Nord Modular vs modern vsti alternatives

[greententacle]

The Nord modular 1 & 2 are the only synths I've owned that could easily make sounds that I have a hard time making with plugins (including Softube modular/ Reaktor /Bazille etc). Many of those sounds could ultimately be made with software, but it was not as straightforward as with the nords. The way high frequency and high amplitude modulation is handled in the NM makes it so that any signal.(damn near) makes a pretty neat sound, whereas in many VST modulars it seems like maybe the modulation is hard clipping at the input maybe and can cause some crappy artifacts. Anyway I'll be keeping my G2 forever even if it's just for playing on live or processing my pocket operators through for sampling.

this^
haven't found a software to get rid of my nord. damn.

[Ah_Dziz]

Zero crossing: softube modular definitely had some of these issues and so did Reaktor. The higher the sample rate the better things worked which is why I thought it might be an internal aliasing problem. One of the things that I had the most trouble doing on a VST was using noise through a sharp "vcf" bandpass as an FM source. This turns to noise quite quickly in lots and lots of VST modulars but it's a fun way to get semi random phase but pitched modulation.

Slugware: I'll post something when I have my G2 in front of me. As i said these are not sounds that can't be made in a plugin but they are easier by far to make with the NM.

[BazJacuzzi]

Absolutely love my Nord Modular. Have had the first one for ever, and I'll never part with it. I did get a G2 at one point, but it was much later and by that time I felt software had surpassed it. I guess that's my point, without the nostalgia and personal attachment it's hard to recommend over software. Does look nice in red though.

[mjudge55]

I'll be shocked if there isn't a reply indicating Reaktor can do all NM can and more -- in terms of synthesis -- with less artifacts. It's been 20 years, if today's software isn't objectively crushing NM's that would be dumb. The strength of NM is in the things it does that Reaktor doesn't try to do, like being a standalone instrument.

As to whether you like the sound character, that's of course highly important to an individual but of no interest to anyone else. Everyone's got a subjective opinion, the only thing interesting about that is how you formed it, the back story.

[zerocrossing]

Zero crossing: softube modular definitely had some of these issues and so did Reaktor. The higher the sample rate the better things worked which is why I thought it might be an internal aliasing problem. One of the things that I had the most trouble doing on a VST was using noise through a sharp "vcf" bandpass as an FM source. This turns to noise quite quickly in lots and lots of VST modulars but it's a fun way to get semi random phase but pitched modulation.

Slugware: I'll post something when I have my G2 in front of me. As i said these are not sounds that can't be made in a plugin but they are easier by far to make with the NM.

Modulating a filter with noise sounds like… noise on my analog synthesizers, so I’m not sure what you are expecting.

[zerocrossing]

I'll be shocked if there isn't a reply indicating Reaktor can do all NM can and more -- in terms of synthesis -- with less artifacts. It's been 20 years, if today's software isn't objectively crushing NM's that would be dumb. The strength of NM is in the things it does that Reaktor doesn't try to do, like being a standalone instrument.

As to whether you like the sound character, that's of course highly important to an individual but of no interest to anyone else. Everyone's got a subjective opinion, the only thing interesting about that is how you formed it, the back story.

The logical way to assess this is for someone with a Nord Modular to post a simple sound with a screen shot of the patch that created it. Shouldn’t be hard to compare it to VCV, Reaktor, Softube Modular, etc. Let’s do it.

[Ah_Dziz]

Bandpass filtered noise with a modulated resonant bandpass filter giving an almost sine wave output and then fed into a pitch or frequency modulation input. Gives nice moving high sidebands with a warbly quality when not super deep FM amounts are used. In Softube Modular the modulation goes from nice and burbly at lower bandpass cutoff values to just noise as the pitch of the bandpass goes up (this is while leaving the resonance at a fixed (relatively high) value. So noise generator> bandpass filter> oscillator FM input.

[Ah_Dziz]

I'm not claiming anything can't be done with software. The NM is software. Just claiming that certain things I routinely did with the Nord sounded like crap in Softube and took some finagling to get going in Reaktor. That's all.

[mjudge55]

I'll be shocked if there isn't a reply indicating Reaktor can do all NM can and more -- in terms of synthesis -- with less artifacts. It's been 20 years, if today's software isn't objectively crushing NM's that would be dumb. The strength of NM is in the things it does that Reaktor doesn't try to do, like being a standalone instrument.

As to whether you like the sound character, that's of course highly important to an individual but of no interest to anyone else. Everyone's got a subjective opinion, the only thing interesting about that is how you formed it, the back story.

The logical way to assess this is for someone with a Nord Modular to post a simple sound with a screen shot of the patch that created it. Shouldn’t be hard to compare it to VCV, Reaktor, Softube Modular, etc. Let’s do it.

Yep, that's the logical way to have the wrong conversation.

[gentleclockdivider]

I'll be shocked if there isn't a reply indicating Reaktor can do all NM can and more -- in terms of synthesis -- with less artifacts. It's been 20 years, if today's software isn't objectively crushing NM's that would be dumb. The strength of NM is in the things it does that Reaktor doesn't try to do, like being a standalone instrument.

As to whether you like the sound character, that's of course highly important to an individual but of no interest to anyone else. Everyone's got a subjective opinion, the only thing interesting about that is how you formed it, the back story.

Theoratically reaktor is capable of doing what the nord does, when running at 96KHZ
Reaktor is a pseudo dsp language so we've have to code or own modules
Practically reaktor blocks will just give you a monophonic voice and there are nord modular modules that just sound incredibly good and don't have any couterparts in reaktor (yet )
The spectral oscillator sounds amazing so does the vocoder etc..
I can't be bothered to upload examples just to convince some troll like zerocrossing , in the end he will just walk away like nothing happens
Nord , eventide dsp 3000 etc.... he always has some BS answer ready based on his limited experience in his small universe .

[Ah_Dziz]

There are jillions of things I can do and routinely do on my computer that the Nord would never be able to do. There are also tons of things that are just as easy to do with one or the other provided you have everything hooked up. I also barely use the Nord outside of a live context. I'm not trying to argue anything except that I enjoy my Nord and I've found it does extreme modulation quite well.

I'd be amazed if a full set of Reaktor blocks couldn't be built that behave exactly the same as the Nord's modules.

[zerocrossing]

I'll be shocked if there isn't a reply indicating Reaktor can do all NM can and more -- in terms of synthesis -- with less artifacts. It's been 20 years, if today's software isn't objectively crushing NM's that would be dumb. The strength of NM is in the things it does that Reaktor doesn't try to do, like being a standalone instrument.

As to whether you like the sound character, that's of course highly important to an individual but of no interest to anyone else. Everyone's got a subjective opinion, the only thing interesting about that is how you formed it, the back story.

The logical way to assess this is for someone with a Nord Modular to post a simple sound with a screen shot of the patch that created it. Shouldn’t be hard to compare it to VCV, Reaktor, Softube Modular, etc. Let’s do it.

Yep, that's the logical way to have the wrong conversation.

How is illustrating the difference between the Nord Modular and a plugin the “wrong conversion” in a thread about the difference between the Nord Modular and modular plugins?

[mjudge55]

I'll be shocked if there isn't a reply indicating Reaktor can do all NM can and more -- in terms of synthesis -- with less artifacts. It's been 20 years, if today's software isn't objectively crushing NM's that would be dumb. The strength of NM is in the things it does that Reaktor doesn't try to do, like being a standalone instrument.

As to whether you like the sound character, that's of course highly important to an individual but of no interest to anyone else. Everyone's got a subjective opinion, the only thing interesting about that is how you formed it, the back story.

Theoratically reaktor is capable of doing what the nord does, when running at 96KHZ
Reaktor is a pseudo dsp language so we've have to code or own modules
Practically reaktor blocks will just give you a monophonic voice and there are nord modular modules that just sound incredibly good and don't have any couterparts in reaktor (yet )
The spectral oscillator sounds amazing so does the vocoder etc..
I can't be bothered to upload examples just to convince some troll like zerocrossing , in the end he will just walk away like nothing happens
Nord , eventide dsp 3000 etc.... he always has some BS answer ready based on his limited experience in his small universe .

Oh totally, I'm not even sure why I respond to him, already had bad experiences in the past. I should know better.

I used to have Reaktor and it's super cool but I never gelled with it. I totally get why some would prefer it over NM, that's totally fine, it's just not me. For all I know it's objectively superior to NM on the sonics but I just think that debate is unmusical and uninspiring and not true to how I see musicians responding to gear.

[mjudge55]

I'll be shocked if there isn't a reply indicating Reaktor can do all NM can and more -- in terms of synthesis -- with less artifacts. It's been 20 years, if today's software isn't objectively crushing NM's that would be dumb. The strength of NM is in the things it does that Reaktor doesn't try to do, like being a standalone instrument.

As to whether you like the sound character, that's of course highly important to an individual but of no interest to anyone else. Everyone's got a subjective opinion, the only thing interesting about that is how you formed it, the back story.

The logical way to assess this is for someone with a Nord Modular to post a simple sound with a screen shot of the patch that created it. Shouldn’t be hard to compare it to VCV, Reaktor, Softube Modular, etc. Let’s do it.

Yep, that's the logical way to have the wrong conversation.

How is illustrating the difference between the Nord Modular and a plugin the “wrong conversion” in a thread about the difference between the Nord Modular and modular plugins?

Because it's uninteresting. As I said, if Reaktor isn't crushing NM software then something is wrong. Can we get past that boring conversation? I think you like that conversation because you win it, but I cede you the W on that. You can have that. NM is bringing something else to the table. Do we understand each other?

[zerocrossing]

I'll be shocked if there isn't a reply indicating Reaktor can do all NM can and more -- in terms of synthesis -- with less artifacts. It's been 20 years, if today's software isn't objectively crushing NM's that would be dumb. The strength of NM is in the things it does that Reaktor doesn't try to do, like being a standalone instrument.

As to whether you like the sound character, that's of course highly important to an individual but of no interest to anyone else. Everyone's got a subjective opinion, the only thing interesting about that is how you formed it, the back story.

The logical way to assess this is for someone with a Nord Modular to post a simple sound with a screen shot of the patch that created it. Shouldn’t be hard to compare it to VCV, Reaktor, Softube Modular, etc. Let’s do it.

Yep, that's the logical way to have the wrong conversation.

How is illustrating the difference between the Nord Modular and a plugin the “wrong conversion” in a thread about the difference between the Nord Modular and modular plugins?

Because it's uninteresting. As I said, if Reaktor isn't crushing NM software then something is wrong. Can we get past that boring conversation? I think you like that conversation because you win it, but I cede you the W on that. You can have that. NM is bringing something else to the table. Do we understand each other?

Go back and reread the posts. I didn't suggest that the Nord Modular was less prone to digital artifacts, but it sounds batsh!t crazy to me. Not impossible, but it was an odd statement to throw out there. If you don't want to get challenged, don't make a public statement. On Gearspace, there's a small but very aggressive group of zealots who claim the Eventide H3000 is the best thing ever and can never be equaled by software. I've yet to hear such a demo, so I asked for an example. I'm still waiting. I don't really care that much, because there's little likelihood that I'm going to run out and buy an H3000 any time soon, but I like to keep conversations to facts, and if someone says something that counter to my experience, I'm going to call them out.