Ableton Forum

any opinion

mickmike wrote:any opinion

Depends whether you are looking for true analog sound or not. It also depends on what kind of polyphony you are after. Another thing is how much "hands on" control you want.

As far as analog modelling synths go, I would say Nord's are the best. Would I say they sound truly analog? No, but having said that, they do have their own unique quality that can be equally as interesting. In terms of polyphony, I guess you know the specs - there is a lot more you can do simultaneously (voice-wise) in the Lead, though you can get a fair amount running on the tetra too - and it is analog! Hands on control is not great on the tetra - seems kinda limiting, whereas the Lead gives you a lot of options. So if you went tetra, I would suggest you need an external controller to give you that extra bit of hands on control.

What would my choice be? The Tetra. The reason being that I do not own a Dave Smith synth and I love the sound of them. Purists will say it is not the same as a Prophet 5 and they may be right, but I still really want one - in fact, I intend on buying a tetra in the next month or so. I do own 2 Nord synths - a G1 and a G2 modular - and I absolutely love them. They are the staple of my studio and I would not trade them for anything. You can pretty much do anything a Lead does on those (and more), so I don't really need or want a Lead. If I didn't own them, I would still go Tetra over the Lead, but would have a serious headache in choosing between a Tetra and a modular (G1 or G2). Actually, a modular would win out due to the almost limitless options they provide (have you considered that as an option?).

The bottom line is quality over function. This is not to say that the Tetra does not do a lot or the Lead is not quality, but when you compare both, the Tetra sounds better and the Nord does more! A tough choice, but I am sure you will get much use out of whichever you choose.

Tetra (:

tetra

I have two DSI synths (Mopho and MEK) and love them. I also have the Nord Lead 2x

One plus of the Nord Lead is it can receive midi simultaneously on 4 separate channels. So if you are going to do any sort of midi sequencing, it's quite powerful!

Still I love the sound of DSI stuff. It's a hard choice, and ultimately should be made based on how you intend to use it.

subsynth wrote:I have two DSI synths (Mopho and MEK) and love them. I also have the Nord Lead 2x

One plus of the Nord Lead is it can receive midi simultaneously on 4 separate channels. So if you are going to do any sort of midi sequencing, it's quite powerful!

Still I love the sound of DSI stuff. It's a hard choice, and ultimately should be made based on how you intend to use it.

I might be wrong, but I think the tetra can receive midi on 4 separate channels too...

trevox wrote:I might be wrong, but I think the tetra can receive midi on 4 separate channels too...

you are correct:
In Multi Mode, Tetra becomes a multitimbral sound module capable of playing four monophonic parts on four MIDI channels, with separate outputs for each voice.


But with the Nord Lead you can have 4 polyphonic parts, you are limited by the overall voice polyphony (20 voices total)
So you can have pads playing on one channel, leads on another, basses, etc.

first the nord and then a dark energy, knobs rule!

subsynth wrote:

trevox wrote:I might be wrong, but I think the tetra can receive midi on 4 separate channels too...

you are correct:
In Multi Mode, Tetra becomes a multitimbral sound module capable of playing four monophonic parts on four MIDI channels, with separate outputs for each voice.


But with the Nord Lead you can have 4 polyphonic parts, you are limited by the overall voice polyphony (20 voices total)
So you can have pads playing on one channel, leads on another, basses, etc.

Yep, as I said, that is where the Nord's extra polyphony makes it a worthy choice over the Tetra. Voice sharing is similar on the modulars in that you can have many voices in each part depending on what % of DSP you are using. If you only have one part, you have 4 dedicated DSP's. If you have 2 parts, you have 4 dedicated DSP's that will share across both parts etc etc. It's a pity the Tetra doesn't do something similar - i.e. allow one monophonic part and one 3 voice part or other such combinations. I wonder if there is any chance they could update the firmware to cater for this in future...

Don't forget Waldorf Blofeld. It's mostly wavetable though. More modern though.