Nord Modular

Unlike most other analogue modeling synth hardware, which generally simulates one or a small number of (usually subtractive ) synth circuit layouts, the Nord Modular provides an almost unlimited variation of synth architectures, with the facility to simulate, in addition to subtractive synthesis, additive, FM, and, in the second generation of the series, physical modelling synthesis methods, as well as a number of other sound generation and processing techniques.

The editor software is in appearance and function not dissimilar to computer-based modular synthesis environments like Reaktor which offer a graphical representation of the simulated modules and the associated connections between them.

Unlike those systems however, the Nord Modulars are capable of functioning independently of a computer — the host computer plays no part in sound generation and is needed only to provide the patch editing interface.

The Nord Modular line of synthesizers features a range of modules familiar to users of hardware modulars: audio input and output modules, Oscillators, Low Frequency Oscillators (or LFOs), envelope generators, filters of various kinds, mixers, audio effects such as distortion and chorus, logic gates and four sequencer modules,[1] which can be connected in almost any configuration- there is for example no restriction on connecting audio signal outputs to control signal or logic inputs (or vice versa), allowing for a great deal of flexibility in patch creation.

The G2 is an updated and more powerful version of the original Modular (the G2 uses a new version of the Editor software as well), with greater polyphony and a large number of new modules to address the perceived limitations of the first generation, most notably a range of MIDI sequencing and output modules (the first generation's sequencing capabilities were limited to control of internal parameters, a restriction which many users felt to be the system's biggest limitation), time-based effects (reverb, delay, etc.