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The original Vox™ organ is probably the most famous of all the
transistor-based combo organs that emerged in the early 60's. Transis-
tor technology made it possible to manufacture much more compact
and portable organ instruments. Compared to the mighty sound of
tonewheel based organs, transistor organs generally sounded reedier
and weaker, but this one had a distinctive sound character which
together with the portability and cool design (inverse colored keyboard
and chrome "Z-frame" stand) made the instrument massively popular
at the time. The sound is timeless and recreated faithfully in Nord C2
Combo Organ.
The labels used for the VX drawbars are printed on the row directly
above the drawbar LEDs.
For basic drawbar operation, please refer to "The Drawbars" on page
11.
The seven left most drawbars control the level of each partial. Each
partial has a fixed harmonic interval relating to the played note. The
illustration below shows the pitch interval of the drawbars when the key
of C3 is played. The intervals vary for the upper and lower manual on
the original instrument, but are identical on the Nord C2.
Upper
C3
Lower
The two right most drawbars control the sum of all partials in the form
of a filtered signal sounding soft and dark, and an unfiltered signal
sounding bright and intense.
If these drawbars are both fully "pushed in", the organ will pro-
duce no sound.
There are several types of vibrato and choruses available for the VX
model, which is activated using the Swell/Great buttons in the Vibrato
section. The V3 setting is the one that is modeled after the original
instrument.
The VX models vibrato setting is common for both the swell and
great manual.
This typical "buzzy" sound of this vintage instrument is one of the most
distinct and easily recognizable organ sounds ever created, yet it is
actually possible to get quite a wide range of sounds out of the instru-
ment. Note that the voices aren't supposed to replicate the instruments
they are named after, but rather to describe the basic tonal characteris-
tic of the voice; Flute - soft, Oboe - reedy, Trumpet - brassy.
The labels used for the Farf drawbars are printed on the upper row
above the drawbar LEDs.
The drawbars act as on/off switches, or "register selectors" when the
Farf model is selected. Instead of drawbars, the original instrument
featured "rocker"-type switches select instrument "voices" (actually
different filter settings) in various footage (octave) ranges. The drawbars
buttons are used to turn voices on and off. The drawbars LEDs 5-8
are lit up for an activated voice, and drawbars LEDs 1-4 are lit up for a
deactivated voice. The table below shows the original register name.
1
Bass 16
2
Strings 16
3
Flute 8
4
Oboe 8
5
Trumpet 8
6
Strings 8
7
Flute 4
8
Strings 4
9
A bright voice, an octave
and a fifth above the
fundamental
The illustration below shows the pitch interval between each voice
when the key of C3 is played. Though some voices have the same
pitch, they differ in tonal character.
Upper & Lower
C3
BASS16
STR16
FLUTE8
OBOE8
TRMP8
STR8
FLUTE4
STR4
2 2/3
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