I'm personally impressed, and have been, ever since seeing a NORD Clavia. Sure, there are many sound processors that have its on-board features. However, this particular machine; NORD Lead 3, has enough mod accessories to comfortably augment any electronic output. The rack version of this machine is without a keyboard and mod wheels, but still has all the features you could want for augmentation. Its specialty is the digitally accurate analog control devices, ie. the mass of knobs it has, with their digital readouts. The features you may desire to add with other equipment are different and specific sound mods like tube, ring, or envelopment mods. This macine is otherwise capable of modifying frequency and wave form shape to the nth degree.

The next step is the NORD Modular, which is an expanded version of the Lead 3, with 16x the processing capability, and, on-board software which is ultimately a simplified version of Reason.

In my book, the NORD line of ware is top quality, ergonomics and user friendliness.