extent the signal from the LFO should affect
the selected destination. The amount can have a negative or a positive
value.
Imp Sync
When Imp Sync is active, the LFO cycle will be restarted when an
Impulse Morph button is pressed. Hold Shift and press the LFO Destination repeatedly to turn this feature on or off.
LFO 2
Arpeggio
When the Arpeggio is active, LFO 1 will be used as the arpeggio
controller. If you play a chord when the arpeggio is running, the notes
will be played one after the other at the tempo and in the direction that
you set.
Rate
The tempo of the arpeggio is set with the Rate knob, in a range
between 30 and 300 BPM, beats per minute. If the arpeggio is locked
to the master clock, the rate knob will select the divisions or active the
Pattern, is turned fully to the right.
Range: -10 to +10
Mst Clk
Hold Shift and press the LFO waveform selector to lock the cycles of
the LFO to the Master Clock feature. When this is active the LFO rate
controls the division.
LFO Divisions
If the LFOs are synchronized to the Mst Clk tempo, the rate knob sets
the divisions during which the LFO will complete a full period.
Division Description
4/1, 2/1, 1/1, 1/2,
1/4, 1/8, 1/16,
1/32, 1/64
4/1t, 2/1t, 1/1t,
1/2t, 1/4t. 1/8t,
1/16t, 1/32t
The straight divisions range from 4 bars to 1/64
notes.
The t indicates the triplet divisions, 4 bars to 1/32
notes.
Arp
When this is active, the LFO 1 is turned off, and its controls are used to
set the behavior of the arpeggio, read more about the arpeggio below.
Arpeggio Divisions
Division Description
1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16,
1/32
1/2t, 1/4t. 1/8t,
1/16t
Pat
If the arpeggio is locked to the master clock and the rate knob is fully
to the right, the “rhythm” in the arpeggio will be set by a pattern, instead of the traditional repetitive cycle. The Pattern itself is selected by
holding down the Shift and Mst Clk/Pattern button and turning the Dial.
Read more about the patterns on page 19.
The straight divisions range from 1/2 notes to 1/32
notes.
The t indicates the triplet divisions.
Arpeggio Directions
The arpeggio directions are: Up, Down, Up/Down, Rdn (random) and
Poly. Poly will not break up a chord you play in single arpeggiated
notes but will arpeggiate the entire chord instead.
Arpeggio Run
Use the Run button to turn the arpeggio on and off. The setting will be
indicated with the LFO Destination LEDs.
KBS
When KBS is active, the LFO cycle will be restarted when a key is
pressed. Hold Shift and press the LFO Destination repeatedly to turn
this feature on or off.
Arpeggio Range
The LFO Amount sets the octave range of the arpeggio, from 1 to 4
octaves.
If Poly arpeggio is selected, the chord will be played through its
inversions, instead of just at increasing octaves.
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Modulation Envelope
The Modulation Envelope is an envelope with Attack, Decay/Release
and Amount controls. It can be used to modulate various destinations
in the Nord Lead 4 and will normally be triggered when you press a
key, just like the Amp and Filter envelopes. The modulation from the
envelope can be both positive or negative, this is determined with the
Mod Env Amount knob.
Destination selector
The Destination selector button selects the destination of the modulation. Press repeatedly to cycle through the various options. Please note
that the amount of the envelope modulation will be added to any other
modulation at that destination.
Panel Description
OSCMIX The Oscillator Mix parameter
OSCMOD The Oscillator Modulation Amount parameter
OSC1 The pitch of oscillator 1
OSC2 The pitch of oscillator 2
OSC1 + OSC2 The pitch of both oscillators
FX The Amount of the FX
LFO2 The Amount of LFO2.
AR mode
Hold Shift and press the Mod Env destination button repeatedly to
toggle between the Attack/Decay or the Attack/Release mode.
AR setting disabled
The Dec/Rel controls the Decay time of the envelope. This is the time
that it takes for the envelope to fall back to zero again after it has
completed the attack phase. The envelope has no Sustain Level in this
mode.
The image above illustrates the Modulation Envelope with Attack and
Decay parameters.
The image above illustrates the Modulation Envelope with Attack and
Release parameters.
• The zero level of the Mod Envelope relates to the current setting of
the selected target parameter. The maximum modulation amount
spans to the intensity set by the Mod Env Amt knob.
Attack
Attack sets the time it takes for the envelope to reach the maximum
modulation level after a note has been pressed.
Range: 0.45 ms to 45 s
AR setting enabled
The Dec/Rel controls the Release time of the envelope. This is the time
it takes for the envelope modulation level to fall back to zero again after
the key has been released. The envelope’s Sustain Level is then set to
a maximum amount (which is the setting of the Amount parameter).
Imp Sync
Hold Shift and press repeatedly on the Mod Env destination button
to activate the Imp Sync mode. When this mode is active, the Mod
Env will not start when you press a key, but when you press a Impulse
Morph button. By activating this mode the Modulation envelope becomes monophonic in its behavior.
If you only want one of the Imp Morphs to activate the Mod Env,
make sure the Mod Env Amount is set at the 0 setting on the
other Imp Morphs.
Amount
Amount sets the intensity of the modulation.
Range: -10 to +10
• A setting of 0 will produce no modulation.
• A negative value will produce a inverted modulation envelope.
• A positive value will produce a positive modulation envelope.
Dec/Rel
Sets the decay or the release time of the envelope, depending on
whether the Mod Env is set to the AD or the AR mode. If the knob is
turned fully clockwise, the decay time will be infinite.
Range: 3.0 ms to 45 s, Infinity
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Chapter 5 Nord Lead 4 refereNCe | 23
Osc 2
Oscillators
The oscillator is the
foundation of the
sound in a synthesizer. It produces
the waveform
with a harmonic
content. This
important property
of the sound can be
shaped and/or modulated later in the signal path.
Read more about waveforms and harmonic content in the Synthesizer
Basics chapter on page 37.
There are two oscillators available; you can use two waveforms
simultaneously. You are not limited to just mixing the output of the two,
one oscillator can also modulate the other, creating very complex and
constantly changing harmonic structures.
Noise
Oscillator 2 can
be set to produce noise. The
frequency/color and
resonance of the
noise can then be
adjusted with the
Semi Tones and the Fine Tune controls.
Kbt Off
If you want to disable the keyboard tracking of the pitch of the waveform or noise in oscillator 2, set Kbt to Off.
Fine tune
The Fine tune is used for fine tuning the pitch of oscillator 2. It is also
used as a resonance control if Noise is selected.
Range: -50 to +50 cents
Oscillator Waveform selector
Press repeatedly on the Waveform Selector button to select the waveform the oscillator will generate.
Triangle
The Triangle waveform is quite soft in its character with only odd numbered and not very strong harmonics.
Sawtooth
The Sawtooth waveform produces a very rich sound that contains both
even and odd numbered harmonics.
Pulse
The Pulse waveform is available in Osc1 and Osc2 and has a hollow
character with only odd numbered harmonics. There are three available
settings, one where the width can be modulated by LFO 1 and two
fixed widths. The narrower the pulse width, the more harmonics will be
present.
If you have an equal Osc Mix setting, and a Semi Tones setting
of 0; slightly rasing or lowering the fine tune value will produce a
“richer” sound.
The red LED will light up when the pitch relationship between the
two oscillators is not in even octaves. If oscillator 2 is detuned to
oscillator 1 the LED will have an inverted state. It will be lit all the
time and momentarily go dark when an even octave is selected
with the Semi Tones knob.
Semi Tones
The Semi Tones control is used to adjust the coarse tuning of oscillator
2, relative to oscillator 1. This is done in steps of semi tones, ranging from -60 (-5 octaves) to +60 (+5 octaves) semi tones. If Noise is
selected, this is a frequency control.
Range: -60 to +60
Wavetable
Wavetables (WAVE) are available in Oscillator 1. These are single cycle
digitally created waveforms that provides rich and interesting timbres
with various tonal characteristics.
There are 128 wavetables. Use the LED-dial to select a wavetable.
Sine
The sine waveform is pure, with no harmonics at all. It can be very
effective in a Osc Mod setup when Oscillator 2 modulates the pitch of
Oscillator 1.
Sound Init
By pressing Sound Init (Shift + Osc 1 waveform buttons), the settings
of the Slot in focus will be initialized. This provides you with a neutral
starting point if you want to program a sound from scratch.
Oscillator Modulation (Osc Mod)
Oscillator Modulation is about
having the waveform produced
by oscillator 2 (or the extra sync
oscillator) modulating oscillator
1. Oscillator 1 will then produce
a richer waveform with more harmonics and these will increase as
you apply more modulation.
There are two types of Oscillator Modulation available: Frequency
Modulation and Oscillator Sync.
By changing the frequency of oscillator 2 when the FM Oscillator
Modulation is active, you change the harmonic content of oscillator 1 - not its frequency.
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24 | Nord Lead 4 User MaNUaL v1.x
The waveform produced by Oscillator can be heard if you wish, by using the OSC Mix amount knob.
Frequency Modulation (FM)
Frequency modulation generates a wider spectrum and the resulting
sound is normally perceived as rawer and brighter. The harmonic content changes drastically depending on in what note range you play.
Low-pitched note
High-pitched note
The image above illustrates the harmonic content for a low-pitched
note and a high-pitched note using frequency modulation.
There are three different FM settings in the Nord Lead 4. The difference can be described as different levels of “keyboard tracking” of the
amount of modulation. The resulting harmonic content will be wider
and more intense with FM 2 and wider still with FM 3, especially if you
listen to notes played below C5.
E Some notes can sound more or less out-of pitch using high
amounts of frequency modulation; this behavior is considered
normal.
Oscillator Sync (Sync)
When the Sync function is activated, an additional sync oscillator is
routed to oscillator 1. Each cycle of the waveform produced by the additional oscillator will restart the waveform cycle in the main oscillator.
The illustration shows what happens when a sawtooth waveform is
synchronized to a sine waveform. The sawtooth restarts its cycle every
time the sine passes “zero”.
Only the output of the main oscillator is heard, but since its waveform is
constantly restarted, it produces a richer harmonic content.
By altering the frequency of the additional oscillator, a different harmonic content is produced. This frequency is determined by the Osc
Mod amount knob.
The image above illustrates the harmonic content of the non-synchronized sawtooth waveform compared to the synchronized sawtooth in
the previous example.
Osc Mod Amount
The Amount knob controls the amount of modulation.
Range: 0.0 to 10.0
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Chapter 5 Nord Lead 4 refereNCe | 25
Type
Press the type button repeatedly to activate and select the type of
modulation.
Settings: FM 1, FM 2, FM 3, H Sync, V Sync.
Panic
By pressing Panic (Shift + Osc Mod select), any voices that are producing a sound on the Nord Lead 4 will be silenced.
Equipment connected via MIDI Out will not be affected.
Oscillator mix
Osc Mix
The Oscillator Mix parameter is used for setting
the balance in amplitude between oscillator 1 and
oscillator 2.
Range: -10 to +10
Amp Env
The attack phase is the time it takes for the sound to go from zero to
full amplitude after a key has been pressed.
A very short attack time could produce a click in the beginning of
the sound. To eliminate this, just increase the attack time slightly.
When the attack phase is finished (and you haven’t released the
key), the decay phase takes over. During the decay phase, the sound
decreases in level, and continues to do so until it reaches the Sustain
level. With a decay setting of zero the Sustain Level will be reached
instantly after the attack phase of the envelope is completed.
With the Sustain Level set to the maximum, operating the Decay
knob will have no effect.
The Amp Eny, or Amplifier Envelope is used to control how the amplitude of the sound changes over time. By modulating the amplifier with
an envelope, the sound can be given its basic “shape”. In fact, the
“volume shape” is one of the most important factors to how we identify
the sound. By setting up a proper amplifier envelope you can make a
sound “soft”, “hard”, “plucked” “static” etc.
•
When a key is pressed, the envelope starts at the zero level, and
gradually reaches the maximum level during the time set by the
Attack Time (Attack knob).
• When it has reached the maximum level the envelope will gradually
fade to the Sustain Level (Sustain knob), during the time set by the
Decay Time (Decay knob).
• When the key is released, the sound will instantly start to fade to zero
during the time set by the Release Time (Release knob). The release
phase of the envelope will begin as soon as a key is released.
The sustain is the level the sound will reach after the decay phase is
finished. Once this has happened, the sound will stay steady at this
level until the key is released.
• The Sustain parameter is used to set a level, while Attack, Decay and
Release parameters are all used to set times.
The release phase is the time it will take for the sound to decay from
the envelopes current level to silence after you have released the key.
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The release phase may start anywhere during the envelopes phases, it
will begin as son as a key is released.
A very short release time could produce a click in the end of the
sound. This is a normal physical phenomenon. To eliminate such a
click, just increase the release time slightly.
Attack
Attack sets the time interval for the Attack phase of the envelope. This
is time it will take for the sound to go from zero to the full amplitude
after a key has been pressed.
Range: 0.5 ms to 45 s
Decay
Decay sets the time interval for the Decay phase of the envelope. When
the Attack phase is finished (and you haven’t released the key), the
Decay takes over. During the Decay phase, the amplitude of the sound
decreases, and continues to do so until it reaches the Sustain level.
Range: 0.5 ms to 45 s
When a key is pressed, the envelope starts at the zero level, and
•
gradually reaches the maximum level during the time set by the Attack Time (Attack knob).
• When it has reached the maximum level the envelope will gradually
fade to the Sustain Level (Sustain knob), during the time set by the
Decay Time (Decay knob).
• When the key is released, the modulation will instantly start to fade
to zero during the time set by the Release Time (Release knob). The
release phase of the envelope will begin as soon as a key is released.
Sustain
Use the Sustain knob to set the level of the Sustain phase of the Envelope. This is the level the sound will reach after the envelope phase has
been completed. Once this has happened, the sound will stay at this
level until the key is released. With a setting of zero the amplitude will
reach zero after the Decay part of the envelope.
Range: 0.0 to 10.0
Release
Use the Release knob to set the time interval for the Release phase of
the envelope. This is how long it should take for the sound to decay
to silence after you have released the key. With a setting of zero the
envelope will instantly reach zero when the keys are released.
Range: 3.0 ms to 45 s
Filter Envelope
The attack phase is the time it takes for the modulation to go from zero
to the maximum modulation after a key has been pressed.
A very short attack time could produce a click in the beginning of
the sound. This is a normal physical phenomenon. To eliminate
this, just increase the attack time slightly.
Filter Envelope
The Filter Envelope is used to modulate or control the Filter Frequency
cutoff in the time frame from when a key is pressed down, to after it
has been released again.
By modulating the filter with an envelope, the sound can be given its
harmonic “shape”. By setting up a proper filter envelope you can make
a sound “soft”, “hard”, “plucked” “static” etc.
When the attack phase is finished (and you haven’t released the key),
the decay phase takes over. During the decay phase, the modulation
decreases, and continues to do so until it reaches the Sustain level.
With a decay setting of zero the Sustain Level will be reached instantly
after the attack phase of the envelope is completed.
With the Sustain Level set to the maximum, operating the Decay
knob will have no effect.
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Chapter 5 Nord Lead 4 refereNCe | 27
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Release
Use the Release to set the time interval for the Release phase of the
Filter Envelope. This is how long it should take for the modulation to
decay to zero after you have released the key. With a setting of zero
the envelope will instantly reach zero when the keys are released.
Range: 3.0 ms to 45 s
Filter
The sustain is the modulation level the envelope will reach after the
decay phase is finished. Once this has happened, the modulation will
stay steady at this level until the key is released.
• The Sustain parameter is used to set a level, while Attack, Decay and
Release parameters are all used to set times.
The release phase is the time it will take for the envelope to decay
from the envelope’s current level to zero level after you have released
the key. The release phase may start anywhere during the envelopes
phases, it will begin as son as a key is released.
A very short release time could produce a click in the end of the
sound. This is a normal physical phenomenon. To eliminate such a
click, just increase the release time slightly.
Attack
Attack sets the time interval for the Attack phase of the Filter Envelope.
This is time it will take for the modulation to go from zero to the level
set by the Envelope Amount knob after a key has been pressed.
Range: 0.5 ms to 45 s
Decay
Decay sets the time interval for the Decay phase of the Filter Envelope. When the Attack phase is finished (and you haven’t released the
key), the Decay takes over. During the Decay phase, the modulation
decreases, and continues to do so until it reaches the Sustain level.
Range: 0.5 ms to 45 s
The Filter is one of the most important components to create the
overall timbre of the sound. The harmonic content that the oscillators produce can be shaped with the filter and the filter itself can be
modulated with various functions. The Nord Lead 4 features a selection
of traditional synthesizer low pass, band pass and high pass filters, a
steep 48 dB low pass filter and two unique emulations of filters that we
have modeled from two vintage synthesizers, the Ladder M and the
Ladder TB.
M These two vintage filters are not just an emulation of the slope,
we have looked at the resonance, the internal distortion and the
envelope characteristics of the original units as well.
The different filters share the filter parameters: Filter Frequency controls
the cutoff frequency, the Resonance controls the filter resonance. The
Drive adds some overdrive distortion “inside” the filter and the Envelope
Amount allows you to control the shape of the filtering with the Filter
Envelope.
Filter Frequency (Freq)
Filter Frequency is used for setting the cutoff frequency point - where in
the frequency range the filter begins to process frequencies.
Range: 14 Hz - 21 kHz
Filter Frequency
Sustain
Use the Sustain to set the level of the Sustain phase of the Filter Envelope. This is the level the modulation will reach after the Decay phase
has been completed. Once this has happened, the modulation will stay
at this level until the key is released. With a setting of zero the modulation will reach zero after the Decay part of the envelope.
Range: 0.0 to 10.0
The Image above illustrates three different Filter Frequency settings using a low pass filter. The “area” to the right of the sloping line represents
the part of the sound that is filtered out.
Filter Resonance (Res)
Filter Resonance is used to emphasize frequencies around the Filter
Frequency, making the sound thinner. Further raising the Filter Resonance will make the sound resonant to a point where the filter adds a
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Filter Frequency
Resonance = 10
Resonance = 0
Resonance = 3
Resonance = 7
Filter Frequency
Resonance = 10
Resonance = 0
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Resonance = 10
Resonance = 0
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Resonance = 10
Resonance = 0
Resonance = 3
Resonance = 7
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Resonance = 10
Resonance = 0
Resonance = 3
Resonance = 7
Filter Frequency
Resonance = 10
Resonance = 0
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Resonance = 10
Resonance = 0
Resonance = 3
Resonance = 7
Filter Frequency
Resonance = 10
Resonance = 0
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Resonance = 10
Resonance = 0
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
ringing quality to the sound. Exactly where in the frequency spectrum
this “ringing” occurs, depends on the setting of the Filter Frequency.
Range: 0.0 - 10.0
The functionality of the Res knob varies depending on the selected
filter type.
Drive
Drive control adds a distortion inside the actual filter with a range that
spans from gentle to quite rude.
Range: 0.0 - 10.0
Envelope Amount (Env Amt)
Use the Env Amt control to determine how much the Filter Envelope
should affect the cutoff frequency. Positive and negative settings are
possible.
Range: +/- 10
Keyboard Tracking (KB Track)
Keyboard Tracking is used for adjusting the Filter Frequency cut-off
point depending on where in the keyboard range you play.
Type selector
Press repeatedly on Type to select the desired filter type. The available
filter types are:
Low Pass 12, 24, 48
Filter Frequency
Frequencies above the Filter Frequency setting will be attenuated,
frequencies below will not be affected. The number indicates the slope,
how much the filter should remove above the filter frequency setting.
A 12 dB filter has a gentler slope than a 24 dB and the 48 dB has the
steepest slope.
High Pass
Filter Frequency
This is related to basic acoustics; if you raise the pitch of a waveform,
the harmonics will also increase in frequency. If the cutoff frequency is
constant, the sound will be perceived as getting “muddier” the higher
up the keyboard you play.
This function is adjusted in a frequency/octave relationship. A set-
ting of 1 means that the cutoff frequency is moved one octave for
every octave you play from the C2 key.
• With KB Track disabled, the Filter Frequency cutoff is constant
regardless of where on the keyboard you play.
• With KB Track enabled, the Filter Frequency cutoff will be higher for
higher notes, and lower for lower notes. The point of reference is the
key of C2.
• With KB Track at the maximum setting of 1, the cutoff frequency will
track the keyboard in a 1:1 relationship.
• With KB Track at the 1/3 setting, the cutoff frequency will track the
keyboard in a 1:3 relationship.
• With KB Track at the 2/3 setting, the cutoff frequency will track the
keyboard in a 2:3 relationship.
Range: Off, 1/3, 2/3, 1/1
Frequencies below the Filter Frequency setting will be attenuated,
frequencies above the cutoff will not be affected.
Band Pass
Filter Frequency
A band pass filter lets frequencies at the Filter Frequency setting to
pass, while frequencies above and below the cutoff will be attenuated.
• The Filter Resonance sets the width of the frequency range that will
pass through the band pass filter.
Ladder M
The Ladder M is a emulation of the original transistor filter from the
“Mini”. We have analyzed not only the frequency characteristics, but
the resonance, internal distortion and envelope characteristics as well.
Ladder TB
The Ladder TB is an emulation of the filter and resonance response
from the vintage Roland TB unit from 1982.
Velocity
Activate the Filter Velocity to control the envelope amount with the
force by which you strike the keys.
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Chapter 5 Nord Lead 4 refereNCe | 29
Filter Frequency
Resonance = 10
Resonance = 0
Resonance = 3
Resonance = 7
Filter Frequency
Resonance = 10
Resonance = 0
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Resonance = 10
Resonance = 0
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Filter Frequency
Amp Vel
Hold Shift and press the Velocity button to use velocity to control the
amplitude envelope amount.
Output
Level
The Level knob is used for setting the amplitude (the volume) of the Program. The setting
of this parameter is stored when the Program
is stored.
M Note that the Master level at the upper left on the panel controls
the overall amplitude of the entire instrument, whereas the Output
Level only controls the amplitude of the active Slot.
FX
Comb
Filter Frequency
The FX Comb filter uses a delay line with feedback and a summing
mixer to phase out frequencies of the original signal.
A gentle modulation of the FX amount will produce a classic phaser
type effect.
The FX can put the final icing on the cake. A
unique feature in the Nord Lead 4 is the ability to
modulate the FX amount with the Mod Envelope
and/or the LFO 2.
Crush
The Bit Crusher can be used to create drastic
lo-fi sounds, by, in effect, destroying the audio
quality of the Nord Lead 4.
Compressor
The compressor can effectively reduce the
dynamic range of the sound. Turn the Amount to
increase the compression ratio. The output gain
will be automatically compensated.
Drive
The tube style overdrive can add a gentle edge or create pure mayhem
to the Nord Lead 4 sound.
Talk1, Talk2
The Talk effects can be described as how a synthesizer would sound
if it was played inside your mouth. The effect is created by using a
series of carefully implemented delay lines, and can create interesting
vowel and cavity effects when modulated or when the amount control
is operated.
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Delay, Reverb
Delay or Reverb can put the finishing touches to
a great synthesizer sound. The Delay can create
rhythmic effects, on its own or locked to the Mst
Clk; reverb puts the sound in a lush acoustic
environment. Every program in the Nord Lead 4
can use either delay or reverb, even in Performance mode when 4 programs can be active at
the same time.
Delay
The delay can add an echo effect to the sound.
The Delay tempo can be manually set with the
Tempo knob, or synchronized to the Mst Clk.
Tempo
The Tempo knob sets the time interval between
the repeats. If the Delay is synchronized to the
Mst Clk tempo, the divisions will be set with this
control.
Range: 20 ms to 1400 ms
Reverb
The Reverb effects simulates natural sound reflections in various
acoustic environments.
Dry/Wet
The Dry/Wet knob controls the balance in amplitude between the
unprocessed (dry) and processed (wet) signal.
Reverb Select
The Reverb button selects the type of reverb effect:
Setting Description
Room Small reverberation with room ambiance and a fast
decay.
Stage Medium reverberation with stage ambiance, me-
dium decay and a bright character
Hall Full reverberation with a hall ambiance, slow decay
and a bright character.
The Divisions are grouped according to the perceived “tempo”, which
puts the dotted and swing divisions before the straight and the triplets
behind.
Division Description
1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16,
1/32, 1/64
1/4d, 1/8d, 1/16d The “dotted” divisions will push the repeats “back”
1/2t, 1/4t. 1/8t,
1/16t, 1/32t
1/4s, 1/8s, 1/16s, The s indicates the swing divisions.
The straight divisions range from half notes to
64ths.
one half of the note value.
The t indicates the triplet divisions.
Feedback
The Feedback button allows you to select the amount of repeats.
There are 4 settings to chose from, ranging from one repeat (no active
LEDs), to several (both 1 & 2 LED are lit). Press the feedback button
repeatedly to select the desired feedback level.
M Hold Shift and press the Feedback button to switch from delay to
reverb functionality.
Dry/Wet
The Amount knob controls the amount of the effect in the audio signal.
Range: 0.0 to 10.0
On/Off
Turns the effect on or off.
M Hold Shift and press On/Off to synchronize the delay tempo to
the Mst Clk. The Reverb cannot be synchronized to the Mst Clk
tempo.
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Chapter 7 Nord soUNd MaNaGer | 31
Nord Sound Manager
7
Nord Sound Manager is the freeware application that allows you to organize the various memory areas, the partitions in the Nord Lead 4. It is also
used to download performances or programs to the Nord Lead 4 or to upload any of these items - called sounds - from the Nord Lead 4 memory
to the computer hard drive. The Nord Sound Manager provides access to various methods to download the sounds to the Lead 4 and a function to
backup and restore the entire Nord Lead 4 memory.
System requirements
The Nord Sound Manager is compatible with computers running Mac OSX 10.4 or later, Windows XP and Windows Vista. If you run the Nord Manager on a Windows computer, you also need a Clavia USB Driver of version 2.14 or later installed. The Nord Lead 4 OS has to be 2.0 or later.
M Nord Lead 4 OS Updates, USB drivers and instructions on how to install these are available at the www.nordkeyboards.com website and on
the DVD that accompanies this unit.
Overview
You can work with the contents of the Performance partition and the
Program partition. These are accessed from the tabs, conveniently
labeled Performance and Programs.
If no Nord Lead 4 is connected to the computer, pages, icons and
memory locations will be grayed out.
E The actions that take place in the Nord Sound Manager will affect
the memories in the Nord Lead 4. The Manager is on-line with a
connected Lead 4 at all times; any changes that you perform in
the Manager will immediately be executed in the Nord Lead 4. If
you e.g. delete a Performance or a Program from the list in the
Nord Sound Manager, that same Performance or Program will also
be deleted from the Nord Lead 4 memory.
The Toolbar
The Toolbar gives you direct access to some of the more frequently
used functions in the Nord Sound Manager. Clicking on an icon will
activate one of these functions, and a dialogue will often appear asking
for confirmation or further instructions from you.
E The Sound Manager is compatible with many different types of
Nord units, with different functionalities. This means that there are
features in the Toolbar and menus that will be grayed out and nonfunctional. The Info, Replace, Relink and Bundle features in the
toolbar are not active with the Nord Lead 4.
The Tabs
Select the memory area (partition) that you wish to work in with the
Tabs. The Performance tab is the Performance partition and the Program tab allows you to organize the programs. The individual Performances or programs will be referred to as “sounds” in this manual and
in the application itself.
Press Ctrl+Tab on the computer keyboard to cycle between the
tabs.
The lists can be ordered according to location, name, size, version and
date, in ascending and descending order. Just click on a headline to
select a preferred view.
Partition Memory Indicator
The memory indicator at the bottom of the window indicates how much
memory is being used in the selected partition.
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Right-Clicking
If you right-click on a sound, a context menu will provide the following
options:
Select in Instrument
This will select the chosen sound in the Manager list, to be instantly
accessible on the Nord Lead 4.
Upload
This will upload the selected sound from the Nord Lead 4 to the computer hard drive to a folder of your choice.
Download
This is only available if you right-click on
an empty location that does not contain a
sound. This allows you to choose a file on
the hard drive, to be downloaded to the
location in the Nord Lead 4.
The Quick Tour
Let’s get acquainted with some of the functions in the Nord Sound
Manager.
Transfer Performances to the Lead 4
When the Nord Lead 4 leaves the factory, the Performance partition is
filled with sounds. In order to be able to download additional Performances, you may have to delete some of the factory Performances. If
you ever want to reload any deleted Programs or Performances, they
are available on the CD that was included with the Nord Lead 4, or
available as a download from the www.nordkeyboards.com web site, in
the Libraries area.
Deleting a Performance
Rename
This allows you to rename, and assign a category to a Program or a
Performance. Characters supported are: a-z, A-Z, 0-9 and a hyphen (-)
and the name can contain up to 16 characters. Any other characters
will not be displayed in the File Manager lists.
Delete
This will delete the selected sound(s) from the Nord Lead 4 memory.
File Formats
The Nord Sound Manager creates and uses files with the following
extensions:
• .nl4p - These are the Performance files.
• .nl4s - These are the Program files.
• .nl4b - This is the extension used for the Nord Lead 4 backup files.
Just as any other computer file on your hard drive, these files may be
renamed, emailed, copied, moved, lost or even stored in a safe location if an evil computer crash suddenly decides to take your hard drive
for a ride.
1 Connect the Nord Lead 4 to the computer and launch the Nord
Sound Manager.
2 The Performance tab will open and the current contents of the
Performance partition in the Lead 4 will be displayed.
3 Select a Performance to delete and press the Delete icon in the
toolbar.
You can also right-click on the sound and choose the Delete option or
use the backspace or delete keys on the computer keyboard.
4 You will be asked to confirm your intentions and then the Perfor-
mance in the Lead 4 will be deleted.
Download a new Performance
1 Using drag and drop: Open the folder on the computer hard
drive where the new Performance (in the .nl4p format) is located.
2 Make sure that the File Manager window and the folder are visible
on the screen.
3 Drag the new Performance to the white area in the File Manager
Performance list. When the destination location will turn gray,
release the mouse button.
4 The new Performance will be downloaded to the Lead 4.
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Chapter 7 Nord soUNd MaNaGer | 33
If the Organize option is active in the View menu, you can drop
a sound on any free location in the bank. If this function is not
active, the new sound will be automatically placed at the first free
location in the bank.
1 Using the Toolbar or Menu command: Click on the Sound
Down icon in the toolbar. The same command is also available in
the File menu: Sound Download (Ctrl-D).
2 Browse to the folder on the hard drive where the desired sound
is located, select it and click Open. The Performance will now be
added to its bank.
These methods can also be used with any Performance or indi-
vidual programs that you wish to add.
Upload sounds from the Lead 4
1 Select the desired partition that holds the sounds that you wish to
store on the computer hard drive.
2 Select the bank and the sound. Shift-click will allow you to select
several consecutive sounds; Ctrl-click will allow you to select
nonconsecutive sounds. Here we have selected a few of the
Performances:
Search Box
1 By entering one or several characters in the Search Box, you can
filter out the content that is presented in the lists.
This provides you with a quick way to find duplicate programs, all
programs made by the mysterious AD (Ake Danielsson) or all programs
with e.g. the phrase “string” in their names.
Auto Select
By clicking on the Auto Select icon in the toolbar, you toggle the Auto
Select function on or off.
When this is activated and you scroll through the Program or Performance list using the computer keyboard arrow keys, the Program (or
Performance) will be automatically selected in the Nord Lead 4.
3 Click on the Sound Up tool or right-click on the selected sound(s)
and select Upload. The dialogue will prompt you to browse to the
desired destination folder on the hard drive. The upload process
may take a few moments depending on the size of the sounds.
Organize the program partition
By using drag and drop, you can organize the content of the Program
partition with its 400 programs or the Performance partition.
1 Make sure that Organize is activated in the View menu.
2 Select and drag a program from the destination location to the
desired location.
If you drop a sound on a free location, the sound will be moved from
the source location. If you drop on a location that is occupied, the two
sounds will trade places.
3 Select a program and press the Ctrl-key on the computer key-
board. If you now drag this selection, the Program will be copied
and pasted at the destination instead of just being moved.
Double-clicking on a Program or Performance will also select it in
the Lead 4.
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Nord Sound Manager reference
Toolbar
Info
This command is not available, it is not relevant to the Nord Lead 4’s
feature set.
Organize
When this option is active, the lists will show all the available locations
in the selected partition/bank and not only the occupied ones. This will
for instance make it easier to drag a file to a specific free location in the
middle of the list. If this is inactive, only the occupied locations will be
shown.
Dual View
When this option is checked, the window will be divided in two lists.
The two lists makes it easy to move programs from one location to
another. You can make the lists show separate banks with the dropdowns. Rearranging programs is simply a matter of drag and drop.
Drag a program from one bank/list to another bank/list in either direction.
Backing up from the Nord Sound Manager is done in an incre-
mental manner. Unless you change the name or the location of
the back up file, only the Performances and/or programs that have
been changed since the previous backup will be saved.
The Nord Sound Manager will suggest a location for the backup the
first time this function is activated (in My Documents/Nord Sound Manager files/). If you would rather save the backup file elsewhere, use the
browser to pick another destination.
Restore
To restore a previously saved backup file to the Lead 4, select this option and browse to a backup file on the hard drive (file extension .nl4b)
and click Open.
E The restore function will begin after you have clicked Open and
confirmed your intentions in the dialogue. All the content of a
connected Nord Lead 4 will then be irrevocably replaced by the
content of the backup file.
Auto Select
With this function active, scrolling through the program list with the
computer keyboard arrow keys will automatically select the programs
in the Nord Lead 4.
Rename
This allows you to rename, and assign a category to a Program. 16
characters can be used, and the supported characters are: a-z, AZ,
0-9 and the hyphen (-). Any other characters will not be displayed in
the Manager lists.
Delete
Allows you to delete one or several selected sounds. You will be asked
to confirm your intentions. You may also use the delete or backspace
key on the computer keyboard to perform this action.
Replace
This feature is not available on the Nord Lead 4.
Relink
This feature is not available on the Nord Lead 4.
Sound Up
Use this function to upload one or several sounds from the Nord Lead
4 to the computer hard drive.
Sound Down
Use this function to download one or several sounds from the computer hard drive to the next available location in the selected partition.
Backup
This will make a backup of all the Performances, Programs and Menu
settings in the Nord Lead 4. The file that is created on the hard drive
will have the extension .nl4b. Backing up the entire memory content in
this manner is quite fast, so there is no reason why you should not do
this regularly.
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Chapter 7 Nord soUNd MaNaGer | 35
Export Soundlists
Menus
In the Nord Sound Manager, the usual Windows and Mac OSX keyboard commands can be used. The menus can be accessed by pressing the Alt key and the underlined letter in the menu bar.
Most of the commands can also be accessed by pressing the Ctrl (on
the Mac - Command) key together with the letter shown next to the
command name in the menus.
File
The Export command will create a set of text-based lists of the
memory content in the unit, saved to location of your choice. The
number of lists created depends on the type of instrument. The lists
contain information with the names and locations of the programs and
performances. The lists are formatted in a .html format. Double-click
on a list to view it with a web browser, an application that probably can
print them for you as well. The lists can be opened with a spreadsheet
application, if you wish to perform further manipulation.
Exit (Ctrl+Q)
Exits the Nord Sound Manager application.
Sound Upload (Ctrl+U)
Use this function to upload one or
several sounds from the Nord Lead 4
memory to a folder on the computer
hard drive.
Sound Download (Ctrl+D)
Use this function to download one or several sounds from the computer hard drive to the next available location in the selected partition.
Program Bundle Upload (Ctrl+Shift+U)
This feature is not available on the Nord Lead 4.
Program Bundle Download (Ctrl+Shift+D)
This feature is not available on the Nord Lead 4.
Backup (Ctrl+B)
This will make a backup of all the Performances, programs and menu
settings in the Nord Lead 4.
The file that is created on the hard drive will have the extension .nl4b.
Backing up the entire memory content in this manner will be quite
quick.
Backing up from the Nord Sound Manager is done in an incre-
mental manner. Unless you change the name or the location of the
back up file, only the Performances and/or programs/patches that
have been changed since the previous backup will be saved.
Restore (Ctrl+R)
To restore a previously saved backup file to the Lead 4, select this option and browse to a backup file on the hard drive (file extension .nl4b)
and click Open.
E The restore function will begin after you have clicked Open and
confirmed your intentions in the dialogue. All the content of a
connected Nord Lead 4 will then be irrevocably replaced by the
content of the backup file.
Clean Deleted Space
This command is not available, it is not relevant to the Nord Lead 4’s
feature set.
Format
This is a radical function; it will format the entire partition that is in
focus. All the sounds in the partition will be deleted. You will be asked
to confirm your intentions.
Edit
Rename (Ctrl+N)
This allows you to rename, and assign
a category to a Program. 16 characters can be used, the supported
characters are: a-z, A-Z, 0-9 and
the hyphen (-). Any other characters
will not be displayed in the Sound
Manager lists.
Delete
Allows you to delete a selected item(s) from the Nord Lead 4 memory.
You will be asked to confirm your intentions.
Replace
This command is not available, it is not relevant to the Nord Lead 4’s
feature set.
Relink
This command is not available, it is not relevant to the Nord Lead 4’s
feature set.
Select All (Ctrl+A)
Select all items in a bank/partition.
Invert Selection
This will deselect the original selection and then select all the other
items in the list.
View
Organize (Ctrl+O)
When this option is checked, the lists
will show all the available locations in
the selected partition/bank and not only
the occupied ones. This will for instance
make it easier to drag a file to a specific
free location in the middle of the list. If
this is unchecked, only the occupied locations will be shown.
Dual View (Ctrl+L)
When this option is checked, the window will be divided in two lists.
The two lists makes it easy to move programs from one location to
another. You can make the lists show separate banks with the dropdowns. Rearranging programs is simply a matter of drag and drop.
Drag a program from one bank/list to another bank/list in either direction.
Press the Ctrl-key on the computer keyboard to copy a selection
to the destination during a drag and drop operation.
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36 | Nord Lead 4 User MaNUaL os v1.x
Info
This command is not available, it is not relevant to the Nord Lead 4’s
feature set.
Find
This provides you with a quick way to find duplicate programs, all
programs made by the mysterious AD (Ake Danielsson) or all programs
with e.g. the phrase “string” in their names.
Auto Select (Ctrl+K)
When this function is active, programs will be automatically selected
in the Nord Lead 4 when you browse through the Programs in the
Manager list, with the computer keyboard arrow keys.
Help
About
Brings up the About box with a information regarding the version of the Nord Sound Manager. You will also see a list of
compatible instruments and OS versions.
Tabs
Note
This area may contain error information about broken, corrupted or
rejected files, if e.g. something has happened with a particular sound in
the Lead 4.
Footer Area
The footer area is located at the bottom of the Nord Sound Manager
window.
Partition Memory Indicator
This indicates the usage of the selected partition’s memory.
Cancel Button
Use this function if you need to cancel a process that is in progress.
Certain functions like e.g. a restore process cannot be cancelled.
Program - Performance
Use the tabs to select the desired partition. Type Ctrl+Tab on the computer keyboard to cycle between the two tabs. The drop down menu
is used to select the desired bank within the Program partition. The
content of the partition will be presented in the list.
Search Box
Enter a phrase to quickly present any Performances or programs that
contains the characters. Press Clear to clear the filtering and show all
entries again.
Loc - Location
The banks are organized in locations; the number of locations varies for
the different bank types.
Name
The name of the item.
Message/Text Area
The left part of the text area will present any confirmations or error
messages from the Nord Sound Manager.
The right part will indicate of a Nord Lead 4 is connected to the computer and in communication with the Nord Sound Manager. The OS
version of the connected Lead 4 will also be displayed here.
Updates
Please visit our website at http://www.nordkeyboards.com to download any updates of the Nord Sound Manager and sounds that have
been released for the Nord Lead 4. These items will be available as free
downloads in the Nord Lead 4 download area.
Category
Shows the assigned category for the Programs.
Ver – Version Number
This indicates the version number of the actual Performance or program format.
Page 37
Chapter 9 syNthesIs BasICs | 37
Synthesis Basics
9
it from a dull organ drone to a dynamic and interesting timbre. The two
Introduction
Subtractive synthesis is one of the oldest and most widely spread
forms of synthesizing sounds. It is the method employed in classics as
the Moog synthesizers, the Sequential Prophet-5 and 10, Arp synthesizers, most Oberheim synthesizers, the Roland Jupiter models, the
TB-303 etc; the list is practically endless. Even new digital instruments
such as workstations and sample playback devices employ many of
the basic principles of subtractive synthesis.
With the first Nord Lead, Clavia introduced a new concept: a modern
digital instrument that combined a faithful reproduction of the behavior
of the old analog favorites with the convenience and stability of the
newer designs. The Nord Lead 4 takes this concept even further, adding valuable new features and functionality such as FM, Wavetable and
sample playback.
most common modulators are Envelopes and LFOs.
Envelopes
An envelope is used to give a sound a “shape”. If you apply an envelope to the amplifier (which controls the volume) you are able to make
the sound for example slowly fade in and then fade out when you press
and hold a key.
LFOs
LFO is an abbreviation for Low Frequency Oscillator. It is used for
repeating variations in a sound, such as vibrato or tremolo.
Connections
The below diagram shows a basic way the NL4’s modules can be
interconnected (there are many more possibilities).
The purpose of this chapter is to give you a quick introduction to this
world of subtractive synthesis as used in the Nord Lead 4 and its analog predecessors. If you’d like to know even more, there are number of
text books or web based info that will expand on this subject.
The “building blocks”
Subtractive synthesis started its life in modular synthesizers, large cabinets housing separate electronic modules, connected via patch cords.
With the advancement of technology, the functionality of many of these
modules could be put onto one single circuit board. But functionalitywise, subtractive synthesizers are still built out of the same modules (or
building blocks) as they were decades ago. The name “subtractive,” by
the way, comes from the way a filter traditionally behaves: it subtracts
harmonics from a waveform.
We will now take a closer look at these building blocks. Let’s first talk
about the three that actually create and process sound:
Oscillator
The Oscillator is actually the only thing in a synthesizer that actually
produces any sound, (all the other modules only shape the sound from
the oscillator). The oscillator is a bit like the string on a string instrument, it vibrates to create sound.
Filter
The signal from the oscillator is sent through the Filter which shapes
the timbre of the sound to make it “bright”, “dull”, “thin”, etc.
Amplifier
The Amplifier shapes the volume of the sound making it “soft” or
“hard”, “slow”, “plucked” or “short”.
Modulation
In addition to these main modules all synthesizers also have “modulators”, devices that can make the volume, timbre pitch and other qualities of sound vary continuously over time when you play a key.
It is these modulators that basically add animation to the sound, taking
Note that the horizontal lines indicate the way the sound travels. The
vertical lines indicate control signals.
The envelopes for example only modulate (control) the oscillator, filter
and amplifiers; they do not affect the sound directly.
The Oscillators and waveforms
The two basic qualities of an oscillator are its waveform and its pitch.
Pitch
The picture of the sawtooth on the Nord Lead 4 front panel displays a
sawtooth during one period of sound. During this time, the wave raises
gradually up to maximum level and then instantly drops back to
minimum level.
The length of the period determines
the pitch (frequency) of the sound.
The shorter the period, the higher
the pitch. If you for example make
the oscillator play at a frequency of
440Hz, there will be 440 periods of identical Sawtooth waves generated per second.
Normally there are three ways to change the frequency of an oscillator:
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• By making settings on the front panel. On the Nord Lead 4 for
example, you have an “Oct Shift” that will affect both oscillators and
separate Semitone and Fine Tune adjustments for Oscillator 2.
• By playing the keyboard. The keyboard is if course connected to the
oscillator so that pressing different key produces different pitches.
• By Modulation. Modulation allows you to make the pitch vary “automatically.” The most common example is to use an LFO to make
pitch go up and down, to create a vibrato. But you can also put the
pitch under envelope control, or make the pitch vary with your striking force (velocity).
Waveform
The waveform of the oscillator affects its harmonic content and thereby
its “sound quality” (timbre). The three most common waveforms are
sawtooth, pulse wave and triangle.
Looking at the shape of a waveform tells very little about how it
sounds. Instead, there’s a better way to draw or visualize it, called a
spectrum. Let’s introduce some quick theory:
Mathematically, all periodic waveforms can be considered as built from
a number of harmonics added together.
As you can see, the high harmonics have a fairly high amplitude, which
makes this waveform sound bright.
Triangle
The triangle wave does not have very strong harmonics. Furthermore
they only appear at odd harmonic numbers.
Each of the harmonics represents a sine wave, the purest and simplest
waveform there is (a sine wave has no harmonics at all). In other
words, if you add a number of sine waves together, each one with its
own pitch (frequency) and volume (amplitude), then you can build any
waveform you like.
The lowest harmonic is called the fundamental. The fundamental determines the basic pitch of the sound.
If the fundamental has a frequency of 440Hz, we will perceive the entire
sound as having a pitch of 440Hz.
Other harmonics are then added to the fundamental, called overtones.
The first overtone appears at a frequency twice the fundamental (in
our example 880 Hz). The next harmonic appears at a frequency three
times the fundamental (in our example 1320Hz) and so on.
In a spectral display of a waveform you can see the frequency (pitch) of
each harmonic and its amplitude (level). This is done by drawing each
harmonic as a line raising up from a horizontal scale.
Each line’s position on this scale indicates the harmonic’s frequency.
The line furthest to the left is the fundamental, the next is the first harmonic etc. To make life easier, one usually doesn’t label the horizontal
scale with frequency in Hz, but rather with the number of the harmonic.
The height of each line represents the amplitude of each harmonic.
If you understand the principle, you also understand that if the harmonics with high numbers have a high amplitude, the sound will be
perceived as bright.
The first fact makes the tone pure, a bit like a flute, and the second fact
gives the sound a slightly “hollow” character.
Pulse wave
The pulse wave is slightly more complicated, because it is not one
waveform, it is many different ones. A pulse wave is a waveform that
during one period jumps once between full positive amplitude and full
negative and then back. The thing that can be varied is where within
the period you jump from maximum to minimum amplitude. Let’s look
at two examples:
In the first, the jump happens 1% in from the beginning of the period.
This is referred to as a pulse wave with a 1% pulse width (sometimes
called duty cycle).
Let’s take a look at some common waveforms and their spectra.
In the illustrations below, only some of the first harmonics are displayed. In reality, waveforms like these have an infinite amount of
harmonics.
Sawtooth
The Sawtooth wave has a simple spectrum. All harmonics are present
in the wave, in proportional values.
The second wave has a pulse width of 50%.
This second example is a special case of the pulse wave, called a
square wave, and this has one peculiarity, it only contains odd number
harmonics, which gives it a “hollow” quality.
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Chapter 9 syNthesIs BasICs | 39
On many synthesizers (including the Nord Lead 4) the pulse width can
be adjusted, to set the timbre of the pulse wave. The more narrow the
pulse width, the more “thin” the sound will be.
The Filter
You can also have the pulse width vary continuously, for example from
an LFO or envelope. This is referred to as pulse width modulation.
Modulating pulse widths from an LFO creates a rich, chorus-like effect
often used in “string” sounds.
About in-harmonic spectra
We have only discussed spectra where the overtones appear at perfect
harmonics so far. While this is true for the basic waveforms discussed
above, it is definitely not true for all sound. If, for example, you use the
frequency modulation (FM, PM) capabilities in the Nord Lead 4, with
the two oscillators set to an “unusual” interval (not octaves or fifths,
for example), you will get a spectrum where the overtones appear at
frequencies somewhere between the perfect harmonics. This results in
an in-harmonic sound, which often sounds “metallic”.
Sync
One some synthesizers, one oscillator can be synchronized to another.
If you for example synchronize oscillator 2 to oscillator 1, oscillator 2
will start over with a new period of the waveform, each time oscillator 1
does so. If oscillator 2 then has a higher frequency than 1, it will get a
complex waveform that depends both on its own pitch and on that of
the other oscillator.
The filter in a synthesizer is used to remove or emphasize frequencies
in a spectrum. A filter is a bit like an amplifier (a volume control) that
is applied differently to different parts of the spectrum. For example, a
filter might make low frequencies louder, while at the same time making
high frequencies weaker. Applying such a filter would make a sound
have more bass and less treble.
Let’s imagine a sound with a spectrum where all harmonics are available at full level. It would look like this:
Let’s now pass this spectrum through a lowpass filter (this type of filter
is discussed in more detail below).
When sync is applied, the basic pitch of Oscillator 2 is locked to that
of Oscillator 1. If you change the pitch of Oscillator 1 you will affect the
basic pitch of both oscillators. Furthermore, when you vary the pitch
of the synchronized oscillator (Oscillator 2), this will be perceived as a
change in timbre, rather than in pitch.
This leads to a spectrum with deep resonances at Osc2’s harmonics,
like this:
If you go even further and let the pitch of the synchronized oscillator vary continuously, for example from an LFO or envelope, you will
change the harmonic content of the sound in an interesting and very
characteristic way.
The filter has a characteristic, which can be drawn as a curve.
As you can see the curve is flat in the low register (which means it
doesn’t affect this part of the spectrum at all) and then, at a certain
point, gradually starts falling. When applied to the wave above, this filter
cuts away some of the high frequency material in the wave, like this:
Filter types
There are many types of filters, all with their different purposes. Let’s
discuss the three most common ones that are found in the Nord Lead
4. As you may already have noticed, the filters are explained in detail in
the Panel Reference chapter
Lowpass filter
The lowpass filter dampens high frequencies and allows low frequencies to pass through unaffected, as in the example above. It is the most
common synthesizer filter, since it can be used to “round off” the sharp
sound of sawtooth waves and pulse waves.
Highpass filter
This is the opposite of the lowpass filter. It allows the high frequencies
of the sound to pass through and cuts off the low frequencies. This
removes “bass” from a sound, without affecting the high end.
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Filter Frequency
Resonance = 10
Resonance = 0
Resonance = 3
Resonance = 7
Bandpass filter
This allows frequencies in a certain range of the spectrum (the band) to
pass through while dampening frequencies both below and above this
range. This accentuates the mid-range of a sound.
Slope
Filters of one and the same type (lowpass, highpass etc) can have
different characteristics. One of the factors determining the exact filter
curve is the roll-off, which is measured in dB/Octave (“decibels per octave”) or poles. The simplest possible filter has a roll-off of 6dB/octave,
which is referred to as “1 pole”.
The next step up is 12dB (2 poles), 18db (3 poles) etc.
The most common synth filters are the 12dB and 24dB lowpass filters.
The difference between the two can be studied in the graph below. The
12dB filter let’s more of the high frequency pass through which gives
the sound a brighter and “buzzier” character than the 24dB filter does.
Filter Frequency
To remedy this problem many synthesizers have a parameter called
Filter Keyboard Tracking. When this is activated, the filter Cutoff Frequency varies with which key you play, just as the oscillator frequency
does. This ensures a constant harmonic spectrum for all keys.
Resonance
Resonance in a filter is created by increasing the routing of the output
from the filter to its own input. The amount of feedback is then controlled with a Resonance function on the front panel of the instrument.
In the Nord Lead 4, the lowpass filter can be switched between 12 and
24dB modes.
Cutoff frequency
The most important parameter for a filter is its cutoff frequency, which
is the setting that determines where in the frequency material it should
start cutting. If the cutoff frequency in a low pass filter is set to a very
low value, only the lowest harmonics (the bass) will pass through. If you
raise the cutoff all the way up, all frequencies will be let through, as the
figure below illustrates.
Changing the cutoff frequency is often referred to as “sweeping the
filter”. This is probably one of the most important ways of shaping
the timbre of a synthesizer sound. By using an envelope you can for
example have a high cutoff at the beginning of a sound which is then
gradually lowered (the filter “closes” as the sound decays). This would
emulate the way most plucked string sound (piano, guitar etc) behave;
the amplitude of the harmonics decreases as the sound decays.
Keyboard tracking
When you play different pitches, the oscillators produce different
frequencies. This means that the overtones in the waveform appear at
different frequencies. The cutoff frequency of the filter however, is fixed.
When you apply resonance, the frequencies just around the cutoff point
of the filter will be emphasized (louder). As you increase the resonance
further and further, the filter will start to behave more an more like a
bandpass filter, where only the frequencies around the cutoff point are
let through. The filter will start to “ring”, which means it almost sounds
like it is adding frequencies to the sound. If the Resonance is then
raised even further (on some synthesizers) the filter will start to selfoscillate, that is produce sound of its own, just like an oscillator.
High resonance values are also visible in the waveform. They appear as
a “superimposed” waveform with a frequency equivalent to the filter’s
cutoff frequency.
If you add resonance to a sound and then vary the Cutoff frequency (for
example with an envelope) you will get a very typical synthesizer sound.
The Amplifier
An amplifier is most often used at the final stage of a synth signal chain,
to control volume. By modulating the amplifier with an envelope, the
sound can be given its basic “shape”. In fact, the “volume shape” is
one of the most important factors to how we identify the sound. By
setting up a proper volume envelope you can make a sound “soft”,
“hard”, “plucked” “static” etc.
This means that different overtones will be cut off at different pitches.
To be more precise, the further up the keyboard you play, the muddier
the sound will be.
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Chapter 9 syNthesIs BasICs | 41
• If you release a key before the envelope has reach its sustain, it will
Envelopes
ADSR-envelope
Envelopes are used to modulate pitch, amplitude, filter cutoff and other
parameters in a sound. This is used to give the sound a varying character from the moment the key is pressed to the moment it is released.
The classic synthesizer envelope has four parameters, Attack, Decay,
Sustain and Release, and is therefore often referred to as an “ADSRenvelope”.
immediately “jump” to the Release.
The effect of this can be studied in the illustration below:
Often envelope amounts can be made to vary with how hard you play
the keys. This is used to make a sound vary with your playing style, for
example to make the sound brighter (filter envelope) or louder (amplifier
envelope).
AD-envelope
A simpler form of envelope has Attack and Decay parameters only, and
is therefore called an AD-envelope. A version of this has attack and
release parameter, an A/R-envelope.
When you press a key, the envelope is triggered. This means it starts
from zero and rises to the maximum level.
The Attack setting defines how much time it will take for the level to
go from zero to max. If the Attack time is set to “0”, the envelope will
instantly reach full level. If the attack time is higher it will take longer.
If you for example have an envelope controlling volume, raising the
attack will give the sound a “softer” character. If you have the envelope
routed to the filter, it might give the sound a “wah” type of start.
After the envelope has reached full level, it starts to fall back again. The
Decay parameter defines how much time it takes for the level to fall
from the maximum to the Sustain level.
The level of the envelope does not necessarily have to fall all the way
back to zero level at the end of the Decay. Instead, the ADSR-envelope
has a Sustain setting used to determine the level the envelope should
rest at, after the Decay.
If you for example want to create a flute sound, you would have a
fairly high Sustain setting on your amplifier envelope, since a flute tone
basically stays at a steady level for as long as you blow it. On the other
hand, for a piano sound, you would want a Sustain level of “0”, since a
piano sound decays to silence if you hold the key long enough.
Please note that the Sustain parameter represents a level, but all other
envelope parameters represent times.
As described above, the envelope stays at the Sustain level until the
key is released. It then falls back to zero level. The time it should take
for this to happen is set with the Release parameter, which works just
as the Decay, but it is not applied until you lift your finger off the keys.
• If you set Sustain to full level, the Decay setting is of no importance
since the volume of the sound is never lowered until the key is
released:
• If you set Sustain to 0, the sound will become silent after the Decay
phase is finished. With short Attacks moderate Decay times, this
can be used to simulate the behavior of a plucked string instrument
(guitar, piano etc) where the sound always decays to silence after a
while:
In effect, the AD-envelope behaves like an ADSR-envelope with Sustain
set to 0 (see the picture at the top of this page). This type of envelope,
often with amount and inversion controls, is suitable when you want to
affect the start of the sound only.
On the Nord Lead 4, the Modulation Envelope is of AD/R-type. Typically, it can be made to modulate the FM amplitude or the pitch of
Oscillator 2, to create a different timbre during the attack part of the
sounds.
LFOs
An LFO is an oscillator, just like the ones that produce the sound in a
synthesizer, but with two main differences:
• The LFO produces very low frequencies, most often below the hearing range (up to 20Hz).
• The LFO is not used to produce sound, instead it is connected
to other modules to provide modulation of parameters. If you for
example route an LFO to pitch, you get a vibrato. And if you route it
to the amplifier of an instrument you get a tremolo.
The three basic parameters for an LFO are Waveform, Rate (frequency)
and Amount:
• The waveform determines the type of vibrato, for example “regular”
(triangle or sine), ramp (sawtooth) or random.
• The Rate determines the speed of the vibrato.
• The Amount controls the degree to which the LFO affects its destination.
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The Menus
6
Any settings that you change in the System, MIDI, Sound or Mutator menu will take immediate effect on a global basis, and will be stored until you
change them the next time. Enter the menus by pressing and holding Shift and the System, MIDI, Sound or Mutator button (Slot A - D), the A-D LED
above the buttons will start blinking. Select a function by turning the Dial and change the setting by pressing and holding Shift and turn the dial at the
same time. Exit the menus by pressing a second time on the Slot button.
M The MIDI Local On/Off setting will always revert to Local On every time the Nord Lead 4 is powered up.
6 - Ctrl Pedal Mode
System Menu
1 - Memory Protect – On, Off
This is set to “On” when the Nord Lead 4 leaves the factory, meaning
that you cannot store any changes to the programs. Set this to Off
when you wish to store your own programs. The System, MIDI, Sound
and Mutator menu settings are not protected by this setting.
Range: On (default), off
2 - Transpose
Transpose allows you transpose the pitch of the Nord Lead 4 up or
down in semitone steps.
M The MIDI output will not be transposed.
Range: -/+ 6 semitones (default = 0).
3 - Fine Tune
This allows you to fine tune the pitch of the Nord Lead 4.
Range: -/+ 50 cent (default = 0).
4 - Sustain Pedal Polarity
This allows you to change the polarity of a connected sustain pedal, in
case the functionality of your pedal is reversed (i.e. when the pedal is
up, sustain is on and vice versa). The Auto setting will try to determine
what polarity a connected pedal has.
Range: Auto (default), CL - Close, OP - Open.
5 - Ctrl Pedal Type
Different models of control pedals have different specifications (resistance, offset and linearity). To simplify setup and to optimize the response
of the pedal for the Nord Lead 4, the most common pedal makes are
preconfigured, and you simply select the type of pedal you connect.
Range: R5 (Roland EV-5, default) , R7 (Roland EV-7), Y7 (Yamaha
FC-7), K0 (Korg EXP-2 & XVP-10), Ft (Fatar & Studiologic VP/25)
A connected Control pedal can have different functionalities, which one
is selected here.
Range: c1 Volume (default), c2 As Mod Wheel.
7 - Ctrl Pedal Gain
This setting allows you to add some gain to the output of a connected
Ctrl pedal. This can be used if an attached pedal does not reach the
maximum level or setting..
Range: 1 ~ 10.
8 - Impulse Morph Protect
This is a separate protection feature that only affects the Impulse
Morphs. If this is On, you have to put the Impulse Morph in Lock mode
for any adjustments to stick, otherwise any new parameter settings will
be discarded as soon as you release the Impulse button. The protection also disables the Clear command.
Range: On (default), Off
A B C D - Slot Output Routing
These functions are used to set how the sound should be routed from
the Slots to the Outputs. These settings are global for the entire instrument, which means all Programs and Performances share the settings
that you select here.
The Nord Lead 4 have four outputs on the rear panel, labelled 1-4.
You can use these outputs as two output pairs (1-2 and 3-4), or as 4
separate outputs.
E Only outputs 1 & 2 are routed to the headphones.
Range: 12 (default), 34, 1, 2, 3, 4.
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Chapter 6 the MeNUs | 43
4 - Program Change Mode
MIDI Menu
G - Global Channel
This sets the transmitting and receiving MIDI channel for the Global
Channel. The Global Channel transmits all keyboard, pedal and panel
actions as MIDI signals. It can also be used as a receiving channel with
full control of the entire Nord Lead 4. Program Change and Bank Select
messages that are received on this channel will change the programs
and performances on the Nord Lead 4.
Range: 1 ~ 16, Off
Specifies how the Nord Lead 4 should handle MIDI Program Change
messages.
Range: Sr (send & receive - default), r (receive only), S (send only),
Off
5 - Pitch Bend Mode
Specifies how the Nord Lead 4 should handle the local Pitch Bend and
incoming pitch bend messages.
Range: Sr (send & receive - default), r (receive only), S (send only),
Off
A, b, c, d - Slot Channel
These are the MIDI channels that can be set to allow the individual Slot
to receive events. Please note that a Slot does not have to be active, to
receive events. If incoming MIDI matches a Slot Channel, that slot will
respond to the incoming MIDI.
Range: 1 ~ 16, Off
t - Soft Thru Channel
Incoming MIDI note on/off and MIDI Clock data that is received at either the 5-pin or the USB MIDI can be re-routed to the 5-pin MIDI OUT
connector. Select the MIDI channel that you wish to re-route.
Range: 1 ~ 16, Off
1 - MIDI Interface
Use this setting to choose if you want to use the MIDI interface on the
DIN connectors or the USB-MIDI functionality.
Range: P - 5-PIN DIN MIDI ports, U - USB-MIDI (default)
2 - Local Control
This allows you to set if the Nord Lead 4 keyboard and front panel controls should control internal Programs or only send note and controller
messages via MIDI. Local On is the normal “mode”. In Local Off mode,
the front panel and keyboard action are transmitted via MIDI only and
does not control the internal sound(s) directly.
Range: On (default), Off
6 - Send CC
You can perform a dump of all the active Program parameters as MIDI
Control Change messages. Press the Store button to perform the
dump.
7 - Dump One
This allows you to perform a MIDI SysEx dump of the currently selected
Program or Performance. Press the Store button to perform the dump.
8 - Dump Program Bank
This allows you to perform a MIDI SysEx dump of all the Programs or
Performances in one of the Nord Lead 4 banks. Select the bank , then
enter the menu and press the Store button to perform the dump.
In the MIDI chapter on page 45, there is a description on how the Nord
Lead 4 receives a Sys Ex dump.
M Local defaults back to mode On every time the Nord Lead 4 is
powered on.
3 - Control Change (CC) Mode
This setting specifies how the front panel’s knobs and buttons are handled in the MIDI communication with MIDI Control Change messages.
You can select if the panel controls and functions should either send or
receive, or both, or if Control Change messages should be ignored.
Range: Sr (send & receive - default), r (receive only), S (send only),
Off
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Sound Menu
1 - Mst Clk Kbd Sync
This setting determines if pressing a key on the keyboard should force
the master clock to be re-synchronized, or not. The Soft option is
a more gentle approach, depending on when during a quarter note
period the key is played.
Range: Off, Soft (default), On
2 - Delay Mode
This determines if the delay should change the pitch on sounding repeats in the fashion of an analog delay, if the Tempo is adjusted, or not.
When set to Normal, the pitch does not change.
Range: Normal, Analog (default)
3 - Vibrato Rate
This determines the rate of the Vibrato.
Range: 4.00 - 8.00 Hz (Default 4.80 Hz)
4 - Vibrato Amount
This determines the amount of Vibrato when any of the delayed vibrato
modes are used.
Range: 0 - 50 cent (Default value is 25 cent)
5 - Impulse Morph Merge
This feature can be used to merge Impulse Morphs 1, 2 and 3 to the
other Impulse Morphs. Make one Impulse setting on button 1, and
another on buttons 2 and 3, and while in this Menu setting press the
Perf Mod/Execute button. The merged Impulse Morph will then appear
on Impulse 4, 5, 6 and 7. If any of the Impulse Morphs 1, 2 and/or 3
share the same parameter, this parameter will not be included at all in
the merged results.
Action: Execute
Mutator Menu
The Mutator Menu provides you with two different methods to automatically generate new programs. The A1 to A5 variation options will
create more (A5) or less (A1) variations on the current program, and
every new execution will always begin from the parameters of the initial
source program.
The Mutation options will instead look at the result, when a new execution takes place.
Use RND if you want some really random results.
Hold Copy and turn the Dial to undo the last executions.
Range: A1-A5, b1-b5, RND
Pattern Types
The Patterns are organized in types:
Display Type
E. Elementary
S. Straight
G. Groove
b. Back beat
o. Odd Meter
F. Fills
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Chapter 11 MIdI | 45
MIDI
11
The following MIDI messages can be transmitted and received from
Nord Lead 4:
Note On/Off
• Note On and Note Off messages are transmitted and received.
Pitch Bend
• Pitch Bend messages are transmitted and received by Nord Lead 4.
Pan
MIDI Controll Change 10 will adjust the panning of the sound in the slot
that matches the MIDI channel of the data.
Controllers
In the MIDI Menu (see page 43), you can select if the Nord Lead 4 should
transmit and/or receive Control Change messages.
• If you have an Control/Expression pedal connected to the Control
Pedal Input, this is transmitted and received as Controller 11 (Expression) or Controller 7 (if set as Volume in the System Menu).
• If you have a sustain pedal connected to the Sustain Pedal Input, this
is transmitted and received as Controller 64 (Sustain Pedal).
• Almost all other controls (knobs and buttons) on the front panel are
also transmitted and received as Control Change messages. This
can be used to record your actions on the front panel into a MIDI
sequencer. For a full list of which parameters correspond to which
Controller number, look at the next page.
Keyboard Velocity
The Nord Lead 4 can transmit and receive Keyboard Velocity messages.
Program Change
In the MIDI Menu, you can select if the Nord Lead 4 should send and/
or receive Bank Select and Program Change messages on the Global
MIDI channel that affects its internal programs.
External Sync
The Master Clock on the Nord Lead 4 can be controlled by incoming
MIDI clock messages. This is an automatic behavior, as soon as the
unit receives MIDI clock on the MIDI input or the USB MIDI input, the
Master Clock will be synchronized to the incoming external clock.
Soft Thru
The MIDI Menu has an option to set a Soft Thru channel. This allows
for incoming note and MIDI clock messages on this channel, to be rerouted through the 5-pin MIDI interface. It does not matter if the MIDI
enters the unit on the 5-pin or the USB interface, but the re-routing is
exclusively done to the 5-pin MIDI Output.
Panic
If notes should hang using the Nord Lead 4 in a MIDI setup, all you
need to do is hold down the Shift button and press the Panic/Osc
Mod Select button. This will execute an internal All Notes Off, and reset
incoming CC messages.
USB MIDI
If you use a computer running Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7, you
need to install the Nord v3.x USB driver to achieve the MIDI via USB
functionality. This driver is available through Windows Update by just
connecting the computer to the Internet and attaching the Nord Lead
4.
The driver can also be installed from the CD that accompanied the unit
or downloaded from the www.nordkeyboards.com website.
Computers running Mac OSX have a native USB support for Nord
units. No driver installation is necessary.
Bank Select
The Program Banks in the Lead 4 can be remotely selected via MIDI,
by transmitting a Bank Select Message that looks like this: CC 0, value
0, CC 32 value 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4. The Bank Select should immediately be
followed by a Program Change message, value 0-99.
Local On/Off
Local Off can be used to “disconnect” the keyboard and the panel
on the Lead 4 from the sound engines. Turn Local Off if you experience “double-triggered” notes when you play; both from the keyboard
internally and via the MIDI “loop”. Local On/Off is set in the MIDI menu,
which is described on page 43.
Slot MIDI Control
Individual Slot MIDI channel makes it possible to combine performances on the Lead 4 keyboard and external control from other MIDI units.
Note that if a Slot is assigned to a MIDI channel, it will receive on that
channel and make sound, even if that Slot is not active on the Lead 4.
The Program that is assigned to such a Slot will be controllable in the
background.
Transmit Program
There are settings in the MIDI Menu that allow you to transmit the current program as Control Change data or as Sys Ex. This can be useful
if you want to store this data together with, for example, a sequence
on a computer to ensure that future playback is consistent with original
performance.
Receive single Program
You do not have to do anything on the Lead 4 in order to receive data,
just make sure that the MIDI channel on the Lead 4 matches the channel on the transmitting device. When the data has been received in the
Nord Lead 4, it will be placed in the edit buffer. If you want to keep it,
you need to store it in a location in the Nord Lead 4’s memory.
Receive a Program Bank
If you transfer a complete bank as Sys Ex messages to the Nord Lead
4, the current bank will be overwritten by the new data.
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46 | Nord Lead 4 User MaNUaL v1.x
MIDI Controller list
Here are the MIDI Controller numbers used for all the knobs and buttons on the Nord Lead 4 front panel.
The reception and transmission of Controllers can be turned on/off in
the MIDI Menu as described earlier in this chapter.
• Buttons that control “on/off” functions have a Controller value of “0”
corresponding to the “off” position and a value of “127” corresponding to the “on” position.
• Buttons that step through various possibilities start with a Controller
value of “0” for the “lowest” setting and then increment for each step
upwards. The “size” of the increments depends on how many possible settings there are to the function.
Nord Lead 4 parameter MIDI CC
Voice Mode Unison 16
Vib Select 56
Glide Rate 5
Mono Selector 15
Hold 58
Hold Enable 54
Chord Enable 112
Octave Shift 17
Impulse Morph Buttons 70
LFO 1 Rate 19
LFO 1 Waveform 20
LFO 1 Destination 21
LFO 1 Amount 22
LFO 1 Clk 2
LFO 1 Clk Divisions 3
LFO 1 KBS 83
LFO 1 Impsync 59
LFO1/Arp On/Off 91
Arp Tempo 9
Arp Mst Clk 86
Arp Clk Division 87
Arp Direction 89
Arp Run 90
Arp Range 88
Arp KBS 92
Arp Impsync 93
LFO 2 Rate 23
LFO 2 Waveform 85
LFO 2 Destination 24
LFO 2 Amount 25
LFO 2 Clk 18
LFO 2 Clk Divisions 14
LFO 2 KBS 12
LFO 2 Impsync 13
Mod Env Attack 26
Mod Env Decay 27
Mod Env Destination 28
Mod Env Amount 29
Mod Env Rel Mode 109
Mod Env Impsync 6
Osc 1 Waveform 30
Nord Lead 4 parameter MIDI CC
Osc 1 Wavetable Selection 49
Osc 2 Waveform 31
Osc 2 Semi Tones 78
Osc 2 Fine Tune 33
Osc 2 KBT 34
Osc Mod Amount 69
Osc Mod Select 105
Osx Mix 8
Amp Env Attack 73
Amp Env Decay 36
Amp Env Sustain 37
Amp Env Release 72
Amp Velocity 35
Filt Env Attack 38
Filt Env Decay 39
Filt Env Sustain 40
Filt Env Release 41
Filt Keyb Tracking 46
Filter Type 44
Filt Velocity 45
Filter Frequency 74
Filter Resonance 42
Filter Drive 47
Filter Envelope Amount 43
Output Level 71
FX Selection 53
FX On/Off 52
FX Amount 55
Delay Tempo 77
Delay Clk Division 57
Delay Feedback 79
Delay Stereo 117
Delay Amount 76
Delay Mst Clk 51
Delay / Reverb selection 50
Reverb Bright 94
Reverb Model 96
Reverb Amount 95
Delay/Reverb On Off 97
59
Slot Focus 119
Slot Enable 115
Pan 10
Volume Pedal (if set in System menu) 7
Ctrl Pedal (if set in System menu) 11
Mod Wheel 1
Sustain Pedal 64
Bank Select MSB 0
Bank Select LSB 32
Page 47
Chapter 11 MIdI | 47
MIDI Implementation Chart
Function Transmitted Recognized Remarks
Basic Channel
Default Channel
Mode Default
Message
Altered
Note
Number True Voice
Velocity Note ON
Note Off
After Key’s
Touch Channel
Pitch Bender O O
Control Change O O See MIDI CC on page 47
Program Change
True#
System Exclusive O O Mode
System Song Pos
Common Song Sel
Tune
System Clock
Realtime Commands
Aux Local on/off
Message All notes off
Active Sense
Reset
Number True Voice Mode Mode Mode Mode
1 - 16
1 - 16
Mode 1, 3
X
***************
0-127 0-127
O, v= 1 - 127
X
X
O
O, 0-127 O, 0-127 Bank Sel: CC 32
X
X
X
X
X
Mode Mode Mode
1 - 16
1 - 16
Mode 1, 3
X
O, v= 1 - 127
X
X
O
X
X
X
Indiv. channels for Slot A, B, C & D
Mode
Mode 1: Omni On, Poly - Mode 2: Omni O, Mono - Mode 3: Omni Off, Poly - Mode 4: Omni Off, Mono - O = Yes - X = No
Page 48
48 | Nord Lead 4 User MaNUaL v1.x
Appendix
12
Specifications
General
• 4 octave (49-keys) velocity sensitive keyboard
• 20 voices
• Wooden Pitch Stick, programmable pitch bend +/- 48 semitones
• Modulation Wheel
• Master Level Control
• 2 Morph Sources (Modulation Wheel / Control Pedal, Note Velocity)
• 3 Impulse Morph buttons, with up to 7 combinations per program
Synth Section
• 4 part multitimbral synth section:
• OSC1: Triangle, Saw, Square, Pulse, 114 wavetables.
• OSC2: Triangle, Square, Saw, Noise, Sine. Transpose and Fine Tune.
• Oscillator 1 Modulation: Frequency Modulation, Soft and Hard sync
with Amount Control.
• Filter: 7 different types of filters with Frequency, Resonance, Keyboard Tracking, Drive and ADSR bipolar (+/-) Envelope control.
• Amplifier Envelope: ADSR controls.
• Modulation Envelope: selectable AD or AR, attack decay/release and
bipolar (+/-) Amount controls.
• LFO 1 Waveforms: Square, inverted Saws, Saws & Triangle. Bipolar
(+/-) Amount control.
• LFO 1 Destinations: Filter, Osc Mod, Osc Mix, Osc 2 Pitch, Amplitude, Pulse width.
• LFO 2 Waveforms: Square, Inverted Saw, Saw, Random, Sample &
Hold, Triangle. Bipolar (+/-) Amount control.
• LFO 2 Destinations: Filter, Osc Mod, Osc 1 & Osc 2 Pitch, Pan, FX.
• Mono Mode: Mono or Legato with Glide-function.
• Output Level
Connections
• 4 Line Level Audio Outputs
• Stereo Headphone Output
• Sustain Pedal inout
• Control Pedal input
• USB-interface with MIDI capabilities
• MIDI in & out
Dimensions and weight
• 870 x 274 x 98mm, 34.3 x 10.8 x 3.9 inches
• 6 kg, 13.3 lbs.
Program Section
• 400 program locations
• 99 Performances
• Four slots A, B, C & D
• Octave Shift
Effect Section
• Crush (bit reduction), Compressor, Drive, Talk 1, Talk 2, Comb filter.
• Delay, synchronizable to master clock function. Maxdelay time, 1400
ms
• Reverb with 3 algorithms and brightness control
Page 49
Chapter 12 appeNdIx | 49
__ __
CTRL
PEDAL
SUSTAIN
PEDAL
OUT 4 OUT 3 OUT 2 OUT 1
Audio Connections
Headphones
This is where you connect a 1/4” stereo connector from a pair of
headphones.
E Playing at a high volume level can result in hearing impairments
such as permanent hearing loss.
M Only Slots that are routed to outputs 1 & 2 are present at the
headphone output.
1, 2, 3 & 4 Outputs
The line level outputs from the Nord Lead 4 are unbalanced. Use 1/4”
connectors to connect the Nord Lead 4 to an amplifier or recording
equipment.
General guide on audio connections
• Make all the connections before you turn on the power to your amplifier.
• Turn on the power to your amplifier last.
• Turn off the power to your amplifier first.
The routing of the audio signals to the outputs are made in the System
Menu.
USB Connection
The USB connection is used for the Nord Lead 4 to communicate with
a personal computer. The computer can for example run the Nord
Sound Manager application or be used if the operating system in the
synthesizer needs to be updated.
USB MIDI
The USB connection on the Nord Lead 4 can also be used to transmit
and receive MIDI message.
E Computers running Microsoft Windows operating systems need a
driver for the USB connection to function. The driver can be found
on the enclosed Nord Lead 4 CD, or at the Nord web site.
Pedal Connections
The Nord Lead 4 has two pedal inputs; one for a sustain pedal and one
for a control pedal (an expression type pedal, which can be used to
control various functions).
Sustain pedal
1/4” connector for a switch type pedal. When a connected pedal is
operated, the notes you play will be sustained.
MIDI Connections
MIDI OUT
MIDI connection used for sending MIDI data from the Nord Lead 4 to
other equipment such as sound modules or computers.
MIDI IN
MIDI connection used to receive MIDI data to the Nord Lead 4 from
other equipment such as keyboards, sound modules and computers.
Two types of pedal polarities can be used, you select the one that applies to your sustain pedal, in the System menu which is described on
page 42.
Control pedal
1/4” stereo connector for pedals of potentiometer type (also know as
expression pedals). This can be used as a source for the Morph function or to control the overall volume. Please refer to page 13 for more
information on Morphing.
When connecting an expression pedal to the Control Pedal input, you
should use a stereo cable (Tip-Ring-Sleeve). Please note that the pedal
must have a stereo output jack.
To simplify setup, the most common pedal models (Roland, Yamaha,
Korg and Fatar) are pre-configured in the Nord Lead 4, and you simply
select the type of pedal which you want to use in the System menu.
The System Menu is described on page 42.
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50 | Nord Lead 4 User MaNUaL v1.x
Index
13
A
AR button 23
Arpeggio 22
Arpeggio directions 22
Arpeggio range 22
Attack knob, Amp Env 27
Attack knob, Filter 28
Audio Connections 49
B
Backup 35, 36
Band Pass 29
Bend Range 21
C
Cancel 37
Chord
Memory 19
Chord Memory 19
Comb 30
Comb filter 30
Compressor 30
Control Pedal 14
Control Pedal Mode 43
Control Pedal Type 43
Copy 20
Crush 30
, 49
D
Decay knob, Amp Env 27
Decay knob, Filter 28
Delay 31
Feedback button 31
On/Off button 31
Delete 35
Dial 18
Display 18
Dly Vib 21
Dry/Wet knob
, 36
Reverb 31
E
Envelope Amount, Filter 29
Envelope, Filter 27
Execute 19
Exit 36
Expression pedal 49
F
Filter 28
Drive 29
Frequency 28
Resonance 28
Filter Velocity 29
Fine Tune 24
FM 25
Focus 10
Format 36
Freq knob 28
FX
Drive 30
, 43
G
Glide 21
Global Channel 44
Global Octave Shift 20
H
Headphones 49
High Pass 29
Hold 19
Hold Enable 19
I
Imp Sync 23
Impulse Morph 20
Impulse Morph Protect 43
Invert Selection 36
K
Kbd Sync 45
Kbs 22
Kbt Off 24
KB Track 29
Keyboard Note 18
Keyboard Tracking 29
Key Click Level 45
L
Ladder M 29
Ladder TB 29
Layer 10
LED-dials 8
LED Display 18
Legato 21
Level knob 30
LFO 21
Amount knob 22
Destination Selector 22
Rate knob 21
Waveform Selector 21
Loc 37
Local 44
Low Pass 29
M
Master Level 8, 18
Memory Protect 43
MIDI 44
Connections 49
Controller 47
LED 18
MIDI Channel 44
MIDI Interface 44
Mod Env
Amount knob 23
Attack knob 23
DEC/REL knob 23
Mod Wheel 21
Mono 21
Morph 18
Destination 15
Mode 15
Range 15
Morph destinations 18
Morphing 14
Morph Merge 45
Morph Mode 15
Morph Sources 14
Mst Clk 20
Mutator Menu 45
, 20
O
Octave Shift 19
Oscillator 24
Mix 26
Waveform 24
Osc Mod 24
Amount knob 25
Type 26
Output 30
Connections 49
Output Routing 43
P
Panic 26
Partition Memory 37
Paste 20
Pat 21
Pattern 20
Pedal Connections 49
Perf Mode 19
Performance 11
Pitch Bend Mode 44
Poly arpeggio 22
Program Change 44
Programs 9
Pulse 24
R
Release knob, Amp Env 27
Release knob, Filter 28
Rename 35
Res knob 28
Restore 35
Reverb 31
, 36
, 36
S
Sawtooth 24
Select All 36
Selector buttons 8
Semi tones 24
Shift 20
Shift Button 8
Slot Channel 44
Slot Output 43
, 19
Slots 10
Soft Thru 44
Sound Down 35
Sound Init 24
Sound Up 35
Sound Upload 36
Specifications 49
, 20
Split 11
Store Button 19
Sustain knob, Amp Env 27
Sustain knob, Filter 28
Sustain pedal 49
Sustain Pedal 43
Sync 25
System Menu 43
T
Talk 30
Tempo 20
Knob 31
Transfer 33
Transpose 43
Triangle 24
Type button, Filter 29
U
Undo 17
Unison 21
Upload 34
USB Connection 49
V
Vibrato Amount 45
Vibrato Rate 45
Voice Mode 21
W
Wavetable 24
Wheel 14
Page 51
FCC Information (U.S.A.)
1. IMPORTANT NOTICE: DO NOT MODIFY THIS UNIT!
This product, when installed as indicated in the instructions contained in this manual, meets FCC requirements. Modications
not expressly approved by Clavia may void your authority, granted by the FCC, to use the product.
2. IMPORTANT: When connecting this product to accessories and/ or another product use only high quality shielded cables.
Cable/s supplied with this product MUST be used. Follow all installation instructions. Failure to follow instructions could void
your FCC authorization to use this product in the USA.
3. Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of
the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with
the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will
not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment is found to be the source of interference to radio or television reception,
which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or
more of the following measures:
– Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
– Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
– Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.
– Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions:
(1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and
(2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.
Unauthorized changes or modication to this system can void the users authority to operate this equipment.
This equipment requires shielded interface cables in order to meet FCC class B Limit.
For Canada
NOTICE
This Class B - digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.
AVIS
Cet appareil numérique de la classe B - est conforme à la norme NMB-003 du Canada.
DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY
Compliance Information Statement
Model Name: Nord Lead 4, Nord Lead 4R
Type of Equipment: Digital Symthesizer
Responsible Party: Clavia DMI AB
Address: P.O. BOX 4214. SE-102 65 Stockholm Sweden
Telephone: +46-8-442 73 60
Page 52
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