Nord User Forum

Since it has what is supposed to be an ensemble chorus effect and what looks like the right kinds of waveforms, I would expect it to be pretty good at sounding like a Solina or whatever, but I can't find anything specific in my searches.
Do any A1 owners have any patches/demos that confirm my suspicion?

Yes, probably.
Start from here and tweak it?
post52482.html?hilit=string%20encounters#p52482

/BR
Michael

Thanks for replying Michael.
Thing is, that thread is avoiding the ensemble chorus and looking to recreate a more conventional synth string sound, as opposed to a string synth.
A string synth ensemble chorus is a special beast - I expect most players know it requires 3 BBD delays time modulated by a mixture of 2 LFO's, one fast about 6Hz and a slow about 0.6Hz and the modulation to each delay is phase shifted 120deg apart. It is the relative movement between each delay that provides the chorus effect - there is no direct dry signal used at all. What you hear is purely from the BBD delays. Normal chorus mixes the dry signal about 50/50 with a single delay modulated by a single LFO rate.
So if Nord don't allow the Ensemble chorus to be heard 100% wet, then that's just wrong.

I don't have an A1 and don't intend to get one, it's just that I hear so much talk about Behringer reintroducing a string machine (already done a Roland one and a Solina might well appear later), and when people ask if there isn't something that can already do the job, I say - "well the Nord A1 has an Ensemble Chorus, can't it do it". Then I look around and find zero evidence that it can.

Yep that is the "triple chorus" responsible for *that* special sound in string machines in the 70s.
post88853.html

Yes, that's the complication involved.
This is what the user manual has to say about the A1 Ensemble...
"Ensemble
The Nord Lead A1 Ensemble effect is modelled after a vintage Eminent organ effect. The very characteristic sound comes from feeding the audio into three separate, modulated delay lines, that are cross-connected with each other. The output of the Ensemble in the Nord Lead A1 is in stereo."

Now, the Solina is the same as the Eminent. There is no "cross connection" and no stereo, so I don't know what Nord think they've produced. The manual fails to mention what the Rate/Amount knob does since to be accurate, the rates are fixed and the amount should be all 100%!

I'd like to know what Eminent Ensemble Nord were replicating it from,The Original Eminent Orbitone effect is also different from the standalone Arp/Eminent String Ensemble,the A1 is able to replicate closer timbres to that of the Arp SE,which are more akin to the typical divide down sounds from every other String Machine.

Comparing the Ensemble in the A1 to my Own Eminent 310 organ Orbitone modulation,to my Ears the Effect in the A1 is closer to from those ARP patented models and not the Orbitone that Eminent originally patented and fitted to their Organs,even though Eminent made the SE and licensed them to Arp they are not the same,obviously its on a chip in the A1 and not discrete circuitry so its impossible to replicate all the intricacies of the Analog Orbitone/Ensemble

In terms of Stereo spread,and getting wider SE sounds on the A1 I normally just use two slots with a single saw Osc and paste the same sound and then pan them hard left and hard right,problem is you do get some phasing from the Oscillators but you can also raise one up an octave if you so wish,or have also used 3 slots one central and the other two panned wide,with different amounts of Ensemble FX,sounds nice and wide,ist also nice to have one sound with a longer sustain time as well

Thanks Adam,
I had no idea the Eminent original was ever called Orbitone! The "orbit" in the name makes sense of the origin of using 3 channels to replicate a rotary speaker effect. The fact that it made a neat string ensemble effect even with all 3 channels merged to mono must have been realised as they worked on the original idea.

I've not been able to find a freely available copy of the 310 organ schematics online or I'd have a look see how it may differ from what went in the Solina. I have found some descriptions telling me the phase difference between the modulators was not 120 and 240deg but 90 and 270deg which might have been easier to engineer at the time (and similar function that some synth modules have as "quadrature" oscillators). Also that the 3 channels fed separate amp/speaker.

So, how did the Orbitone provide direct output? From a merged mono jack or separates?
Could stereo have been done with one chorus channel each exclusive to L & R and the third feeding into both L & R? That makes sense of Nords "cross-connected" description.