Three years after: any love for the Nord Wave 2

[mauriziodececco]

I haven't found a lot of material in the forum around the Nord Wave 2, other than the discussion of three years ago in the MPN gear lab (that, will all due respect, were a little biased by missing the essential NW2 use-case).

 

I just sold my OB-6 (that sat unused for a number of years in my studio) and bought a NW2, that is substituting a MODX7 in my electro/jazz improvisation based group.

 

After the first experiences, i am very happy. Yes, it is true that the MODX7 is massively powerful, that can do almost anything and everything, but .... yes, if you spend hours in your studio doing sound design, it must be very gratifying. But if you need to change the chorus rate in a preset, or another parameter that has not been mapped to a macro, *while* improvising, well, you are out of luck, especially you do not remember perfectly well the menu structure.

 

To be clear, i  have nothing against the MODX menu organisation; i am an IT guy, used to switch OS as needed, and a new set of windows and menus do not scare me; the point is another, is playing versus programming; of course, it is a very specific use case, and in most of the cases this will not be a important subject.

 

In concrete terms, in a year using the MODX i almost used only presets, sometimes organising them in new performances, and may changed a couple of parameters (notable reverb levels). I was never able to program a single new sound from scratch, or to modify in depth an existing sound.

 

The day after receiving the NW2 i had a rehearsal, and in that single rehearsal i created and modified in depth more sounds than in a year with the MODX.   OK, i had other Nord keyboards in the past, so my brain is already wired for them, but it make a huge difference, if what you need is the ability to quickly and deeply interact with your synth while you are playing; the bandwidth between your brain/body and the keyboard is completely different.

 

So, anybody here having fun with a NW2 ? 

 

Anybody used a lightweight wheeled gigbag with it ?

 

Maurizio

[stoken6]

1 hour ago, mauriziodececco said:

missing the essential NW2 use-case

What is the essential NW2 use-case?

 

Cheers, Mike.

[mauriziodececco]

16 hours ago, stoken6 said:

What is the essential NW2 use-case?

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

 

OK, i admit the sentence was a kind of short 😇, to give a short answer i would say "knobs (and buttons)".

 

A longer one: it is a synth, not a workstation or rompler, that use samples as one as the sound source; don't use for organs, don't use for pianos or epianos, don't use it as a multi-timbral general purpose keyboard; it is not worth it. Use it if the high bandwidth between you and the sound engine is important, if direct access to the keyboard functionalities is important for you, more important that the compromise this approach imply, and if the added sample based sound engine is important for your sonic world.

 

Not to say there no other solutions in that direction, of course.

 

Maurizio

[stoken6]

I'd love to see Nord's organ model added to this to create a Nord "Weave" ("Wave"+clone"wheel").

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Tusker]

Maurizio, I think Tim gigs a NW or NW2 doesn't he? Lets hope he opines here ...

 

For a lot of contexts, we keyboardists need very simple sound shaping to blend with the rest of the band. 

20 hours ago, mauriziodececco said:

The day after receiving the NW2 i had a rehearsal, and in that single rehearsal i created and modified in depth more sounds than in a year with the MODX.

 

Glad it's clicking for you! It's a happy relief when the gear aligns well with a project and you feel like you have a voice. What kinds of sounds is the NW2 particularly good at for your project?

[mauriziodececco]

2 hours ago, Tusker said:

Glad it's clicking for you! It's a happy relief when the gear aligns well with a project and you feel like you have a voice. What kinds of sounds is the NW2 particularly good at for your project?

 

Yes, this is exactly the point, the alignement with the project. The project is not really standard: fret-less bass, groove machines and sax, and keyboards.

Keyboards means the NW2 and my Melodica with a reverb.

 

The style is half jazz and half techno, with the groove machines covering rythme and  various riffs/pads, with a large analogue component.

I am looking in this context for sounds that come out of the mix; either aggressive, or with a "natural" component that well separate from the groove behind (samples of acoustic instrument, voices, and so on); and this with a big component of improvisation, because the grooves are also (partially) improvised.

The NW2 seems to work well in this context, either in aggressive or "different" leads or pads.

 

 Later i'll try to post the result of this work in the "Let's hear ..." thread

 

Maurizio

 

[vonnor]

5 hours ago, mauriziodececco said:

Not to say there no other solutions in that direction, of course...

I got a Novation Summit for that solution (knobs and buttons) and I love it.

 

No thread hijacking intended - carry on.

 

~ vonnor

[mauriziodececco]

58 minutes ago, vonnor said:

I got a Novation Summit for that solution (knobs and buttons) and I love it.

 

 

 

Sure, a lot of options around the analogue/VA/wavetable word.

 

I wanted something that added samples to the pictures, so i looked at the Wavestate (that was in the short list), and Iridium/Quantum (that was problematic from the physical weight point of view, i walk to rehearsal and gigs :). 

 

Maurizio

 

[GovernorSilver]

Iridium Core weighs 2.2kg

 

https://waldorfmusic.com/iridium-core/

[timwat]

 

5 hours ago, Tusker said:

Maurizio, I think Tim gigs a NW or NW2 doesn't he? Lets hope he opines here ...

 

Yes, I gig a Wave (not Wave 2), and have been since 2012, when I bought it open box from Nova Music, which I think is now part of Kraft.

 

What I've found in over a decade with this unit: It's very well built. Metal, solid construction, light and easy schlep, good key bed, and I love the Nord pitch stick / wheel ergonomics. It typically sits as top board above either an original Kronos 73, or a CP4 - just depends if the type of gig requires all of the sonic horsepower of the Kronos (if it doesn't, I far prefer speaking on the CP4's excellent key bed rather than the Korg RH3). 

 

All to say the sonic "signature" of the Wave is a very good complement to either bottom board. Both of them tend to be "warm and deep" compared to the Nord's "bright and cutting" (I realize, alas, trying to describe overall timbre tendencies in words is like trying to describe the differences I taste between different roast levels of coffee beans). I'm not sure I'd ever want to use the Wave as a bottom board (if it had more than 49), but for a solo synth that's going to cut through everything, yeah, the Wave is really good at that.

 

Also, blowing samples into the beast is bone simple due to Nord's excellent sample editor / librarian software. Let's just say that even though the Kronos has (apparently) extensive sample management capabilities, I've NEVER used them, and only use the Wave for sample use in live settings.

 

I also (shamefully) use the Wave for my "top board organ". I realize in this virtual room of B3 purists, I've just exposed myself as a filthy cheat and will need to turn in my Man card at the door. I have a basic "organ with a little perf" patch in the Wave, programmed the wheel to brighten it up a bit, and route it into the Lester (nope, I don't even use a real Vent). For my cover band work, the Lester with little drive gives me the flavor I need. 

 

And yes, my friends, I've been thinking about going YC to mo' better B3, but money doesn't grow on trees and I'm considering what my gigs really require.

 

Back on topic, what I should really say is this...when Wave 2 was released, I was really GASsing and jonesing. But the price ain't small. And when it finally came time for me to pick a true synth, I ended up going a completely different way and bought an OB6. 

 

I recently sat in as 2nd keys for a progressive rock band, and decided to bring the Oberheim rather than the Wave. Obviously, the use case is FAR different, and so is the feature set, and virtual vs. true analog, and yes...I really do get it.

 

And what I want to say is the Oberheim is a hands-down, make-no-apologies beast that makes me sound better than I really am. Every patch makes me sound like a freaking programming genius...and I'm far from it. It's just impossible (virtually) to come up with a bad, or weak, or anemic sound from the Oberheim.

 

And I can't say that about the Wave. I guess I feel about Nord's virtual analog like...garlic. Garlic is wonderful as a complement, it can bring the meal to life. But I can't gig a steady diet of garlic alone.

 

Maybe that makes no sense, or doesn't fully answer the question. Forgive me for that. But it's 10 o'clock in Cali, I gotta practice a few tunes before I run out to a rehearsal, and that scotch isn't going to drink itself.

 

Tim

 

 

 

 

[Delaware Dave]

" ...Three years after: any love for the Nord Wave 2 ....."

 

In a word, nope.

[ProfD]

On 10/23/2023 at 10:44 AM, mauriziodececco said:

I just sold my OB-6 (that sat unused for a number of years in my studio) and bought a NW2, that is substituting a MODX7 in my electro/jazz improvisation based group.

 

After the first experiences, i am very happy. Yes, it is true that the MODX7 is massively powerful, that can do almost anything and everything, but .... yes, if you spend hours in your studio doing sound design, it must be very gratifying. But if you need to change the chorus rate in a preset, or another parameter that has not been mapped to a macro, *while* improvising, well, you are out of luck, especially you do not remember perfectly well the menu structure.

IMO, a synth (top) with an electromechanical KB, ROMpler or DP (bottom) is the perfect KB rig for an improvisational music gig.

 

The recent J3PO thread gig is a great example of it. 

 

Have a blast with the Nord Wave 2.😎

[David Emm]

This is one of those synths that feels like a workstation minus the sequencer. When you buy that far up the line, you're loosely committing to finding that 2nd synth under the surface of the 1st. The money is partly wasted if you only tweak the first bank of presets.

 

With a Novation Summit or the NW, if you're weighing it as a partial Hammond stand-in, that's a bit more fundamental than synth duties alone. I can easily see why someone would crave a potent 76-key instrument over hauling two or three lesser ones.

 

We all ruminate until we take a particular leap. I find the Venn point between my instincts and GAS-y hopes amusing. Its imperfect, too, because I've ditched a few softsynths that seemed like keepers at first. I thought I was past that, but nope!

 

Nord Wave ownership is more of a marriage than most. If it was as big outside as in, it'd be about the size of 5 GX-1s.      

[jeffincltnc]

I haven't posted in a while, but, yes, I am keeping very busy with an 80's New Wave Tribute show and use the Nord Wave 2 as my top board over a 73 key Korg Nautilus in that rig.  The Wave 2 is ideal for me for the hands on controls, knobby and fader controls, aftertouch, flagship build quality and small form factor and I especially use the sample space quite a bit to sample a lot of critical sounds from my plug ins and soft synths like Arturia V-Collection but leave the laptop setup at home for shows.

Because I also have used Nord Stages for so many years, I know the Nord workflow and I can build patches much much faster in Nord Wave 2 than in alternatives and the use of sampling and four layers is perfect for me in a gigging setup.  I had a Jupiter X for some time but it was too big for me to gig with.

[bjosko]

A nice video here discussing the pros and cons