Clavia Nord Modular G2

Red like the very fast Ferraris, the keyboards of the Swedish Clavia stand out from all the others for performance, reliability and innovation. This is the turn of the Nord Modular system, in the new G2 version which renews the concept of the modular synthesizer, bringing in the hands of the professional keyboard player all the power of a completely redesignable synthesis engine according to the needs and the most unthinkable extravagances. In this issue we offer you the road test of the Nord Modular G2X, the super-equipped version of the range, revealing the pros and cons of a true custom-built of the third millennium. Ready for pole position?

The charm of Made in Europe

This time, in an all red and white box, we find a product on which the inscription "Modular Synthesizer made in Sweden by Clavia" stands out, which with so much patriotic pride is keen to clarify that the product is conceived, designed and built entirely in Sweden , precisely in Stockholm, in a factory that has a total of twenty people between employees and workers. The "class" is immediately noticeable: all-metal chassis very robust although I dare to say appearance raw, the classic stone modulation wheels with the green LED in the center, the wooden pitch stick that allows very fluid control over the bending and without dead spots in the center, five alphanumeric displays and a control panel that, in general, shows itself clear and well designed, putting the user immediately at ease with the use of the front controls. This is the second version of the Nord Modular, after six years from the introduction on the market of the first real digital modular synthesizer, and is available in the G2 version, with 3 octave keyboard, G2X (Fig.1) with the 61-key keyboard, and in the Engine version, which looks like a single rack unit without controls, which can be driven entirely by the remote software.

The keys are the same that we find on many other keyboards like the Access Virus TI Polar, the Alesis Fusion, the Kurzweil K2661, Minimoog Voyager, DSI Poly Evolver Keyboard, CME masterkeyboards and at least a dozen other instruments: semi-weighted with channel aftertouch, snappy with a nice bounce, very fast and quiet, also made in Europe. On the back of the instrument (Fig.2) we find, from right to left, the stereo output for the headphones, the four jack inputs (there is a fifth microphone input on XLR, located on the left side of the G2X panel, useful for connecting a microphone for… I'll tell you later! ), then we find the four outputs, the MIDI in, out and thru sockets, the USB socket for connection to the computer, the two inputs for the sustain and expression pedals, finally the connector for the 220 cable with the 'switch. In the package we also find a printed manual of 274 pages with the software editor installation CD-ROM attached, a dynamic microphone to be applied to the front input, the USB and power cables.

The interface:

The interface layout of the G2 is divided into two main sections (Fig.3): on the left there is the "master" section, where we find the commands to load and manage presets, the selectors for octave transposition, the main display showing the names of the presets and the menu pages for global settings and system, the large main rotary encoder, the knobs for adjusting the output volume and the input gain, and four keys located below the display that manage the slot synthesizer. In fact, the Nord Modular G2 is a four-part multitimbral, and that way it might seem like a little thing but, unlike all the other synthesizers and workstations we are used to, here the term "multitimbral" takes on a slightly different meaning: data the modular structure of the G2, we can say that in each slot there is an entire synthesizer in its own right, each one that can respond to a different MIDI channel, and the four can be organized into Performances using split zones or layers; but the most interesting thing is that the four synths can not only be activated, deactivated or edited separately but, above all, they can interact with each other by exchanging audio or control signals. Therefore, rather than calling them “presets”, it would be better to call them “synth”, each preset is a synth, and in the synth G2 there are four of them! Finally, being a digital instrument, the SHIFT key could not be missing to use the double functions of some keys, but nevertheless the use from the panel turns out to be much easier and more comfortable than it seems. In fact, it is on the right side of the panel that there are the most interesting commands: first of all we notice the four alphanumeric displays (but why didn't they put a single longer display?) With 8 rotary encoders with leds and 8 keys below, each of which can be assigned to a specific function to be able to intervene in real time on the parameters of the synth in use. On the right, however, there are the six keys with which you can choose the section of the synth on which to operate, including the global section, oscillators, LFOs, envelopes, filters and effects, and the three keys to change the page. In all, up to 120 physical controls can be configured. Finally, in the lower part of the right area, we find 8 buttons called "Variations". In the old version of the Nord Modular, every time you wanted to memorize even a small change to the synth parameters without even touching the connections between the modules, you had to save a new preset; with the G2, on the other hand, for each preset there are 8 memory locations available to the user to save the different parameter positions, which can be recalled very quickly without requiring a preset change, resulting in a "hole" in the audio due to the time required to load and recompile the new synth. The same keys are used to store and manage the "Morph groups": a morphing allows you to act on several parameters simultaneously using a single controller. By editing a morph group, we choose which parameters to modify and their respective minimum and maximum values, thus being able to pass from one sound to another transforming the timbre in a fluid and linear way.

The synthesis engine:

As the name suggests, the Nord Modular is a modular synthesizer, exactly like Moog's beast born in the early 60s, one of those instruments where every single section has its inputs and outputs freely connectable with patch cords external, but the idea of ​​the Clavia was to recreate a digital modular that cost and weighed a minimum fraction of a real modular, quick to use and above all easily transportable, and that could find a great use both in studio applications that live. The convenience lies in the fact that by connecting the Nord Modular to the computer and using its editor, we can really create anything with the only limit imposed by the machine's computing capabilities, without using the computer's CPU (and who has ever used software such as Tassman or Reaktor knows what I'm talking about), then when we're ready with our setup, we unplug the cables and bring the keyboard to the stage as if it were a common synthesizer. Imagine what it can mean to have a modular synth available where there is no need to handle cables (with all that goes with it), where every time we need an extra oscillator or an envelope or whatever, we don't have to spend more money and manually installing the circuits, a modular synth that sits quietly on an X-shaped stand, and that, after all, sounds great. The architecture is based on a proprietary DSP system capable of providing polyphony of up to 32 notes in optimal situations. Obviously the more complex the tangles of cables and modules are, the less polyphony becomes available to us, although in the G2 a system has been introduced to save on computing power thanks to the new modules Intelligent, who use DSPs only for the functions they must perform and are able to recognize when they must be monophonic or polyphonic. In all, in version 1.40 of the software, there are about 150 modules including oscillators, filters, envelopes, signal mixers, audio effects, sequencers, input and output controls, etc. All modules are organized in sixteen families, and in a single patch up to 200 modules can be virtually inserted (as long as the available DSP power is not exceeded first). The peculiarity of the Modular is that some components can be used but also, so to speak, "abused". Let's take the reverb module for example: in a traditional situation the reverb is just an effect that must be inserted downstream in the audio chain in order to process the final sound. In the Modular, and why not, we can use it as a sound source by injecting it with white noise, then passing it into an envelope and maybe even through a filter, while with a step-sequencer we control its decay time and with the pitch of the keyboard. we intone the filter cutoff. And here we have created a sound that no other "traditional" synthesizer would allow us to achieve. And we want to talk about the audio inputs? Any sound source applied to them can be used together with the internal generators, or even in place of them, and can become an integral part of a more complex set-up that also uses other external instruments. A classic example could be the connection of the dynamic microphone to the front XLR input for the use of the internal vocoder, certainly one of the most versatile and complete in circulation, or to experiment with sounds with synthesis modules. physical modeling as it is string oscillator (a Karplus-Strong algorithm to simulate the vibration of a string), or to apply the frequency modulation to the oscillators. In short, the Nord Modular G2 synthesis engine truly knows no bounds.

The Editor:

Let's start with the installation: a flash! The driver installs very quickly and without "side effects", the same for the editing program. In an instant, and taking up very few megabytes on the disk, the full potential of the Nord Modular G2 opens up. The graphics are very simple (Fig.4): at the top there are the classic tool bars, where we have the icons to quickly recall the most frequent functions, to insert the modules and manage their connections. In the center, the screen is divided horizontally into two areas: the upper one concerns all the modules called VA (Voice Architecture) which are polyphonic; below is the area dedicated to the effect modules, distinguished by the fact that they are monophonic. The difference is in how the DSPs have to interpret the use of these modules: the polyphonic ones come cloned for how many voices of polyphony are required, thus occupying more resources as the polyphony increases. At the top, in fact, we find two meters that tell us in real time each section how much computing power and how much memory it is occupying. The interconnection between the two sections is possible thanks to the input and output modules. Each module has, in its upper left corner, a small arrow by clicking on which opens a menu from which you can choose a different module belonging to the same family, and a great convenience of the G2 editor lies in the fact that if we choose to replace a module already connected, the new one will automatically take the same connections, making the experimentation phase faster and, above all, more exciting. Another novelty of the G2 version is the possibility to color the modules in order to make it clearer when it comes to patches with many modules, and you can hide the cables according to their type of signal. Another interesting function is the “Shake Cables” which gives a stir to all visible cables if any command is hidden behind them. From the editor, finally, we can manage patches e performances with the possibility of transferring them from the hardware to the computer and vice versa, organizing them into categories, saving them in the Modular memory, furthermore you can manage all four slots separately, and thanks to the system menus you can access other global functions. Also of great importance is the online help that can be called up at any time by selecting a module and pressing F1 on the computer keyboard.

In general:

At this point, a very important evaluation parameter must be taken into consideration, the one that certainly conditions the choice of any product: the quality / price ratio. All the Clavia instruments are of high quality but certainly not suitable for all budgets. The Nord Modular G2X costs about 2.400 euros, a certainly significant figure that makes the decision to purchase hard, but let's consider the following: first of all it is "rock solid", that is, it is designed to be both in the studio and on stage, an instrument made for during the time. Second very important point: it's not just one synthesizer, it's four synthesizers in one machine, 600 euros each seems like a fair price, right? Third very important point: it is not a normal synthesizer, it is a modular and, as we have seen, it is not linked to a fixed structure that sooner or later risks becoming obsolete or at least tiring, but puts us in a position to be able to revolutionize at any time the instrument we are using, a bit like if with a traditional synthesizer we could change or add (for free) the electronic components inside it… do a little bit of you! And then the convenience and versatility of the “live performance” factor: those who have never tried a Clavia instrument cannot understand what I mean. The keys are great and the controllers are arranged in the best way, not to mention the Pitch sticks Wood (Fig.5) that using it is a real pleasure. But all of this, of course, would be irrelevant though the sound del Nord Modular was not up to its technical characteristics. I do not deny that I already suffer from the idea of ​​having to return "mine" to the distributor.