Hello Guys,
I have an OT, a MD and an A4.
I’m very interessed by the AR but though that it could be a good idea to buy the Nord Drum 2 instead and command it with OT or the MD (or the A4, if possible). I like the ND2 melodic percussions capability and it seems to sound terrible.
Anyone had the same idea or tried it in the same configuration. Any feedback, advice ?
Thanks
I plan to do the same thing. I would also be very interested in opinions and demos.
I’m really interested in a Nord Drum 2 especially now that it has cc. I heard that it doesn’t have an on/off switch and you have to to unplug it to turn it off and on. Is this right?
Yeah it is weird but I’ll still get one. I think it sounds great and the editing options are really good.
Sometimes I think selling my A4 and MD just to have an OT + ND2 controlled by the 6 first midi channels of the OT + an Evolver (one of my favorite synth) controled by the 7th midi channel + a Mopho (or a second Evolver) controled by the 8th midi channel. A little conf.
@baddcr
I love your track man. Crazy.
I had the blofeld but never been in love with it. To cold, classical.
I really miss my evolver which can sound vintage scifi and crazy.
I think i will purchase this ND2 which seems to go much more far sonically than the MD.
I use this configuration for my live shows. The ND2 is super fast to operate with one hand (including secondary parameter shifting). You can also coax some killer sound out of it. Having CC control of all the ND2 features makes for the expected parameter lock madness you would expect.
It’s a good combo and the ND2 has a rediculously small profile/footprint.
@Baddcr
One of my main interest is to use it in chromatic mode for percussions, bass-like sounds, or synth-like sound if possible (FM).
Did you tried it in this way ?
@Baddcr Thank a lot. I appreciate.
I think I will review my set-up. This ND2 can be a good occasion to refresh my sound which is fully made by Elektron Machines now.
Some of you may think I’m mad but the Analog four will certainly leave my set-up. Effects and Sequencer are beautifull but I don’t really like the sound and the arpegiator is frustrating for me.
I miss my DSI Evolver (crazy synth) and my Novation Nova (so Magic and poetic sound) which were sold to fund Elektron machines.
The OT could be dedicated to midi sequence a Nova and a Evolver (7 midi channels needed).
And the MD could control the ND2 via 6 dedicaled midi channel and sound of the ND2 come back to MD through 2 INPs. It will let me 8 MDs part for MD sounds or control or RAM.
Ok I know, I’m far from the initial subject.
this demo really sounded great to me when i was thinking of buying one.
Wonderfull sound and creative capabilities. I can’t imagine how powerfull can be this ND2 with OT’s plocks and with OT’s effects.
i still have gas for it, but i satisfied the craving for a while by concentrating on making drum sounds on the MnM. now the AR has me thinking that it is the only gear i would buy.
but still, that ND2 sounds really nice.
I use the ND2 together with an MD – they’re a great combination as they hardly overlap in sounds at all, and as already mentioned, you can p-lock everything, so it really feels like a natural expander for the MD.
Get one – you won’t be disappointed. The little iPad app is fun too!
“what does the MD do that the ND2 doesn’t?” or the opposite
Finally I purchased the ND2 this morning. I should have it on Tuesday and will be able to give you a feedback and/or a demo.
Well, of course they both make drum sounds, so in that sense there is a fair bit of overlap . . .
But the ND just has a different sound. Although I love the MD, it can sound a little ‘boxy’ and closed in. The ND has a very open sound which fills out the overall sound. The ND can also easily be played chromatically, which is great with the sine/saw/square waves. The FM also sounds quite different to the MD. More like the kind of FM sounds you can get from the MNM.
All in my opinion. of course. 
ND2 is an awesome percussion synth imo. I’m playing it strictly with sticks on the Nord Pad. Here’s a quick demo of some of the kits I’ve been building… super down tempo to accommodate my newb skills on the Nord Pad. Added a wee bit of reverb, otherwise it’s just straight up ND2.
Ok. I have it and tried it for my first day.
Take care, I will give an opinion but I only tried it for two hours. I may come back to edit this post in few days.
This is only MY opinion and as I’m not
SOUNDS
Sound Structure: Each sound / channel of the ND2 is made by a kind of layering of Tone, Noise and Click generators. Below the sound structure.
Overall sound: Baddcr is right. The sound of this ND2 is immediatly wider, less “boxy” than the MD one (my tip to wide a bit the sound of my MD is pass it through A4 chorus). It takes up the entire spectrum.
Kicks: The ND2 excels in what i call “wet kicks”, you know, this kind of soft organic kicks with long decays. I never been able to make this kind of kicks with MD.
From now I wasn’t able to make with ND2 these tight punchy matt kicks I love to make with MD. I don’t know why, but it seems that there is only 50 tones decay values. Maybe not sufficient to fine tune. I will have to work more deeply on this point.
Snares: Snares are much more immedialty beautiful than the ones I can do with MD. They can be “wet” and soft (808 style) but also very realistic. In fact, I’m very impressed by the “realiistic” snares this box can make. Very organic/jazzy. I don’t yet if it can make Punchy/Dubstep snares, I didn’t found this kind of snares in presets but this is not a priority for me.
Hit hats, cymbals: As snares, the hit hats and cymbals I can make with ND2 are beautifull, wide.
Toms: They are incredibly realistics, organics, wide. No possible comparison with MD.
Claps: Not very convinced by the claps in presets even when I tried to tune them. But I have the same frustration with MD.
Perc sounds: A pleasure too.
“Synths/Bass sounds”: Yes, as the tone generator includes Sine, Square, Triangle, FM generators and as the ND2 can be played chromatically I can say that we can make synths and/or bass sounds. There are a bit “dry” of course and it seems that there is no ADSR filter on tone and noise generators. As there is not way to tune the attack, I think the ND2 can only make synth perc or short time synth sounds. But this is a synth drum…
EFFECTS:
Hum… My first impression is that Distorsion, Delay and EQ are not the best I heard. But I will need more time to test it.
I though that the “Echo (Repeat)” is able to make a kind of “retrig” effect. This is not the case.
CONCLUSION:
First day: I’m very happy with this Nord Drum 2. I love its wide/organic sound and the possibility to easily play it chromaticaly with a sequencer or a midi keyboard. For me, this is exactly what i miss the most when i play with MD.
Of course, the ND2 has only 6 channels versus the 16 ones of the MD. But as most of the time the drum sounds i like must be designed by layering 2 or 3 channels on MD…
As the ND2 is only an expander it cannot really replace a MD. But as I own an OT too it can be a good alternative to replace my set-up (OT+MD) by (OT+ND2): A powerfull sequencer and sampler (OT) controlling a fantastic drum synth (ND2).
Since today, the midi possibilities of my OT weren’t used at all and I’m thinking about adding an Evolver to my set-up which is the craziest analog/hybrid synth I know (I have an A4 and add a tetra). And maybe a Nova Desktop which is very cheap and very good to make magic pads.
Thanks a lot Baddcr. I will experiment ND2 again this night. I think too that OT+ND2 can be a killer couple.
Please Elektron add Midi Retrig and Midi scenes
