my favorite djs are from israel, yahel sherman for eg, he uses nord lead 2 and virus b and cubase, and he is the most amazing trance artist!!! www.mp3.com/yahel

Also, I'd like to point out that this is hardly a techno/trance toy. This synth has applications in all forms of music and infact shines best in Jazz/Fusionesque music. Herbie Hancock, amonge many others, has used this synth.

Finally, if anyone takes the initiative to bash this two minute prelimanary review--To you I say Fuck off! You probably don't own one and have to run to Mars Music to dick around with it. And if you do own one, you probably spent at least a $1000 on it, whereas I spent $250.75 brand new from a cousin of mine.

-Peace&Love

The bottom line is this: If you need high quality synth sounds which can be tailored towards any genre then the Nord 3 really shines. If you are specifically looking into dance music then there are perhaps more suitable synths out there..i.e Virus & JP8000. Having said that the Nord 3 does dance/trance styles excellently.

There's a very good demo of the Nord 3 here - http://artists.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/DIGITAL_SCREAMS/ If you are seriously in the market for the Nord 3 and you want to get a good feel to how it sounds, then check that demo out.

I could now talk at length about all the Nord 3's features, but alas Ive got work to do now. Suffice to say my two favourite features are the unison mode and morph. I love using the Unison on the N3..not only does it sound fat but also retains full polyphony. The morph is very cool and opens up amazing sounds.

Like many people, I feel the 80's were a brilliant decade for music + full of wonderful synth sounds! Most synths muscians used were indeed analog and early digital (Eg DX7, PPG Wave, Casio cz's etc etc).

Since I bought the NL3 I've been deep in thought. I have been pondering over the endless debates over modern synths compared to old analogs, Like the Prophet 5 and Jupiter 8. First off I must say that I own a Jupiter 8 and a Pro-One. I have spent hours upon hours comparing both kinds of synths (Digital v Analog) My conclusion is as follows:

1) There really is no debate! Modern synths are brilliant (In terms of sound and features), old anologs also sound brilliant. Every synth has good points and bad points. The main differences between Digital and analogs is that analogs sound dirtier, warmer and perhaps in exceptional cases more depth. Digital synths sound more clinical, precise and more detailed. The true role of a VA, in my opinion, is not to emulate an analog, but to make a digital synth sound warmer, fuller and more expressive. Modern day VA's sound really good and are the future of digital synths.

If the sound of old analogs tickles your fancy, great! If you prefer the sound and features of Nords, novas and Virus's etc etc then thats great also. There really is no point arguing about it. I have never come across a shit synth! Its all down to how well you can program. Most guys how programmed synths back in the 80's were really good sound engineers. Back then it really was a science. Nowadays, with synths more widespread and more people than ever using them, its no suprise that alot of music nowadays uses poorly programmed sounds. I have heard modern synths do truely amazing sounds. In my mind there is no debate or argument. How good a synth sounds is down to how well you can program it. I have heard sounds on the Nords that no analogs could ever do and for that I love it all the more.

Learning how to program a synth properly is probably the most important thing (Besides playing it!) that you can do. You will soon see that people who slag off a synth on the grounds of 'it sounds crap' are just poor programmers who feel inadequate.

If you need to know how to program then you may find this resource very useful...I did!

http://www.studiocovers.com/

The bottom line is this....The Nord 3 is without a doubt the most analog & versatile sounding digital synths I have ever heard. The Virus, JP8000 and Waldorf are just as good.