Power up your synthesizer!?

odd

New member
Hi. Iown two synthesizers: A Nord Lead 2x and a MicroKorg.

When i bought the Nord Lead i didn't know anything about synthesizers, but suddenly it seemed to me as if the Nord Lead wasn't capable of creating the sounds i like, so i bought the Microkorg, just to give it a try.
I was amazed how the microkorg sounded and started to creating sounds on it. The sounds I create on the microkorg nearly always sound good and i figured out it was because of the effects knob. The bad thing about the microkorg is just that it takes hours to make a sound because you only have 5 knobs to use and the limit of polyfoni.
So i figured the perfect machine:
The Nord Lead with all its "easy to handle buttons" with all the effects on the Microkorg.

Can i in anyway put any effects such as Delay, chorus, Reverb, distortion on my Nord LeaD? i think it would take the sounds to the next level. I tried with guitar pedals once, but i really would like it stereo and the output sounded terrible. as if the pedals add a lot of noise and steal the sound quality.
 
I practically always put my synths through some effects, be it plugins or hardware. Guitar pedals can be great too, but you have to be careful not to drive them with too hot signals, as guitar output levels are much lower than the line output level from a synth.
 
So if you're out playing, you just bring a computer with an external soundcard and put your sounds through effects in a daw and then takes the output from the soundcard again and throws it at the audience?
 
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I dont know anything about hardware but can you please post some of the hardware you use?
 
I dont know anything about hardware but can you please post some of the hardware you use?

Nord Electro 2 & various cheapo Casios/Yamahas/other "toy" keyboards; various delays (Dynacord S65 Super, Ibanez AD100, Boss PS-2, Tech21 Boost DLA), Danelectro Spring King, some distorting things (SansAmp Bass Driver, DBA Fuzz War) and occasionally some chorus or flange and a filter (Electrix Filter Queen), depending on what kind of stuff I'm playing. Th amp/cab I use is an old Kustom Bass II. This is the live rig. At home it's more synth-oriented and mostly plugins for effects...
 
Well before computers could host VST instruments and record audio tracks ( I am talking 1980's here) people have been using software to edit their synths by moving virtual sliders etc around on the screen. When you move the slider on screen it sends out the appropriate MIDI data to tell the synth to change a parameter's value, the software also allows you to save patches as a MIDI file.
 
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