Open Box Nord Wave 2 61-Key Performance Synthesizer Level 1

The Wave 2 is often misunderstood, and I can see why. If you only want to use the built-in presets, there are lots of other keyboards that will get that job done. But if you spend a bit of time and effort to load your own samples into the Wave 2, it really opens up the possibilities. This synth rewards those who dig deeper. On a basic level, you could download sounds from Nord's Sample Library online. There are lots of classic samples available, even from the earliest sample-based keyboards like the Mellotron and Fairlight. Some of these sounds are instantly recognizable because they've been used in a ton of popular songs, back when those vintage keyboards were brand new. The next level up involves designing and loading your own custom samples. This is where I would argue that the Wave 2 can sound like anything you want it to. Take any audio clip and use it like an oscillator within the standard envelope/filter/amplifier structure of a synth. This is where experimenting really pays off. I will often load a bunch of my own samples in at one time, and maybe only 2 or 3 out of a bunch are "keepers". But over time I've built up a library of my own unique sounds. It feels a bit like panning for gold sometimes, but the payoff is worth it to me. There is 1GB of sample memory on board, which might not seem like a lot these days. But I often get the best results using shorter samples that are looped. And those take up a very small amount of memory. This is not the best keyboard to accurately recreate a grand piano with highly detail samples. You could try, but you'll probably run out of storage space very quickly. And again, there are other keyboards that will give you a grand piano sound without so much effort. The Nord Wave 2 is better suited for experimentation in my opinion. A huge plus with the Wave 2 is that Nord's patch management and sample editing software is the absolute best available. Nord knows how to do software. For example - let's say you have loaded your own custom samples into the keyboard, then used those samples in a bunch of different programs. Then later, you want to re-organize your samples into different slots. The software keeps track of those movements so your programs still point to the correct samples. The Sequential Prophet X does not do this (another fine synth I considered purchasing). If you move or delete samples in the Prophet X, you'll want to keep your own documentation regarding which programs used those samples, because you'll need to manually change them all again one by one. The knob layout and performance controls are another big selling point with all Nord keyboards. Most controls are immediately available instead of hidden within a menu. The voice architecture is another sticking point for some reviewers, especially since there is just one assignable LFO per layer. But you have to think of the Wave 2 as a four layer synth, and all four layers can be combined make up one program or sound. Each layer could use a different synthesis type, be it samples, analog models, FM, or digital waves. Each layer can be programmed with different envelopes for its own filter and amplifier, creating slowly evolving sounds. This architecture reminds me a lot of a very popular and groundbreaking vintage digital synth: the Roland D-50. And if you think about it, that synth used less that 1 Meg of samples to create a vast array of sounds, and the Wave 2 has a thousand times more storage for your sonic explorations.

I have about 50 hardware synthesizers, and this has become one of my new favorites. It's great for live gigs due to its sonic excellence and many ways to modify a sound in real time via the mod wheel, velocity, after touch, pedals. For example, you can use the mod wheel to lower the volume of certain layers or raise certain layers or modify pretty much any parameter. It's great to have analog, wavetable, FM and sampled sounds in one as well as having the ability to use it as 4 separate synthesizers via the 4 layers or to use multiple layers as a single patch. It's on the heavy side but not so heavy that it can't easily be brought to gigs. One drawback is that it doesn't have an internal audio interface like most e.g. Roland synths do. Mostly I love the 'pure' sound it produces, very clean. So far I haven't looked at the manual. The many 60 second video tutorials help a lot to get up to speed with it. Kudos to Nord.