Archive

Nord Modular Wishlist

This list was compiled from various mailinglist postings.

From Wout Blommers:

During the start of the V4 developments Clavia asked some NM‘ers to write a user report and a wishlist. This was done [in late 2001].
http://home.wanadoo.nl/blommoo/WishList_Part02.html

Possible (?) With Current Hardware

Modules

  • Moog ladder filter - Grant Middleton
  • Linear slew module - Grant Middleton
  • Bus line from CVA back to PVA - Grant Middleton
  • 16x8 event sequencer - Steve Mokris
  • Sequencer input to control position with CV - Steve Mokris

Editor software

  • Use Windows Clipboard to cut and paste modules - Steve Mokris
  • The ability to type in values from the computer keyboard once a parameter is in focus. Seems easier to get an exact value quicker this way than “mousing around” - Les Mizzell
  • The ability to “freeze” the vocoder and save those settings as a stand-alone filter (transferred to the Filter Bank perhaps?). Better yet, the ability to save a number of “captured” settings (slices?), and then smoothly morph between them with adjustable time settings in-between.
    Consider the power of this. Trying to model the perfect cello? Capture the settings from the vocoder module at 0, .5, 1, 1.5 and 2 seconds and then be able to use those settings to either synthesize a cello, or apply those filter settings to another sound entirely. - Les Mizzell

New Hardware (The Fabled “NM2”)

Hardware

  • some sort of digital out [expansion option] - perhaps via a USB interface (which could double as the Editor connection rather than a 2nd midi port) [or an ADAT expansion board]. This would also be a good way to transfer in waveforms and samples, assuming they build that sort of functionality into the NM2. - trey at u.washington.edu
    • If people are going to dream about how cool all this data flying back and forth would be, then I strongly suggest that someone put a large flea in Clavia’s collective ear about skipping over USB entirely and shipping the next generation Nord Modular with FireWire ports. USB will handle tons of MIDI (once the various bugs are sorted out), but if people also want to be able to feed multiple audio signals to and from the Nord this way, then USB is knocked out of the running quickly and only FireWire is fast enough to do it all cleanly. Maybe Clavia should talk to Yamaha about getting on the mLAN train when it finally pulls out of the station. - Mike Metlay
  • more physical outputs/timbrality - or at least an expansion option. The polyphony expansion isnt nearly as useful to me as a timbrality/ output expansion would be. - trey at u.washington.edu
  • Make an “NM2” more “modular” for purchase — you can start out with less (though sufficient for, say, 6-8 voice polyphony, 4-channel timbrality) but build up to whopping Kyma-like expansions of DSP and RAM power. Although keep this within enough limits to keep the “NM2” coherent enough to function just fine as an entirely independent instrument; don’t get caught in the trap of forcing it to become a PC parasite, or a big, cumbersome, buggy piece of frustration. - Steven Wartofsky
  • multiple small LCD windows above all knobs that change dynamically to show knob-assignment at-a-glance, either that or a larger central LCD with a menu option to provide at-a-glance knob assignment clarification. Some way so you don’t have to think about which knob did what a month after you created a patch. - Steven Wartofsky
  • Move the keyboard over four inches, put in a Nord Lead style mod wheel and pitch stick (both routable to anything, of course), and put an aftertouch sensor under the keys (ditto). I’d buy one in a heartbeat. - Mike Metlay

Nord Modular Tempo Format

When the Nord Modular Editor writes patch files, the sequencer tempo is stored in an odd format, which packs the entire tempo range into a 7bit value. In beats per minute, the tempo ranges from 24 to 214. For values toward the ends of the spectrum, it skips by two.

  • 24bpm to 88bpm = by 2
  • 89bpm to 151bpm = by 1
  • 152bpm to 214bpm = by 2

The following C snippet should translate from BPM to nord-patch-file format and reverse.

unsigned char bpmToNordTempo(int b)
{
    if(b<24)
        return 0;
    else if(b<88)
        return (b-24)/2;
    else if(b<152)
        return b-88+32;
    else if(b<214)
        return (b-152)/2+96;
    else
        return 127;
}
 
int nordTempoToBpm(unsigned char t)
{
    if(t<32)
        return t*2+24;
    else if(t<96)
        return t-32+88;
    else if(t<128)
        return (t-96)*2+152;
    else
        return 214;
}