Does anyone have both synths? Do they sound identical?
(I read that Discovery imports the Nord Lead 2 SysEx data).

Thanks,
Joe

No they don't.

although they basically work the same (actually with the new revisions to discovery it has a lot more flexibiliity) but no, they don't sound the same.

Someone posted a video that compared NL2 and Discovery 2.7 (several versions ago, I just updated mine to 3.1). http://www.gearwire.com/discovery-v-nord.html

Doug

That video had very good info. Thanks!

Can you layer a Nord Lead with itself? Because I know you can layer Discovery with itself to create much more complex sounds.

Sure, if you're able to do multitrack recording.

discovery is set up just like the nord with four independent parts per program so you can layer them.

Discovery has four layers, just like a Nord Lead. This is one significant difference between Discovery and Synth 1 (another synth patterned after NL).

Doug

My brother has a Nord Lead 2 and he compared to Discovery Pro and said that sound wise 1)It's the closest sounding VSTi of any that sounds like the actual Nord Lead 2 Synth. 2) That it doesn't sound identical but that he said that it's about 85% to 90% accurate depending on the type of patch and so forth. He also said that the actual Nord Lead 2 Sysex Patches that can be loaded into Discovery Pro can either be right on the mark or way off from some reason? He said that he loaded up a 5th Lead patch that he made on his Nord Lead 2 into Discovery Pro and it sounded harsher and more like a hard Jarre Pad than a 5th Lead. Then on another patch he made a Trance style Arpeggio sound absolutely identical in Discovery Pro as it did on his Nord Lead 2. So the sound can go either way I guess mostly depending on the patch type. All in all Discovery Pro is the closest sounding VSTi to the Nord Lead 2. After all it is suppose to be somewhat of an emulation obviously otherwise you wouldn't be loading Nord Lead 2 Sysex Data Patches into it. Synth1 VSTi would be an emulation of just one Layer of the Nord Lead 2 not the entire synth. Synth1 is still great though and it's Free so load up four instances of it and your got yourself a free Nord Lead 2 kinda. Just no Nord Lead 2 Sysex import and a few other things like the LFO2/Arpeggiator. Synth1's Arp is a lot more flexible and you can still use both LFOs without having to sacrifice one for the Arpeggiator.

I used Discovery only once so i am no expert but I couldnt tell the difference between that and my Nord - except perhaps the Nord has slightly more livelier LFO control and in Unison mode sounds a little sweeter.

It was more of a rhetorical question. I've done a lot of Discovery patches (and Synth 1 as well which can be layered with itself numerous times before CPU becomes an issue. Not as convienient as having all the layers in one patch like Discovery's 4 layers).

What I meant was can you layer a Nord Lead with itself in Real Time? Yes it has four layers but what if you want 8 played in real time? Discovery can be layered with itself a least a couple of times before Cpu becomes an issue.

I was just pointing out there is more than "does it sound like". There is also can you do with the hardware what you can with Discovery? (layering Discovery with Synth 1 is cool too since they each have their own character)

not only that, synth1 misses a way bigger feature, that actually made the nordleads famous: the morphing ... the most underesthimated feature on the nordleads ...

It doesn't sound the same. Most imported sysex from the NL sounds completely different. Re-building sounds manually can give results about 80% of the original NL sound.

For a VST its a simple and average sounding plug-in. For a NL emulation its failed.

Is the 'Pro' version worth the extra money?