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Related Manuals for Modor OS014
Summary of Contents for Modor OS014
- Page 1 USER MANUAL - v5 for OS014 MODOR DIGITAL POLYPHONIC SYNTHESIZER...
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Page 3: Table Of Contents
Contents 1 Getting Started . . . Warning ....... . . Connections and settings . - Page 4 9 Microtonal scales Modor scale - quarter tones ..... . . Just Intonation ......
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Page 5: Getting Started
1.2 Connections and settings Before you can start playing the Modor NF-1 a few connections have to be made. This chapter is written to help you make the very first connections and some system settings so that you can immediately start playing your instrument. - Page 6 (computer) sequencer via a midi connection. Connect the midi-out output of this external midi source to the midi-in connector on the backside of the Modor NF-1. On devices with serial number 170000 or higher, there’s also a Midi-over-USB connector.
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Page 7: Menu Navigation
CHAPTER 1. GETTING STARTED . . . 1.3 Menu navigation The menu of the Modor NF-1 exists out of 10 menu items. When the MENU button is hit you enter the menu, and the first menu item is shown on the upper display line. A black dot starts running from right to left over the display. -
Page 8: Saving Patches
SRC/YES to confirm. When you play the keyboard during the save operation, you can hear the patch in the Modor NF-1’s memory that’s about to be overwritten. This way you can check which memory position can be overwritten before actually doing it. -
Page 9: Safety Mode
That might give the Modor NF-1 a very unreliable or unstable ’feeling’ on stage or while jamming in the studio! Imagine what happens when accidentaly turning the coarse TUNE control, making the NF-1 suddenly go completely out of tune! Therefore, a safety mode has been installed in OS004 and following OS versions. -
Page 10: Autosave
1.9. AUTOSAVE CHAPTER 1. GETTING STARTED . . . When you choose Initialise, you get a very clean and simple ’Init’ patch consisting of a sawtooth wave on OSC1, the other oscillators have their volumes at zero. The lowpass filter is fully opened and has no resonance, and the amplifier envelope just has a gate-function. -
Page 11: Overview
That is the general basic structure of many so-called ’subtractive’ synthesizers, among which the Modor NF-1. There is also a fifth section, the Modulation section. In this section a number of modulation signals is produced which can be used to alter or ’modulate’... -
Page 12: Frontpanel Overview
2.2 Frontpanel overview You can find 43 rotary knobs and 20 pushbuttons on the frontpanel of the Modor NF-1, grouped in the sections described above. Each of these sections get further detailing in the next chapters. - Page 13 2.2. FRONTPANEL OVERVIEW CHAPTER 2. OVERVIEW – FM CARRIER and FM MODULATOR buttons, to select harmonics of the ADD, FM and FBFM waveforms. These buttons have no function if the selected oscillators have other waveforms than ADD, FM or FBFM. –...
- Page 14 – The LFO subsection, containing 3 LFO’s and a random sample-and-hold modulator. LFO3’s amplitude is set by the modwheel. * SYNC button to syncronise LFO2 with a MIDI clock fed to the Modor synth by an external sequencer. * WAV1 and WAV2 buttons to set the waveforms of LFO1&2.
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Page 15: Oscillator Section
The oscillators are the sources of the sound in a synth. There are three identical fully independent oscillators in the Modor synth, oscillators 1, 2 & 3. Every oscillator has a ”modification” parameter (MOD), a pitch (TUNE and FINE) and 2 modulation controls to set an amount of low frequency oscillator and/or an envelope modulation (LFO and ENV). - Page 16 3.1. USING THE OSCILLATORS CHAPTER 3. OSCILLATOR SECTION You can select multiple oscillators simultaneously by pushing their selection but- tons together. Remark that these selection pushbuttons are not enabling or disabling the oscilla- tors! This might be a little confusing when using the NF-1 for the first time. To enable or disable an oscillator, just set its volume with the OSCILLATOR MIX controls.
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Page 17: Oscillator Waveforms
3.2. OSCILLATOR WAVEFORMS CHAPTER 3. OSCILLATOR SECTION 3.2 Oscillator waveforms 3.2.1 Sawtooth PWM oscillator The sawtooth oscillator generates a sawtooth wave with a pulse width modulation as in the figure below. With the modification parameter MOD at zero this gives a regular sawtooth waveform, turning up MOD creates ”holes”... -
Page 18: Sync Oscillator
3.2. OSCILLATOR WAVEFORMS CHAPTER 3. OSCILLATOR SECTION 3.2.4 Sync oscillator This oscillator creates a synced square wave with a decaying amplitude as shown in the figures below. This sounds very much like a synced waveform found on many other subtractive (virtual) analog synthesizers. 3.2.5 Additive harmonics oscillator The additive harmonics waveform creates harmonic sine waves with frequencies in multiples of the base frequency f. -
Page 19: Sonar Noise Oscillator
3.2. OSCILLATOR WAVEFORMS CHAPTER 3. OSCILLATOR SECTION For N=1, we have a sound carrying all the harmonic overtones of f, which creates a sawtooth wave, and for N=2 we have only the odd harmonics, which creates a square wave. The only difference is that the number of harmonics that can be created in real- time is limited. -
Page 20: Arcade Noise Oscillator
3.2. OSCILLATOR WAVEFORMS CHAPTER 3. OSCILLATOR SECTION The modification parameter controls a 1-pole hipass filter. With MOD at zero, all the noisy peak harmonics come through, increasing MOD gradually diminishes the sometimes disturbing lower parts of this. The wind noise oscillator sounds particularly well on higher notes, where it can give the sounds of other oscillators a special bright character in a mix. - Page 21 3.2. OSCILLATOR WAVEFORMS CHAPTER 3. OSCILLATOR SECTION The modulator’s frequency is in the audio range, just as the carrier frequency. You won’t hear a sine wave going up and down in pitch, as you might expect when hearing the term ”Frequency Modulation”, as if it’s frequency is modulated by an LFO. The modulation process goes that fast that it changes the ”character”...
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Page 22: Sine Feedback Fm Oscillator
3.2. OSCILLATOR WAVEFORMS CHAPTER 3. OSCILLATOR SECTION under control as opposed to modulating a sawtooth’s frequency with another sawtooth. As such, it is somewhat different in character from the FM or ”cross-modulation” often found on analog(-modelling) synths where one overtone-rich oscillator modulates the frequency of another, creating even more overtones. -
Page 23: White Noise
3.3. WHITE NOISE CHAPTER 3. OSCILLATOR SECTION 3.3 White noise In the oscillator mix section on the front panel, an amount of white noise can be added to the oscillator mix. White noise is a form of noise that has an equal amplitude on all frequencies, it is completely atonal. -
Page 24: Filter Section
Filter section 4.1 LP/HP/BP/BS filter The main filter of the modorsynth is a multimode LP/HP/BP/BS resonant filter. You can select it to be a lowpass (LP), highpass (HP), bandpass (BP) or bandstop (BS) filter. A filter eliminates a certain part of the sound and and lets another part pass. In a lowpass filter for example, the sound frequencies above a certain cutoff frequency are blocked, while the frequencies below this cutoff frequency pass trough the filter. - Page 25 4.1. LP/HP/BP/BS FILTER CHAPTER 4. FILTER SECTION resonance cutoff With the RES control at maximum [127] the filter goes into selfoscillation. This means that a bright, sinusoidal wave is generated by the filter itself. Even without input, with all oscillator volumes set to zero, the filter keeps producing sound. With the KEYB control set at +32, you can even ”play the filter”.
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Page 26: Formant Filter
4.2. FORMANT FILTER CHAPTER 4. FILTER SECTION Three standard modulation sources are hardwired to the filter’s cutoff frequency. You can modulate the filter by a low frequency oscillator (LFO), an envelope (ENV) and/or by the note’s base frequency (KEYB) using the three rotary knobs LFO/ENV/KEYB of the filter section. - Page 27 CHAPTER 4. FILTER SECTION 2800Hz, it sounds like a ’A’. Ten presets of these peak frequency combinations are programmed inside the Modor NF-1 and can be selected and placed in the three vowel slots at left, center and right positions of the FORMANT-control.
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Page 28: Filter Configuration
4.3. FILTER CONFIGURATION CHAPTER 4. FILTER SECTION 4.3 Filter configuration The filter configuration can be set to serial or parallel, using the ROUTE button in the formant section. The corresponding leds on the frontpanel indicate which is the actual configuration. Serial In the serial configuration the sound of the oscillators is first led into the for- mant filter and then into the LP/HP/BP/BS-filter. -
Page 29: Formant Filter Midi Cc's
4.4. FORMANT FILTER MIDI CC’S CHAPTER 4. FILTER SECTION 4.4 Formant filter Midi CC’s You can also control the formant frequencies using Midi CC messages, see the table below for CC values of the preset vowels. Midi CC# Formant 1 106-110-114 Formant 2 107-111-115... -
Page 30: Amplifier Section
Amplifier section The amplifier section is quite straight-forward. First the output of the filter section can be overdriven using the DRIVE-control, next it sets the volume and panning of the sound, using the Amp envelope (ENV4) and the VOLUME and PAN settings in the PARAMETER menu. -
Page 31: Effects Section
The delay time can be modulated by a triangle LFO. The Modor NF-1 contains a comb filter effect unit in which all the parameters can be set separately by a dedicated control, to offer maximal freedom. - Page 32 6.1. CHORUS/FLANGER EFFECT UNIT CHAPTER 6. EFFECTS SECTION DELAY Delay length modulation Dry-wet mix This control sets the balance between the dry signal and the delayed signal. This is set to zero to disable the comb filter effect unit, and often around halfway to get a maximum chorus or flanger effect.
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Page 33: Delay Effect Unit
The delay lengths go up to around 750 milliseconds. The Modor NF-1’s delay effect unit has a 1-pole lowpass/hipass filter in the delay line. By setting it at center, the filter is inactive. Lowering this value applies a lowpass filtering to the signal that gets more and more dull with each repeating echo. - Page 34 Sync Button By pressing the Sync button, the delay syncronises: • Externally to the midi clock signals sent into the Modor synth by an external sequencer. The time control can now be used to set the delay length from half notes to sixteenth notes.
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Page 35: Modulation Section
An LFO, or ”Low Frequency Oscillator” produces a cyclic modulation signal that can be used to modulate a number of sound parameters. The frequency of the Modor LFO’s can be varied between around 0,1Hz and 10Hz (or its cyclic period between 10 seconds and 100milliseconds). -
Page 36: Sample&Hold
7.2. SAMPLE&HOLD CHAPTER 7. MODULATION SECTION be synced to an external MIDI clock, by hitting the SYNC button in the LFO section. • LFO3 is a global triangle LFO of which the amplitude depends on the setting of the MODWHEEL, found next to the pitch bend wheel on most synth keyboards. If the modwheel is down the amplitude of LFO3 is zero, with the modwheel fully up LFO3’s amplitude is identical to the other LFO’s. -
Page 37: Envelopes
The envelopes are 3 stage + release envelopes, and therefore contain more controls than found on typical ADSR-envelopes. There are four envelopes on the Modor NF-1. You select which envelopes you want to edit using the ENV1 ... ENV4-buttons on the left side, much like the OSC-selection buttons in the OSC section. - Page 38 7.3. ENVELOPES CHAPTER 7. MODULATION SECTION Non-looping envelope The envelope output level of a non-looping envelope runs from zero over level L1 and level L2 to level L3 where it is held as long as the note is held on the keyboard. After the release of the key it drops again to zero. The times to move from one level to another are set by the time parameters T1 .
- Page 39 7-parameter envelope into and ADSR envelope are indicated with a small black line on the frontpanel of the Modor NF-1 (some of the earlier models don’t have this indication) to easily remind you of how to set L1-L2-T2 to get a classic ADSR envelope.
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Page 40: Modulation Matrix
• T4 = Release 7.4 Modulation Matrix The Modor NF-1 has a ”modulation matrix” of 7 freely assignable modulation lines (called ”wires”) that can route some modulation source signals to a large number of destination parameters, opening a near endless number of modulation possibilities. -
Page 41: Pitch Modulation
7.5 Pitch Modulation The front panel of the Modor NF-1 doesn’t seem to show any pitch modulation con- trols. But they’re not far away. If all three oscillator selection buttons (OSC1, OSC2 and OSC3) are deselected, the LFO and ENV controls in the oscillator section double up as pitch modulation controls. - Page 42 Pitch Envelope Also, there is no dedicated pitch envelope control on the front panel of the Modor NF-1, but with OSC1, OSC2 and OSC3 buttons disabled you can use the ENV-control of the OSC section to set an amount of pitch modulation by ENV1.
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Page 43: Amplitude Modulation
7.6. AMPLITUDE MODULATION CHAPTER 7. MODULATION SECTION 7.6 Amplitude Modulation Apart from the pitch modulations, there are also a number of popular basic amplitude modulations preset in the free modulation lines (§7.4). Tremolo After patch initialisation, the third modulation wire is preset as a tremolo effect. - Page 44 7.7. OTHER POPULAR MODULATIONS CHAPTER 7. MODULATION SECTION Stereo panning It can be interesting to modulate the stereo position of a sound. For example by the KEYB-modulator to put the higher notes a bit more to the right, and the lower a bit to the left. Or route a small amount of the RNDM-modulator to the Pan-parameter, to give every note a bit different position in the stereo image .
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Page 45: Tempo Synchronisation
Tempo synchronisation The Modor NF-1 has two sync buttons at it’s frontpanel: one in the LFO section and one in the Delay section. They can be used to synchronise the delay’s and LFO2’s cycle time to the tempo of the music you’re playing. But how exactly does this work? After pressing the SYNC button (the led inside the sync button is burning), you can choose the synchronised pace of the LFO/delay. - Page 46 CHAPTER 8. TEMPO SYNCHRONISATION The delay length however goes up to 0.75sec at maximum. So if you set the delay synchronisation to a long note when playing in a slow tempo, the delay length may get limited to this maximum. You’ll probably synchronise the delay effect section quite often to the internal clock, as slight imperfections in the external clock may cause the delay time to jump between different values.
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Page 47: Microtonal Scales
The tonescale is saved as part of a patch in the Modor NF-1. A patch that is used in a song using a deviating tonescale can be saved with it’s special tonescale, without affecting other patches. -
Page 48: Just Intonation
9.2. JUST INTONATION CHAPTER 9. MICROTONAL SCALES Quarter tone tuning is heavily used in oriental music. Oriental synthesizers and keyboard often even have switches directly on the frontpanel to repitch notes by a quarter tone. As an example: tune E and B a quarter tone down, and play a melody on the white keys of your keyboard... -
Page 49: Equal Temperament
7-EDO are used sometimes, while more experimental musicians sometimes use 13-EDT (Bohlen-Pierce) or 17-EDT. On the Modor NF-1 all equal temperaments of 1 up to 64 equal divisions of the octave (EDO) or tritave (EDT) are possible. Use SELECT to pick a number of steps and press SRC/YES to apply it. -
Page 50: Wilson Hexanies And Dekanies
3/3 - 7/6 - 5/4 - 35/24 - 5/3 - 7/4 are the frequency ratios used for the notes of the 1-3-5-7 Wilson hexany. Dekanies are constructed the same way with 5 odd numbers, 10 combinations. The Modor NF-1 has following hexanies and dekanies on board: • Hexanies: – 1-3-5-7 –... -
Page 51: One Note Off-Scale Et
-31 and +31, with 32 steps in a semitone. 9.7 User scales - Saving user scales You can also import other scales, the Modor NF-1 can accept Midi Tuning Standard messages. Using a software program like Scala , you can create or download many more tonescales and upload them to the NF-1. -
Page 52: Menu Reference
Menu Reference The menu of the Modor NF-1 exists out of 10 menu items. When the menu button is hit you enter the menu, and the first menu item appears on the upper display line, while a black dot moves from right to left over the screen. By pressing again before it reaches the left side, the next menu item is selected. -
Page 53: Save
10.2. SAVE CHAPTER 10. MENU REFERENCE • Pressing the NO/DEST-button cancels the load-operation, exits the menu and restores the active patch you were working with before entering the menu. • Pressing the YES/SRC-button finishes the load operation and exits the menu. The active patch gets replaced by the selected patch from memory. -
Page 54: Parameter
• Pressing the NO/DEST-button cancels and exits the menu. 10.5 Parameter Although there are many controls on the Modor NF-1 frontpanel, a few parameters can not be changed with a dedicated control on the frontpanel. These have to be changed in the PARAMETER-menu. -
Page 55: System Settings
• CtrlChangeRx: choose if the Modor NF-1 responds to incoming MIDI Control Change messages or not [ON,OFF] • SysexRx: choose if the Modor NF-1 receives or ignores incoming MIDI sysex messages [ON,OFF] • CtrlChangeTx: choose if the Modor NF-1 sends MIDI Control Change messages when turning a control on the front panel [ON,OFF] •... - Page 56 Safety Mode See §1.7. Envelope Idle MIDI controller You can use the Modor NF-1 as a small MIDI con- troller with the ENVIdleCtrl option. When the ENVIdleCtrl option is to a certain MIDI channel number (turn VALUE), the 7 controls of the ENV section can be used to send out MIDI control changes.
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Page 57: Formant Frequencies
filter gets unstable. The formant frequencies are saved as part of a patch in the Modor NF-1. A patch using a user-adapted formant frequencies gets saved with it’s special formant frequen- cies, without affecting other patches. -
Page 58: Chord Memory
On a later moment, the sysex data can be sent back towards the synth to restore it’s memory to the situation at the moment of the sysex dump. A way to make ”backups” of the synth’s memory, or to exchange patches between two Modor NF-1s or between an NF-1 and an NF-1m. - Page 59 SELECT-encoder to select a bank [A-N] where to save the received bankdump. Note that if the Modor NF-1 receives a Patch dump, this is not yet stored perma- nently in it’s memory. If you want to store the patch you received via a patch dump,...
- Page 60 They have to be stored permanently immediatly upon reception of the data. Note that the Modor NF-1 cannot receive midi bulk memory dumps at any speed. The received data need to be written into flash memory while receiving new data in the mean time.
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Page 61: Menu Overview
10.11. MENU OVERVIEW CHAPTER 10. MENU REFERENCE 10.11 Menu overview... -
Page 62: Midi Implementation
MIDI Implementation 11.1 Midi implementation chart MIDI Implementation Chart v. 2.0 Manufacturer: Modor Music Model: NF-1 Version: 2 Date: January 2016 Transmit Recognize Remarks 1. Basic Information MIDI channels [1-16] [1-16] Note numbers [0-127] Program change [0-31] Bank Select response? - Page 63 11.1. MIDI IMPLEMENTATION CHART CHAPTER 11. MIDI IMPLEMENTATION Notation Information Turn GM1 System On Turn GM2 System On Turn GM System Off DLS-1 File Reference Controller Destination Key-based Instrument Ctrl Master Fine/Coarse Tune Other Universal System Exclusive Manufacturer System Exclusive NRPNs RPN 00 (Pitch Bend Sensitivity) RPN 01 (Channel Fine Tune)
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Page 64: Midi Controller List
11.2. MIDI CONTROLLER LIST CHAPTER 11. MIDI IMPLEMENTATION 11.2 Midi controller list Control Function Transmitted Received Remarks Modulation wheel Mod Source MODW Breath Controller (MSB) Mod Source BRTH Modulation CC3 (MSB) Mod Source CC3 Expression Pedal Mod Source PEDL Portamento Volume Digital patch volume Osc 1 mod LFO1... - Page 65 11.2. MIDI CONTROLLER LIST CHAPTER 11. MIDI IMPLEMENTATION Control Function Transmitted Received Remarks Wire 1 amount Wire 2 amount Wire 3 amount Wire 4 amount Wire 5 amount Wire 6 amount Wire 7 amount Delay feedback LFO3 speed S&H speed Osc 1 coarse tuning Osc 2 coarse tuning Osc 3 coarse tuning...
- Page 66 11.2. MIDI CONTROLLER LIST CHAPTER 11. MIDI IMPLEMENTATION Control Function Transmitted Received Remarks ENV 2 T4 ENV 3 T4 ENV 4 T4 ENV 1 L1 ENV 2 L1 ENV 3 L1 ENV 4 L1 ENV 1 L2 ENV 2 L2 ENV 3 L2 ENV 4 L2 ENV 1 L3...
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