Thursday, July 4, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Yamaha S90
Weighted-action Keyboard Synth
Reviews : Keyboard
Yamaha have taken a weighted keyboard from
their latest digital pianos, added high-quality piano samples and Motif
sounds, and thrown in a playback sequencer and arpeggiator, and
master-keyboard facilities. Left to simmer, the S90 is the result...
Photos: Mark Ewing
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Just as one can count on Yamaha to continually
revise and develop their core range of synthesizers and keyboard
workstations, it's also no surprise to see the company repackaging their
existing technology in the guise of a serious master keyboard.
Such was the case with the S80 (reviewed in SOS
February 2000), which added a sober black casing, wood-effect end
cheeks and an 88-note, weighted piano-action keyboard to a synth engine
that was essentially a CS6X with additional piano and keyboard waveforms
and voices, plus master-keyboard functions. Jump forward to December
2002, and SOS reviewed the S08, which amounted to a cut-down S80.
And here we are in December 2003, looking at the
64-voice polyphonic S90, which offers similar master-keyboard facilities
to the S80, borrows sounds from the Motif range of synths, and adds a
brand-new, three-layer stereo piano sample set, plus a variety of
acoustic and electric keyboard samples. There is an 88-note instrument
in the Motif range — the Motif 8 — and the S90 offers that instrument's
Balanced Hammer Effect keyboard (itself based on the action supplied
with Yamaha's dedicated digital pianos), but loses the Motif's
sequencing and sampling functions. It does, however, retain the Motif's
arpeggiator — more of a phrase generator than anything — and grows a
number of new Voices and Performances based on the new waveforms.
Physically, the S90 is large, though not much larger
than such a substantial keyboard action would warrant, and rather
heavy, at 23kg. It's supplied with plenty of buttons and sliders, which
enable the synth's operating system to be comprehensively accessed in
conjunction with the large (240 x 64-dot) LCD. Rear-panel connectivity
is a high point: the main stereo audio out is joined by a pair of
assignable outputs and the headphone socket (why do few manufacturers
apart from Korg appear to put headphone sockets on the front of their
instruments?), four footswitch sockets and breath controller input, an
audio input, MIDI In/Out/Thru connections, and a USB port, for linking
to a Mac or PC. A blanking panel can also be removed to allow an mLAN
high-speed audio and MIDI interface card to be installed. While
currently a little expensive, this option is now more of a going concern
since more third parties, and Yamaha themselves, are finally supporting
the protocol with compatible products.
Synth & Synthesis
The S90's synth sound engine is based on Yamaha's
S&S (sample and synthesis) standard, AWM2. Although basic waveforms
are always being modified or improved and effects complements tinkered
with, Yamaha's synth voice-generation system has tended to remain
similar of late. That means that the basic architecture of the S90 is
essentially that of the original Motif family (not the new
Motif ES range, which is due any day now). The waveform collection on
the S90 is identical (bar some extra acoustic and electric keyboard
waves, of which more in a moment), and the factory voices are also
similar, although again with new Voices and Performances taking
advantage of the uprated data.
The S90 is structured in the usual hierarchical
fashion. Synthesis starts with an Element, which contains all the basics
for electronic sound production: an oscillator with one of 1347 sampled
waveforms at its heart, tuning and pitch-envelope parameters, a
resonant filter (available in no fewer than 21 types) with filter
envelope, level and pan controls, and an amplitude EG and LFO that can
be routed to the pitch envelope, filter envelope and amplitude envelope.
Up to four Elements make up an S90 Voice, and those Elements can be
given their own key and velocity ranges, making for a mini
'Performance'. However, if you use more than one Element in a Voice, the
total polyphony drops accordingly.
S90 editing is via the standard combination of
function and soft keys used in conjunction with the LCD, data wheel and
Inc/Dec buttons (centre). Sounds are selected using the buttons on the
right, while real-time control is afforded over them via the assignable
sliders on the left.
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In addition to standard Voices, there are Drum
Voices, which are broadly similar in synthesis features, though a
different waveform/synthesis pairing can be set for every key of the
S90's 88-note range. In practice, the synthesis features are a little
simpler, but filtering, pitch, tuning, the LFO and so on are all
available.
Next, we have the Performance, whereby up to four
Voices are layered, with or without velocity switching, and/or split
across the keyboard. Performance creation is related somewhat to the
S90's master-keyboard functions, which I'll address in a moment. Offsets
can also be applied to significant synth parameters for Voices within a
Performance (envelopes and filter response, for example), so you don't
have to keep creating new Voices every time you'd like a Performance
part to be just a little different.
This standard structure becomes a little more
complicated if you install one or more of Yamaha's optional PLG synth
boards — the S90 can accommodate three — but only in that you'll have to
become used to a given board's synth-editing system, and that an S90
Performance can include one Voice from each of up to three boards in addition to the four Voices sourced onboard (there's more on the PLG boards in the box above).
The S90 is generously provisioned with factory
settings; 384 Preset Voices and 48 Drum Kits, 128 General MIDI Voices
and one GM drum kit, and for the user, 128 Voice and 16 Drum Kit
memories (the latter are filled with factory settings when you take
delivery of the S90, but can be overwritten at any time). Factory preset
Voices are sensibly assigned to different categories on the S90 (for
example 'Acoustic Piano', 'Keyboard', 'Synth Lead', 'Drum/Percussion'
and so on), and this is a habit you should consider forming as you
program your own Voices. The S90 has a sophisticated search facility
that lumps similar Voices together, and clearly labelled buttons allow
you to access and audition related Voices via the display.
Finally, there are 128 factory Performance memories,
but these too can be overwritten by the user. More memories, preset and
user, become available if you install PLG boards.
Sounds & Effects
The sound set of the S90 is essentially that of an
original Motif, although over 30MB of extra wave ROM is given over to
new acoustic and electric piano waveforms. Consequently, the factory
sound set is slightly different to allow for the many piano and keyboard
sounds.
Yamaha have made a big deal out of the new stereo
piano samples supplied with the S90. On first examination, the deal is
worth making: the pianos have presence and a lively feel, and play well
from the keyboard. The samples are also free from annoying artefacts
such as buzzy loops. On closer examination, however, the situation is
less clear-cut. There don't appear to be enough multisamples for a
start, and so an artificial edge appears where some samples have been
keygrouped a bit further than they should. I occasionally found some of
the solo preset piano Voices to be a bit plummy, but tweaking edit
settings did help here; in any case, not all suffer from this problem.
The three-layer split of the first piano in the set —
'A01 3LayerS700' — is also a little disappointing: there is too much
timbral contrast between layers, especially the low- and mid-velocity
layers. This contrast makes it very difficult to play a convincing
crescendo or decrescendo, as the timbral change at the crossover point
spoils the effect. So I wouldn't stick my neck out with the S90 on a
solo classical gig. But in a pop (or even ensemble jazz) context, the
piano is genuine and convincing, sitting nicely in a mix, and adding
quite a sophisticated sheen, particularly to pop arrangements.
I have fewer reservations about the electric piano
sounds: Yamaha usually get these right, and the S90 is no exception.
Across the board, they're wonderful to play, especially with this
excellent keyboard. I liked the Motif's sound set, so it's no surprise
that I found the remaining S90 sounds to be well up to Yamaha's high
standard. The drums, basses, pads, and synth recreations are all worthy
of praise. What's more, if you crank up the volume, you'll notice the
S90's really chunky bottom end, which bodes well for dance and
electronica work — although that might seem strange considering the
sober exterior of this particular instrument.
And how do effects fit into this equation? Again,
these are largely the same as those on the original Motif. First of all,
there are the Reverb and Chorus send effects, available in all modes.
Reverb offers 12 types, including all manner of rooms and halls, plus
'Basement', 'Plate' and 'Canyon' amongst others. Chorus offers 25
effects, with the usual suspects (chorus, flange, and phasing) joined by
a number of straight (and not so straight) delay effects. In
Performance and sequencer-playback mode (of which more in a moment), a
third send effect, Variation, is added; the options here number 25,
ranging from more chorus, flanging and phasing effects to distortion,
auto-pan, amp simulation, compression, EQs and enhancers.
In addition, there are two insert effects that can
be freely assigned in parallel or serially to one or more Elements
within a Voice. One insert duplicates the 25 effects offered by the
Variation effect, whilst the other offers 104 effects that really do
cover all the bases, including off-the-wall treatments such as 'Digital
Turntable', 'Attack Lo-Fi', 'Low Resolution', 'Digital Scratch', and
'Talking Modulator'. Lastly, there's a five-band Master EQ section
across the S90's main output.
Multitimbrality & Sequencing
The S90 lacks a fully featured sequencer, and thus
lacks what might be dubbed a 'Song' mode on a workstation synth. It
does, as previously noted, offer a playback sequencer, and it's in this
mode that you find the instrument's multitimbral setup. And it's here
that you also play the S90 multitimbrally from an external sequencer.
 
Round the back of the S90, as befits a performance
keyboard, there are two pairs of sockets for attaching footswitches and
pedals, plus a breath-controller input. As well as the headphones socket
and dual pair of analogue outputs, there's also an audio input and
associated gain control. The right side of the rear panel is where you
interface with your computer, either via a Smart Media card, or the USB
connection. MIDI interfacing is possible with the usual five-pin trio of
MIDI sockets, but also via the blanking panel on the left where the
optional mLAN card (which can also carry digital audio) may be fitted.
Just visible on the left of the main picture is another panel where the
optional PLG boards may be installed (see inset, left).
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A button labelled 'Seq Play' takes you into the
sequencer-playback mode, which is where you can load and play MIDI files
from Smart Media cards located in the S90's rear-panel card slot.
Function key 6 in this window is labelled 'Mix' and accesses a pretty
fully featured set of mixer pages. On the basic S90 (ie. one not yet
expanded with PLG cards), this equates to 16 channels of level and pan
controls on one window. You can navigate to the channels via the S90's
standard Edit arrows, or via the lower two rows of buttons labelled 1-16
to the right of the front panel (these buttons double as solo/mute
functions). Other sub-windows of the Mix page allow you to tweak the
sends to the reverb, chorus and variation effects, set up the audio
input, and select Voices for each part to play. The S90's Category
search facility can also be used here.
Initially, it appears that there are no memories for
Seq Play Mix setups, but closer examination reveals a Template window.
Here, not only can you select from a handful of factory mix templates
aimed at various musical styles, but you can save your own Templates
(which consist of Voice assignments, levels, effects settings and so on)
for recall at a later time. There are 50 locations, and all can be
named and overwritten by the user. Usefully, it's also possible to
quickly send all the settings of a Template as a bulk dump to an
external sequencer, so that they can be recorded at the beginning of a
MIDI file for instant reconfiguration of the S90 whenever that Song is
selected.
When using the playback-sequencer function, it's
possible to create chains of MIDI Files from an inserted Smart Media
card, and transmit individual sequence tracks to external MIDI devices
via the S90's MIDI Out. MIDI Files are beamed to a Smart Media card
installed in the S90 via a piece of bundled software (File Utility,
which works on both Macs and PCs). In addition, your custom Voices and
Performances can be saved to Smart Media card without you having to
bother with the computer.
If I have one niggle with the S90's multitimbral
setup, it's that busy sequences heavy in controller data can cause the
sequencer to 'choke' and slow down. Pressing some front-panel buttons
during playback — such as you might to search for new Voices in the Mix
Template — can also cause small hiccups during a busy performance. More
normal sequences, with a bit of restraint on the controller front, work
flawlessly.
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Free Software
Yamaha are nothing if not generous with the freebies they supply with
their instruments these days, and the S90 is no exception. Central to
the suite of software bundled with this instrument is the Voice Editor for S90
application (shown right), for both Mac and Windows, which provides
detailed and graphical access to all Voice parameters, plus easy
computer-based offlining of banks of your custom Voices. The only thing
you can really moan about is that you can only load up the Voices from
the User bank, and that it's not possible to edit Performances. File Utility
is also cross-platform, allowing files to be sent to and extracted from
a Smart Media card slotted in the S90. USB drivers for both platforms
are also supplied, as are setup files that allow various mix parameters
and transports of some popular MIDI sequencers, such as Cubase, Logic and Sonar, to be controlled from the S90.
There is more for PC users, though: they gain SQ01, a full sequencing software package, and the matching Auto Arranger utility that works in tandem with SQ01. Note that there is nothing specifically for Mac OS X yet, though a Mac OS X driver is available at www.yamahasynth.com.
Finally, an additional CD provides demo songs of, and editors for, Yamaha's family of PLG boards.
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The S90 As Controller
Quite independently of its synthesis facilities and
effects, a lot of people will be looking at an instrument like the S90
just for the quality of its keyboard and the potential offered by its
control set and master-keyboard functions.
First of all, I'll just say that I found playing the
keyboard a pleasure. It's perhaps a little lighter than the real thing,
but allows you to access the maximum expressiveness from the new piano
sample set. It's not quite the same as a real piano feel, but it's
close, and provides a good halfway-house for someone who spends most of
their time working with lightweight, plasticky synth keyboards.
Personally, I do find there's an adjustment period, but my fingers don't
get as tired on the S90 keyboard as they do on a real piano, and they
become used to the action much more quickly.
The keyboard is great for playing all manner of
piano Voices, but it can be a slightly disconcerting experience to play
more straight-ahead synth Voices and trigger drum sounds from such a
substantial keyboard — as it is with any weighted keyboard of this type.
As a source of real-time control, the S90 scores
well, starting with velocity and aftertouch sensitivity, pitch-bend and
mod wheels (which are located in a slightly odd but still accessible
area of the front panel), a pair each of footswitch and footpedal
sockets, breath-controller input, and four control sliders. The latter
can address up to 20 parameters between them, courtesy of a handy
'Control Function' button.
Beyond this, the S90 functions as a four-zone master
keyboard, capable of addressing onboard Voices or sounds from external
instruments, depending on what you wish to achieve. Up to four zones can
be layered, velocity-crossfaded and/or split across the keyboard, on
different MIDI channels when routed outside the synth.
There are 128 memories in which to save
master-keyboard setups, though a Master Mode memory could be something
as simple as just one Voice assigned to the whole keyboard. Used in this
way, you can create your own little sub-set of the onboard Voice
library for even easier access than when using the Category search
option.
One small point: a lot of synths and keyboards that I
play 'auto-sense' the polarity of the footswitch being used for
sustain-pedal functions, or have a 'utility' menu item that lets you
choose one or the other. Not the S90. The footswitch I had handiest
needed a quick solder job to function with the synth! And while I'm at
it, the manual also has to be the subject of some criticism. It appears
to be trying very hard to be clear and well-organised, but it fails. In a
manual of over 130 pages, 32 pages are given over to a Basic Section, and another 60 or so are gathered together as a Quick Guide!
The index isn't all it could be, and all I can say in its favour is
that the Reference/Function List section centralises all important facts
and features, though this still isn't perfect.
Conclusion
Overall, the S90 is a great instrument — fabulous to
play, producing a great sound that could stand its own in almost any
musical setting from club muso on stage to dance jockey in search of
something a bit more ambitious. It'll also impress clients in any studio
setting. I would have preferred to be more bowled over by the new piano
samples, but you can't have everything. And in any case, they may suit you
down to the ground — they certainly work in many contexts, just not a
solo classical recital! The effects complement seems a little stingy
compared with what's usual these days, but the quality is very good.
Apart from small niggles like the manual, it's hard
to be negative about the S90. Overall, the synth offers good value for
money, and is expandable (with PLG cards and the mLAN board). The Smart
Media slot also makes it a doddle to move data around and access MIDI
Files. My feeling is that it would sit well at the centre of a stage or
studio rig, and offers a level of playability that's unreachable with a
plastic synth keyboard.
Yamaha Motif ES
Music Production Synthesizer
Reviews : Keyboard
Two and a half years after the launch of
Yamaha's impressive Motif workstation synth, the range has been further
enhanced and upgraded. How much better can it get? We find out...
Photos: Mark Ewing
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Yamaha's Motif family of sampling, sequencing, synth workstations was launched in 2001 (and reviewed in SOS in September of that year — see www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep01/articles/yamahamotif7.asp). Since then, the range has carved quite a niche for itself in a market
that has just a handful of major players — the various flavours of
Korg's Triton and Roland's recent Fantom S come to mind. Now that Yamaha
have decided it's time to upgrade the range, it would seem that they've
preferred to take advantage of public familiarity with the Motif name
rather than launch a completely new range. Enter the Motif ES (or
'Expanded System').
In response to user requests, many extra features
were added to the original Motif over time by way of software updates.
But some of the requested facilities required hardware changes that
would be impossible to retrofit to an existing instrument. Having made
the decision to produce a 'next generation' of Motifs, it was a logical
step to develop a new chipset that would make these enhancements easy to
implement.
There wasn't a whole lot wrong with the original
Motifs, and the technology is still appearing in new gear such as the
S90 88-note synth I reviewed last month (albeit with the benefit of the
aforementioned Motif software updates built in). But we're nearly three
years down the road, and technology has moved on. Hence, ES offers
128-voice polyphony (more than double that of the original), redesigned
effects and EQ, even more pattern-generation capability from the
arpeggiator, and an operating system that seems generally smoother and
faster. More fundamentally, perhaps, there is also a new synth engine.
Subjectively, the filters seem to me to have a more 'analogue' feel —
more than the average sample-based synth — and the EGs are very
responsive. And there's a much larger waveform ROM on board; it's
equivalent to 175MB, with 1859 waveforms. Many offer specialised,
performance-based samples (for example, guitar string squeaks and
harmonics) which are combined in the factory presets to provide voices
that produce many of the signature effects of the instruments being
simulated (more on this later). Also more numerous are the factory
Voices: 768 presets in six banks, and 64 factory drum kits, plus a
General MIDI sound set and 256 user Voice memories (and 32 user drum kit
locations). That's a lot more Voices than on the original Motif!
Strangely, for an enhanced instrument, a number of
features have gone missing, the most odd of which (on UK-bought
instruments, anyway) is onboard sample RAM! Yes, in order for your new
sampling synth workstation to sample, you'll first have to buy some RAM.
To be fair, RAM prices are volatile in the UK at the moment,
and it must have been tricky for Yamaha to work out costings that
included RAM, but it still feels like an expense is being passed on to
the customer so the price of the ES can be kept down. Mind you, I should
point out that unlike Yamaha's last few rounds of sample-based
products, the ES's onboard sampler benefits from using standard, widely
available and affordable DIMM RAM modules — to a total of 512MB.
Other features — such as the option to add Yamaha's
PLG synth-expansion boards and the ability to use the ES as a
sophisticated master keyboard or real-time control surface — remain from
the original Motif, albeit with subtle enhancements here and there.
Motif-ation
Look quickly, and you'd be forgiven for thinking
there were no physical differences between the original and the new
Motif. The striking silver livery, the central LCD, and the number and
layout of knobs, sliders, buttons, not to mention the front-panel
screening and connector complement, is practically identical. But there
are differences, some subtle, some significant. One of my favourite
changes is the move to big chunky buttons for the sequencer transport
controls — very satisfying. There's also more direct, front-panel
control over where the real-time knobs and sliders are routed. And I was
glad to see a rather Korg-like ribbon controller join the pitch-bend
and modulation wheels as a source of real-time control. A few extra
buttons allow access to the extra factory preset Voice banks and a
couple of other functions.
There's connectivity galore on the Motif ES, as
you'd expect from a high-end workstation: two USB ports, the full set of
three five-pin MIDI connections, dual footswitch and pedal inputs, twin
stereo analogue outputs (one main pair, and one assignable), a
headphones connection, and a stereo analogue input with associated gain
control. Above are the Smart Media slot and blanking panel where up to
three optional PLG sound-expansion boards may be installed. There's no
SCSI, though!
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Operationally, existing Motif owners will be on
familiar ground — they'll just find more choices in some places and new
options in others. Newcomers may have a small struggle, and won't be
aided by the manual. It appears to have all the necessary bits, but like
many Yamaha manuals I've experienced recently, it is not organised in
the most accessible or friendly way. Nor is all information usefully
indexed or referenced in what appears to be three tables of contents. If
you find yourself regularly looking for a particular fact or operation,
get out a yellow highlighter and some post-it notes and customise the
manual to suit you — it works for me!
Luckily, the Motif is fairly logical to operate:
just pay attention to what you do, particuarly paying attention to the
display options that line up with the 'softkeys' laid out under the LCD.
The display does get rather busy sometimes, so that it can be tricky to
see where you can move a cursor, and in some cases (such as when
selecting insert effects), you're not even sure if the cursor is in the
right place. Quite often, though, the important information you're
looking for (such as how much sampling time is left) can be found by
pressing the 'Information' button! It's just under the LCD.
The back panel shows many interesting changes,
reflecting perhaps the direction taken by the market for external
storage devices. For example, the original Motif's SCSI port has gone;
this isn't a surprising change, but not all Yamaha's supplied software
is comfortable with the new non-SCSI regime, as we'll discover later
(see the 'Interfacing & Software' box at the end of this article).
The Motif ES retains the original's built-in Smart Media card slot and
USB 'To Host' computer-bound socket, and gains an additional USB 'To
Device' connector, which allows ES users to add USB-based storage
devices, whether they be hard drives, ultra-compact flash RAM devices or
CD-ROM drives (I even successfully tried a USB floppy drive). A CD-ROM
drive would be a useful addition: a CD full of native sound libraries is
supplied with UK-sold ESs, and it's possible to load samples off CD via
the ES's file menu. It is not possible, however, to write data to blank
CDs in a CD writer. One way or another, you'll need external storage of
some kind, whether it's a Smart Media card or USB device, to store the
contents of your 512MB of sample RAM.
Depending on how you work, you may need to buy yet
further extra hardware to make your ES work the way you'd expect it to: I
instantly noticed that the ES has also lost the original's S/PDIF
stereo digital audio output. This can be restored on an ES if you buy
the optional AIEB2 board (which also adds digital ins and extra analogue
outs).
As with the original Motif, there are three
instruments in the ES range, and all three are internally and
functionally identical, with the same knob, slider and interfacing
collection, as well as the same synth-expansion options. The only way
the three ESs differ is in their size and their keyboards: ES6 and ES7
have a plastic velocity- and aftertouch-sensitive synth-action keyboard,
of 61 and 76 notes respectively, while the sexy Balanced Hammer Action
acoustic-piano simulation is saved for the 88-note Motif ES 8. Actually,
there is a fourth instrument in the range, and it's a bit of
an orphan: Yamaha are apparently keeping the original Motif 6 on their
books as an entry-level workstation option, though obviously this
instrument is rather different from the ES instruments it joins.
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Sounds
It's practically impossible to summarise or round
up the sound of the Motif ES — there are just too many Voices and
Performances! But I did develop a couple of favourites. For a chance to
hear some of these, head for: www.soundonsound.com/soundbank.
I liked the acoustic pianos, and they fit pop and jazz contexts nicely,
as most Yamaha pianos do. The acoustic, electric and synth basses are
also varied and playable, the latter particularly revealing the ES's
solid bottom end.
The ES's guitars are also worthy of note, the
acoustics especially offering a bright, upfront sound. The winds and
brass are less varied, and the orchestral strings are OK for basses,
cellos and some ensembles, but the violas and violins were not so good —
they seldom are on an all-round instrument such as this. However, the
drum samples are definitely worth a compliment; Yamaha's drum sounds
always seem to have the right balance of useable real kit samples,
processed examples, bites from drum-machine history and mangled kits
aimed at more contemporary music idioms.
Purely synthetic sounds — leads, pads, textures —
pour out of this instrument with presence and depth. They're also
instructive as to what you, the user, will be able to create under your
own steam. The rawest, squelchiest, most '80s-sounding presets work
really well and are often teamed up with drums and apreggiations in fun
Performances. I'm not usually one to plug one-finger music-making, but
some of these are really good.
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Synth Engine
In some ways, it's good that Yamaha don't change the
way that users access their synthesis technology — the basic concept of
the AWM2 'Advanced Wave Memory' sample-and-synthesis system has been
stable for a number of product generations. If you stick with Yamaha
synths, you'll always know how to drive them, even if the waveforms,
converters and synth engine change. And in some ways, this makes it easy
for reviewers — after reviewing so many AWM2 products, I can summarise a
Yamaha synth's hierarchy in 25 words or less!
For these reasons, existing Yamaha synth owners can
skip the next few paragraphs. Those who need reminding of the typical
Yamaha architecture can start by considering the Element, which would be
a subtractive synth in its own right in other circumstances. An
Element's oscillator is a waveform selected from the central ROM (or, on
the Motif ES, from any user samples currently in RAM), and this is
shaped by the Motif ES's resonant filter (choose from a possible 18
types), an LFO (which includes user-defineable modulation 'waveforms'),
pitch parameters, and three EGs — one each for pitch, amplitude and
filter.
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There are up to four Elements in a Voice, which is
the first level at which the user can play something. A Voice also
allows you to mix, key-split and velocity-split the Elements, and add
effects — two main effects, and two inserts that can be applied to
individual Elements if desired (more detaiIs on the ES's effects engine
in just a moment). An arpeggiator can be added to the brew; actually five arpeggiators can be added, and you can then instantly switch between them via five of the keys beneath the LCD.
There are a couple of buzz words floating around in
the brochures and advertising for the Motif ES which don't appear in the
manual. One of these is 'Mega Voice', a term that was introduced with
Yamaha's Tyros home-arranger keyboard. It seemed odd that the company's
top pro keyboard should inherit ideas from one of their home
instruments, but there is an underlying logic. For a start, there are
many automatic music creation tools built into the Motif ES — which you
don't have to use, I hasten to add! — and the Mega Voice concept is
basically sound. As mentioned earlier, a finished voice, typically a
simulation of a 'real' instrument, is given many of the performance
attributes of the real thing (for example, guitar voices will offer
hammer-ons, string squeaks and body thumps). These attributes are
supplied by special samples, and are accessed by changes in playing
velocity or by giving them their own key range. In practice, this means
that many of these sonic elements are difficult to play in real time
with any sensitivity. But some of the ES's new complex arpeggiator
patterns take advantage of 'Mega Voice' performance-oriented samples, so
that the squeaks, bumps and so on are generated in a musically valid
way (see the box on arpeggiation below for more on this).
As always, a Yamaha drum kit can have a sample
assigned to each key of your keyboard, with each functioning like an
independent synth. Insert effects are also available in a drum kit,
along with the two main effects with sends to each from every sample in
the kit.
The beefed-up sequencer transport controls and mode-selection buttons.
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Finally, at the top of the ES's voice architecture
is the Performance: four Voices collected together with optional
user-defineable key and/or velocity ranges to help create a more
involving, complex sound. Arpeggiation can also be added at this level,
again with five variations. If you have optional PLG synth boards
installed (up to three will fit in the ES), then Voices from these
boards can also be added to a Performance, so if you've spent the money,
your Performance can be seven Voices strong. Unlike the Combi on Korg
workstations (which is made up of up to eight parts), the four Voices in
a Yamaha Performance can not be addressed on separate MIDI channels.
Nor is there a way, as there was with Yamaha's own SY85 of several years
back, to use Performances directly in a multitimbral Song.
Both Voices and Performances benefit from Yamaha's
Category Search facility — you'll appreciate it, too, when trying to
navigate the hundreds of memories on offer. The Categories are accessed
via clearly labelled front-panel buttons (shown on the previous page),
and the on-screen display is clear about what you're seaching. Many
Categories are actually further divided into sub-categories such as
'Synth Lead' (with hard and soft types), 'Electric Piano' and 'Acoustic
Piano'. The Category Search function can be accessed within sequencer
Songs and Patterns for selecting Voices. In addition, the Favourites
Category allows you to highlight all the sounds you use most, from
within all the other Categories, and corral them into one collection.
When using Category Search, the Favourites button lets you access all
the Voices or Performances you know you like. Finally, your own custom
Patches can be assigned to Yamaha's Categories, and this is actually a
good habit to get into, even if you then further assign most of them to
the Favourites macro-Category!
Effects
Throughout the long history of AWM2 instruments,
Yamaha haven't really done much to change the effects configuration of
their instruments — until now. The ES sees a big change in the way
Yamaha handle effects in a synth workstation. Of course, there are send
effects, and here there are two main categories: Chorus (49 types
including delay effects as well as modulation) and Reverb (20 types).
They are accessed by a send system whether you're working with the
individual Elements in a Voice, Voices in a Performance, or Voices
assigned to a sequencer Pattern or Song. In addition, there are 116
insert effects. For Voices, there are two freely assignable inserts —
and they're quite sophisticated ones, too, many newly designed from
scratch for the ES. Splendidly, these choices are maintained when the
Voices are used in a Performance, so there's no need for insert effects per se
within Performances. However, each part in a Performance also has its
own three-band EQ (new for the ES), plus synth offset controls which
allow you to customise a Voice from within the Performance without
having to overwrite the original Voices.
In Song and Pattern modes, however, the insert
effects complement is multiplied by four. You read correctly: eight
insert effects, of the same quality and range, can be used within any
Song or Pattern. While this arrangement doesn't quite equal the superb
flexibility of Korg's Triton, it moves much closer, and is rather more
powerful than what Yamaha have previously offered.
There are no new effect names as such —
tempo-sync'ed delays and flangers, distortion, rotary-speaker effects
and enhancers are joined by the usual 'Jump', 'Slice' and 'Talking
Modulation' effects that we've grown to love on Yamaha instruments.
Some, however, especially those with a vintage feel, have been
redesigned frorm scratch with reference to classic pedals and the like.
Even that isn't even the whole story: a five-band
master EQ (similar to that on the original Motif) is here joined by a
mastering effects processor, the gem of which is a multi-band
compressor, which is perfect for sweetening the mixes output by the ES.
Other mastering options include DJ effects such as a dynamic filter,
lo-fi and distortion effects — although these don't really count as
'mastering' processes in my dictionary, fun and useful as they are!
Finally, of course, there's the aforementioned three-band EQ, which can
be added to all four parts of a Performance and all 16 tracks of a
sequencer in Song or Pattern mode. It all adds up to a lot of built-in
signal processing.
Sequencing
Sequencing on the Motif ES is, in the same way as on
the original, divided into two modes: Pattern and Song. The actual
recording and editing process is roughly the same in both, in that up to
16 channels of MIDI data can be recorded in step or real time, with
user control over global sequencing parameters such as time signature,
tempo, input quantise, and so on. The step-time recording option is
particularly flexible, allowing you to use the keyboard and/or the grid
display in a way reminiscent of older hardware sequencers.
Post-recording editing functions almost equal those in a dedicated
software sequencer, except that you have to edit via the Motif ES's
relatively small display, of course! Both the Korg Triton and the Roland
Fantom S, ES's closest competition, have much larger displays. What's
more, the Fantom S offers the option of connecting a mouse and monitor,
and the Triton features Korg's nifty touchscreen, which helps OS
navigation and parameter editing more than you might think.
Standard editing functions such as quantise,
transpose, velocity- and gate-time manipulation, and cut, paste and
delete are joined (in Pattern mode) by a couple of nifty functions.
'Remix' basically randomises data on a track, often producing new and
interesting material. It's a good trick to apply to tracks on which
samples have been recorded and split (more on sample tracks in a
moment). There's also the playback-only 'Grid Groove' option, the
closest Motif ES gets to groove templates.
There's no touchscreen, as on the Korg Triton
family — you navigate around the display via the usual soft tabs which
line up with on-screen options, and by cursoring using the direction
buttons to the right of the LCD.
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Pattern mode feels, as it did on the original Motif,
as if it's borrowed from a home arranger-style keyboard. If you've used
pattern-based sequencing on a drum machine or hardware sequencer
before, you might find some of the terms confusing; the 64 available
'Patterns' are here merely the memory locations in which you store
sequence data. Within each Pattern memory, you can have up to 16
different 'Sections', which more closely resemble what were called
patterns in drum machines and sequencers of years gone by. Each Section,
which can be up to 256 bars long on the Motif ES, can have a completely
different set of Voices assigned to each track, if desired, with full
mixing facilities: level and pan, three-band EQ, eight insert effects
freely assignable as you need them, two send effects, plus the master
effects and master EQ. The integrated sampling sequencer really comes
into its own here: not only can Voices be assigned to sequencer tracks,
but sampled audio can be recorded there, too, for something not a
million miles away from hard disk recording without the hard disk. The
upshot is that it's pretty easy to create anything from a scratch
backing track to a fully fledged composition.
Each Pattern memory now contains a chain function
(only one pattern chain was permitted on the original Motif), which is
used to determine the order in which the sequenced Sections you've
created will be played back. If your Sections have different Voices
assigned to tracks, then the changes show up as program changes. While
chaining, it's possible to change mixer settings, so a single Section
could be the basis for a whole track with muting and unmuting of parts.
Song mode, meanwhile, provides a more linear,
tape-like recording environment. Much of the basic feel is the same as
Patterns — you have all the same setup and editing options, and can
record samples into tracks. There's a certain degree of
interconvertibility, in that Pattern chains can be converted into Songs
if you wish. This eradicates the Section boundaries in the Pattern
chain, creating a continuous sequence, over which you can then overdub
more longform solos, or mix and arrange your Song in a more linear
manner. There are 64 Song memories in total. Both Songs and Patterns are
lost on power down, so you'll need external storage of some kind to
avoid losing your work.
One Song mode trick worth mentioning is the way that
individual tracks can be looped by means of an independent switch on
each track. If activated, whatever is on that track will automatically
loop to the length of the longest track in the Song. So a two-bar drum
loop could play for four minutes to provide backing for a piano part,
say, without you having to program the drums to last the length of the
piano part.
Of course, the ES sequencer can also play external
MIDI sounds, or the ES can be played as a multitimbral sound module
from an external sequencer. The ES will also load and save data in MIDI
File Format, so if you do have a computer, you can rework material with
the tools offered by both platforms. The sequencer proved resistant to
crashing, except when playing back absurdly controller-heavy data, but
as on the S90 I reviewed for SOS last month (see www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec03/articles/yamahas90.htm), pressing patch-selection buttons while the sequencer was running did cause timing problems, which could be annoying.
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Freebies
Yamaha are quite good at keeping their customers supplied with extras, most of them free. For example, A Complete Guide to the Yamaha Motif ES is a handy DVD wth a running time of nearly three hours, and it's free to anybody — even people just thinking
about buying an ES. It runs through loads of operational routines in a
clear manner, and your understanding is really helped by seeing the
moves in action, rather than trying to figure out what the manual means.
You may not get a Smart Media card in the box, but
once you've bought an ES, make a point of registering it: buy one
between now and January 31, 2004, and Yamaha will send you the Atmosfear
voice set — 64 synth pads and soundscapes designed in the UK — on a
Smart Media card absolutely free. They just need to see a copy of your
Motif ES receipt, and your name and address. Note that this offer is
only open to Yamaha customers in the UK and Eire, though.
The Motif users' site www.motifator.com
also offers a lot of useful content, in the form of tutorials and extra
sounds, both free and commercial (Motif voices can be loaded into the
ES, remember). I found a detailed document here which explored
transferring Voices, samples and sequence data from the older synth to
the new, which could be useful if you need to know how.
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Sampling
As an owner of Yamaha's A5000 rack sampler, and
having co-reviewed the original Motif, I knew what to expect from the
sampling side of the ES. But even here there are changes, most notably
in the RAM specified by Yamaha: PC100 or PC133 168-pin DIMMs, which are
inexpensive, and currently in plentiful supply. The maximum RAM
installable is also 512MB in two RAM modules (the original Motif maxed
out at 64MB!). RAM can only be installed in pairs, so the minimum
loadable will be 128MB in two 64MB DIMMs.
Sampling is undertaken via the stereo analogue
inputs, or by internally recording a mix of whatever the Motif ES is
playing at a given time. Add an AIEB2 input/output expansion board or
the imminent mLAN16E board, and you'll be able to sample digitally, too.
Getting samples from your computer isn't straightforward: there's no
SCSI connection as there was with on the original Motif, so you'll need a
Smart Media card plus a reader attached to your computer to do the
swap. A USB device that you can swap between synth and computer will
also do the trick, though the manual warns about hot-swapping USB
devices, especially those powered by the USB connection.
There's a choice of automatic or manual sampling,
with a range of level and input controls (the analogue input, for
example, can accept line or mix signals). A wide range of sampling rates
is available, from 44.1kHz down to 5.5125kHz (48kHz is available with
the AIEB2 option installed). Once you've taken a sample, it can be
comprehensively edited, with options including normalisation, trimming,
looping, and a good time-stretch. The sampling procedure is elegant,
with a dedicated window accessible from Voice, Song or Pattern mode
which allows you to record samples directly into a sequence in the way
described earlier.
Once there, a MIDI event is also recorded to trigger
the sample, and it's possible to split rhythmic material up —
especially drum loops and so on — using the Slice function. The Motif ES
then creates several more triggers to fire each slice, creating in
effect a multisample of the original sample's constituent beats, so that
it's possible to slow down and speed up a sequence without compromising
the sample in any way — the closest comparison would be with
Propellerhead's Recycle software.
Also worthy of mention is Loop Remix function, a
Yamaha staple which takes a sliced loop and reorders and/or reverses the
slices to create new rhythmic or textural material unobtainable in any
other way.
As well as recording samples into the ES's
sequencer, you can also use them as the basis for custom instrumental
multisampled waveforms. You start with a sample, then this is assigned
to a range of notes (and velocities, if desired) that play it on the
keyboard, becoming a Keybank in the process. Several Keybanks arranged
together as a related multisample become a Waveform, which in turn can
be used at the heart of an Element in a Motif ES Voice.
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Interfacing & Software
The Motif ES's interfacing is quite comprehensive, but as noted
elsewhere in the review, changes have been made that result in some
small disappointments. For example, the original Motif's SCSI socket has
gone, but in its place is a USB-to-Device socket. However, there was
one neat thing about connecting the original Motif to a computer: the
link allowed the computer to see SCSI drives and Smart Media cards
connected to the Motif, and Yamaha's File Utility software
(also supplied with the S90) allowed data to be transferred to and fro.
The ES is less straightforward in this respect. The manual explicitly
notes that USB devices attached to the ES's 'To Device' USB port will not be seen by a computer attached to the 'To Host' port. More worryingly, File Utility
isn't included in the ES's software bundle, so it's not clear if a
computer will be able to talk to a Smart Media card inserted into the
ES! It seems not.
Certainly, if you have an Smart Media card reader
attached to, or built into, your computer, simply moving the card
between synth and computer will allow you to move samples and other data
easily. But that's yet another expense for the new Motif ES owner. I'd
also note that the included version of Yamaha's excellent Tiny Wave Editor
sample-editing package still thinks it's living in a SCSI world with
the original (SCSI-equipped) Motif and offers no way of directly beaming
samples to (or extracting them from) the Motif ES — you need to move
Smart Media cards or other USB storage devices to and fro. There is no
other way.
Computer interfacing will become more interesting,
though, when Yamaha's new improved mLAN board — the mLAN16E — becomes
available later this year: audio and MIDI can be passed in both
directions down a single cable, so it seems that the sampling inputs and
insert effects become useable within whatever sequencing environment
you use.
Other supplied software — the excellent Voice Editor application and the PC-only SQ01
sequencer — function perfectly via the USB connection, as do other MIDI
applications. None of the supplied software is for Mac OS X, the now
default OS for Apple computers. Nor will the supplied software run in
Classic emulation mode. A Mac OS X driver can be downloaded from www.yamahasynth.com, but there was no news of anything else as we went to press.
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Motif ES As Master Keyboard
Not only can the Motif ES be a sequencing, sampling
synth workstation, it also has something to offer as the master keyboard
in a larger MIDI studio. These facilities have been inherited from the
original Motif, via the recent S90 synth. Essentially, it's possible to
layer, key-split or velocity-split up to four ES Voices, up to four
patches on external MIDI instruments, or a mix of the two — like a
super-Performance that's not limited to sounds on the ES itself.
Master keyboard setups are saved into one of 128
master memories. Unusually — and usefully — these memories can
accommodate practically anything located on the ES. It's possible to
save anything to a Master memory, whether that be a Voice, Performance,
Pattern or Song. This facility is offered to make what is a deep and
complex instrument easier to navigate when you're in a hurry. Simply
plonk all your favourite Voices, Performances, Songs or Patterns in
Master memories, and they can be recalled more quickly than by scrolling
through the rest of the OS in normal circumstances. The feature is
especially useful for live users of the Motif ES: you can set up a chain
of whatever you want to use on stage for instant recall. A footswitch
can also step through the Master memory list, if desired. So you could
have a Song in memory 1, followed by a Voice to vamp with during a break
between songs, then the next song and so on. For studio users, the
master memory list could be treated like a 'favourites' list, so that
your most commonly used data is more accessible than by other means.
Conclusions
In summing up the Motif ES, I can only echo comments
made in the review of the original Motif. It features everything you'd
expect — bar sample RAM! — and should be able to do anything reasonable
that you want it to. The interface is neutral enough to suit any style
of music you'd want to create with it, and the huge waveform ROM,
coupled with the large number of presets, covers enough bases that you
won't have to buy PLG cards unless you really want to! The synthesis
capabilities are familiar, yet somehow better than previously,
particularly as regards effects implementation, and the sound is solid
and vibrant. It's also good to see the sampler and sequencer so well
integrated.
Overall, the often subtle but significant changes to
the Motif range indicate more of an evolutionary move up the ladder,
rather than something radically different from what has gone before.
Aspects are better, certainly, but not in the consistent way
that made the original Motif such an eye-opener. That said, Motif ES is,
and will remain for some time, one of the 'must-test' options for those
seeking an all-in-one synth/sampling workstation. The choice won't be
easy, but make it an ES and you won't be disappointed.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Clavia Nord Lead 2X
Virtual Analogue Performance Synth
Reviews : Keyboard
The follow-up to Clavia's Nord Lead 3 is not
the Nord Lead 4 (well, not yet, anyway), but a beefed-up version of the
Nord Lead 2! We find out why, and how it improves on the original.
Photos: Mark Ewing
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With their Nord Lead 3 (reviewed back in SOS July 2001 — see www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul01/articles/nordlead3.asp),
Swedish virtual-analogue pioneers Clavia produced an instrument with a
remarkable user interface. The continuous knobs ringed with LEDs were an
absolute delight, and the inclusion of an aftertouch-enabled keyboard
and a real display for patch names seemed a significant (and overdue)
advance over the earlier Nord Leads. With these things in mind, you'd
hardly expect the next Clavia synthesizer to be a reworked version of
the six-year-old Nord Lead 2. Of course you've spotted the title of this
review already, so you know that's exactly what Clavia have
done. If your first question (as mine was) is 'Why?', check out the box
of the same name over the page. If that takes care of 'Why?', then read
on for more on exactly what the Nord Lead 2X — and its rack counterpart
the Nord Rack 2X — have to offer.
Red Again
The Nord Lead established itself in the mid-'90s as
the classic design for virtual-analogue synths. I reviewed the Nord Lead
2 back in September 1997 (see www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/sep97/clavianordlead2.html),
so it was something of a surprise to meet it afresh in 2003. Especially
because, with the exception of a detachable power cord and an 'X' in
its name, I couldn't immediately spot the enhancements. Rather than
rehash its spec or re-twiddle its knobs, why not check out the 'At A
Glance' box below and the pics above and over the page for a refresher
of what's what. For convenience here, I'll sum up the Nord Lead 2 as a
twin-oscillator analogue-modelling synth with four-part multitimbrality,
each part being referred to as a 'Slot'. This structure allows for
layering of patches, split keyboards or control via four separate MIDI
channels. As there are no onboard effects to play with (unless you count
the MIDI delay and distortion in the filter section), the 2X's four
audio outputs are welcome, and may be used to process each slot
individually if you wish. Perhaps my favourite Nord feature is its
'morphing', which is cleverly implemented to extract the maximum sonic
diversity from the minimum knob count (more on this in that box below).
For traditional analogue tones, the oscillators
sound fine, the filter recreations are pleasing, the envelopes are
snappy and the modulation options are well-chosen. And with no
menu-hopping required to program patches, you know pretty much where you
are at all times with this intuitive red metal synth.
Time gives a chap the opportunity to reflect, and it
was interesting to revisit the sounds and operation of an instrument
that I quite enjoyed, but never truly embraced, and view it in the
context of the competition six years on. Perhaps surprisingly, the new
model holds its own rather well, although the competition has thinned
out somewhat lately. In the UK, it slots into the 'around £1000' price
bracket, nestling below the various Virus keyboard versions but well
above the (recently discounted) Novation K-Series and the much cheaper
(but only eight-note polyphonic) Alesis Ion.
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The Nord Lead 2X At A Glance
 Four-octave velocity-sensitive keyboard with no aftertouch.Octave Shift buttons (±2 octaves).Keyboard-split function.Wooden pitch stick that changes the pitch continuously, offering pitch-bend or natural vibrato in one controller.Modulation wheel offering control over several destinations or over the morphing feature. One pedal input for sustain and one for the expression pedal. Four unbalanced audio outputs — each slot may have its own output or a variety of mono and stereo configurations.Three-digit LED display, 26 knobs and 27 buttons for program editing.
The two oscillators generate sine, triangle,
sawtooth or pulse waves with adjustable width. Additionally, Oscillator 2
has variable coloured noise with a unique sync option producing
decidedly digital-sounding waveforms; it also features hard sync and may
frequency-modulate Oscillator 1. The ring modulator produces atonal
effects as the two oscillators are cross-processed, and when ring
modulation is active, the FM Amount knob controls the modulated signal's
timbre and pitch. A little trick to regain control of FM amount when
the ring modulation is active involves using the mod wheel and setting
its destination to FM.
Clavia's distinctive filters include
12dB-per-octave low-pass and 24dB-per-octave low-pass, band-pass and
high-pass types, as well as a combination notch and low-pass filter.
Envelope amount is controllable via velocity and keyboard tracking may
set to full, two-thirds, one-third or off. A Filter Distortion button
adds a preset amount of distortion.
Modulation is catered for by two LFOs with a
variety of waveforms and destinations, although you can select only one
destination per LFO. LFO2 also controls the rate for the simple (but
effective) arpeggiator. A MIDI Echo function is present, and can be set
between one and eight repeats (as this generates new MIDI notes, it can
eat into polyphony if used gratuitously). A modulation envelope (attack,
decay) for Osc 2 pitch, FM amount and pulse width is included too.
Each knob may be programmed for velocity control or
may be 'morphed' by the modulation wheel (or pedal) to continuously
fade between two sets of values. Some of the Nord's most complex sounds
are created this way, the knobs controlling multiple value changes
simultaneously.
Up to four program Slots (A-D) may be active at
once for layered or split keyboard effects. There are dedicated buttons
to select the Play mode from the following options: poly, legato, mono,
unison mono, and unison poly. Finally, there's a Portamento control.
All the Nord 2X's control knobs and switches for
program editing transmit and receive MIDI Control Change messages. Other
MIDI goodies include synchronisation of the LFOs, and remote triggering
of the filter and amplifier envelopes or velocity control from separate
MIDI channels for some fascinating sequencing possibilities.
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So, What's New?
Basically, the Nord 2X offers more patch storage,
increased polyphony and better D-A converters. The Nord Lead 2 had a
respectable 16 notes of polyphony — four times the amount of the
original Nord Lead. The new model sees a further increase, cranking the
total up to 20 notes. An extra four notes may not seem too radical, but
they really count when using layered patches.
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The biggest change of all is in the amount of memory
available. A limitation of the original Nord Lead 2 was its meagre
internal storage — just 40 user Programs and, worse, user Performances
(multitimbral or layered collections of up to four patches) could not be
stored internally at all — you needed to purchase an additional
battery-backed SRAM card. Happily, things are far better in the 2X model
(which has no card slot), as internal memory now consists of 990 single
sounds — 396 of these user-programmable, 594 ROM factory sounds.
Furthermore, there are 400 Performances; annoyingly, 300 of these are
still fixed in ROM, but there are 100 RAM Performances in which to store
original creations. Finally, where the Nord Lead 2 had 10 analogue
drumkits, the 2X has 40, and all of them are user-programmable. Each
percussion kit features eight drums, configured in eight zones across
the keyboard. See the 'Sounds' box over the page for more on these.
Having so many sounds on board is both a blessing
and a curse. If it sounds as though I'm never satisfied, let me explain;
the curse part boils down to issues surrounding navigation. The Nord
Lead series (prior to the Nord Lead 3) relied on a three-character
display and pretty much got away with it. Now, though, with almost 1000
single sounds to call upon, locating a particular patch amongst the
throng is a challenge — and that's even before you tackle the problem of
remembering the patch number you want. For a start, you cannot leap
directly to a particular bank. Instead, you must scroll through the
onboard patches until you reach your destination. Holding down the shift
key increments patches in steps of 10 but, even so, getting around is
fairly laborious.
The rear panel is almost identical to that of the
original Nord Lead 2, with individual audio outs for each of the synth's
four 'slots', sustain and expression pedal inputs, and a headphone
socket. Shame there's still no MIDI Thru, though.
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Programs are divided into Banks, each containing 100
patches. Banks are represented numerically on the display by their
first digit and a dot. The two remaining characters represent the patch
number from 0-99. Thus Bank 1, program 21 is shown as '1.21' (bank
number zero is represented as a blank, for greater clarity). Percussion
kits are located at the end of each bank and are preceded by a 'P' so
'3.P0' is not an affectionate nickname for the cheerful Star Wars robot, but the first kit in Bank 3.
Performances are organised into four banks of 100.
They are named according to the convention 'A0' to 'L9' (the letters 'I'
and 'K' are excluded, as these characters don't work terribly well in
the display), so '4.B1' refers to Bank 4, Performance 12. When you
create a Performance, it automatically takes copies of each Program it
uses. This means you can tweak each in turn with no fear of overwriting
the Program upon which it is based, although you can store your work in a
standard Program bank if you wish. Holding down multiple slot buttons
at any time is a quick and easy way to try out new layers. All this adds
up to a simple, flexible system.
If this all seems familiar, you're forgiven, as this
synth is architecturally identical to the original Nord Lead 2; indeed,
all patches are 100-percent compatible with it. The most significant
enhancement left to mention is one you may not instantly notice:
improved digital-to-analogue converters. The Nord Lead 2X contains
high-resolution, low-noise 24-bit DACs running at 96kHz (the Nord Lead 2
had 18-bit converters). The end result is a clean-sounding synth with a
nice sizzle and bite, although the original was no wallowing hippo
itself. For more on the sounds in the 2X, see the 'Sounds' box below.
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Sounds
With so many patches on board, auditioning them all
took me several days; I hope you'll accept my description of a small
cross-section of favourites. Note that the names are retrieved from the
manual due to the display limitations mentioned elsewhere in this
article. For a chance to hear these sounds, surf to www.soundonsound.com/soundbank.
PERFORMANCES
C4:
'Split Flute Echo' — this Performance splits the keyboard, placing an
analogue bass in the left hand. It uses the built-in MIDI delay effect
to liven up a sweet right-hand solo.D0:
'Cave Pad' — this isn't so much a pad as a tuned resonant percussive
patch based on the noise waveform of Oscillator 2. Place this in a
cathedral-type reverb for an awesome, atmospheric sound.G4:
'ARP Erasure' — two layered parts feature here, with their arpeggiators
set to randomly emit a lively, bright series of patterns. I warrant
they'd bring a smile to the impassive face of Vince Clarke himself.G7
(and also 2.G7): 'Synth Brass Section' — analogue brass sounds that
sound classy even when compared to those in my Oberheim Xpander. I can't
think of higher praise than that.H6: 'Hybrid WurliRhodes'— One of several highly useable electric pianos.L2: 'Plastic Bass' — there are many chunky, powerful basses. This is a rather Jarre-ish example.2.L1: 'Short Wave Opera' — vocal textures with added noise making for an evocative pad.
There is also a range of specifically programmed
organ performances, such as the excellent 'All Even Harmonics' located
at 1.H1. Clavia hint at a rotary speaker using simple vibrato and
morphing capabilities. Throughout the organ performances, slot D
contains a 'click' and, of course, individual slots can be turned on or
off for variations. It's not quite the simplicity afforded by drawbars,
but it's not bad either.
PROGRAMS
There are literally hundreds of these, encompassing
the whole range for which analogue is justly famous — and there are
even a few successes where, traditionally, analogue struggled to
convince. Naturally, the synth is packed with basses, solos, pads,
brass, strings, electric pianos, bells, sound effects, arpeggios and
more. Mostly, they are of high quality, and it seems unfair to single
out any for special praise. Nevertheless, I must mention at least a
couple of favourites, such as 2.99, entitled 'Rain'. Add reverb to
produce a realistic downpour, or raise the mod wheel to transform the
sound into something reminiscent of frying bacon. For more conventional
uses, check out 4.73, 'ScoopPad', which uses velocity morphing and the
mod envelope sweeping the pitch of Oscillator 2 to produce a warm pad
with a marvellous initial glitch. I could (and did) noodle on that one
for ages. Naturally, Clavia have the whole gamut of squidgy analogue
sounds covered (eg. 2.77, 'HighPass 303') and even 'realistic' sounds,
such as acoustic guitar (5.22, 'The Thumb') and solo strings (8.26,
'Solo Cello') are bundled in too.
PERCUSSION KITS
The percussion kits offer no less than eight
simultaneously playable virtual-analogue sounds in a single slot, with
only one limitation (each voice in a kit has to share LFO settings with
its fellow drums). Each sound is mapped over a fixed area of the
keyboard known as a zone. The eight zones are divided between notes
'C'-'E' and 'F'-'B' in each of the Nord Lead 2X's four octaves. An
ingenious method of selecting the voice to edit involves simply hitting
any black note within that zone. Having fixed zones means you can't work
with General MIDI drum maps, but I suspect few potential Nord customers
will be unduly worried by this! The analogue percussion voices supplied
include zappy bass drums, noise-blast snares and toms, and metallic
percussion, but you can tailor them all to taste using the Nord's
synthesis options. They sound pleasantly Kraftwerk-like to me,
especially when layered and arpeggiated in a Performance.
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Conclusion
The Nord Lead 2X is a means of continuing production
of the Nord Lead 2, whilst along the way exploiting updated components.
However, many of the reservations I expressed in my original review
remain. The keyboard has no aftertouch, there is no MIDI Thru port and
there are no onboard effects. Mind you, neither these niggles nor a
relatively high price have prevented the Nords from gaining a strong
following, and the extra improvements are worthwhile. Four more notes of
polyphony proved very handy when using the 2X multitimbrally, and the
massive increase in onboard storage is also welcome. Perversely, having
so many patches now makes the display more of a liability — identifying
and locating favourite patches requires some method of your own, such as
the famous 'writing on bits of paper' technique or the use of patch
lists in a computer-based sequencer (if you use one). Those 24-bit DACs
sound good too.
In terms of sound and performance, you know what
you're getting with the 2X — namely a synth that delivers plenty from a
(largely) intuitive interface and which has a character all of its own
(indeed, some people are happy to admit that they prefer it over the
Nord Lead 3). Ultimately, it makes perfect sense to improve any
instrument for which demand remains high, and the fact that Clavia have
breathed new life into this range suggests that they see no reason to
abandon their classic line just yet.
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