There is a huge difference between the Nord Lead 2 and the Nord Lead 3. The Nord Lead 2 has a very raw sound, almost dirty. Think big electro house type sounds that kick you in the gut (not that it isn't useful for any genre). The Nord Lead 3 on the other hand has a much smoother sound, almost polished, with less of the "grit" of the Nord Lead 2. They are almost two entirely different instruments, despite being from the same line. You'll find many a studio that uses both because they sound so different.

quote:

Originally posted by Eric J There is a huge difference between the Nord Lead 2 and the Nord Lead 3. The Nord Lead 2 has a very raw sound, almost dirty. Think big electro house type sounds that kick you in the gut (not that it isn't useful for any genre). The Nord Lead 3 on the other hand has a much smoother sound, almost polished, with less of the "grit" of the Nord Lead 2. They are almost two entirely different instruments, despite being from the same line. You'll find many a studio that uses both because they sound so different.

Is there such a thing as a Nord Lead 3 Rack?

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Originally posted by henryv Is there such a thing as a Nord Lead 3 Rack?

Yes, both the Nord Lead 2 and Nord Lead 3 come in rack or keyboard versions. They are out of production, so you'll need to buy used if you want one. The Nord Lead 3 in particular uses the endless rotary knobs with the LED position indicators. By far the most intelligent interface on any synth I have ever seen or used. Its too bad they did not continue that on the Nord Wave series.

I've owned every one of the Nord Leads (1, 2, 2X, and 3) and, although I never thought I'd give up my 2X for a NL3, I did about a year ago and am very happy with my decision. Yes, there is a general difference in their characteristic sound, but I don't think it's dramatic as people make it out to be, especially when you consider some of the features in the NL3, such as its much more extensive FM capabilities, which will allow it to get much more gritty sounding than the NL2(X). The NL3 just has so many more features that make programming so much easier - the LED knobs, an actual screen with the ability to name your patches (the previous lead models only give you a 2-digit display), a very intuitive modulation assignment scheme, a pretty deep arp with a mask function and sub-arps, unison that doesn't eat up your polyphony, etc. It's a far deeper and more functional synth than the NL2(X) is. The only reason to go with a NL2(X) over a NL3 IMO is if you really believe that the sound is that different and prefer the NL2, or if the NL3 is over your budget. Again, just my opinion, but I have bought and sold a lot of synths in my time and the NL3 is the one synth that I don't ever see myself getting rid of.

BTW, if you decide on a NL2, I highly recommend going for the 2X so you have better DACs and much more internal memory storage, without having to deal with the PCMCIA cards (which are pretty expensive and becoming increasingly difficult to find).

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One major point that forgot to mention is the difference in available filter types - the NL3 has a far better filter selection, including all the filter types of the NL2(X), PLUS a 6dB option (the NL2X only has 24 & 12dB), band-reject, classic, distorted, and 6 different multi-mode filter types. Like I said, the NL3 is MUCH deeper synth.

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Im looking at one from ebay .

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nord-Rack-3-Per...=item25571259e9


it seems to good to be true?

im new to ebay so some help would be greatly appreciate.

pedantic mode:

'lead' indicates it's the keyboard version
'rack' indicates it's the desktop/rack version

So you have nord lead 2 / nord rack 2
nord lead 3 / nord rack 3

And, as said above, they differ enough to stand on their own.

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ive said it thousands of times now. Nord Rack 2 sounds alot better than Nord Rack 3 but the Nord Rack 3 has some more features which some like (FM, endless rotarys, more poly etc). Id actualy look for the 2X which has better dacs, better presets and more poly than the original 2. And 2X is their main VA-synth atm, all the others are ended products. Check out their website. If im ever getting a synth again this one will be it. BTW the Nord Lead/Rack 3 sounds like software to me - its weaker than 2X.

If you decide to get a Nord Lead 2/2x, you might want to check out this to get you started

here

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Originally posted by palm ive said it thousands of times now. Nord Rack 2 sounds alot better than Nord Rack 3

It doesn't matter how many times you say it, it's still just an opinion.

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Originally posted by palm BTW the Nord Lead/Rack 3 sounds like software to me

Which software? Not all software sounds exactly alike, just like not all analog synths sound exactly alike, although people still like to talk about that "analog" sound. Despite all the debate over this, you don't have to look very hard to find blind tests where people attempt to determine if they're hearing hardware/software, analog/digital, NL2/NL3, etc. (and the vast majority fail miserably).

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Originally posted by palm - its weaker than 2X.

You've probably never heard the NL3's unison mode then - the NL2 doesn't come close to matching that and is pretty weak in comparison.

My point here is that one needs to separate opinions from facts. Also, for all the talk about the vast differences in sound between the NL3 and earlier Lead(/Rack) models, most people can't actually hear or recognize the difference unless they're playing raw oscillators side by side. Once you start turning them into sounds using the very wide boundaries of sonic possibilities, it can quickly become almost impossible to distinguish which model you're hearing.

quote:

Originally posted by henryv Im looking at one from ebay . http://cgi.ebay.com/Nord-Rack-3-Per...=item25571259e9 it seems to good to be true? im new to ebay so some help would be greatly appreciate.

The auction ends on a Sunday afternoon, which is regarded as one of the best times to start/end your auction due to the high level of eBay traffic. Most likely, many people are watching it and the serious/experienced eBayers will be sitting there refreshing their browsers in the finals minutes/seconds and swoop in and try to snipe it in the closing seconds. Figure out what your budget for it is and try to do the same thing - in other words, be prepared to get in a last-second bidding war. Based on my experience, I doubt it will sell for less than $700 and depending on how many have been on the market recently (the NR3 can be hard to find sometimes and is pretty high demand), could sell for much more. Good luck!

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Ive had Nord Rack 3 so i know very well how the unison sounds, and i must say i got pretty damn tired of it, also this is the only way to get the synth to sound stereo which means that if u dont like the unison (which i didnt) you will have to add software chorus or something in order to make the sound wide, so its a pretty limited synth anyway. well its just my opinion as u say but i dont think many disagree with me when im saing that the oscs in 2x sounds better than the 3, and since both is such a limited synths functionswise anyway id focus on the quality of whats actualy there, and imo the unison isnt one of them.