Nord Announces Nord Lead 4 and Others

As predicted by an eagle-eyed reader who noticed the domain "nordlead4.com" had been registered recently, Nord announced the release of the Nord Lead 4, a complete overhaul of their famous Nord Lead line.  Here are the details:

"Nord Lead 4 is a 4-part multi-timbral synthesizer sporting a brand new 2-oscillator virtual analog sound engine with 2x oversampling. In addition to the classic analog waveforms there’s a Wavetable mode with unique new Formant Wavetables. Frequency Modulation and Hard/Soft sync options are available for mutilating your sound further and the True Voice Unison mode can stack up to four oscillators per voice for really thick, beefy leads and pads.

The filter section boasts Low Pass (12/24dB), High Pass, and Band Pass filters and also stunning new simulations of two transistor and diode ladder filters capturing the squeaky, dirty character of the originals. A dedicated filter overdrive can distort your sound before it passes through the effect section.

The new Variation buttons let you override almost any parameter of the synthesizer,instantaneously. Ever wanted to change LFO speed, Modulation routings and reverb amount - all at once, in the middle of a sound? With the Nord Lead 4 you can! With 7 assignable variations per program Nord Lead 4 gives you creative freedom to warp and improvise your sound live, both rhythmically and sonically and thanks to the Master Clock Synchronization, it can be done in perfect sync to other layers or an external MIDI Clock.

All 4 slots have dedicated effect sections with delay, reverb, tube amp simulated overdrive, a Talk effect modeled after a vocal tract and a sample rate reducing Crush effect."

Also announced was the Nord Drum 2 and the Nord Pad:

"The Nord Drum 2 is a 6-channel Modeling Percussion Synthesizer that combines the playability of real percussion with unique and powerful sound creation possibilities! New features included Resonance modeling, FM-synthesis, distortion effects, stereo outputs with panning and CC-control. We're also releasing the Nord Pad, a responsive, compact multi-pad designed to be the perfect companion to the Nord Drum 2 with an elegant single cable ethernet connector. The Nord Pad is available as an optional accessory."