Nord User Forum

On the A1/4 is there any way to get the LFO to retrigger for each note played? On another synth of mine this is labelled "poly mode" on the LFO.

Thanks!

The UNISON mode is what You search, I think...

Hi Combahook,

When contemplating purchase of new gear it is always a good idea to download the manual. This will shed light on some of these details, along with many others. UNISON is not related to what you are asking, but if you put the synth in monophonic mode you'll get this. Note that on the A1 it is possible to switch the LFO to behave as an envelope, which would accomplish this even when in poly. Also note that the NL4 has a specific control expressly for this: KBS. Per the manual, "When KBS is enabled the LFO cycle will be restarted when a key is pressed. All held keys must be release before a restart occurs."

Bless,

Pablo

Envelope mode?

I've read the manual.

Here's what I mean. Sorry, it's hard to explain.

http://soundcloud.com/account/lfo/s-QU2LZ

I'd like the lfo to start a new independent cycle when each key is pressed "polyphonically."

If I understand that correctly, you are hoping to, for example, play and hold 6-7 notes in arpeggiated fashion with each individual note getting its own independent LFO, each such LFO triggering as you strike the note? I don't think that's going to happen. Might be possible on a Nord Modular/G2 (where most anything is possible), but hard to imagine otherwise. Using the NL4 KBS feature you could get this if you avoid legato playing. Rather than physically holding those notes, you could extend envelope release time to hold them that way instead, but when the LFO retriggers it will also retrigger for those held notes -- unless your note-playing retriggers were manually done in sync with the LFO, this would probably result in some audio weirdness (and if you take the trouble to time your note playing to be in sync with previous LFO cycle then you wouldn't need the re-trigger at all).

Not sure if other instruments can do this, but it sure seems to me like you'd have to have a separate independent LFO for each note of polyphony you hope to use. Am I missing something here?

Bless,

Pablo

That's a good description of what I want to do. If you think about it in terms of analog synthesis its actually easier to do what I want to do, because each voice in an analog synthesizer needs it's own LFO. To make them all sync up to an initial trigger point requires some software, right? The synth I made the example with is the Studio Electronics Omega 8, so each voice has its own filter, amp, LFO, etc. In the LFO section you can choose "mono" or "poly" mode to have each note modulate in sync or have them each modulate from their own "gate triggers." I like the poly mode because it gives the sound much more life, kind of like pulse width modulation.

Anyway, I figured since the A1 is all digital it would be easy to implement this. I feel like the other VAs I've had could do it, but maybe my memory is playing tricks on me.

Thanks.

Just asking - Do you need to have the independent LFOs retriggering on each keypress, or would free-running independent LFOs work as well for you?

combathook wrote:If you think about it in terms of analog synthesis its actually easier to do what I want to do, because each voice in an analog synthesizer needs it's own LFO.

Not usually the case actually. Generally there is a single LFO that feeds all the voices. Independent LFOs for each voice is far rarer - or rather was far rarer. The Prophet 5, for example, was famous for its polymod section, which got round this limitation by allowing one oscillator to act as a modulation source for the other, thereby allowing you to use Osc 2 as an indpendent LFO source for Osc 1.

In fact, multiple LFOs are more usually found in VA synths or synths with digital modulation generation as it would have been difficult and expensive to do this on analogue synths - one example being the difficulty of syncing the LFOs as you mentioned.

But if you imagine a modular synthesizer and you want to play a chord made up of, say, three voices, you would need a parallel path for each voice, no? One oscillator, one filter, one AMP envelope, one filter envelope, all x3. In addition, if you want to modulate the filter of each voice, wouldn't you need an independent LFO for each instance?

The way I understand it, each voice of the Omega 8 has its own board inside the chassis. If you want to add one more voice, just buy a new board and slip it in. And I think each voice/board is identical, with two oscillators, one filter, one VCF, one VCA, two LFOs (each with three destinations), and whatever other features. If you want to upgrade to get the ARP filters, for example, you need to buy a set of 4, 6, or 8 (for however many voices you have in your unit).