clavia nord drum: anyone have one?

Just curious if anyone has one and what they think of it.

It keeps creeping back into my mind. No really good demos to be found online though... Bland pad performances... I want to hear how this thing sounds sequenced with lots of automation.

So I finally grabbed the Nord Drum 2 and the pads. I love this so much! It sounds fantastic, and the pads are very responsive and durable. Its pretty much everything I've ever wanted in a drum synth.

You can play it like a drum kit by using midi channel 10, or if you send on a individual midi channel, you can play it chromatically like 6 monosynths.

The only features I wish it had is 6 separate outs instead of just stereo, and more voice effects (reverb would be nice). But those are really my only complaints. Oh, and I suppose the rubber pads are slightly loud, so you need to either crank your system or wear headphones. Probably won't be able to play this late at night, if I want to stay on my neighbors good side.

It feels like a real instrument. I lost most of yesterday playing this. Will probably pick up a kick trigger, as it is a little odd for my brain to be playing the kick with my hand.

Anyways, highly reccomended.

Nice! I've always wondered about this little guy. What pads do you use with it?

I got the Nord Pad, and it works perfectly. I just want to get a kick trigger to make it more like a kit.

If you get the nord pads, there are options for playing them chromatically in a number of scale configurations. Very fun.

how is the Ipad app for it? that is what seemed most interesting to me about it was the integration of all 3, the pads the drum module and the ipad sequencer/recorder app. with the ipad app it seemed like a clever way of making it a full fledged drum machine

I have not hooked it up to the iPad app yet... I was totally just sucked into the sound design and pads yesterday. I'll report back.

I do know that there is no cc automation in the iPad app, and that's a huge loss for me.

Honestly not sure why they didn't include parameter editing with the app... Seems like it was a great opportunity to make a fully iPad controllable drummachine that they missed.

NORD whore!

no disrespect...

  On 5/19/2014 at 11:42 PM, Kcinsu said:

I have not hooked it up to the iPad app yet... I was totally just sucked into the sound design and pads yesterday. I'll report back.

 

I do know that there is no cc automation in the iPad app, and that's a huge loss for me.

 

Honestly not sure why they didn't include parameter editing with the app... Seems like it was a great opportunity to make a fully iPad controllable drummachine that they missed.

yeah that is a point against but it seems like a really smart way to package a 'drum machine' in a clever and cheaper way.with just the Pads & the brain I wasn't super interested, but after seeing the demo with that + the ipad app i was totally sold. The physical modeling drums on it sounded pretty damn good.

  On 5/20/2014 at 3:38 AM, yek said:

NORD whore!

 

 

 

no disrespect...

Yeah, 3 out of 5 of my hardware synths are now Nords, so I can't really argue that, I was slightly hesitant to get this, as I still feel slightly burned that hey dropped the modular editors support... But it was just too tempting. I will always take an opportunity to call Clavia out on that though,

  On 5/20/2014 at 4:13 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

 

  On 5/19/2014 at 11:42 PM, Kcinsu said:

I have not hooked it up to the iPad app yet... I was totally just sucked into the sound design and pads yesterday. I'll report back.

I do know that there is no cc automation in the iPad app, and that's a huge loss for me.

Honestly not sure why they didn't include parameter editing with the app... Seems like it was a great opportunity to make a fully iPad controllable drummachine that they missed.

 

yeah that is a point against but it seems like a really smart way to package a 'drum machine' in a clever and cheaper way.with just the Pads & the brain I wasn't super interested, but after seeing the demo with that + the ipad app i was totally sold. The physical modeling drums on it sounded pretty damn good.

what I don't understand is why would a company spend this much money and time developing a product and only release one slightly underwhelming product demo video? I get a little suspicious that when this happens it's because they've abandoned in part the product in question. Check out the Arturia Origin to see what i'm talking about, it's Arturia's most expensive product and also the most advanced piece of hardware they ever made but the demos and videos for it were fucking horrible and the product totally bombed (although it's actually quite a cool piece of kit)

To be fair, nord doesn't seem so do much PR for any of their products,

But here is one more:

Oh, that's the old model. Anyways, yeah, I've never seen much marketing from them.

Nice. I've thought about getting something like that so I can play my drum tracks live.

Is the Nord pad really worth $400, though?

I got it for $300 at Robotspeak. For me, it was worth it because I've really wanted a more tactile interaction, and I really miss drumming, so it filled that role perfectly. Do you need it to enjoy the Nord Drum? Not at all... But its an appricated addition that makes it feel more like an instrument than a sound module.

I'm just wondering if there's something cheaper or if there's an advantage to having it made by Nord. Seems like I'll just be paying for the name.

Well, I haven't really looked at other pads. One thing to note is that the pad will only work when attached to the ND2. You can trigger other stuff via midi through the ND2, but not from the pads alone. Worth considering.

They are solidly built, though.

A year or so after getting one of these would you still recommend it?

I'm torn between this and the MD. I'd like something to physically play via the pad and record drum loops that are 'unsequenceable' on the other hand the sheer sound opportunities with the MD mean I might get more out of it long term.

Yes!

The MD has the benefit of being a self contained unit with great sounds and a great sequencer, but to my ears the Nord Drum just sounds so much better (for my taste). Much more organic and alive sounding. It depends on what you are looking for.

I certainly recommend it. Maybe get a used MD and a ND2... My favorite thing to do is sequence it ND2 with the MD.

i was surfing some stuff about this drum machine and found some native (finish) music store on the internet. they were selling totally new clavia nord drum for 199e. lol i instantly ordered it. i mean i found another store which were selling the same item for something like +400e.

Is it version 2?

  On 6/8/2015 at 5:22 PM, Kcinsu said:

Is it version 2?

Nope, the first. But still a great deal.

just might have found a pretty good deal on a used nord drum 2, hoping it materializes today

How does the chromatic playing work with the pads? Position where you hit or the force?

  On 6/7/2015 at 8:57 PM, Kcinsu said:

Yes!

 

The MD has the benefit of being a self contained unit with great sounds and a great sequencer, but to my ears the Nord Drum just sounds so much better (for my taste). Much more organic and alive sounding. It depends on what you are looking for.

 

I certainly recommend it. Maybe get a used MD and a ND2... My favorite thing to do is sequence it ND2 with the MD.

I had a feeling you might say that :)

I've been impressed with the demo sounds although some reviews have mentioned a lack of variety in sounds I usually put this down to lack of imagination or time with a machine though. I'm currently working on an ambient project but once that is finished I will definitely be getting one of these. The MD may have to wait a bit.

As an aside, I've also been reading up a bit on roland drum kits and noticed that some of them replicate the 808 and 909 sets. Was wondering whether you knew how 'close' they are to the original sound and whether they're worth looking into? Surprised to see people talk about drum machines but not as much in terms of playing which seems a lot more fun and expressive!

can you play those pads with your hands & fingers using a somewhat light touch, or do you need to whack it pretty hard with some sticks?