Creating sound on the NordLead: tips and tricks

You can find more including sysex patches of the examples in this electro-music.com thread by Wout Blommers. Note you can obviously apply these techniques to other synths with similar parameters.

"As fischek wrote this thread is created special to the NordLead, NordLead2 and NordLead2X family, both in key and in Rack version. Some side steps could be taken towards the NordLead3 and the NordModular Classic and G2, if needed to explain.

Everybody is invited to chime in and write about things which come up in this thread, like how to use and play this synthesizer. Every opinion, critic, question and other kinds of contribution to the topic is welcome, allowed between the legally drawn lines, specially concerning copyrights. Text and audio examples are still the copyright of the rightful owner who shared the information with this community.

The forum is the normal place to ask question and discuss about the normal topics.

Here are some things to discuss about:

interesting ways to play,
strange things, like poly sounds in Mono mode Shocked,
how to create blibs-and-blobs,
FM (8 operator synth) and RingModulator,
the SecretFilter,
the Arpeggiator (like BPM),
what is the use of those extreme LFO values?,
analyzing Programs and Performances,
Percussion mode (also using the Arpeggiator in there),
the sound changing when using the SemiTones knob,
Sync,
syncing to an extern MidiClock (what is possible and what not?),
KeyBoardTracking Osc2,
and what else which is able to be shifted underneath the front door...

Wout"

An example...

"There is always the question how to make a broad and wide Saw sound.

In this kinds of sounds, which are sometimes called 'fat', a lot of oscillators producing different kind of Saw waves, of course detuned.
How to sound as many oscillators possible? Each Voice has two Oscillators, which can be detuned. To emphase this effect, the Unison cab be enabled. When using the sound in Mono mode Unison provides 4 detuned Voices. Octave Shift together with the SemiTone knob can be used to widen the sound in a single Slot.
And last but not least all these features can be used in a 4 Slot Layer or in a Performance.

To blend the detuning in the sound a Low Pass Filter can be used and turned down more or less. Mostly I program to one of the Slots, I prefer the highest pitched, a slight Glide.

When using the Poly mode to de-activate (to silence) one Slot results in a Voice extra.

Detuning (hear example 05) is realized by Morphing.

Wout"

Roger Linn, Creator of the Original Namesake LinnDrum on Behringer's New LmDrum

The following is Roger Linn's statement on Behringer's LmDrum, written Jan 4, 2025, saved here for the MATRIXSYNTH archives:

In December 2024, Behringer released their "LmDrum", which is described on their site as:

"If you are looking for a drum machine that can recreate the classic sound of the 80’s, look no further than the Behringer LM DRUM. This amazing drum machine features an authentic 8/12-bit sampling sound engine that captures the essence of a hundred legendary 80’s drum sounds including those designed by Roger Linn such as the LM1*, LM2*, LM9000* and more. You can even record and store your own samples using the integrated line input."

Uli Behringer kindly sent me an LmDrum in August of 2024, giving me a chance to try it out. What do I think? I think it's a bit of a head-scratcher. It is clearly intended to evoke my 1982 "LinnDrum" drum machine, borrowing its visual style, control layout, colors and logo style, as well as copying its sounds and those of my LM-1 and Linn9000 drum machines. I took it apart and it even copies much of my LinnDrum sound generation circuit, even my bad ideas like the inability to tune any drums except the snare, toms and congas.

However, it uses an entirely different operating system and user interface, one that is based on earlier Behinger drum machines. Personally, I found it somewhat confusing and difficult to use, though I was given an unfinished manual. I'd imagine they will improve both the software and manual over time. I suspect the designers found it difficult to find a balance between 1) the impression of a LinnDrum clone, and 2) the addition of modern features, given that the 1982 LinnDrum's feature set is woefully inadequate by today's standards.

It's worth noting that Uli never asked my permission to either copy my visual design or my drum sounds. Though in 2020, he did kindly invite me to collaborate on a future drum machine, and I respectfully declined because of concern about Behringer's past business ethics and legal practices.

How do I feel about the LmDrum? My feelings are mixed. On the one hand, it's not unusual for companies to borrow ideas from older products in order to inspire a new and innovative design, which I've done in past. Plus, my old drum sounds are all over the web, controlling copying is difficult, and I don't enjoy legal stuff so I've generally ignored the issue so far. Also, the value in those old sounds is probably due more to Art Wood (the drummer who played the sounds, and my friend of many years), and to artists like Prince, Michael Jackson, and others, who made those sounds famous on their hits. Finally, I must admit that I've never cared much about the past, because I find the future far more exciting.

On the other hand, even if we discount the copying of the visual design, logo style and sound circuit of LinnDrum, the LmDrum copies my sounds. So I'd have preferred for Uli to ask my permission. Even if he thinks it is legal, I question whether it is ethical.

I find it interesting that the LmDrum is being sold in the U.S. for only $399. Having taken it apart and seeing how complex the copied old circuitry was to reproduce, I doubt Behringer is making any money from it. I suspect that they originally intended to sell it for much more, then discovered that while many people may say they want a LinnDrum clone, few are willing to pay more than a low price for it.

On a related topic, GForce Software has recently released their "IconDrum" software drum sound generator. Like the LmDrum, it copies the LinnDrum's visual design, logo style, and drum sounds, but has no sequencing. Unlike Behringer, GForce did say they wouldn't release the product if I objected, but they seemed like good people so I turned a blind eye. They also offered to pay me an insignificant royalty for my association with the product and perhaps to use "LinnDrum" name, but I declined because of the low compensation and because I thought it was misleading to call a product "LinnDrum" that wasn't a drum machine but rather only played my copied drum sounds.

One last comment. What's the big deal about nostalgia? I can understand that some people value analog synthesis, though I find the many types of innovative software synthesis created in recent decades to be far more capable, versatile and interesting. But even if people value vintage analog synths, why vintage digital drum machines? I ask this because an old bit is no different than a new bit. Our collective love of nostalgia brings to mind an old Douglas Adams quote from Salmon of Doubt:

"I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things."

As a guitarist, I recall having endless discussions in my youth about "good distortion". :)

- Roger Linn

Silicon Machine | Daniel Miller & Alexander Hacke in conversation | FFOSSO

video upload by FFOSSO

"We sat down with Daniel Miller and Alexander Hacke to talk about the sounds, machines, and ideas behind Silicon Machine, a new FFOSSO instrument sampled directly from Daniel's own collection of original synths and drum machines.

Daniel traces the lineage back to the earliest days of Mute Records: the Korg 700S that powered "Warm Leatherette" and 'T.V.O.D.,' the rented Space Echo, the four-track sessions where everything was played by hand because there was no other way to do it. Gear that wasn't prestigious, wasn't expensive, and wasn't supposed to sound like much, and did anyway.

Alexander curated the collection, with patches designed and programmed by both Alexander and Daniel for FFOSSO. As curator, Alexander brings his own perspective: a musician whose practice spans decades of Einstürzende Neubauten's industrial explorations, finding music in unconventional sources and understanding intuitively what happens when machines are pushed somewhere they weren't designed to go.

Together they talk about limitation as a creative force, the character that comes from imperfection, and why the rough edges of early DIY electronics can still feel more alive than many things made today. Silicon Machine is the result: cold basslines, broken rhythmic pulses, stark analog textures — raw, mechanical, and quietly menacing.

Available now on FFOSSO

www.ffosso.com"

Warm Leatherette

video upload by The Normal - Topic - 869 subscribers

"Provided to YouTube by Mute

Warm Leatherette · The Normal

Warm Leatherette

℗ 1978 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Mute Records Ltd

Composer: D. Miller
Composer: Miller

Auto-generated by YouTube."

Crumar Spirit Analog Monosynth SN 912331

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