Hypersynth Xenophone, MODOR NF-1, ... - MIDI Live Session

ONEPOLYMER

"Just a little live MIDI Track. No external FX, except internal Reverb form the Antelope Orion HD 32 Gen3.

Protagonists:

AKAI z8 (Korg volca sample Drums)
Arturia MatrixBrute (Smooth Metalized Tones)
Arturia MicroFreak (Random Lofi Voices)
Hypersynth Xenophone (Reso Bass)
Kawai K3 (Nice & Lush Chrous Pad)
MODOR NF-1 (Pan & Moving Bass)
Roland JD-XA (Analog Stabs)
Roland System 8 (High JP-8 Melo Strings)

Winterliche Weihnachtsgrüße from
onepolymer"

Sounds of the MODOR NF-1 digital DSP synthesizer - no talking

Gearjunkies

"In this new video Marc shows you his favorite sounds from the MODOR NF-1 digital DSP synthesizer"

Formant Synth Dream

Update as of 9:26 PDT: I made a couple of minor updates in case you read it before then. Sorry!

A quick note on posts like this: I hope you enjoy them. If not, just skip them. When I first started the site I used to share my synth dreams but stopped. Personally I get a kick out of them. I won't share every one, just some of the stand outs. The last one stood out for the humor, this one stood out for the design of the instrument. It reminds me of different makers and their approach. As a maker, do you set out to design a synthesizer, an instrument, or both? Are you locked in by the tools, components, and paradigms of what makes a synth? In my dream both the musician and the maker (who never made an appearance BTW) didn't really know what a synth even was. The maker just designed an instrument and the musician just played it. This reminds me of Don Buchla's original designs and specifically the Buchla Music Easel. This was at the birth of synthesis as we know it. What's interesting is his designs weren't meant to be what they are commonly perceived as today. They were meant to be unique instruments, palettes for sound, hence the Music Easel. I heard even his modular systems weren't meant to be complete fixed instruments, they weren't meant to be mixed and matched. Think about that for a bit. They were modular in design, but they weren't meant to be modular in nature. They were meant to be wholly formed instruments. In the following dream the musician reminded me of Marc-Henri and Barry Schrader to an extent. Marc-Henri almost exclusively uses an Access Virus Ti as a music easel for his compositions. Barry Schrader started with Buchla and then moved to FM synthesis for his compositions. You can find an extensive interview with him here.


And the dream...

I had another synth dream last night. In this one I was at an ensemble event held in kind of a classroom/workshop/gym-type of open space at what felt like an old English or New England boarding school - lots of wood, flat tall ceilings, and windows along the length of the far wall. The ensemble consisted of maybe 18 people in a semi-circle with a small audience in front of them, mainly standing, which I was one of. The instructor had each member of the ensemble introduce their instruments. I was in front towards the left of the ensemble and noticed the last two instruments to be electronic desktop boxes sitting on a card table (synth gathering anywone?), both vintage and almost DIY looking in style. I remember thinking, "I know what these boxes are. They are synths! I can't wait to talk shop with the owners and check them out." Well the instructor starts going around the ensemble starting on the opposite side. Each member introduces their instrument and talks a little bit about them and their technique. There were some interesting brass-like instruments. I think there was one based on an alto trombone, but it was just a flat pipe and no horn at the end. Funny side note is my daughter is currently learning to play piccolo. She plays flute in high school band and decided to finally give the piccolo a try as a stretch goal. If you don't know what a piccolo is, it's a tiny flute for super high notes. She said there were tiny versions of most instruments including the trombone. I looked one up and sure enough there is. A tiny trombone not much longer than a foot exists. The instrument in my dream also bore a resemblance to the ribbon controller featured in the Nunomo QUN post, so I'm guessing that's where it came from - some bizarre mix of the two. Anyway, when the instructor/host got around to the last two instruments, it turned out the first was a theremin based synth minus the antennas. It was made of wood and looked vintage. It would have been interesting if not for the next box. That was something. It was black with white and silver sliders, levers, buttons, and knobs. It was a unique instrument custom made for the owner who knew the maker. The interesting thing was the musician wasn't familiar with synths and didn't even see the instrument as a synth. The maker also wasn't into synths. In the dream he was more like a luthier, more of an artist instrument maker than a synth maker. No offense to synth makers! :) Anyway, it was about the size of an EMS SYNTHI and was black with white levers and sliders and had a bunch of esoteric control blocks with non standard names/labels; similar to something like the Hartmann Neuron where controls are familiar but the names are completely different. For some reason it reminded me of a black Lassence uVentury, Modor NF-1, mixed with some MacBeth and Folktek in design, but again completely different. Again, this maker wasn't into synths. This was a unique instrument. After the talk was over the musician gave a little demo. The sound of it. It was like formant analog but the timbers coming out of it were rich and full, not thin or glossy like most formant synthesis. It sounded like nothing I've ever heard before. After the talks were over I walked over to it to check out the controls and design. I wondered if I could touch it and play with it a little and for some reason, as happens in dreams, I knew it was OK so I started playing with it. There was a thin ivory white reed-like lever about an inch and a half long that controlled a female formant timbre. It was amazing. There was an group of lever-type sliders that controlled a multi band formant filter block and I remember thinking, "Oh this is a filter!" There were envelop sliders and other familiar groups that I now forget, but there were a bunch of interesting controls on it that didn't quite match up to common synths. There were additional effects and shaping tools built into the design and everything just flowed like a natural instrument. Again it kind of reminded me in concept to a Hartman Neuron and Modor NF-1, with maybe a bit of Folktek, but it was more vintage and simplistic in design - just a sold black block with white and silver controls. It was definitely designed as a work of art instrument vs. a synth. Similar in concept to the Buchla music Easel as I mentioned in the intro to this dream above. So after checking it out a little and talking to the owner I realized I should take a video of it for the site! I got the OK to film it, pulled out my iPhone, and started trying to capture some of the controls and timbres it was capable of. When I got to that formant female slider it was gone! I couldn't remember what I did to get that sound and I couldn't find the control again. Damn dreams.... And as in many real world sessions I wasn't getting those rich timbres again. I got lost between timbres! I thought my readers would be disappointed in my programming chops for a split second, but then I reminded myself anyone into programming synths will understand and not care, so I kept tweaking. Well, right then, a foster kid boarding at the school distracted me and started talking to me. I hand gestured to him (no I did not flick him off) to hold off for a second because I was in the middle of filming the synth and trying to capture audio. He understood for like five seconds and started talking again. I asked him to give me a sec but he got upset and said I should be there more for people. I felt bad and wasn't getting anywhere with the instrument at that point, so I stopped filming to talk to him before he left.

And that was it! Everything felt right with the kid so that was good, but that instrument! It's gone forever...

Modor NF-1 Digital DSP Synth

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via this auction

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Modor NF 1 digital synthesizer overview and sound demo

Published on Dec 25, 2019 Gearjunkies

"The Modor NF-1 is an 8-voice polyphonic virtual analog synthesizer desktop synthesizer, made in Belgium. It has a special formant filter, 448 presets and a nicely designed user interface. We think it is a really nice and special synthesizer, and we want to show you what is and what it can do in this video."

Modor Microtonal Upgrade v 013

via Modor where you'll find some demos.

"There's a new upgrade for the NF-1 (OS013) and NF-1m (OS006), ready for download at our download page! What's new?

The Chorus/Flanger effect unit finally works entirely stable under heavy feedback, positive or negative. About time! No more ugly digital spikes or speaker-damaging noise bursts, you can safely turn up the feedback and enjoy comb filter self oscillation.

The active Osc and Env selection get saved with the patch (NF-1 only)

Osc phase randomisation can be selected. Before (and still the default), all oscillator phases got reset at the beginning of a note. Now they can be randomized to get some more 'life' in some patches. That's more or less the same as so-called free running oscillators

You can set your NF-1(m) to start from the last loaded/saved patch at bootup. The default is still bootup with the empty init patch, but you can alter this in the System Settings menu

And last but very, very far from least, Modor goes microtonal!

Microtonal? Oh boy ... That ear-torturing stuff for freaks and nerds desperately seeking for something to sound distinct. Really, do we need to go that way?

Well, not entirely ... There's much more than you might think. Listen to the following examples of a major C chord. First in standard 12-tone equal temperament tuning (most synthesizers' basic tuning), and then in Just Intonation. Quite a difference, isn't it? Does the first one have some chorus effect on it? No, not at all...

Most synths (and many, many other instruments) use 12-EDO (12 Equal Divisions of the Octave), also known as (12-tone) equal temperament. The octave just gets divided in 12 equal parts, the 12 semitones of the octave. But that's actually only an approximation of real harmony. On a just intonated chord like the one above, the three notes C-E-G have their frequencies in proportion 4/4 - 5/4 - 6/4, or 1 - 1,25 - 1,5. On an equal tempered chord that's 1 - 1,25992105 - 1,498307077. So that's only an approximation, the three notes are sounding close, but keep slightly beating. In a just intonated chord, the three notes grab each other close and sound together as an integer unity. Both versions do sound well, but you can't say they're equal!"

Click through for demos and additional details.

Dave Martijn (GOOSE) about the Modor NF-1 Synthesizer

Published on Oct 18, 2019 Turnlab

"One of Dave Martijn's favourite synths in the Belgian made Modor NF-1. In this short video, he expains how he discovered and uses the instrument live with his band GOOSE, and in the studio, for writing movie and tv-scores."

Modor NF-1 Digital DSP Synth 2018 White

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"This is the updated version with USB and the sturdier knobs."

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Modor NF-1 White w/ Rack Ears

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"Excellent blend of digital OSC combos, complex envelopes, LFO, and great sounding formant filter, chorus/flanger, and delay. Fast patch creation, and very controllable via Midi."

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Modor eurorack module COMB Filter to make chorus and flanger style effects

Published on Aug 4, 2019 Dziam Bass

"Today I have a movie using Comb Filter and Noisy Oscillator from Modor.
I really like the effect of flanger and chorus, but I did not have them in modules so this module can really put in motion and sound it well. a little more impact on the strong effect I gave about 2 minutes.

Comb filter so jets named this filter but based on jets on short delays which just produces these two effects.
A little more accurately about this module
What is a Comb Filter? It is a digital filter. The signal is mixed with a slightly delayed version of the input signal. You will not be able to do it (40ms at max). "Comb Filter" comes from. "The Filter process" is a number of different combinations.

Comb filters are typically used to make chorus and flanger style effects. These effects are created by modulating the delay time. With longer and relatively fast modified delays you receive a chorus effect. With short, slow-motion, modular delays, combined with some feedback.

So, the most interesting parameter in this is the delay time. That determines the frequency of the teeth. So that's why there's a CV control for it. The typical chorus and flanger effects are made by the LFO. So there's a triangle LFO onboard the module, with speed control. If you do not enter any CV in the CV1 connector, it is standardized to this internal LFO to make typical effects. CV2 is standardized to the reverse signal of CV1, to make Modor's typical wide stereo effects, just as on the NF-1 synthesizer. But you can enter your CV in a few words: LFO's, Envelopes or some rhytmically undulating spacy voltage signals ... Check it out!"

Modor NF-1 Keyboard

via Modor Music

"Will there ever be a keyboard NF-1? Well, a little time ago we built a 44-key plastic casing prototype. And it works, but it has some flaws...

A keyboard version will need to be strong and robust, even more than a desktop synth. The keyboard mechanics can be delivered more or less complete by Fatar, that's not a problem. And the knobs and buttons can be the same as on the desktop NF-1. But there's no simple off-the-shelf thing you can use as pitch bend/modwheel. 3D printing didn't give the necessary precision, and plastic moulding becomes prohibitively expensive for smaller production numbers. Or should we make a version without PB/modwheel... ?

Also, if we use the same 2mm steel casing as for the NF-1, things may become really heavy... So we would need really strong packaging to avoid shipping damage, and shipping may become very delicate and expensive... Or maybe a standard included dedicated flightcase?

So, for now the keyboard NF-1 is on hold. It seems us too much of risk, and by trying to reduce the risk, the keyboard NF-1 would get too expensive. But never say never, maybe a very limited edition one day? Share us your thoughts... !

A little secret... Our keyboard prototype has CV/Gate inputs :-)'"

Modor eurorack-Noisy Oscillator & Comb Filter demo

Published on Jul 15, 2019 Dziam Bass

"This video shows sound from the Noisy Oscillator and Comb filter from Modor modules eurorack.

A little added noise from the oscillator from the second voice as you see the knob mix and also subtle filtering from Comb Filter to get a partial flanger effect without too much modulation.

later we got a little more effect with Fb-feedback regulation and a larger delay type, ie a stronger effect on the longer time generated by Comb filter.

Noisy Oscillator module is and oscillator that mixes two signals: a 'regular' wave (sawtooth/square/triangle) and a 'tonal noisy' wave. This adds a special noisy layer over the sound, that adds 'air', grit or dirt, depending on the combinations you make. The MOD parameter acts on the noisy waveforms:

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Modor Eurorack- Noisy Oscillator/Comb Filter first impression

Published on Jul 5, 2019 Dziam Bass

"Hi Guys.
Today was a little crazy day but I managed to record one small movie with new modules from Modor this is some spontaneous movie but like now this modules.
To Noisy Oscillator and Comb Filter (effects like chorus and flanger)
basically I was having a little fun with it but I decided that this small sequence is fine to even show some sound of these great modules.
These modules are single-ended sections from the famous Modor NF-1 polyphonic synthesizer.
basically it's the VCO section and the second section of the effects. it also has a Formant filter but it was not used in this movie."

JMT SYNTH NF-1 & WTVC-1

Published on Jun 25, 2019 JMT SYNTH

"orificenoise"

The NF-1 has been featured before, the WTVC-1 appears is new to the site.

JMT SYNTH NF-2 + STEP SEQUENCER

Published on May 1, 2019 JMT SYNTH

http://www.jmtsynth.com

Modor NF-1, MonoLogue, Nord Lead 2, Xils StiX Test with iPad

Published on Feb 24, 2019 BoBSwanS

"So I have had this iPad 2 days now and here is my 1st test of Midi Out and Ableton Link using Audiobus to route Fugue Machine and Xynthesizr to my synths.

3 playheads from Fugue Machine to my Modor NF1-M
and one to the Monologue.
Xynthesizr is playing some chords into my Nord Lead 2 and I have SpaceCraft Granular playing back some whistling I recorded in with the iPad Mic.
Each of the hardware synths has it's own audio track in Ableton with some delay and reverb and I have a compressor on the master.
I am also using a Lemur editor to control the Modor NF1-m
Drums are supplied by Xils StiX
and It's all synced with Ableton Link over Wifi."

Modor Noisy Oscillator, Comb Filter & Formant Filter // Synthfest 2018

Published on Oct 29, 2018 DivKidVideo

"The NF-1 from Modor always has me gassing for some digital synth action and it's great to see them enter the eurorack market too. The Formant filter is out now but Modor also had the new Noisy Oscillator and Comb Filter on show at Synthfest so here's a quick demo with a few sounds from the new units."

Modor NF-1 Polyphonic Digital Synthesizer V.1

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Waldorf Quantum, Modor NF-1, Jomox AB, Digitone & more. Ambient techno session #01

Published on Oct 18, 2018 CO5MA

"Waldorf Quantum, Modor NF-1, Jomox Alphase, Digitone, PolyEvolver, Montage, Digitakt, Octatrack, TR8-s, Keystep

Ambient techno session #01
Live recording"

Soundium: Enabled - Synth Event This Weekend in Vilnius, Lithuania

This one is in via Pierre-Henri Pache.

https://soundium.lt/enabled

"About and around music technology

Soundium: Enabled fuse theory, practice and experiences in the field of music technology. Main goal of the event is to demonstrate and educate. For the first time in the Baltics a space under one roof will be dedicated to DJ/studio gear testings, lectures with brand ambassadors and performances of local geeks.

However, we think the most important part of Soundium: Enabled is its participant (YOU), coming with his/her own approach to the creative process – so the door is open to anyone, and networking is strongly encouraged. See you on October 20th.
Program

Demo Space
Demo space a designated getting-your-hands-on-gear area. You can expect various equipment here, part of which will be hot & new: starting from DJ turntables, ending with modular synths, drum machines and DAW controllers. Some brand representatives will also be around, so do not hesitate to get tips straight from these professionals.

Demo:
Korg: Prologue 16 / Prologue 8 / Minilogue / Monologue / MS-20 Mini / Volca Beats - Bass - Keys - FM - Sample - Mix / Microkorg / Microkorg XL+ / ARP Oddysey / Electribe / Electribe Sampler / SQ-1

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