Clavia Lead 3 (2000s)

Little is documented about the Clavia Lead 3 in the material we have on file. What the record shows: it was a sample-free, DSP-based subtractive synthesizer from Clavia, and Sound on Sound (July 2001, p.108) carried a review of it at a UK price of £1895. That same review noted the Lead 3's FM capabilities — an oscillator could run FM alongside a traditional analogue-style oscillator, with both routed through a multimode analogue-modelled filter (p.112). The reviewer framed this as an extension of the Lead line's enduring appeal rather than a break from it, pointing out that the Nord Lead remained resolutely sample-free.

The same review describes the instrument's control surface: endless rotary encoders with LED "collars" that pick up a parameter's stored position as you turn the knob, since the controls have no physical end stops (p.110). It also confirms the Lead 3 kept the slot-based architecture of its predecessors, with Slot A and B programs falling to either side of a keyboard split when Split mode is engaged. A follow-up piece in Sound on Sound (February 2006, p.64) references the Lead 3's LED drawbars and endless rotaries as design elements carried over to later Clavia instruments.

Beyond those review excerpts, the record is thin — our fact sheet for this model is effectively empty, and production years, full specifications, and market history are not documented here. The known points:

UK price at review: £1895
Sample-free DSP modelling of classic subtractive synthesis
FM available in one oscillator alongside analogue-style synthesis in the other, routed through a multimode modelled filter
Endless rotary encoders with LED collar position indicators
Slot A / Slot B programs with keyboard split mode

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Clavia Lead 3 (2000s)

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