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. Since 1995, Clavia's keyboards have been branded Nord. Company history Digital drums 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, called the 'Digital Percussion Plate 1'. In 1984 an improved version that could play four sounds from an EPROM was released under the 'ddrum' name with the now signature red coloring. The same year a drum system was released with several sound modules in a rack, each with its own EPROM. The pads used to trigger the sounds were unusual for the time, since they used real drum heads, whereas other electronic drum kits of the time used rubber pads. This, together with a separate trigger for the snare drum's rim, made for a more realistic playing experience. The ddrum brand and products were sold in 2005 to their US distributor Armadillo who continues to manufacture drum products under the name. Nord keyboards In 1995, Clavia released the Nord Lead. Called "a magic piece of electronics" by Sound on Sound it popularized the virtual analog type of synthesis. In 1997 the Nord Lead 2 was released, with many improvements, including increasing polyphony from 4 to 16 notes. The Nord Lead 3 was released in 2001, with a reworked sound engine, better D/A converters and monophonic aftertouch. The most striking aspect of the Nord Lead 3 was that all the sound editing knobs had been replaced with infinite rotary knobs, where the value of the parameter was indicated by a LED 'collar' around the knob. The rotary knobs, LED collars and keyboard with aftertouch made the Nord Lead 3 an "absolute delight" but because of its higher price, the Nord Lead 2 remained in demand. And as some of the parts of the Nord Lead 3 were getting harder to source, Clavia released an updated version of the Nord Lead 2, called the Nord Lead 2x, with faster processors, better D/A converters and an upgraded polyphony to 20 voices. The Nord Lead 3 was discontinued in 2007, but the Nord Lead 2x remains in production. In 1997 Clavia released the Nord Modular,