Wow. I can’t say Wow enough. The original NM’s younger as well as bigger brother, having everything the original one lacked (MIDI modules, decent keyboard). This simply is an incredible piece of machinery. Functionally it builds on the original, only makes it better. I can’t understand why they abandoned this concept, nothing out there comes even close to the flexibility it provides. OK, I actually kind of do understand: Modular synths are not for everybody, but this is such a wonderful concept that even if it is inherently modular, as a user you don’t actually even need to know that. The brilliance of this piece is so out there in its own category I just can’t find the words, so I’ll just shut up now.
I kind of stalked this machine. I found it in a music store in Helsinki, high up on a shelf as close to the ceiling as possible, and I came to check it out every week or so when I was in town. Bit by bit it had been moved downwards, and once it had been on subshoulder level for a couple of weeks I just had to buy it, because of course I had to. Turned out it was pretty much the last one in Europe, if not the entire world. The shop guys had found it in a box in the basement, in a pile of empty boxes, and brought it up from the dead, so to speak. I was quite lucky there…
