That’s a bit presumptive and dismissive. I didn’t complain about any of their products not having a sequencer, I was lamenting the fact that they obviously no longer even consider electronic / techno / experimental genres when designing their gear. Not “mostly” but all of their synths now available are with keys. I’ve already got two synths with keys - that’s more than enough. They previously made module versions of every synth they made. Another example of completely ignoring more experimental genres is the lack of Lfos on the Nord Wave 2. I have a G2 engine and love it, I also have access to a Nord Drum 3 I recommended to a friend - best HW drum synth there is IMO, so some gear the company has produced definitely are for me! With the huge popularity of modular, which postdates the end of production of the G2 I think they could do very well with a G3, and it’s a big shame this in all probability won’t happen.
That’s a fair point. But was the end of the module production due to sales, or part of the decision to only market to keyboardists? If it was sales, half-hearted marketing to the target audience was part of the problem IMO.
Wasn’t Nord facing insolvency/restructuring a while ago? Maybe they made a safe decision. (I may be incorrect about this.) Sorry about the presumptive tone, in my mind Ruichi Sakomoto and Squarepusher fit the definition of experimental even if they decide to touch keys or strings as part of their performance. Did Brian Eno and Robert Henke have difficulty experimenting with Yamaha FM synths?
Nord Wave 2 looked interesting to me for a bit, until I saw some lukewarm reviews.
I’m sure it’s still the right for somebody out there. It does have some stiff competition on the wavetable, FM, and VA fronts.
Yeah and like… it sucks that Steinway don’t make xox-boxes.
I wanted to like Nord but sent back both 2 stage 3s recently(88 and 73) as it feels like a jack of all trades and the synth engine is meh imo.
Especially since they made such great synth modules in their early years
I mean you kid but that would be pretty cool to get a master crafted acoustic xox box.
I always liked Clavia products. Still hope for a NDrum 4 that is basically a NDrum 2 with at least 4 audio outs. Otherwise no complains about Clavia.
edit: I only used the older stuff
I think they’re focused on performance, and that’s a good thing. One LFO is boring… but then you check out the excellent design of the mod wheel and expression pedal and keyboard split options, and you realise that you are the modulator. And that’s often more fun than an LFO or sequencer.
…well, in the low price segment u have to calculate pretty close and tough to make money for real…and the competition is huuge and in most cases packed with stuff from china…
and yup, no one says it too loud, but for the model range, all swedish expectations were way higher in the beginning than the outcome actually is…success is not only counted in sales and numbers…but money is…
combined with a learning curve of a small exclusive company that is on a constant rise in sales…
catching up with growing success and fame can end up pretty exhausting…
and it was new terretory for them, while that low price segment remains an asian domninated battlefield, pretty hard to compete, especially if u still wanna keep ur quality standards high at the same time…
and back to the other exclusive vikings…of course a synth keyboard is more clumsy than a full fledged stage piano…and all their models became modern classics…because that’s what they share with elektron for real…they always sound decent and state of the art…with high quality standards, no matter what…
my most fav truu analog synth of all times is the a4…but hey, my virtual analog nordlead rack get’s pretty close at many points, with 21 voices and four multitimbral parts…
and i got many ways of drumsythesis at hand…but the nord drum1 is still unique in punch and tweakability while always pretty convincing in realistic overtones…combined with the most solid and fastest drum to midi converter out there to find…
and yes…my car is also swedish everlasting quality… 
the nord modular G2 almost bankrupt the company. as amazing as it is it didn’t sell enough. they spent a lot of time developing it and updating the editor with amazing features like the mutate module but in the end it was a blackhole for cash for them. so they abandoned it.
the nord stage/electro/piano sell well. the market for that is huge. touring musicians, churches etc. it’s massive in comparison. they’re a small company really. they aren’t korg or yamaha or roland so taking risks can leave them snake bitten.
but the nord lead series is amazing… all of them. the Nordwave 2 seems the thing that leans into the electronic market the most out of their current line of products.
everyone seems to want a nord modular G3 or even just a 64bit version of the G2 editor to make sure it survives on current/future operating systems. i think it’d be great if they just made a standalone/vst/au version of the editor to run w/o hardware. i know it’s a different ball of wax but seems like they were already half way there… but small company.
they’re a different company. they do what they do… they’re not elektron who are firmly in the elektronic world w/all their products.
i’m sure that clavia looks at the landscape and sees how crowded it is and wonders why they should compete in it? their products are usually no quite so affordable as other offerings… but i guess the Virus is not cheap either.
who knows… maybe we need a hashtag to get them inspired
Nowadays with something like VCV Rack around and Bitwig and Max, it would be very hard to compete with that for a G3.
Are they still making the Nord Lead’s? Yep, just looked it up. Nord Lead 4. I find it strange that most synths these days are at best bi-timbral. Nord’s flagship going back over 20 years has 4 voices multi-timbral, those voices being polyphonic. It still blows me away whn I see a new synth that everyone is raving about, and it’s not multi timbral.
So, I’d say, Nord does make amazing synths for electronic music, they just stopped making the NM and Nord drum2. Something like the Nord Lead 4 could keep a sound designer busy forever.
It also may be bad timing. I remember when the NMG2 came out- I think the Keys was almost 3,000 dollars. I got the rack version (sold years ago…i won’t go into this. it bums me out). So, they released the G2 way before the modular explosion we are in the middle of, and like @ignatius said above, only a few were buying, and it almost killed them. it sucks to be ahead of your time, trailblazer.
Also, kinda shitty that they were one of the first companies to release a VA synth, but then they probably had to weather the “everything must be analog” storm for 10 years+…Just bad timing.
Maybe they just felt that the electronic musician market is too volatile to spend too much time and resources on and stuck with their original idea of being a Keyboard company. I still don’t make enough money to buy even a used NM G2 Keyboard, so if I’m the market, they made the right decision.
A g3 with some CV connections and ability to handle audio levels in/out to/from modular, some sample loading and storage capability. could be very popular in the modular world. But not in churches and jazz clubs I guess.
I wonder sometimes what the investment would be to do something like a Nord G3, or a Elektron OT3. Is it in the millions? If you already have a lot of the R&D done…Oh and how long would it take. I mean both of these instruments are the pinnacle of the industry and I think they would sell like hotcakes. But, then with Nord’s luck Electronic music would be a thing of the past by the time they got their beta done.
The G2 in the past sold Not so Well. And as mentioned, the Market is very different now. A G3 would have to compete with free soft Like VCV and the huge modular Synth Module Market, something that wasnt there when the G2 got released. Plus there are many excellent digital and analog Synths since then on the Market. No Chance for a G3, imho.
There’s also the Mod Duo and other products from that company, the Organelle and other PureData “player” hardware, the Axoloti platform, the Monome Norns, the Empress Zoia and upcoming Euroboro… goes on and on.
Ah well… you sure showed me
Well it seems to him that it makes the company look daft when all that’s pouring out of their instruments is sub rate ‘electronic’ music…
Like bile ain’t it… its pouring out of Berlin like diarrhea.
I don’t blame them … Just keeping their distance until it all blows over.
Well done Clavia 
Ps. I heard the next line of instruments is going to be in a raw finish… no paint. no colour. no trend.