The Hammond Novachord was first put into production in 1938. A 72-note polyphonic beast, it used 163 valves to power its oscillators.
Neither piano nor organ, it was misunderstood and was not the success it could have been.
However, its eerie, ethereal sound became a mainstay of ï¬lm and television soundtrack production.
Gone with the Wind, The Maltese Falcon, Rebecca, House of Frankenstein, The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone all feature Novachord as part of their soundtrack.
The host instrument for the original Novachord sampled patches. Layer and combine 2 different multi-sample sets at once, with different modulation settings for each.Choose from 50 different Novachord multi-sampled layers.
A modelled recreation of the Novachord as it was originally, in 1939. Includes level control for each voice:
Attack, Vibrato and Brightness.
Flick the switch on the 1939 panel and you get a Novachord with modern synth controls added:
resonant filters, ADSR envelopes, saturation, detune, etc.
All Novachord instruments include the effects panel. Featuring convolution reverb with a large choice of natural and SFX IRs,
a delay unit, phaser, chorus, rotary speaker, and cabinet modeling.
No lover of vintage analogue can set eyes on those massive teardrop switches for the first time and keep her composure. Like Darth Vader's door handles, they control a wide range of synthesis parameters on the Novachord. The names may not be familiar, but conventional filters, LFOs and envelopes are all here in some form or another.
Novachord 1256 as it is today, in Phil Cirroco's music room.
The damaged, rotting interior before restoration.
The valve power supply in an unloved state.
And after some love from Phil.
Power supply in situ in the Novachord.
Phil opens the hood for us.
Inside The Novachord
Phil resoldered the whole thing. Really.
More tube porn.
The original Hammond ID badge
This is a Kontakt Player instrument. This means that you do not need to own the full version of NI Kontakt to use it. It will run as a plug-in instrument in any VST/AU/RTAS/AAX/WASAPI,compatible host program or DAW eg: Cubase, Logic, Ableton Live, DP, Reaper, Pro-Tools. No extra purchase necessary.
System Requirements:
Windows 7 or higher (latest Service Pack, 32/64 Bit), Intel Core Duo or AMD AthlonTM 64 X2, 4 GB RAM (6 GB RAM recommended)
Mac: OS X 10.9 or higher, Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM
Requires KONTAKT 5 or KONTAKT 5 PLAYER version 5.6.8 or later
A collection of 18 vintage synth instruments, sampled in detail and modelled in Kontakt.
Cinematic, creepy and cool - a unique collection of instruments made from glass : The Cristal Baschet, Glass Armonica & Cloud Chamber Bowls.
One of the most enigmatic musical instruments of the 20th century, The Ondes Martenot was invented in 1928. Ghostly, languid, unmistakably French ; it has graced film soundtracks and avant-garde music for over 80 years.