Re: [microsound] synth toys (NM)

[ndkent <ndkent@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>> I'm sure you know the Nord Modular keyboard. No speaker of course and not
> a
>> full set of knobs. That's something recently discontinued in favor of a
>> larger unit (that supports current operating systems, something that until
>> someone successfully completely reverse engineers the old Nord is going to
>> be a real issue unless you still use Win98  or OS9)
>
> I´m not sure about the Mac side of things, but the nord´s OS *should* run
> fine under XP. In fact I edit mine from my laptop under XP and often have
> the editor open during live performances with which I mean to say that it´s
> stable enough that i´d risk my reputation on in. I accidently happen to know
> one of the nord modular´s aplha testers and i can tell you he uses his own
> pair of micro modulars from a XP desktop too.
>
> The only side effect of running it under XP that i know off is that it
> remembers it´s midi port setting better if you set the program to run in
> this "compatibility mode", apart from that you should be fine. I also know
> that a p90 with a minimal configuration of win98 can handle the Nord´s
> editor so a pc emulation might be a option for OS X users that want to edit
> a Nord?
>
> Hope that is of some help to somebody.....

Thanks, I now see I jumped to the conclusion about XP based on my failed
attempts with Win2K and the Nord Modular Editor.

I'll second the point that the unit has a potential very handy advantage as
it will function at 100% without a fast CPU -  given that the computer is
only needed for editing, not for the actual dsp work which is done by
hardware. Patches can be recalled from onboard memory and it can be played
without the computer.

Perhaps the PC emulation results, especially with current USB interfaces,
are better now. I know that when the Nord Modular came out (initially
without Mac support) driving a MIDI interface reliably or at all in PC
emulation was a difficult to meet challenge. Anyone having good luck doing
that now? Just curious as to anyone's emulated PC MIDI configuration Nord or
not.

On the subject of the microKorg, if it sounds and works well for what you do
then that's great, I looked into it myself and didn't really like the
relatively few knobs. While it's sound might be exactly what some composers
are looking for, it's one of the less analog sounding simulated analog
synths imho.

nick
http://www.artskool.biz/jem/ndkent/
who has a mac and a pc but uses an old Roland MC202 pretty often


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
website: http://www.microsound.org