Nord Drum 2 - Hesitation

The Lounge Other Gear
#28

Love these sounds polyslax!

#30

Have a look to the extra sounds banks demos

http://www.nordkeyboards.com/sound-libraries/product-libraries/drums/nord-drum-2/nord-drum-2-beem-bank

It can give a good idea of the sound capabilities including synths/bass

#31

Cheers!
Luvin that mad little experiment of yours too Baddcrā€¦ may have to introduce the ND2 to my OTā€¦ for now tho having too much fun bangin away on the Pad!

#32

I really like the sounds of the ND2, itā€™s definitely a great drum synth.

What I donā€™t like it is that you canā€™t send standard bank select messages to it, so if you want to select anything beyond the first bank with most MIDI hardware, you are out of luck.

What I donā€™t like about the ND2/OT combo is that itā€™s annoying to have CC numbers instead of parameter names in the OTā€™s MIDI CC pages. You also have to choose which 10 of the ~35 parameters on the ND2 you want to be able modulate, and then either write out a cheat sheet or remember them. Fairly painstaking to set up. Because of this I could not deal with the ND2/OT set as a stand-in for either the MD or the AR.

So while the sound is great, its integration with other gear is a but frustrating. It does excel at its main goal though: playing with drum pads! Very good dynamic response.

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#33

i got the 1, it was like 199,

i liked iy since i heard it the first time,

in person it was much better than i ever thought it would be,

those smooth, fat tones are insane,

the nd1 has 4 trigger inputs, so the a4 runs it, no modular at the moment so its fine,

#34

Thanx for your sacrifice, it will stay in our memories :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

#35

Thanx for your precise analyse of the beast. You see, your sacrifice is usefull for community.
While iā€™m waiting for the money get in my wallet to buy one, this point of view make my decision. Iā€™ll buy one as soon as possible. :kiss:

#36

This little box calmed down my AR GAS crisis for a while.

#37

Yes, the Nord Drum 1 can be trigged by A4 CVā€™s outputs.

Second hands Nord Drum 1 can be purchased close to 150 ā‚¬.

But if I understand it can not be player chromaticly and and not received CC changes.

But A4 + ND1 can be a good (an cheap) couple for minimal.

#38

So the nord drum 1 is worth it? Iā€™m looking for drum brain for my roland kit - also I donā€™t have a dedicated drum machine. The OT does that just fine

#40

I donā€™t know. I just have Nord Drum 2.

But as Nord Drum 1 cannot be chromaticly played and as it cannot be tuned in real time by CC, itā€™s not interesting to command it by using 4 midi channelsā€¦ You can command it with one channel in ā€œnote modeā€.

In this case, the Nord Drum 1 (polyphony 4) will only use 1 of the 8 midi channels of the OT and free the 8 audio channels of your OT. For 150 euros with a good sound (it seems, I cannot compare to my young ND2) it can be interesting.

1 Like
#42

I love the ND2. Every time you turn the preset knob you have a brand new drum machine with interesting fat characterful digital/VA/FM/crazy sounds.
It has a massive sonic spectrum, bordering on synth territory.

I do like VA drums though and other digital or electronic drums, especially run through analogue mixers and outboard for punch and distortion. ND2 also sounds amazing like that.

For me the ND2 has a rich sound that is its own kind of VA drum sound and easily competes with the best VST drum synths. I think its better sonically than my favourite VST drum synths and way more fun/exploratory/creative. I havenā€™t really worked that much with the kicks yet but they sound good.

In comparison for me the AR was slightly boring to use. I didnā€™t gell with the analogue drums, they were a bit flat/boring and the limited synthesis scope put me off. They sound OK but for that money you want something really inspiring and for me I would rather go with other analogue drums for the job. I can also layer analogue drums with samples faster in the DAW and run it through my mixer for distortion and my friends hardware compressors. The compressor in the AR is IMO is pretty bad.

The ND2 however feels more open ended and creative - I donā€™t feel its a be and end all drum machine like the AR that will do all your drum duties (although it could if you wanted it to). But its highly complementary to whatever you have and may also give you an edge in a new kind of sound that you wouldnā€™t normally come up with, especially in percussion.

I havenā€™t had so much fun and been so inspired in a long time by something.

#43

Grrrrrrrr the nd1 at that price is too good to pass up. So has anyone got experience with it as a drum brain?

#44

Look Iā€™ve decided the nd1 will suit me just fine. Has anyone got a link for one of these on sale? For that price I just canā€™t pass it up.

#45

AFAIK all the $99 ND1s from Musicianā€™s Friend are goneā€¦ JRR Shop bought the remaining stock, 10 units I believe, and last I saw JRR had unloaded all of them.

There are likely other ND1 sales happening or about to happen as retailers clear the old stock.

#46

Another step closer to ergonomic blissā€¦

Iā€™ve been waiting over a month now for a stand for my ND2 and Nord Pad, like the setup Nord used at Messe. In the mean time Iā€™ve got both units sitting on a chairā€¦ not the most comfotable rig! :wink:

I did, however, pick up an arm for my iPad, and this is great for working with the H9 pedal Iā€™m running the ND2 thru:

ipadarm.jpg800Ɨ532 384 KB

#48

Hi,

Quick question. Does the ND2 output midi notes when triggered from the Nord Pad? IĀ“m assuming it does, just need a confirmation before buying.

Thanks

#49

Never tried but it seems to (i havenā€™t any drum pad"

Bottom of the web page: http://www.nordkeyboards.com/products/nord-drum-2
ā€œTRIGGER INTERFACE
Everything you play using the Nord Pad, electronic drum pads or acoustic triggers is automatically output to the MIDI output, making the Nord Drum 2 a brilliant 6-channel trigger interface as well.ā€

#50

Hey !!!

An update of the Nord Drum 2 today

v3.00 (2014-07-04)
Master Level and Pan zipper-noise bug was fixed.
A lot of improvements to C1/C2 to sound.
Added Ring Modulator Effect (ā€œDistortā€ section).
Shortened the shortest possible envelope decay times.
Added detuning capabilities to triangle wave ("A2ā€), sawtooth wave ("A3ā€) and square wave (ā€œA4ā€)
Added high-pass filtered detunable square wave (ā€œA5ā€)
Added square wave with adjustable pulse width (ā€œA6ā€)
Added Dual T-Filter waveform (ā€œt1ā€). Inspired by classic analog drum machines.
Added Ring Modulator Waveforms (ā€œr1ā€ and "r2).
Improved Signal to Noise Ratio on Drive (eliminating low-level, high-frequency ā€œbeepsā€ previously present at certain noise filter settings).
Fixed bug where tone part of the sound was wrapped up in pitch when playing really low midinotes.
Smoother loading of programs (avoiding pops and clicks)

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#52

So has the nord drum 1 seen any updates or bug fixes?