How BAD is the action on the Nord Lead 2X

I'm thinking of selling my ION and purchasing a Nord Lead 2X to go along with my Electro 2 73.

Will make a nice RED RIG

However, I've heard a lot of bad reports about the action.

I've never had the chance to run my hands over a 2X, however I have played a 3 a fair bit.

Are the actions the same on the 2X and 3?

Also, the MAIN thing I hate about my Alesis ION (apart from the {censored}ty outputs) is the keyboard action. Really makes me NOT want to play the board, even tho the sounds are ok. So if the action is THIS bad, I may rethink the purchase.

I could always get a 2X Rack and MIDI it to my Edirol PCR-M50 which has a fine action and same amount of keys, but it means more cables, etc

Oh yeah, and it's not red

Opinions?

Well the keys are plastic, and it's a fast synth feel.

It's not supposed to feel like a piano.

I'll let you decide weather or not that's bad.

I obviously know that much. Did you even bother to read my post?

no.

I found the NL2's keyboard (based on a long demo, not actual posession) to be only marginally better as that of the Ion, and the Ion lost out mostly because it had shorter keys.

I wouldn't get the keyboard version if you care that much about the feel.

Dude can't even turn on his spell-check (not that most ambulating, English-speaking humans need help spelling "whether" anyway), and you expect it to read your post?

I'm curious, too, about the key-action. I remember playing around with a NL2 at GC many moons ago, a couple of times, and the keybed was a non-issue, but if I were actually going to buy one now it'd be something to consider.

What I'm also curious about is the filter - is it resonant? What about this non-self-resonant filter James mentioned at VSE?

I've owned a NL1 and NL2x. The keyboard action is just ok. It is not horrible, but not in the same league as the Big 3 workstations like Motif, Fantom, Triton. It is a fairly inexpensive action and cannot compete with the action on the PEK, Virus or Andromeda.

I don't think you'll notice much difference at all between it and the Ion; in fact, it may be a little better. The main thing that always bummed me about the Nord Leads is that none of them have aftertouch except for the NL3.

If you want NL2x, you better jump pretty soon, as Clavia is scaling back production on this, which means they will be harder to find and more expensive.

For a synth keyboard it gets the job done. I've always been a fan of Clavia products and miss having a Lead in my rig.

Regards,

Eric

I don't think I'll have too much problem getting one here in Australia - there always seems to be some around, but yeah - I'm kinda off it now.

Will probably just pick up a nice small VA rack that will sit on top of the electro and use my XP-30 as a controller (Great key feel with aftertouch) + the bonus of having all those nice strings/pads from the Roland. So much for the red rig

Now.....Blofeld, or Rack 2X............

Are you in Melbourne? If so Awave in Camberwell have the 2X listed on their website, maybe give them a call and see if they've got one in stock so you can try it out firsthand.

I like the keyboard of the NL2 much better than that of the ION. Actually, it has a very pleasant fast action with good control over velocity. But I also can play the IONs keyboard just fine but prefer the NL though.

BTW, it is always beneficial to have a fast action keyboard in your rig. I feel that it is great for some fast action riffs.

Nord Lead's keyboard feel is not as bad as people make it out to be. Compare it with those {censored}ty M-AUDIO keyboards and NL2X is leaps and bounds ahead in quality.

My old Yamaha CBX-K3 has better quality feeling (synth action) keys, but they are too spongy and not fast and responsive like the Nord.

Of course, nothing compares to the 61 note Access Virus keyboards.

The filters are all resonant. They do not self oscillate without any signal though. Very Roland like.

Well, you can compare a piece of {censored} to M-Audio keyboards and M-Audio would still look bad.

I could always get a 2X Rack and MIDI it to my Edirol PCR-M50 which has a fine action and same amount of keys, but it means more cables, etc

1 midi cable + 1 power supply.

The rack/desktop fits nicely on keyboards and has a nice triangular shape for easy operation. The only difference between rack and keyboard is parts (un)muting. On the keyboard you can (un)mute parts by pressing the their dedicated buttons and on the rack you have to set the corresponding midi channel.

Will probably just pick up a nice small VA rack that will sit on top of the electro and use my XP-30 as a controller (Great key feel with aftertouch) + the bonus of having all those nice strings/pads from the Roland. So much for the red rig

It could still be red - how about customising the XP-30??

I've used an XP-80 for nearly 10 years now - still just about the best synth action out there I reckon!!

Robotsquid - Not in Melbourne, sorry.

Jason - been keeping my XP-30 as mint as possible - a red paint job wold be...well...I'm not that good at painting!

I do agree about the action tho - great for synth work and the aftertouch feels good too.

the keyboard is soso...no aftertouch...(why???). I'd also go for the rack option. The Virus keyboard on the other hand is the absolute bomb..so nice! I think Virii are seriously ugly but the KB and KC have these pianostyle semiweighted keys...

1. Suck my balls.

2. It's not a problem that a spell checker would correct. Besides, I was feeling a little under the whether. Har har har...

I could criticize every damn thing you do and every little mistake you make (he wants to know about a NL2X, not a NL2; who starts a sentence with the word "Dude", etc), but I won't, because then I'd be a dick, like you.

Please, don't be a dick. Think of the children.

3. To the OP. I have a NL2X. It's awesome. The action isn't bad. No aftertouch...I believe the NL2X does receive aftertouch, however.

It might seem {censored}ing stupid to you for me to mention this, but honestly if you really want to know what the action is like, go {censored}ing play one. People's opinions of the action "good, bad, not horrible, semi-ok, etc" aren't going to help you. No, I'm not trying to be a smartass, and yes I did read your post.

There are plenty of search results for the keyboard feel of a NL2X, here, and on many other sites that can be found through google...honestly, though, people's reports are entirely subjective.

Try it out for yourself.

Yes mate, that is 'VERY {censored}ING STUPID' (to use your terms) of you to mention that.

There are no Nord Lead 2Xs in store in the music shops anywhere near where I live.

That's why I'm asking here.

Calm down and take your abusive attitude to another forum.

lol

in any case, the action on the NL3 is {censored}ing different, it has AT and feels a tiny {censored}in bit heavier. The same {censored}ing keyboard as on the modular G2. I recently {censored}ed around a bit on a Nord Wave, and again, the action was okay but it's no virus! GET A VIRUS!

sorry!

i meant

go {censored}ing get yourself a virus

Viruses are {censored}ing cool but I think my next synth is going to {censored}ing be analog

Personally I like my Nord Lead 2X, the action is {censored}ing fast! I just wanted to make a {censored}ing point by making it clear that it feels nothing like "semi weighted" or "piano" feel, and that some people may find this a positive, some a negative! {censored}!

EDIT: {censored}!

I have a NL2, not the X version. The keyboard isn't that bad, it's totally playable. Yes, no AT, but it receives AT if you want to midi into it from another board that can send AT.

The key action is no worse than most non-weighted 4-octave keybeds...probably about the same or better than the Ion.

Re. Sizzle's remark re my remark on VSE re the filter:

The Nord's filter is resonant but will not self-oscillate. You can get very high resonance up to the point of picking out individual harmonics, but you won't get the screaming self-oscillation one associates with the Prophet CEM filter.

I still like it quite a bit though...I have a 2x rack