Nord Rack 2 vs Waldorf Microwave XT

On 2011-06-14 23:33, monno wrote:
I have used both of them extensively and love them dearly

The xt has a huge repertoire of sounds and excels greatly at evolving atmospheres and alien sounds in general, the modulation matrix is top notch making it deeply programmable and some of the filter models are quite unique to waldorf. To be sure some of the most crazy sounds i have ever made came out of that orange devil. their instruments in general have a sound of their own to be sure. on the downside the knobs are all endless rotary encoders and to top it off they react differently depending on the speed with which you turn ´em (off the top of my head i cannot recall if this can be turned off but i doubt it) this makes slow controlled sweeps very easy but makes fast knob movements almost impossible without skipping through the range too fast. (This is easily solved using an external controller instead) Additionally the outputs carry a bit more noise than you would expect, especially the aux one, the input is stereo but needs a stereo jack splitter which is not a super standard thing to have around (and a bit of a bitch to wire up diy style). To me the xt is not a very organic sounding beast. Contrary to the nordlead it has a more edgy synthetic sound which has it´s own place. Whatever sounds you get out of a nordlead is usually the opposite of what you would get out of an xt.

The nordlead on the other hand is fairly self explanatory (check out the front panel) no advanced stuff but a fairly simple synth setup whose main strength is what the nord is known for. Those bubbly, squiggly organic hipass leads spring to mind. The layout and editing is extremely simple and results are there almost instantaneously with few tweaks. The nord is the more instantly gratifying of the two.
Did i mention clavia gear is built like tanks? And those knobs have got to be my favorites, just the right amount of resistance for knob abusers like me. I´d also like to mention the high pass filter which really is, to my mind, the best sounding most useful highpass filter in any virtual analog synth i have come across.

The downside is limited patch storage (those oldschool ram cards have gotten pricey) The range of sounds it produces is not that great (it is a simple synth compared to many of it´s contemporaries) and for me it is more of a one trick pony, but it does that trick so well!!! If you like effects the nord doesn´t have them but not a major issue for me, as i am more interested in the raw sound of it anyways. And btw...It is possible to sync the lfo´s to host...Look on your right of the synth and you should see a table with menu functions accessible via the shift key. Lfo sync is in the special menu all the functions that are not immediately available via knobs or buttons you can find a reference for silk screened on the very synth (how´s that for a helping hand) you can basically throw away the manual for this one (i never even read it i think)

They are both great synths with each their own strengths and they compliment each other well. If it was my first synth i would choose the nord. If it would be my only synth (or i could only take one synth to a deserted island) i would still go for the nord. In the case of it being a complement to what i already have then i´d go for the xt any day (it is still on my things to buy again list) the choice is not clearcut in any case so it all comes down to what sort of sound "universe" you want to move inside.
They are designed with completely different goals in mind and at that they succeed equally well.

It should be possible to find some videos on youtube or whatever of both synths in action to give you an idea. Of course the best way would be to give them both a try in person, if possible, and see which one you connect to the most.