Features

Polyphony 24 notes, 4-part multitimbral.

Performance Controllers
4-octave Velocity and Aftertouch sensitive keyboard with Octave Shift functionality (5 octaves). Keyboard Split (two sections). Modulation Wheel. Pitch Stick with no dead zone at zero crossing. Chord Memory/Stack. Keyboard Hold. Sustain Pedal and Control Pedal input.

User Interface
Control of the parameter settings : high-resolution rotary encoders combined with circular LED graphs for each knob. The LED graphs around the knobs guarantee that you always have total overview of your sound. As soon as you select a new sound, the correct values of all parameters are shown instantly by the LED graphs, and you can adjust the knobs from their current positions without glitches. In addition, the exact parameter value is shown in the backlit LCD as you turn a knob.
2 x 16 character backlit LCD and 3-digit LED.
26 rotary encoder knobs with circular LED graphs for instant control.
4 regular knobs and 45 buttons.
Big Rotary Dial encoder for system editing, sound selection, MIDI functions etc.

Morph Groups
The Morph function lets you continuously control defined ranges of up to 26 parameters in a sound, using only a single control source. This lets you produce radical changes to a sound in a fast and easy way. There are four separate Morph groups available per sound and you may assign up to 26 parameters to each of the four Morph groups. The Morph sources are: Keyboard Velocity, Keyboard Range, Aftertouch/Control Pedal and Modulation Wheel. Of course, you can also control the Morphs via MIDI. When you control Morph groups, the values of every assigned parameter are shown in real-time by the corresponding LED graphs.

Unison
Nord Lead 3 features the new adjustable stereo Unison without reduction of polyphony. And for fat monophonic basses, use the Stack function and stack up to 24 x 5 virtual voices and launch in a single keystroke. The Unison consists of 5 detuned virtual voices per note (2 in the left channel, 2 in the right channel and 1 in the center) and you can control the detune amount among the voices.

Arpeggio
Nord Lead 3 comes with a separate Master Clock/MIDI-synchable Arpeggiator per Slot. In Performance Mode, you can have up to four arpeggios working together in sync (with different time signatures, if you like).

Vibrato
The global Vibrato acts equally on all voices in the sound. Controllable from the Modulation Wheel or Aftertouch.

Polyphonic Legato
Nord Lead 3 features Polyphonic Legato. This means you are able to play overlapping chords without retriggering the Envelopes.

Polyphonic Glide
Nord Lead 3 has extensive possibilities for Glide (Portamento). For example, you can use Polyphonic Glide in Polyphonic Legato mode for parallel glide between whole chords. n Performance Mode, you can have up to four arpeggios working together in sync (with different time signatures, if you like).

Keyboard Hold
Press the Hold button to keep notes sustaining until you play new notes. Especially useful together with the Arpeggiator or with Polyphonic Legato with Polyphonic Glide.

Chord Memory
Play a chord and activate the Chord Memory function. Now you can play the chord by only pressing single keys. For octave or "fifths" lead lines, for example.

Stack
The Stack function is a variation of the Chord Memory function. It lets you stack up to 18 notes to be played from single keys. If you like, you can stack the same noteseveral times for extremely fat sounds.

Monophonic with Highest/Lowest note priority.
If you want to play a layer with a pad chord and a monophonic lead sound on top: select monophonic operation with Highest Note Priority and you will be able to play the lead sound with the highest notes while you have the pad chord depressed.

Modulation Section
Nord Lead 3 offers 2 x 24 LFOs per voice. If you like, you can use the LFOs as Envelope generators in Single Cycle mode. You can also use the Modulation Envelope as an LFO in Repeat Mode. The LFOs can besync-ed to the internal Master Clock or to MIDI Clock.
LFO1 and LFO2, each featuring: Master Clock/MIDI-synchable LFO. 6 waveforms: Square, Triangle, Sawtooth, Random Step, Smooth Random, Special. 12 destinations. Free running/Hard-sync/Single Cycle and Mono modes. Rate and Amount controls. Separate LFOs for each voice.
MOD ENV: Attack/Decay or Attack/Release Envelope with Lin/Exp Attack. Envelope/Repeat modes. 12 destinations. Attack, Decay/Release and Amount controls.
Separate Envelopes for each voice.

Amplifier Section
ADSR Envelope with Lin/Exp Attack. Level (Gain) control. Separate Envelopes for each voice.




Oscillator Section
There are two separate oscillator groups, each providing you with six shapable waveforms, plus an additional sync oscillator. The extra sync oscillators make it possible to create two separately synched waveforms per voice. In other words, no need to sacrifice one audio oscillator just to sync another. Clavia also introduces Dual Sine FM on form of FM. In Dual Sine FM mode the oscillator generates two sine waves that can be used to form a 2-operator FM engine. If you like, you can use both oscillators in Dual Sine FM mode to create 4-operator frequency modulation. A nice feature is the Sound Init function. By pressing the Sound Init or FM Init button, the synthesizer resets to a default sound making it really easy to create new sounds. The Oscillator section also offers great modulation possibilities: Amplitude- and Ringmodulation, Distortion, FM, DFM, Filter FM and the new Distortion Modulation.
OSC1 and OSC2 with six shapable waveforms each: Triangle, Sawtooth, Pulse, Sine, Noise and Dual Sine. 1 additional slave sync oscillator per oscillator group. Dual
Sine mode for 2 or 4 operator FM synthesis. Synchable Noise for formant type of sounds.
OSC1: Shape/Sync/DFM Amount control.
OSC2: Coarse Tuning/Modulator semitones, Fine Tuning/Carrier partial, Shape/Sync/FM Amount and Keyboard Tracking controls.

Filter Section
The Filter section of Nord Lead 3 has two separate modes, Single Filter Mode and Multi Filter Mode. You can select between various filter types, including LP, HP, BP, Notch, Triple Peak and Triple Notch. The Classic Lowpass filter, which emulates a classic analog lowpass filter, has a more narrow resonance peak and also features resonance compression when swept over the fundamental frequency. In Multi Filter mode two or more filters are combined into real killer multi-filters. For example, the Multi Peak and Multi Notch filters can be used for phaser and flanger type of effects.
Single Filter Mode: Lowpass 6, 12 or 24 dB/Octave, Highpass 6, 12 or 24 dB/Octave, Bandpass 12 or 24 dB/Octave, Band reject 12 or 24 dB/Octave, Classic Lowpass 24 dB/Octave, Distorted Lowpass 12 or 24 dB/Octave. Frequency and Resonance controls.
Multi Filter Mode: HP-LP in series 12 dB/Octave, HP-LP in parallel 12 dB/Octave, LP-BP in parallel 12 and 6+6 dB/Octave, BP-BP in parallel 2 x (6+6) dB/Octave, Multi Peak, Multi Notch. 2 x Frequency and 1 Resonance controls.

ADSR Envelope with Lin/Exp Attack, Envelope Amount/Velocity, Positive/Invert. Separate Envelopes for each voice.

Keyboard Tracking and Oscillator Bypass controls.

Internal Memory
Nord Lead 3 comes with an internal editable Flash memory holding 8 x 128 (1024) Programs and 2 x 128 (256) Performances.
Sounds can easily be transferred to and from a computer or sequencer. No backup battery is required.

MIDI
All knobs and buttons for sound editing send and receive MIDI Control Change Messages. MIDI SysEx bulk dumps: single Program or complete Program Banks, singlePerformance or complete Performance Banks. MIDI Clock hard-sync of LFOs and Arpeggiator. OS upgradable via MIDI.

Connections
4 separate assignable Audio outputs, Headphones, Control Pedal input, Sustain Pedal input, MIDI IN, MIDI OUT, MIDI THRU. Detachable power cord.

Physical Dimensions
870 mm (W), 278 mm (D), 100 mm (H). Weight: 6.3 kg.