The Nord Lead 2 was launched by Clavia in 1997, two years after the original Nord Lead. It raised polyphony from four voices to 16 and added a ring modulator, a sine waveform on oscillator 1, filter distortion, four individual outputs, more patch storage and a PCMCIA slot. A refreshed Lead 2X followed in 2003 on the same synthesis engine.
The Nord Modular is a 1997 software-based semi-modular synthesizer that uses DSP to emulate analogue circuitry and supports multiple synthesis methods including subtractive, additive, FM, and physical modelling. Patch editing is performed on a PC using graphical editor software, while sound generation occurs independently on the hardware. Patch complexity is constrained by available DSP resources, and polyphony varies from 4 to 32 voices depending on patch complexity. It was upgraded in 2004 as the Nord Modular G2 with endless rotary knobs and a larger keyboard with aftertouch.
The Nord Lead redefined hands-on synthesis by replacing menus with knobs and analog circuitry with DSPs — all to deliver immediate, expressive control over virtual analog tones.