- Clavia
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Clavia Digital Musical Instruments (Clavia DMI AB) is a Swedish manufacturer of virtual analog synthesizers, virtual electromechanical pianos and stage pianos, founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1983 by Hans Nordelius and Mikael Carlsson.
Contents
The Company
In 1983, Hans Nordelius and Mikael Carlsson began to work in the basement of a home located in the southern suburbs of Stockholm, creating the world's first dedicated digital drum for the commercial market. The product these two individuals designed was later entitled, 'Digital Percussion Plate 1'.
Post the introduction of their first invention, the Clavia team developed several more arguably groundbreaking digital percussion systems under the ddrum name. In 1995, Clavia released their first synthesizer known as the Clavia Nord Lead. From the utter success of the Clavia Nord Lead, Clavia later released several more Nord Lead virtual analog synthesizers which all included sequencer versions entitled the Nord Rack x; the Nord Lead 2, Nord Lead 2x and Nord Lead 3 are all versions of the Nord Lead. Soon after the design of the Clavia Nord Lead, Clavia then later released the Nord Modular; a software-based, modular synthesizer.
The next line of instruments were designed to emulate the classical electromechanical keyboards like Hammond organ, electric piano and Hohner Clavinet. First released was Nord Electro, then Nord Electro 2 and later Nord Stage, where the main difference is that the Electros have an organ inspired keyboard while the Stage have weighted piano-like keyboards. They come in a few different models each from 61 to 88 keys. Later on the Nord Stage was upgraded to Nord Stage EX. Clavia also released a new version of the Electro, called Nord Electro 3.
In 2007 Clavia released Nord C1. It is a doublemanual organ, which emulates Hammond, Farfisa and VOX organs. The latest release by Clavia is the Nord Wave (October 2007). It is the next keyboard in the Nord Lead series.
Presently, Clavia is a Swedish company consisting of twenty employees; all manufacturing five general product lines. Some of the earlier Clavia products are now discontinued (e.g. Nord Lead, Nord Lead 2, ddrum), although directly replaced by newer and improved designs like the Nord Modular G2 and the Nord Wave.
Company Departments
R&D Department
This department consists of a hardware concept designer and five programmers.
Marketing, Sales & Support
Three people work with the marketing, sales and support group at Clavia. Two of these individuals are purchasers and one is a financial controller.
Products
- Clavia Nord Lead 2X - Virtual analog synthesizer
- Clavia Nord Rack 2x - Virtual analog MIDI module
- Clavia Nord Electro 2 - Virtual electromechanical keyboard instrument
- Clavia Nord Electro Rack 2 - Virtual electromechanical MIDI module
- Clavia Nord Electro 3 - Virtual electromechanical keyboard instrument
- Clavia Nord Stage - Stage keyboard
- Clavia Nord Stage EX - Stage keyboard
- Clavia Nord C1 - Dual Manual Virtual Combo Organ
- Clavia Nord C2 - Dual Manual Virtual Combo Organ
- Clavia Nord Wave - Performance Synthesizer
Discontinued Products
- Clavia Nord Electro Rack - Virtual electromechanical MIDI module
- Clavia Nord Electro - Virtual electromechanical keyboard instrument
- Clavia Ddrum4 - Electronic Drums
- Nord Lead (1995) - Virtual analog synthesizer
- Nord Lead 2 (1997) - Virtual analog synthesizer
- Clavia Nord Lead 3 - Virtual analog synthesizer
- Clavia Nord Rack - Virtual analog MIDI module
- Clavia Nord Rack 2 - Virtual analog MIDI module
- Clavia Nord Rack 3 - Virtual analog MIDI module
- Clavia Nord Modular - Software-based semi-modular synthesizer
- Clavia Nord Modular G2 - Software-based semi-modular synthesizer
- Clavia Nord Modular G2x - Software-based semi-modular synthesizer
- Clavia Nord Micro Modular - Software-based semi-modular synthesizer
External links
Categories:- Synthesizer manufacturing companies
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