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User Manual Nord Lead 4 Nord Lead 4R

1. Frequency Let s now pass this spectrum through a lowpass filter this type of filter is discussed in more detail below Amplitude Frequency 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 Amplitude Frequency 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 frequen cies 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 40 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X Bandpass filter This allows frequencies in a certain range of
2. 49 VSB MID 10200 oa cerrada ieee eke tae ed aig 49 Pedal Connections 49 Sustain pedal 0 cee eee eee 49 Control pedal 0 eee 49 13 Index Introduction 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 syn thesizers 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 impor tance of building our instruments as light as possible some times it is a long walk to that gig 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
3. a OCTAVE SHIFT en Ez SET CHORD D SPLIT o IMPULSE MORPH 1 7 12 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X 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 Pat terns are only available when LFO Arpeggio is synced to Mst Clk 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 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 but tons 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 Lea
4. 12 Use only with the cart stand tripod bracket or table specified 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 qualified 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 nor mally or has been dropped Additional Safety Information No naked flame 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 fire 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 filled 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 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 Specifications and appearances are subject to change without notice Copyright Clavia DMI AB Il convient de ne pas placer
5. AVIS Cet appareil num rique de la classe B est conforme a 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
6. 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 con figuration Any combination of the four available slots as being active is possible O O O 65 SYSTEM MIDI SOUND MUTATOR 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 Hold Hold Enable If Hold and Hold Enable are simul taneously active in a program or performance the not
7. 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 Press the Slot A button its LED should be the only one lit Play on the keyboard and turn the Dial The various Programs that you call up should make different sounds as they are recalled Press the Slot B button so that its LED light up instead of Slot A s Turn the Dial and choose a different Program for Slot B 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 PERT MODE for editing with the controls on the panel or selecting STORE another Program Xe D sometimes called panel active QUE QUE SYSTEM MIDI SOUND MUTATOR Press the other Slot button to move the focus NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X Creating a Split 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 SYSTEM MIDI SOUND MUTATOR Hold Shift and press the Split button This sp
8. TAP SETY MORPH LOCK ea E PATTERN PASTE SHIFT 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 VOICE MODE MASTER LEVEL UNISON 3 4 MIDI Siea DLYVIB1 MORPH VELOCITY WHEEL PROGRAM D B DA eje SYSTEM MIDI CHORD MEMORY a SET CHORD ENABLE IMPULSE MORPH 1 1 2 yy A a CLEAR SOUND 0 GLIDE MONO LEGATO BEND RANGE PERF MODE EXECUTE 0 Ni MUTATOR T eS MST CLK gt p z coPY OCTAVE SHIFT TAP SETY MORPH LOCK QUE GLOBAL OCT SHIFT e gt SPLIT MER yy A Program amp Performance area 2 Panel Overview OUT 3 OUT 4 E SOUND INIT KBT OFF osc1 MOD 456 10 AMOUNT The Program and Performance area starts at the Master Level in the top left panel corner and then sweeps down right towards the key board The parameters and functions in this area are used to select pro grams 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 s
9. 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 O since a plano 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 e f 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 e If you set Sustain to O 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 CHAPTER 9 SYNTHESIS BASICS 41 e f you release a key before the envelope has reach its sustain it will immediately jump to the Release The effect of this can be studied in the illustration below Level Often envelope amounts can be made to vary with how hard you play the keys This is used to make a sound vary with you
10. nord leod 4 performance synthesizer User Manual Nord Lead 4 Nord Lead 4R OS Version 1 x Part No 50407 Copyright Clavia DMI AB Print Edition 1 0 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 RISOUES 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 The lightning flash with the arrowhead symbol within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the presence of uninsulated voltage within the products en closure that may be of sufficient magnitude to constitute a risk of electric shock to persons Le symbole clair avec le point de fl che a l int rieur d un triangle quilat ral est utilis pour alerter l utilisateur de la presence a l int rieur du coffret de voltage dangereux non isol d ampleur suffisante pour constituer un risque d l ctrocution 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 L
11. parameters something that the other two Morph sources are not IMPULSE MORPH 1 7 1 D 2 23 CY y y dl 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 tis 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 LFO1 Dest LFO1 Rate LFO2 Wave LFO2 Dest Mod Env Attack Mod Env Decay Osc1 Wavet Sel Osc Mod Select Osc1 Waveform Osc2 Semitones Amp Env Attack Filt Env Attack Filter Select Amp Env Decay Filt Env Decay Filter KB Track Filter Res Filt Env Amount Chord Enable Arpeggio Run Arp Tempo Arp Clk Division Delay Dry Wet Dly Feedback Delay Tempo FX Type Glide LFO1 Amount LFO2 Amount Mod Env Amount Osc2 Waveform Osc Mod Amount Amp Env Sustain Filt Env Sustain Filter Drive Output Level Arp Range Pattern Select
12. r receive only S send only 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 44 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL OS V1 X 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 re peats 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
13. then you can build any waveform you like The lowest harmonic is called the fundamental The fundamental deter mines the basic pitch of the sound If the fundamental has a frequency of 440HZz 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 har monic 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 har monics with high numbers have a high amplitude the sound will be perceived as bright Let s take a look at Some common waveforms and their spectra In the illustrations below only some of the first harmonics are dis played In reality waveforms like these have an infinite amount of harmonics S
14. 2 pal QUE QQ Pea MST CLK KBS 10 10 AMOUNT IMPSYNC 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 a CHORD MEMORY a rd OCTAVE SHIFT en ez SET CHORD SPLIT ic He 7 8 HOLD O EBLE OCT SHIFT 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 PERF MODE EXECUTE 93 BP PROGRAM LFO1 ARP C O O O 5 6 Feel free to adjust the filter and envelope settings to a short nice sound lII wait here Oh you re already done Great let s move on CHAPTER 3 GETTING STARTED 11 You can change the range of the arpeggio with the LFO 1 Amount 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 selec tion Press repeatedly to listen to the various directions Synced Delay repeats Keep the arpeggio running and we ll add more things Turn both Delay knobs fully counterclockwise press Feedback once to light up the 1 LED activate the
15. 4 connector for a switch type pedal When a connected pedal is operated the notes you play will be sustained Two types of pedal polarities can be used you select the one that ap plies 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 func tion 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 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X 13 Index A G AR button 23 Glide 21 Arpeggio 22 Global Channel 44 Arpeggio directions 22 Global Octave Shift 20 Arpeggio range 22 Attack knob Amp Env 27 Attack knob Filter 28 H Audio Connections 49 Headphones 49 High Pass 29 Hold 19 B Hold Enable 19 Backup 35 36 Band Pass 29 Bend Range 21 Imp Sync 23 Impulse Morph 20 C Impulse Morph Protect 43 Cancel 37 Invert Selection 36 Chord Memory 19 Chord Memory 19 K Comb 30 Kod Sync 45 Comb filter 30 Kbs 22 Compressor 30 K
16. Delay and then Hold Shift and press Delay On a second time to synchronize the delay repeats to the Mst Clk 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 dot ted eight notes the first repeat will move the following repeats by half an 1 8 Lets add a synchronized LFO sweep Hold Shift and press the LFO 2 Waveform selector once to light up the Mst Clk LED 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 any thing 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 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 PERF MODE EXECUTE C STORE PROGRAM 13 LL O O O 15 SYSTEM MIDI SOUND MUTATOR ATTACK MST CLK TAP SET Y PATTERN CHORD MEMORY
17. Delete the hard drive to be downloaded to the location in the Nord Lead 4 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 e nl4p These are the Performance files e nl4s These are the Program files e 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 loca tion if an evil computer crash suddenly decides to take your hard drive for a ride a E JarreBass ni4s ES 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 Perfor mances 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
18. 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 Filt Env Attack Filter Select Amp Env Decay Amp Env Sustain Amp Env Release Filt Env Decay Filt Env Sustain Filt Env Release Filter KB Track Filter Drive Filter Freq Filter Res Filt Env Amount Voice Mode Unis Chord Enable Output Level 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 Shift The Shift button is used together with other buttons to access sec ondary 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 amp 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 20 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X 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 Mor
19. Off A BCD 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 instru ment 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 A Only outputs 1 amp 2 are routed to the headphones Range 12 default 34 1 2 3 4 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 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 ei ther the 5 pin or the USB MIDI can be re routed to the 5 pin MIDI OUT connector Select the MIDI channel that you
20. 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 e f you have an Control Expression pedal connected to the Control Pedal Input this is transmitted and received as Controller 11 Expres sion or Controller 7 if set as Volume in the System Menu e f you have a sustain pedal connected to the Sustain Pedal Input this is transmitted and received as Controller 64 Sustain Pedal e 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 mes sages 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 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 O CC 32 value O 1 2 3 or 4 The Bank Select should immediately be followed by a Program Change message valu
21. be saved Restore Ctrl R To restore a previously saved backup file to the Lead 4 select this op tion and browse to a backup file on the hard drive file extension nl4b and click Open A 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 CHAPTER 7 NORD SOUND MANAGER 35 Export Soundlists 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 Edit Edit view Help Rename Ctrl N Rename tri l l Delete Del This allows you to renam
22. file Menus In the Nord Sound Manager the usual Windows and Mac OSX key board commands can be used The menus can be accessed by press ing 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 mmand name in the menus CO and name e menus A Sound Lol Eu i Sound Download Cobb File Sound Upload Ctrl U eae cee i i Eria DHR Use this function to upload one or several sounds from the Nord Lead 4 0 memory to a folder on the computer AAA hard drive E rats Sound Download Ctrl D Use this function to download one or several sounds from the com puter 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
23. for indicating when a parameter is connected to a Morph source Please refer to page 13 for more information on morphing The Dial PROGRAM 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 Master Level knob The Master Level knob controls the overall ampli MASTER LEVEL tude for the audio outputs the line level outputs and headphone output The Master Level knob s actual position indicates the output level Y CHAPTER 2 PANEL OVERVIEW 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 7 8 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X 3 Getting Started About Programs Complete sound settings are stored in the Pr
24. in a sound This is used to give the sound a varying char acter 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 ADSR envelope Level Sustain level Time 1 E l gt Attack Decay Release time time time aninag a a ss gt e ts sy Uo 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 O 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
25. 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 Storing a single Program from a Performance Make sure that the Program you wish to store is in the Slot that is active its Slot LED is blinking Hold Shift and press Store once Release the Shift button and Press Perf Mode once to switch to Program Mode Turn the Dial to select a location for the Program 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 Make sure that your source Slot is in focus by pressing its button The Slot LED should be blinking Hold the Copy button and press on the source Slot button CPY will be displayed in the LED display You can now turn the dial to select a different Performance or even switch to Program Mode Hold Shift and the Paste button and then press the Slot but ton where you want your settings to be cop
26. oscillators and set the wave forms so that you can tell oscillator 1 and 2 apart 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 Select A1 and press Perf Mode Execute once PROGRAM D 11 EXECUTE LD STORE D Sa MIDI a MUTATOR e e SYSTEM 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 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 Listen to the sound and see if you can find out what parameters have changed 16 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X 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 Hold Copy and turn the dial one step at a time counter clockwise PERF MODE PROGRAM EXECUTE 9 gt STORE aC O O O 5 E ATTACK SYSTEM MIDI SOUND MUTATOR D OOO MST CLK a A OCTAVE SHIFT TAP SETY MORPYLOCK GLOBAL PATTERN PASTE SPLIT OC
27. sur l appareil de sources de flammes nues telles que des bougies allum es L appareil n est pas destin tre utilis sous un climat tropical L appareil ne doit pas tre expos des gouttements d eau ou des claboussures et de plus qu aucun objet rempli de liquide tel que des vases ne doit tre plac sur l appareil Lorsque la prise du r sau d alimentation est utilis e comme dispositif de d connexion ce dispositif doit demeur ais ment accessible Intertek Nord Lead 4 User Manual 1 Introduction 5 Nord Lead 4 Reference Master llevalo ias iia a ia aa 17 Thank you A 3 MID DST Bes setae a tn iia ac 17 Features 9 0 00 ee 5 Morph aaan 17 Synthesizer eee eee 5 E eat ae ae ee a ee 17 MOTPh vee rr 5 LED DISD neee e O 17 IOUS e pi is e a a E a dt 5 Perf Mode Execute 2 2 acs reaa ee ee ee be 18 EMOS tse Ge aia aran Mane ee ees ee nae eee as 5 EXECUTE jo eS dont Pb di end eee Pes aces 18 PROMSE hed ets 5 POMC e oa Se cee eae Ree Bae gh eee 18 PerforManceS ic ia aa waged aa ia a ha a ee eo 5 StA ADi ua os are ea Aleit eae 18 Nord Sound Manager 0 000 cece a 5 TRE Menus zron oe hee Ae ieee an ees de ote dios 18 Controls amp CONNECTIONS sepa seii rescris ee 5 Hold Hold Enable ccc c ce eee cee eeueeeaes 18 Chord Memory oocococo eee 18 Octave Shift 2 ee eens 18 CIGD al OG SHift e secs ate k wide wn ae ek a a we 19 A O a ope aed 19 2 Panel Overview ed An 19 A A ee EE eee E i 19 Th
28. 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 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 e Operate any Morph Destination to set up or adjust a morph e 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 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 Parameter name LFO 2 Rate Clk Div LFO 2 Amount Mod ENV Attack Mod ENV Dec Rel Mod ENV Amount OSC 2 Fine Tune OSC 2 Semitones Amp Env Decay Amp Env Sustain Amp Env Release Filter Env Attack Filter Env Decay Filter Env Sustain Filter Env Release Filter Env Amt Output Level FX Amount Del Tempo Clk Div Delay Amount Rev Bright Reverb Mix Impulse Morph buttons Impulse Morphs are for fast instantaneous pa rameter changes The Impulses can be used to change switch type
29. the Nord Lead 4 to an amplifier or recording equipment General guide on audio connections e Make all the connections before you turn on the power to your amplifier e Turn on the power to your amplifier last e Turn off the power to your amplifier first The routing of the audio signals to the outputs are made in the System Menu 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 CHAPTER 12 APPENDIX 49 OUT4 OUT3 OUT2 OUT1 HEADPHONES 00000 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 A 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
30. the Toolbar and menus that will be grayed out and non functional The Info Replace Relink and Bundle features in the toolbar are not active with the Nord Lead 4 The Tabs Program Performance Select the memory area partition that you wish to work in with the Tabs The Performance tab is the Performance partition and the Pro gram tab allows you to organize the programs The individual Perfor mances 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 32 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL OS V1 X 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 com puter hard drive to a folder of your choice Download Select In Instrument This is only available if you right click on Upload an empty location that does not contain a ownlaad sound This allows you to choose a file on
31. the other creating very complex and constantly changing harmonic structures Oscillator Waveform selector Press repeatedly on the Waveform Selector button to select the wave form the oscillator will generate Triangle The Triangle waveform is quite soft in its character with only odd num bered 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 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 CHAPTER 5 NORD LEAD 4 REFERENCE 23 Osc 2 Noise Oscillator 2 can q gt 5 be se
32. 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 oc tave 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 1208 filter let s more of the high frequency pass through which gives the sound a brighter and buzzier character than the 24dB filter does Amplitude Filter Frequency x 12 dB octave Frequency 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 Amplitude Filter Frequency
33. when an Impulse Morph button is pressed Hold Shift and press the LFO Desti nation repeatedly to turn this feature on or off LFO 2 KR r aN OSCI lt gt 71 mm OSCMOD PL VW FILTER QuE KBS IMPSYNC AMOUNT 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 Arpeggio Divisions Division Description 1 2 1 4 1 8 1 16 The straight divisions range from 1 2 notes to 1 32 1 32 notes 1 2t 1 4t 1 8t The t indicates the triplet divisions 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 in stead 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 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 c
34. Amount 29 Mod Env Rel Mode 109 Mod Env Impsync 6 Osc 1 Waveform 30 Nord Lead 4 parameter Osc 1 Wavetable Selection Osc 2 Waveform Osc 2 Semi Tones Osc 2 Fine Tune Osc 2 KBT Osc Mod Amount Osc Mod Select Osx Mix Amp Env Attack Amp Env Decay Amp Env Sustain Amp Env Release Amp Velocity Filt Env Attack Filt Env Decay Filt Env Sustain Filt Env Release Filt Keyb Tracking Filter Type Filt Velocity Filter Frequency Filter Resonance Filter Drive Filter Envelope Amount Output Level FX Selection FX On Off FX Amount Delay Tempo Delay Clk Division Delay Feedback Delay Stereo Delay Amount Delay Mst Clk Delay Reverb selection Reverb Bright Reverb Model Reverb Amount Delay Reverb On Off Slot Focus Slot Enable Pan Volume Pedal if set in System menu Ctrl Pedal if set in System menu Mod Wheel Sustain Pedal Bank Select MSB Bank Select LSB MIDI CC 49 31 78 33 34 69 105 73 36 37 72 35 38 39 40 41 46 44 45 74 42 47 43 71 53 52 55 77 57 79 117 76 51 50 94 96 95 97 119 115 10 11 64 32 MIDI Implementation Chart Function Basic Channel Default Channel Mode Note Number Velocity After Touch Pitch Bender Control Change Program Change True System Exclusive System Common System Realtime Aux Message Number Default Message Altered True Voice Note ON Note Off Key s Channel Song Po
35. Frequency 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 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 To remedy this problem many synthesizers have a parameter called Filter Keyboard Tracking When this is activated the filter Cutoff Fre quency varies with which key you play just as the oscillator frequency does This ensures a constant harmonic spectrum for all keys Amplitude Frequency AUA U A N 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 con trolled with a Resonance function on the front panel of the instrument Am
36. MODE iA isteach EXECUTE wo 1 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 Pro tect 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 Hold Shift and press the System button You may have to use the Dial to select the 1 Memory Protect setting 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 Hold Shift and press the Perf Mode Store button The Display starts flashing and the original Program location is shown 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 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 e To cancel the procedure press any buttons on the panel bef
37. Nord Lead 4 OS has to be 2 0 or later 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 oF ANT i UE LR SSB eee mara l r A El Ls E ee l ojh mij M et 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 lf no Nord Lead 4 is connected to the computer pages icons and memory locations will be grayed out A 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 El a iim Piece bramy Dakha E A m Af 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 A The Sound Manager is compatible with many different types of Nord units with different functionalities This means that there are features in
38. REFERENCE 25 Level Time lt lt Attack time Key Down 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 Level Time lt gt lt gt Attack Decay time time Key Down 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 Level Sustain level Time lt gt lt gt Attack Decay time time Key Down 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 e The Sustain parameter is used to set a level while Attack Decay and Release parameters are all used to set times Level Sustain level Time lt gt lt gt gt Attack Decay Release time time time Key Down Key Up The release phase is the time it will take for the sound to decay from the envelopes c
39. Reverb Type FX Amount LFO1 Wave LFO1 Clk Division LFO2 Clk Division Mod Env Dest Osc2 Fine tune Osc Mix Amount Amp Env Release Filt Env Release Filter Freq Voice Mode Unis Arp Direction Delay Clk Div Reverb Bright 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 per formance while not ruining a previously set up Impulse Morph The protection disables the Morph Clear command as well Hold Shift and press the Slot A button to enter the System menu Use the Dial to go the setting 8 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 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 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 Hold Shift and pres
40. T SHIFT CHORD MEMORY FN SET CHORD 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 Lets try the Mutation process Initialize the program and make some adjustments to the oscillator mix and waveforms so that you can tell them apart Hold Shift and press the Slot D button to enter the Mutator process 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 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 Varia tion will do another variation of the original Source program If a Mutation is going in the right direction you can continue with another Mutation Select RND with the Dial and press Execute PERF MODE EXECUTE A QUE STORE PROGRAM a O p Ia SYSTEM MIDI MUTATOR Y D 4 CHORD MEMORY OCTAVE SHIFT This will be a true randomization Almost any parameter in the Lead 4 will be randomized and you may have to adj
41. 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 e 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 al lows the routing of Oscillator 2 s pitch to modulate Oscillator 1 s pitch Linear Frequency Modulation e 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 e The LFOs have a wide array of modulation destinations and several waveforms The cycle of an LFO can be restarted by keyboard trig gers and or by pressing an Impulse button e The Modulation Envelope also has a wide array of modulation desti nations and can function either as an attack decay or as an attack release envelope lt too can be triggered by either the keyboard or an Impulse button e The filter section has envelope and velocity controls and the filter fre quency 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 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION emulations of classic vintage analog filters the Ladder M and the Ladder TB filters The filter has a drive c
42. are three ways to change the frequency of an oscillator 38 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X e 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 e By playing the keyboard The keyboard is if course connected to the oscillator so that pressing different key produces different pitches e By Modulation Modulation allows you to make the pitch vary au tomatically The most common example is to use an LFO to make piteh 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 strik ing 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 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
43. awtooth The Sawtooth wave has a simple spectrum All harmonics are present in the wave in proportional values a Amplitude Time Amplitude Harmonic number 10 20 30 40 Frequency 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 Amplitude Time Amplitude Harmonic number 10 20 30 40 Frequency 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 a Amplitude Time Amplitude erie Harmonic number 10 20 30 40 Frequency 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 Amplitude Time Amplitude Harmonic number 10 20 30 40 Frequency 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 ha
44. bt Off 24 Control Pedal 14 49 KE Track 29 Control Pedal Mode 43 Keyboard Note 18 Control Pedal Type 43 Keyboard Tracking 29 Copy 20 Key Click Level 45 Crush 30 n L Ladder M 29 Decay knob Amp Env 27 Ladder TB 29 Decay knob Filter 28 Layer 10 Delay 31 LED dials 8 Feedback button 31 LED Display 18 On Off button 31 Legato 21 Delete 35 36 Level knob 30 Dial 18 LFO 21 Display 18 Amount knob 22 Dly Vib 21 Destination Selector 22 Dry Wet knob Rate knob 21 Reverb 31 Waveform Selector 21 Loc 37 Local 44 E Low Pass 29 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 43 FM 25 Focus 10 Format 36 Freq knob 28 FX Drive 30 M S Master Level 8 18 Sawtooth 24 Memory Protect 43 Select All 36 MIDI 44 Selector buttons 8 Connections 49 Semi tones 24 Controller 47 Shift 20 LED 18 Shift Button 8 MIDI Channel 44 Slot Channel 44 MIDI Interface 44 Slot Output 43 Mod Env Slots 10 19 Amount knob 23 Soft Thru 44 Attack knob 23 Sound Down 35 DEC REL knob 23 Sound Init 24 Mod Wheel 21 Sound Up 35 Mono 21 Sound Upload 36 Morph 18 Specifications 49 Destination 15 Split 11 20 Mode 15 Store Button 19 Range 15 Sustain knob Amp Env 27 Morph destinations 18 Sustain knob Filter 28 Morphing 14 Sustain pedal 49 Morph Merge 45 Sustain Pedal 43 Morph Mode 15 20 Sync 25 Morph Sources 14 System Menu 43 Mst Cl
45. ction is activated an additional sync oscillator is routed to oscillator 1 Each cycle of the waveform produced by the ad ditional oscillator will restart the waveform cycle in the main oscillator 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 har monic content is produced This frequency is determined by the Osc Mod amount knob Amplitude Time Main oscillator non synched a Amplitude Sync oscillatot Amplitude Time gt Main oscillator synchronized Amplitude Time gt Main oscillator at higher freq synched 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 Amplitude Harmonic number 10 20 30 40 Frequency Amplitude Harmonic number 10 20 30 40 Frequency Amplitude Harmonic number Frequency 10 20 30 40 The image above illustrates the harmonic content of the non synchro nized 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 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 p
46. cy A band pass filter lets frequencies at the Filter Frequency setting to pass while frequencies above and below the cutoff will be attenuated e 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 Amp Vel Hold Shift and press the Velocity button to use velocity to control the amplitude envelope amount Output OUTPUT Level The Level knob is used for setting the ampli tude the volume of the Program The setting of this parameter is stored when the Program is stored O 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 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 OUTPUT Crush The Bit Crusher can be used to create drastic lo fi sounds by in e
47. d 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 suit able 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 trans mitting 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 A 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 chap
48. d on that of the other oscillator Amplitude A Oscillator 1 gt Time Amplitude A Oscillator 2 synchronized Time 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 Amplitude A Osc 2 Harmonics a Harmonic number 10 20 30 40 Frequency If you go even further and let the pitch of the synchronized oscilla tor 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 CHAPTER 9 SYNTHESIS BASICS 39 The Filter 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 avail able at full level It would look like this Amplitude
49. d press On Off to synchronize the delay tempo to the Mst Clk The Reverb cannot be synchronized to the Mst Clk tempo 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 CHAPTER 7 NORD SOUND MANAGER 31 Nord Sound Manager 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 Man ager on a Windows computer you also need a Clavia USB Driver of version 2 14 or later installed The
50. d their respective settings will be shown in the LED display 17 18 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X Perf Mode Execute The Nord Lead 4 is either in the Program or the Per formance 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 PERF MODE EXECUTE CD STORE To switch between these modes press the Perf Mode button repeat edly 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 Perfor mance 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 To cancelan ongoing procedure press any button on the panel before you press Store the second time Slot A D
51. 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 Transmit Program There are settings in the MIDI Menu that allow you to transmit the cur rent 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 chan nel 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 t
52. e and assign a i p ICh Replace Gtrl P a category to a Program 16 char eine eagle acters can be used the supported Select All Ctrl 4 characters are a z A Z 0 9 and the hyphen Any other characters will not be displayed in the Sound Manager lists Invert Selection 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 View Help Organize Ctrl 0 Organize Chrl c Dual view Ctri L When this option is checked the lists will show all the available locations in Info Gtr 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 Find Ctrl F w Auto Select 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 drop downs Rearranging p
53. e 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 experi ence 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 performanc es 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 CHAPTER 11 MIDI 45 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 re routed 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
54. e Front Panel 6 CODY sd aaa a dad seine 19 Program amp Performance area 2 00 6 MPN DINOS etn ee dt 13 Display 6 Pasto venta e dd aa 19 Synth and Electra sosa0sbidecccuudbae wee ee Genes 6 Impulse Morph i eee 19 PIG SUCK oasa iut 0b iao eE EAn E E nas 19 Knobs amp dials l 7 A E E tass eons 19 TODS eae sat cin ah arena ack A S E evans A E dasa eee 7 Mod Wheel cc cece cece eee eee bebe bens 20 TASDAN te ob eee sete ce te ere ee ae ee a 7 ree E A 7 Voice Mode ooo a Master Level KnOD naonana anaana aaaea 7 Unison RN 20 DIV VID oca a a cas ede head akg a e deeds see de Ware 20 BU ONS 0 eee 7 MOno LegatO ag vac bes tn ep raras 20 Selector buttONS o oooooooooooor eee 7 cae Bis eed ese wd tk en ets Sb io 20 ON OFF DUONG atin ag edule ads arre 7 Bend Bandera rea be ad 20 MUL OUMON radica ve sed ete eens ae ee 7 LEOS LLL 20 O E a ene sere nt eee 20 RACs seers ias Fa ede Se Ga Rad pao ee bai ale da 20 Waveform Selector 0 cee eee 20 3 Getting Started LFO Destination Selector ici arar 21 O s c 4ne ee ha dm eds ee oot oie atm ee 21 MstCOlk o o o o o o o o ooooooooooooo eee 21 About Programs 8 eT ree een eres 21 Selecta POJAM o risar a a e E Se 8 Ds o oer E E ER 21 Edita Program perra is pence ruk ae ad Ed 8 IMP SYNC oaa 21 Stong el senese rea rasen eee Gah e EE a 8 FOA eE a ee gee beeen 21 Selecting Performances 0 0 cee eee 9 K Editing a Performance assassanin 9 Arpeggio A E a
55. e 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 instru ment 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 113 hard slow plucked or short Modulation In addition to these main modules all synthesizers also have modula tors devices that can make the volume timbre pitch and other quali ties of sound vary continuously over time when you play a key It is these modulators that basically add animation to the sound taking CHAPTER 9 SYNTHESIS BASICS 37 it from a dull organ drone to a dynamic and interesting timbre The two most common modulators are Envelopes and LFOs Envelopes An envelope is used to give a sound a shape If you apply an enve lope to the amplifier which contr
56. e point d exclamation l int rieur d un triangle quilat ral est employ pour alerter l utilisateur de la pr sence d instructions importantes pour le fonctionnement et l entretien service dans le livret d instructions accompagnant l appareil 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 amplifiers 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 fit into your outlet consult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet 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 specified by the manu facturer
57. e 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 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 Destination selector The Destination selector button selects the destination of the modula tion 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 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 releas
58. ection against harmful interference in a residential installa tion This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and 1f 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 modification 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
59. ed 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 be comes monophonic in its behavior Ifyou only want one of the Imp Morphs to activate the Mod Env make sure the Mod Env Amount is set at the O setting on the other Imp Morphs Amount Amount sets the intensity of the modulation Range 10 to 10 e A setting of O will produce no modulation e A negative value will produce a inverted modulation envelope e A positive value will produce a positive modulation envelope Oscillators The oscillator is the foundation of the sound in a synthe sizer 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 WAVE TYPES A Analog b Bells Tines C Classic d Digital E Electric F Formants o Organs P Pianos QUE SOUND INIT 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
60. ee A PRONG neen pa ra calado oa a E yl 21 Saving a Performance 0 0 0 eee eee 9 oe te Arpeggio Directions 0 0 00 cece ees 21 Slots A ey Meee toy Mu gasp teem Mer eae ass eae age aan ey Ges Bey he 9 Arpeggio A A ane 21h 21 Layering two ProgramS 2 oraci n e 9 Arpeggio Pares cdi rr res 21 a Modulation Envelope ooo 22 Alacan a 22 Creating a Performance from scratch 10 SHUT ANGMUMNM 235254 ee iia be E ES ee ee 10 Dec Rel A A A 22 Performances and Programs gt ouou auio 10 Destination Selector 0 0 0 ee eee 22 A 2 5 6 6 e cnt e Ae tne ceed Pb ays O 22 Storing a single Program from a Performance 10 A A A A ree 22 Arpeggio with Mst Clk 11 AMI ie ratito oe by head 22 e ema ai Oscillators oe eect 23 External SYNC oo svc c cece cc aa 42 Oscillator Waveform selector ooo ooooooo eee 23 SOU VAM saa se a dhe a Ratna a dak di re Pw Bm 23 MIDI a 12 CA 23 Multitimbrality o o o o ooooocoooooooo ooo 12 FEO oo cc cc ccc cb bb ebb bbb bbb e eens 23 SEMI TONGS eroa rrira nia brad al e 23 Oscillator Modulation Osc Mod 23 Frequency Modulation FM o o o o ooo ooooooooooo 24 4 Morph amp Mutator Oscillator Sync SM scdcuw cae ec dera 4 id 24 Osc Mod Amount 00000 cee 24 A tie n e ter n oe Hauke bh a ees ate 25 MOP NNE lt 2 22526 aretpscleta dant ropas niasei a 13 e tg boa eee 25 Available Morph destinations o
61. ee Sues ee ewe 28 High PASS eines cele ch ce EE eee ee ee esate EEEE 28 The Filter Ee ie E Eaei EE EOG G aas Aa RI Ge Rates vet veer Ol a Silty eee AE eta 39 Band RASS orrera so on cid ti 28 The Amplifier A ee a 40 LadderM cc cece eee nes 28 Ladder Beodo re reusiti si nA LEENE neice 28 ENVELOPES esiorrtaerepeted epa 41 Velocity eee 28 Es A I ere ere a er ee ae 41 AmP Vel ia it a ti e tii ot 29 Output 1 29 A ieee de a ed feces eh eee bee Wa wees 29 PA en ea ee a ee oe ee 29 6 The Menus CrUS Mie asia poca tui pacscs 4 r a As anes E aaa 29 COMPIOSSOP cover eee eS Bk oe whew we 29 DNG sue Atanas odna ace data deed Xba n aS ie 29 System ee ere 42 TT corras inercia ca 29 1 Memory Protect On Off oooooocccocoocoocnr ro 42 COMB ataca cas ee 29 2 TTANSPOSE nasu rr 42 3 Fine TUNE 2 te tees 42 Delay Reverd 1 0 0 eee 30 4 Sustain Pedal Polarity ooo oo ooooo oo 42 Delaye pa ede at s Sins ded Sok meee a ke cette os 30 Be Cir Peda a 42 TEMPO An eae E E EA E E a E a E A N 30 6 Ctrl Pedal Mode o oo LLL 42 Feedback ste dd k iasa ns tk had head eee aun ant ii i 30 7 Ctrl Pedal Gain L L Sw dee ee oe LLL 42 DANG itte a ar pla E EEE E 30 8 Impulse Morph Protect o u uouo uiuia 42 B TERNERA A a e o E e A ANA e a A B C D Slot Output Routing A a A N 42 Sve eena A a a a a seat DYAN GN cues aa ida daha but aa ii ae ed arte 30 MIDI Menu 43 Rever Select yerno tb oa ened e PEA 30 G Global Chann
62. el 0 66 eee eee 43 A b c d Slot Channel 02000 0 cee eee 43 t Soft Thru Channel 0 0 0 00000 ee 43 1 MIDI Interface 0 0 0 0 cee ee 43 2 Local Control 0 6 eee 43 7 Nord Sound Manager 3 Control Change CC Mode aaiue cece 43 4 Program Change Mode 00 e cee eee eee 43 System regu reMEN S ieat a a 31 5 aa Mode coco a A O A A AN Overview 0000 0 ccc 31 FDU OBB N 43 The Toolbar cerei edie Gar ria dee E le Cala 31 8 Dump Program Bank 0cceceseeeceeeees 43 TAS TADS msi ie a ar Gia aa 31 Partition Memory Indicator o o oooooooooomooo 31 Sound Menu occ 44 Right Clicking onana nanana 32 1 Mst Clk Kod SYNC oo eee ee 44 Select in Instrument n nananana naaraana 32 2 P Pa e y Upload MAX aes eta ERA anne ene wee 32 3 Vibrato Rate 2 eee eee E o A ede ead 32 4 Vibrato AMOUNT eee 44 A A EEN 32 5 Impulse Morph Merge 0 c cece eee ees 44 Delete o 32 Mutator Menu 22 44 Fille FORMALS nak os eed vag coa Rad ted ode Sea dws 32 Pattern Types ooo 44 The Quick Tour ooo 32 Transfer Performances to the Lead4 32 Deleting a Performance o oooooooocorocoo ee eae 32 Download a new Performance o o oooocococoocooooco o 32 Upload sounds from the Lead 4 o o o oocooommom 33 11 MIDI Organize the program partitiON o o o oooooooooo 33 OO ti enegia iaiu t
63. es 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 automati cally adding them to notes which are played The Chord Memory settings are stored within a Program Activating a Chord Memory Play and hold a chord hold Shift and press the Chord Memory button The four lowest keys in the chord will be memorized Ifyou want chords that are bigger than Rachmaninov could reach use the sustain pedal 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 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 A Since you use several notes in the Chord Memory function the polyphony will be reduced 2 Only the actual key s you play will output MIDI Note information not the intervals included in the Chord Memory Octave Shift The Octave Shift but
64. esonance Key board Tracking Drive and ADSR bipolar Envelope control e Amplifier Envelope ADSR controls e Modulation Envelope selectable AD or AR attack decay release and bipolar Amount controls e FO 1 Waveforms Square inverted Saws Saws amp Triangle Bipolar Amount control e FO 1 Destinations Filter Osc Mod Osc Mix Osc 2 Pitch Ampli tude Pulse width e FO 2 Waveforms Square Inverted Saw Saw Random Sample amp Hold Triangle Bipolar Amount control e LFO 2 Destinations Filter Osc Mod Osc 1 amp Osc 2 Pitch Pan FX e Mono Mode Mono or Legato with Glide function e Output Level Program Section e 400 program locations e 99 Performances e Four slots A B C amp D e Octave Shift Effect Section e Crush bit reduction Compressor Drive Talk 1 Talk 2 Comb filter e Delay synchronizable to master clock function Maxdelay time 1400 ms e Reverb with 3 algorithms and brightness control CTRL SUSTAIN USB MIDI OUT MIDI IN PEDAL PEDAL OO 806 Audio Connections Headphones This is where you connect a 1 4 stereo connector from a pair of headphones A Playing at a high volume level can result in hearing impairments such as permanent hearing loss Only Slots that are routed to outputs 1 amp 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
65. ffect destroying the audio de quality of the Nord Lead 4 AMOUNT DRIVE TALK1 Compressor COMPR gt TALK2 CRUSH COMB The compressor can effectively reduce the 7 dynamic range of the sound Turn the Amount to b increase the compression ratio The output gain will be automatically compensated ON Py A Drive The tube style overdrive can add a gentle edge or create pure mayhem to the Nord Lead 4 sound Talka1 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 CHAPTER 5 NORD LEAD 4 REFERENCE 29 Comb Amplitude q gt Frequency _ gt 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 30 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X 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 DLY REVERB O 1 TEMPO environment Every program in the Nord Lead 4 BRIGHT can use either delay or reverb even in Perfor FEEDBACK mance mode when 4 pro
66. g 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 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 CHAPTER 7 NORD SOUND MANAGER 33 Search Box By entering one or several characters in the Search Box you can filter out the content that is presented in the lists Robert made me 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 Elo Edi w Hei D al du a E Croats Dus Yew Judo Select Peru Progen Perfomance When this is activated and you scroll through the Program or Perfor mance list using the computer keyboard arrow keys the Program or Performance will be automatically selected in the Nord Lead 4 Double clicking on a Program or Performance will also select it in the Lead 4 34 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL OS V1 X Nord Sound Manager reference Toolbar e P E i E e LE E Lai sm Bei irpiri PUE ae i r a Info This command is not avai
67. gered 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 tra ditional 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 gener ated by the LFO Waveform Description LFO1 LFO2 M Square Used for abrupt modulation changes suit y able for trills distinct tremolos etc NS Sawtooth Y Y Used for ramp type modulations A Inverted Sawtooth Used for inverted ramp type modulations Note that LFO 1 has four variations on the y traditional sawtooth waveforms N Triangle Y Y Suitable for natural vibrato effects and also used for classic pulse width modulation Stepped Random Y Creates an abrupt modulation with ran dom intensity Smooth Random Y Creates a smooth random modulation LFO Destination Selector The LFO Destination determines which parameter s the LFO will modulate Press the Destination selector repeatedly to select the desired destina tion The pitch of both Osc 1 and Osc 2 can be modulated simultane ously by LFO 2 Destination Description LFO1 LFO2 Filter Modulates the Filter Frequency parameter y Y OSC MOD Modulates the Oscillator Modulation Y y Amount OSC MIX Modulate
68. grams can be active at STAGE 2 SHALL 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 10 DRY WET Tempo ON p 5 nd 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 MST CLK Range 20 ms to 1400 ms 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 The straight divisions range from half notes to 1 32 1 64 64ths 1 4d 1 8d 1 16d The dotted divisions will push the repeats back one half of the note value 1 2t 1 4t 1 8t The t indicates the triplet divisions 1 16t 1 32t 1 4s 1 8s 1 16s The s indicates the swing 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 amp 2 LED are lit Press the feedback button repeatedly to select the desired feedback level 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 Hold Shift an
69. gt Y _ LP12 gt LADDERTB FILTER TYPE AMP VEL ENVAMT The Filter is one of the most important components to create the overall timbre of the sound The harmonic content that the oscilla tors 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 O 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 Amplitude Filter Frequency Frequency The Image above illustrates three different Filter Frequency settings us ing a low pass filter The area to the right of the sloping line represents the
70. he current bank will be overwritten by the new data 46 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X MIDI Controller list Here are the MIDI Controller numbers used for all the knobs and but tons 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 e Buttons that control on off functions have a Controller value of 0 corresponding to the off position and a value of 127 correspond ing to the on position e 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 pos sible settings there are to the function Nord Lead 4 parameter MIDI CC Voice Mode Unison 16 Vib Select 56 Glide Rate 9 Mono Selector 15 Hold 58 Hold Enable 54 Chord Enable 112 Octave Shift 17 Impulse Morph Buttons 7O 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 59 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
71. he 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 FILTER 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 Sustain level lt gt Release time lt gt Attack time Decay time e When a key is pressed the envelope starts at the zero level and gradually reaches the maximum level during the time set by the At tack Time Attack knob e 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 e 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 Level SS See ee a A lt ______ gt Attack time Key Down 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 s
72. hord instead Arpeggio Run Use the Run button to turn the arpeggio on and off The setting will be indicated with the LFO Destination LEDs Arpeggio Range The LFO Amount sets the octave range of the arpeggio from 1 to 4 octaves amp If Poly arpeggio is selected the chord will be played through its inversions instead of just at increasing octaves 21 22 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X Modulation Envelope 0sc1 6 7 OSCMOD 2 Y 8 OSCMIX 9 8 INF ATTACK 0119 18 AMOUNT NI IMPSYNC 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 Level Time e _Y d _ Attack Decay time time Key Down The image above illustrates the Modulation Envelope with Attack and Decay parameters Level Time _ gt gt gt Attack Release time time Key Down Key Up The image above illustrates the Modulation Envelope with Attack and Release parameters e 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 th
73. ied 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 set ting or parameter or turn off the Nord Lead 4 This means that you can paste the same data to several destinations fyou 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 Hold the Copy button and turn a knob The parameters current value will be displayed in the LED 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 Arpeggio with Mst Clk Let s try some things with the arpeggio and the Master Clock Mst Clk feature Hold Shift and press Sound Init the Osc 1 waveform selector to start with a basic sound Hold Shift and press the LFO 1 Waveform selector three times The Mst Clk and the Aro LED should both be lit Notice how the three left LFO Destination LEDs light up This indicates that the arpeggio is stopped RANGE KBS IMPSYNC d D OSC1 lt OSC2 4 mm OSCMOD gt PAN ES lt gt KN E
74. il 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 power ful 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 We ll describe the functions in this area in greater detail in the refer ence chapter that begins at page 20 Knobs amp dials Knobs The knobs control the continuously variable param eters in the Nord Lead 4 synth engine e 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
75. inal value e A key velocity of 127 represents the parameters morphed value Available Velocity Morph destinations LFO1 Rate LFO1 Amount LFO1 Clk Division LFO2 Amount Mod Env Attack LFO2 Clk Div Mod Env Decay Mod Env Amount CHAPTER 5 NORD LEAD 4 REFERENCE 5 Nord Lead 4 Reference e 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 LFO2 Amount Mod Env Amt Osc Mix Amount Amp Env Attack Filt Env Attack LFO1 Rate LFO2 Clk Div Osc2 Fine tune Amp Env Decay Filt Env Decay LFO1 Amount Mod Env Attack Osc2 Semitones Amp Env Sustain Filt Env Sustain LFO1 Clk Division Mod Env Decay Osc Mod Amount Amp Env Release Filt Env Release Osc2 Fine tune Amp Env Attack Filt Env Attack Filter Drive Output Level Wheel Osc2 Semitones Amp Env Decay Filt Env Decay Filter Freq Osc Mod Amount Amp Env Sustain Filt Env Sustain Filter Res Osc Mix Amount Amp Env Rel Filt Env Release Filt Env Amount 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 e The bottom position
76. k 20 Mutator Menu 45 T Talk 30 O Tempo 20 Octave Shift 19 Knob 31 Oscillator 24 Transfer 33 Mix 26 Transpose 43 Waveform 24 Triangle 24 Osc Mod 24 Type button Filter 29 Amount knob 25 Type 26 Output 30 U Connections 49 do 7 Output Routing 43 Unison 24 Upload 34 USB Connection 49 p Panic 26 Partition Memory 37 V Paste 20 Vibrato Amount 45 Pat 2 Vibrato Rate 45 Pattern 20 l Voice Mode 21 Pedal Connections 49 Perf Mode 19 Performance 11 W Pitch Bend Mode 44 Poly arpeggio 22 Wavetable 24 Program Change 44 Wheel 14 Programs 9 Pulse 24 R Release knob Amp Env 27 Release knob Filter 28 Rename 35 36 Res knob 28 Restore 35 36 Reverb 31 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 Modifications not expressly approved by Clavia may void your authority granted by the FCC to use the product 2 IMPORTANT When comnecting 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 prot
77. lable 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 drop downs Rearranging programs is simply a matter of drag and drop Drag a program from one bank list to another bank list in either direc tion 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 N
78. lator 1 Oscillator 1 will then produce a richer waveform with more har monics 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 oscilla tor 1 not its frequency NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X OSC Mix The waveform produced by Oscillator can be heard if you wish by us ing 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 con tent changes drastically depending on in what note range you play Amplitude Low pitched note High pitched note Frequency 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 differ ence 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 A 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 fun
79. lits the keyboard in two halves where you can have Slots A and B to the left and Slots C and D to the right ee r COLTA COPY OCTAVE SHIFT TAP SETV MORPH LOCK SET CHORD SPLIT gLOBAL PATTERN PASTE D3 S E Der g i pe es 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 Performances and Programs A Performance contains 4 separate Programs one for each Slot The Slots do not have to be active
80. n 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 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 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 Select the desired partition that holds the sounds that you wish to store on the computer hard drive 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 Triple arpeggios 155 Bass lave 3 Whacky Chord Jarrebass Love Song 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 Make sure that Organize is activated in the View menu Select and dra
81. n be set between 30 and 300 BPM C PATTERN Tap the Mst Clk to set the tempo to a beat You need to tap four times in order to set a new tempo 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 repeat ing 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 COPY MORPH LOCK C 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 dis played in the LED Morph Lock Morph Lock provides you with a great overview that can simplify set ting 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 a
82. o oo o ooooo oo 13 Oscillator mix 25 Morph SOUNCOS ers desde Shs ddr 13 OSG MiX seats rada ee Reese as 25 NGIOCIIY caia de BP ais eta OE tek ea ia ele eet 13 Wheel and Control Pedal rd rada a aos 13 Amp Env crono re AltaC Keio g ibe ee bee naai thin inii ae s E Sb bd eeee dd 26 Assign a Morph source to a destination 14 Morph Lock Mode cccccccccccscsecvvcceeees 44 Decay gig ky teres Goa tea MPM ek ee eee ee ee 26 ee SUSTAIN ex oad a ea ad ede de oa el eee lala 2 oe 26 Morph Continuous Destinati0NS ooooo 14 Release 06 Impulse Morph buttons 0 o A e E Impulse Morph nonan nana 14 Filter Envelope 0 aaa 26 Impulse Morph Protection o o o oooooooooooooo 15 Filter EnvVel0pe cece eee 26 Impulse Morph Merge 00 00 eee eee 15 AAC Kicctox baci e Hacer en aces eoe Er eE be ee ee 27 Dec ueno Ada aaa 27 O ve Ste ora od Boa abe oe out oes 27 Release 27 4 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V2 X A 27 Filter Frequency Freq sasaaa 27 9 Synthesis Basics Filter Resonance Res ooooooocooocoooo 27 DVE da a a Backed e E EE E E a we 28 Envelope Amount EnvAmt 0000 cece eee eee 28 Introduction 0 00 0 2 c cee 37 Keyboard Tracking KB Track 00000000 28 The building blocks 0 0 0 00 0 cece eee 37 Type Selector 2 cette 28 The Oscillators and waveforms 37 Low Pass 12 24 4B o erres ace eae Se B
83. of the Modulation Wheel or Control Pedal repre sents the original value of the parameter 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 avail able amount the LED display will show ERt Dial The Dial is used for changing the current setting dis played 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 PERF MODE PASO EXECUTE C3 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 amp 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 cur rently 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 an
84. ogram memory of the Nord Lead 4 This memory area consists of 400 Programs Every Pro gram 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 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 Press and hold the Shift button and turn the Dial this changes the bank number 1 2 3 and 4 Performances are indicated with a initial letter P in the display press repeatedly on the Perf Mode button to alter between Pro gram 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 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 rord lead 4 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 PERF
85. ols 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 Noise Mixer gt Oscillator AVAAN A A Oscillator MV IA ADA E E Envelope LFO Envelope LFO Envelope LFO Audio Signal C gt Control Signal A A A A 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 gener ated per second gt One Period Normally there
86. omputers 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 amp 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 amp OUT a USB port with MIDI capabilities and inputs for a sustain pedal and a control pedal 5 6 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X VOICE MODE MASTER LEVEL UNISON 2 ASS 3 Ee C Ne GLIDE 9 Z gt MIDI DLYVIB2 Jwa DLYVIB1 MORPH VELOCITY WHEEL eo hee a CLEAR MONO LEGATO PERF MODE EXECUTE 8 STORE PROGRAM QU A A A OCTAVE SHIFT i C C GLOBAL OCT SHIFT MEMORY m SET CHORD SPLIT IMPULSE MORPH 1 7 Y 4 452 16 7 3 2 8 8 OSCMIX WY o HEADPHONES OUT 1 OUT2 POLY OFF ON w lt gt PX OSCMIX lt gt 0562 2 DN LA lt gt 71 oscmon lt gt AM 2 A y ENS 2 FILTER lt gt IPW Y E R Gi U ale 10 EN N MST CLK gt ARP impsync RANGE Ke wl osct A lt gt ipl oscmop lt ME lt gt NY mM 5 s Z RATE QuE QuE O e TA gt MST CLK IMPSYNC MOD ENV LFO1 ARP KBS gt 0502 4 gt PAN wv KBS OSCT OSC2 456 7 OSCMOD lt gt FX gt LF02 INF 10 10 DEC REL QUE AMOUNT ARF IMPSYNC ATTACK MST CLK COPY
87. ontrol which allows the addi tion of some distortion to the signal in the actual filter circuitry e The Arpeggio the LFOs and the delay can be synchronized to master clock with individual divisions to create great rhythmic sound scapes 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 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 perfor mances in the unit This application is compatible with c
88. ord 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 com puter 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 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 Man ager 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 op tion and browse to a backup file on the hard drive file extension nl4b and click Open A 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
89. ore you press Store the second time e 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 mem ory 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 amp 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 Man ager This will be described later in this manual Selecting Performances 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 PERF MODE EXECUTE CD STORE PERF MODE EXECUTE oo a 509 CS PROGRAM JO cr PROGRAM LDL Turn the Dial to scroll through the 100 Performances PO1 to P99 Editing a Performance 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 y
90. ou are editing The Slot that uses the program that is in focus on the panel is the one with its Slot LED blinking 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 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 Hold Shift and press the Store button The LED display starts flashing with the current Performance number Use the Dial to select a new location if you do not want to over write the original Performance CHAPTER 3 GETTING STARTED 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 rep resents 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
91. ound This is anormal physical phenomenon To eliminate this just increase the attack time slightly Level Time gt Attack Decay time time Key Down 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 Level 1 Sustain level Time lt M e Attack Decay time time Key Down 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 e The Sustain parameter is used to set a level while Attack Decay and Release parameters are all used to set times Level Sustain level Time o a gt Attack Decay Release time time time Key Down Key Up 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 no
92. 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 Reso nance will make the sound resonant to a point where the filter adds a 28 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X 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 Amplitude Frequency Lad 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 mean
93. peed of the vibrato e The Amount controls the degree to which the LFO affects its destina tion 42 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL OS V1 X 6 The Menus 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 The MIDI Local On Off setting will always revert to Local On every time the Nord Lead 4 is powered up 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 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
94. ph on page 13 Voice Mode This section contains both perfor mance and sound related param eters VOICE MODE UNISON DLYVIB2 DLYVIB1 Unison MONO The Unison feature in the Nord Lead LEGATO 4 adds slightly detuned voices on top of each other in the same fash ion as on some of the classic analog polyphonic synthesizers This results in a fatter sound a y BEND RANGE A 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 e The Mono setting will re trigger the envelopes the sound will re start for each note you play e 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 porta mento With a setting of zero the pitch will change ins
95. plitude Q 4 F Filter dei Frequency 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 self oscillate 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 hara plucked static etc Envelopes ADSR envelope Envelopes are used to modulate pitch amplitude filter cutoff and other parameters
96. r 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 In effect the AD envelope behaves like an ADSR envelope with Sustain set to O 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 Typi Cally 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 e The LFO produces very low frequencies most often below the hear ing range up to 20Hz e 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 e The waveform determines the type of vibrato for example regular triangle or sine ramp Sawtooth or random e The Rate determines the s
97. re 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 CHAPTER 5 NORD LEAD 4 REFERENCE 19 When Morph Lock is active you can e Operate any Morph Destination to set up or adjust a morph e 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 AAA AR 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 IMPULSE MORPH 1 7 y 1 f D 2 5 3 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 Available Impulse Morph destinations Oct Shift Mono Mode Glide LFO1 Wave LFO1 Dest LFO1 Rate LFO1 Amount LFO1 Clk Division
98. ressing Panic Shift Osc Mod select any voices that are produc ing a sound on the Nord Lead 4 will be silenced Equipment connected via MIDI Out will not be affected Oscillator mix OSC MIX Osc Mix Pa The Oscillator Mix parameter is used for setting oe ites the balance in amplitude between oscillator 1 and MIX oscillator 2 Range 10 to 10 10 10 3 The Amp Eny or Amplifier Envelope is used to control how the ampli tude 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 Sustain level Time lt gt a gt lt gt Attack Decay Release time time time OT ee E Key Up e 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 e 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 e 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 CHAPTER 5 NORD LEAD 4
99. rge range on a another param eter 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 pro gram 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 4 Morph amp Mutator 2 Turn CHAPTER 4 MORPH 8 MUTATOR 3 Play and use the Mod Wheel Morph Sources Let s have a look at the Morph Sources MORPH VELOCITY WHEEL CB CLEAR _ Velocity This Morph source uses the Note Velocity from the Nord Lead 4 key board and from any incoming MIDI messages e A key velocity of O represents the parameters original value e 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 e The bottom position of the Modulation Wheel and or Control Pedal represents the parameters original value e The top position of the Modulation Wheel or Control Pedal represents the parameters morphed value Ifthe Control Pedal is set to control the overall volume of the Nord Lead 4 in the S
100. rmal 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 Enve lope 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 Sustain Use the Sustain to set the level of the Sustain phase of the Filter Enve lope 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 modula tion will reach zero after the Decay part of the envelope Range 0 0 to 10 0 CHAPTER 5 NORD LEAD 4 REFERENCE 27 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 BP LP48 lt gt HP Ss f N q g J o LP24 lt gt LADDER
101. rograms is simply a matter of drag and drop Drag a program from one bank list to another bank list in either direc tion Press the Ctrl key on the computer keyboard to copy a selection to the destination during a drag and drop operation 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 regard ing the version of the Nord Sound Manager You will also see a list of compatible instruments and OS versions Tabs Program Performance Program Performance Use the tabs to select the desired partition Type Ctrl Tab on the com puter 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 Loca
102. s Song Sel Tune Clock Commands Local on off All notes off Active Sense Reset True Voice Transmitted 1 16 1 16 Mode 1 3 X kkkkkkkkkkkkkkk 0 127 Mode Recognized 1 16 1 16 Mode 1 3 Mode Mode Mode CHAPTER 11 MIDI 47 Remarks Indiv channels for Slot A B C amp D See MIDI CC on page 47 Bank Sel CC 32 Mode Mode Mode 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 48 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X 2 Appendix Specifications Connections e 4 Line Level Audio Outputs General e Stereo Headphone Output e 4 octave 49 keys velocity sensitive keyboard s Gustan Pedal inoui e 20 voices e Control Pedal input e Wooden Pitch Stick programmable pitch bend 48 semitones USB interface with MIDI capabilities e Modulation Wheel e MIDI in amp out e Master Level Control e 2 Morph Sources Modulation Wheel Control Pedal Note Velocity Dimensions and weight e 3 Impulse Morph buttons with up to 7 combinations per program e 870x274 x 98mm 34 3 x 10 8 x 3 9 inches e 6 kg 13 3 lbs Synth Section e 4 part multitimbral synth section e OSC1 Triangle Saw Square Pulse 114 wavetables e OSC2 Triangle Square Saw Noise Sine Transpose and Fine Tune e Oscillator 1 Modulation Frequency Modulation Soft and Hard sync with Amount Control e Filter 7 different types of filters with Frequency R
103. s one peculiarity it only contains odd number harmonics which gives it a hollow quality 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 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 an
104. s that the cutoff frequency is moved one octave for every octave you play from the C2 key e With KB Track disabled the Filter Frequency cutoff is constant regardless of where on the keyboard you play e 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 e With KB Track at the maximum setting of 1 the cutoff frequency will track the keyboard in a 1 1 relationship e With KB Track at the 1 3 setting the cutoff frequency will track the keyboard in a 1 3 relationship e 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 Type selector Press repeatedly on Type to select the desired filter tyoe The available filter types are Low Pass 12 24 48 Amplitude A Filter Frequency gt 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 Amplitude A Filter Frequency gt Frequency Frequencies below the Filter Frequency setting will be attenuated frequencies above the cutoff will not be affected Band Pass Ampnude Filter Frequency gt Frequen
105. s the Oscillator Mix Amount y OSC 1 Modulates the pitch of Osc 1 y OSC 2 Modulates the pitch of Osc 2 y y AM Modulates the amplitude Y Pan Modulates the position of the sound in the Y stereo panorama PW Modulates the pulse width of both oscil Y lators FX Modulates the FX amount Y 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 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 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 CHAPTER 5 NORD LEAD 4 REFERENCE Imp Sync When Imp Sync is active the LFO cycle will be restarted
106. s the Slot C Sound button to enter the Sound Menu Turn the Dial until you reach item 5 The LED display will show rQ 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 4 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 A Any settings that were in Impulse Morphs 4 5 6 and 7 will be lost when you execute the merge CHAPTER 4 MORPH 8 MUTATOR 15 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 A e e Automatic Program Generator RI AS b1 bS rnd Variation process B Mutation process 1 5 Process strength RND Randomize Press EXECUTE to generate COPY Dial to undo We will begin exploring the Mutator options by initializing a Program hold Shift and press the Osc 1 Waveform selector button Turn the Osx Mix knob to hear both
107. t to pro duce noise The frequency color and resonance of the noise can then be KBT OFF adjusted with the Semi Tones and the Fine Tune controls 6 Ns 4 N 7 a 36 3 E 60 60 FINE TUNE NOISE RES SEMITONES NOISE FREQ Kbt Off If you want to disable the keyboard tracking of the pitch of the wave form 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 amp Ifyou have an equal Osc Mix setting and a Semi Tones setting of O 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 rang ing from 60 5 octaves to 60 5 octaves semi tones If Noise is selected this is a frequency control Range 60 to 60 Oscillator Modulation Osc Mod OSC1 MOD Oscillator Modulation is about having the waveform produced 456 by oscillator 2 or the extra sync oscillator modulating oscil
108. tantly If the Legato mode is active the Glide will only occur if you play legato Range O 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 LFOs A Low Frequency Oscillator LFO is an oscillator producing waveforms just like an ordinary oscillator but with a few differences e FOs are capable of producing waveforms with a very low frequency e FOs are normally not used for generating audible frequencies Instead the output from the LFO is used for modulating that is con trolling 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 LFOT ARP POLY OFF ON RD NM PX OSCMIX DN A 7 OSCMOD lt gt AM gs UP WU gt FILTER lt gt PW a A 9 R S 10 PAT UE 10 10 N AMOUNT RANGE R Ne CLK ARP KBS IMPSYNC 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 trig
109. ter that describes a bit what this synthesis thing is all about MORPH VELOCITY gt WHEEL Qu y_N PROGRAM 1 Press and hold 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 amp 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 switch es to choose from This gives you plenty of real time control possibili ties 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 param eters 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 e f 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 la
110. the Libraries area Deleting a Performance Crgane DualYew Auto Select Amh En TAE acai y Suse aed 3 Tren Paw 4 Facia Mhk Connect the Nord Lead 4 to the computer and launch the Nord Sound Manager The Performance tab will open and the current contents of the Performance partition in the Lead 4 will be displayed 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 Program Performance ir E Bank Jal 246 sounds Ej Ladder Bass nl4s E Lion Pad nl4s Ej Love Song nl4s Ej Lowe Strings nl4s Mayhem lds Ej Mongolia mts El Moog Brass nl4s 43 FM WheelieBass Bank 1 cg Bank 1 51 Bank 1 DS 52 Bank 1 aa Using drag and drop Open the folder on the computer hard drive where the new Performance in the nl4p format is located Make sure that the File Manager window and the folder are visible on the screen 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 Y Ifthe Organize option is active in the View menu you can drop a sound o
111. tion The banks are organized in locations the number of locations varies for the different bank types Name The name of the item Category Shows the assigned category for the Programs Ver Version Number This indicates the version number of the actual Performance or pro gram format 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 246 3596 Used IS 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 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 com puter 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 down load 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 9 Synthesis Basics Introduction Subtrac
112. tive 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 Aro synthe sizers 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 add ing valuable new features and functionality such as FM Wavetable and sample playback 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 ana log 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 cabi nets 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 functionality wise subtractive synthesizers are still built out of the sam
113. tons transposes the sound of the Slot that has the Panel Focus OCTAVE SHIFT GLOBAL 9 SPLIT OCT SHIFT Range 24 12 0 12 24 The center LED indicates when no octave shift is applied e LEDs to the right of the center LED will indicate a higher octave shift as you press the right Octave Shift button e 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 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 e In this mode both Slots as well as the note messages from the MIDI output will be effected A 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 pe nuts Press and hold the Mst Clk button to be able to TAPISETY select the tempo of the Master Clock by turning the dial The tempo ca
114. urrati 33 Slot MID AA 45 Auto Select 2 0 eee teens 33 External SYNC oo cece cece ec eueeeeeeveeeeenees 45 Nord Sound Manager reference 34 Soft TATU e ape ea poseo eehaastae ben Re 45 A AAA 34 PAN C coco 45 M USB MID cias eka A e 45 enus eS A E ee ee ao Transmit Program zac ob ei eee nee cae ee ie ar 45 File a ee deen een eee eared etek es 35 Receive single Program 0 ccc ce cccceeeeveeeees 45 a AA EA A SA A Receive a Program Bank cert ei 45 EW 6 msa A RE A Sens e EE E E pecadora 36 MIDI Controller list 46 MIDI Implementation Chart o o ooooooooooooooo 47 Tabs AA ee ees eae a 36 Program Performance ooooooocococoocoo rere eae 36 SOC h BOK sads a kaa a ead E a ac ok 36 Loc LOCATIONS sr ener iee a a a E 36 Namen aia E ea 36 12 Appendix CAMS sin cus Shaw eo kee Ea Enere n rE EEE ee aE es 36 Ver Version NUDE roer shore nets 36 S NOG A tar Sea Be weer wd Rs Gv ated a oe EA T e 36 Specifications ee ee ee iaa E 48 FOOLCK ATCA eii a bt Eb dos bards 36 Audio Connections 49 Partition Memory Indicator o oooooooomooo 36 Headphones nesci pes siota Set eee wai a eS sei Ee nds 49 Cancel Button 2 6 eee 36 A oonan ode tented cect hekods A9 Message Text Area nunnana eee 36 Updates sce disirei do ia aa a p ii a as 36 son O eases A RATO NE ad E O AO pe A sh ate a s a dows wan p ikani Ca enana es 49 USB Connection
115. urrent level to silence after you have released the key 26 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X 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 Sustain Use the Sustain knob to set the level of the Sustain phase of the Enve lope 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 t
116. 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 auto matically generate new programs The A1 to Ad 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 execu tion takes place Use RND if you want some really random results amp 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 1 MIDI The following MIDI messages can be transmitted and received from Nord Lead 4 Note On Off e Note On and Note Off messages are transmitted and received Pitch Bend e Pitch Bend messages are transmitted and received by Nord Lead 4
117. ust several things for the result to be playable on the keyboard 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 Master Level MASTER LEVEL The Master Level knob controls the overall ampli tude for the audio outputs the line level outputs and the headphone output The Master Level S 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 e f the incoming messages are on a MIDI channel that the Nord Lead 4 is not responding to these indications will be short If the incom ing MIDI channels matches the channel s you have selected in the System menu the LED indications will be longer Morph K pouw a WHEEL 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 key board and from any incoming MIDI messages e A key velocity of O represents the parameters orig
118. 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 con trols 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 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 han dled 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 amp receive default r receive only S send only Off CHAPTER 6 THE MENUS 43 4 Program Change Mode Specifies how the Nord Lead 4 should handle MIDI Program Change messages Range Sr send amp 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 amp receive default
119. ynth engines L WAV N E E osc1 FINE TUNE NOISE RES FM3 FM2 FM1 QUE S SYNC v M H SYNC MIDI IN MIDI OUT USB SUSTPED CTRL PED AMP ENV OUTPUT DLY REVERB WAVE TYPES A Analog b Bells Tines C Classic 2 8 8 8 2 8 2 8 d Digital xD Wy E Electric o 10 o 10 F Formants LEVEL TEMPO BRIGHT o Organs FEEDBACK 456 456 3 o 10 SUSTAIN P Pianos FILTER 456 FX 7 3 8 2 8 El 1 S El o o 1 SUSTAIN 5 5 4 6 3 2 2 1 Va S 1 e oO 10 40 RELEASE AMOUNT 3 2 1 Va o 1 3 2 8 E 4 VA 9 o 4 e 12 V9 1 9 s 4 ee Cat ATTACK _ DECAY REVERB VELOCITY CD AMPVEL oO a S A BP re e KB TRACK FILTERTYPE p48 gt HP SEMITONES 2 NOISE FREQ y EC LP12 lt DRIVE lt COMPR CRUSH gt TALKI gt TALK2 2 gt COMB NS o 10 DRY WET 456 gt LADDER M LADDERTB OSC MIX y q 5 5 Y Y gt 1 osc2 o 10 o 10 10 ENVAMT ON gt osci puu HANDMADE IN SWEDEN BY CLAVIA DMI AB v6 0 MST CLK 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 deta
120. 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 resis tance 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 KO Korg EXP 2 amp XVP 10 Ft Fatar amp Studiologic VP 25 6 Ctrl Pedal Mode 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 protec tion also disables the Clear command Range On default
121. ystem Menu the wheel will be a solitary Morph source when Wheel is selected 14 NORD LEAD 4 USER MANUAL V1 X Assign a Morph source to a destination Hold down a Morph Source button If this source has any previously assigned Morph destinations the current destination LEDs will light up Operate a Morph Destination parameter The selected Morph Destination s green LED will indicate that a Morph is active Previously engaged destinations will be unaf fected 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 e Press the corresponding Morph Source button and turn the destina tion s knob to a new position To clear all morphs from a single Morph Source e Hold Shift the corresponding Morph Source button To clear a single Morph destination e 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 e 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 Press and hold one of

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