Elektron-Users

had a G2 engine a while ago, amazing functionality but couldn't get into the clean sterile sound unlike the G1 I had previously so I got another G1 rack which has an arguably warmer sound of the Nord Lead 2

There's lots of debate about this and no one seems any the wiser other than the different D/A converters and slightly higher 96khz processing frequency used but its something more than that imho.
I assume the G2 had the same "advanced additive" sound design of the Nord Lead 3 which although had its virtues wasn't favourable with most hence the re-emergence of the NL2x and its classic "virtual analogue" tone.
Even though I never had them side by side to me the G1's sound seemed attenuated in the higher end which you don't get with other synths (that can often sound harsh when pushed too hard like the Blofeld) which gives it a silky analogish sound of its own maybe it's just an effect of the D/A converters, aliasing or something or maybe I'm just taking bollocks?


Still would like another proper G2 btw.

I had both , a G1 and a G2 but i just have the G2 now.

There is not that much difference in sound between the G1 and G2 imo.
The G2 seems to be a bit more hi-fi sounding but i always thought that the Nord mod where digital and cold but with character. There is a comparison where you can hear the g1 and the g2 on the Electro-music forum. I could not tell the difference to be honest.

I like the Nord G2 for digital weird stuff , FM madness , FX processing etc but it does not sound analog at all and ... thats a good thing imo

i have noticed the clean sound, but its not an issue for me,

usally i am pretty tolerant of a synths character and try to work with the sound to get the type of sounds i want, its clean, so i guess i will try n use that to make patches that take advantage of it, like smoooth pads with tons of sparkle,


but i noticed it can get pretty have as well, just proper eq maybe a bit of distortion,

its a very deep synth, but not hard to use, that is the best combo,

it is very much a tweakers synth,,,,, and probable even more for a tweaker who likes to tweak on tweak,

"...I'm so strung out tonight / because I haven't got some shit to smoke..."

Vader77 wrote:
had a G2 engine a while ago, amazing functionality but couldn't get into the clean sterile sound unlike the G1 I had previously so I got another G1 rack which has an arguably warmer sound of the Nord Lead 2

You're not the only person to think so, and I sometimes miss the sound of the G1 too. I don't know if it was the hardwre or the modules; I had filter patches on the G1 that gave beautiful wet acid squelches, and I've never managed to replicate those on the G2. I was pleasantly surprised at the filter on the OT, which is very analoguish, but eventually I gave up and added an old Virus, which is till my favorite VA filter.

But having said that, nothing is as fast as flexible as the G@ for turning a sound concept into something you can actually hear.

What sort of price do G1 engines go for these days ?

rack £325-390
keys £350-400
expansion + £250-300

slight advantages with the G1 over the G2 imho -
Tends to be a little more stable with the OS (v3.03) as the G2 was left a little high and dry with its OS (v1.62).
I prefer the look of the G1 UI, tie-fighter grey vs horid bright pastel shades.
More G1 patches out there than G2 as a lot of synth geeks went over to software modulars when the G2 came about and hence why it was sadly discontinued.
Smoother sound.
Rack/desktop version.
You can split the front panel over all four parts.

i wouldnt mind the g1 if it had fm synthesis, but i had heard it doesn't, that is no fun,

dionysiananarchy wrote:
i wouldnt mind the g1 if it had fm synthesis, but i had heard it doesn't, that is no fun,

Well it does...

http://www.clavia.se/nordmodular/Modularzone/FMsynthesis.html

I love G1kb, and it works great with the editor on a windows 7 netbook, while being sequenced from OT, processed by Monomachine and thickened via hardware compression.

... although G2 keyboard is a thing of beauty I would love to try one day in person.

dionysiananarchy wrote:
i wouldnt mind the g1 if it had fm synthesis, but i had heard it doesn't, that is no fun,

It does, but you have to do the wiring yourself whereas the G2 gives you a handy DX router module that you can just plug 6 oscillators into and be done. It's also fun to abuse for FX chaining!

Don't knock the pastel colors in the editor. I disliked them too at first, but G2 patches can be a lot larger than G1 patches, and being able to color-code makes comprehension quite a bit simpler.