# Hollow Sun Hammond Novachord released on Jan 30th



## Hollow Sun (Jan 28, 2010)

Just two days to go!!!! :shock: 

A final candidate for the Kontakt 3 release of the astonishing Hammond Novachord valve polysynth has been selected!!! The program list is as follows...

NC346 Aetherion.nki
NC346 Altitude.nki
NC346 Anode Strings.nki
NC346 Arcing Coils.nki
NC346 Bakelite.nki
NC346 BrassoChord.nki
NC346 Canned Vintage.nki
NC346 Cathode Sweep.nki
NC346 Cheezachord.nki
NC346 Clavachord.nki
NC346 Deadly One.nki
NC346 Delicate.nki
NC346 Distant Theatre.nki
NC346 Divider Rider.nki
NC346 Doom Strings.nki
NC346 Dry Octaves.nki
NC346 Dual Octave Harpsi.nki
NC346 Electron Beam.nki
NC346 Electron Cloud.nki
NC346 Ensemble.nki
NC346 Fifth Dimension.nki
NC346 Fission Strings.nki
NC346 Flutalto.nki
NC346 Flutter.nki
NC346 Forbidden Planet.nki
NC346 Formant Shift.nki
NC346 Futura.nki
NC346 Futurian.nki
NC346 Glass Filaments.nki
NC346 Grofe Piano.nki
NC346 Harpsarchaic.nki
NC346 HexVibrati.nki
NC346 Hideaway Bass.nki
NC346 High Strings.nki
NC346 High Tension.nki
NC346 HonkaChord.nki
NC346 Induction.nki
NC346 Intonarumori.nki
NC346 Inversion.nki
NC346 JMJachord.nki
NC346 Late Again.nki
NC346 Laurens Of Arabia.nki
NC346 Mains Interference.nki
NC346 Metropolis.nki
NC346 MonoChord 8ve Bass.nki
NC346 MonoChord Bass.nki
NC346 MonoChord Perc Bass.nki
NC346 MonoChord Taurus.nki
NC346 Morphography.nki
NC346 Mysterium.nki
NC346 Nasal Chord.nki
NC346 NeverDream.nki
NC346 NovaBrass.nki
NC346 NovaPad.nki
NC346 NovaVox.nki
NC346 OctaChord.nki
NC346 Octal Base.nki
NC346 OctaSproing.nki
NC346 Octave Strings.nki
NC346 Organics.nki
NC346 Percolator.nki
NC346 Phantastron.nki
NC346 Pipe Organ.nki
NC346 Plinky.nki
NC346 Plucked Anodes.nki
NC346 Qambenik.nki
NC346 Roosevelt's 5th.nki
NC346 Scary Movie.nki
NC346 Sea Of Pentodes.nki
NC346 ShimmerChime.nki
NC346 Shimmeria.nki
NC346 Slightly Broken.nki
NC346 Slow Bows.nki
NC346 Soft Pluck.nki
NC346 Solaris.nki
NC346 Soma.nki
NC346 Space Chime.nki
NC346 Spike.nki
NC346 SpookFX.nki
NC346 Sproing.nki
NC346 Stainless Strings.nki
NC346 Steamline.nki
NC346 SuperNova.nki
NC346 Sylvania's Pad.nki
NC346 Tesla Strings.nki
NC346 TheraChord.nki
NC346 ThermioShimmer.nki
NC346 Toy Trumpet.nki
NC346 Transglobal.nki
NC346 Tube Piano.nki
NC346 Tube Trumpet.nki
NC346 TubeOrgan.nki
NC346 Vangeliron.nki
NC346 Vibratosphere.nki
NC346 Vocan8r.nki
NC346 Vortex Field.nki
NC346 Vox Genie.nki
NC346 Warm French Horn.nki
NC346 Warmth.nki
NC346 Wide Sproing.nki
NC346 Wireless.nki
NC346 World Fair.nki
NC346 X Dry 1S (Acoustic).nki
NC346 X Dry 1S (Direct).nki
NC346 X Dry 2S (Acoustic).nki
NC346 X Dry 2S (Direct).nki
NC346 X Dry 3S (Acoustic).nki
NC346 X Dry 3S (Direct).nki
NC346 X Harpsichord.nki
NC346 X HiStrings.nki
NC346 X MaleVox.nki
NC346 X MissingThe803.nki
NC346 X Modernism.nki
NC346 X NovaChord Vib.nki
NC346 X Novachord.nki
NC346 X Percussive.nki
NC346 X Piano.nki
NC346 X ScaryStrings.nki
NC346 X VibReed.nki
NC346 X WarmEnsemble.nki

120 programs and hundreds of hand crafted 24-bit multi-samples

It will sell for £120 as a direct download and will be on sale at *Hollow Sun* some time on Saturday, January 30th to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the very first Novachord being delivered to US president, Franklyn D Roosevelt, as a birthday present from Hammond.

Those programs with the 'X' prefix to the name are raw, unadulterated Novachord with no effects or post-processing - this is as close to sitting in front of the real thing as is possible and were carefully programmed (some might say 'modeled'!) by careful comparison with Dan's actual Novachord until they were as indistinguishable as possible. These are a real taste of 1939 - you can almost smell the Bakelite ... a sound of the future that never happened!!

The other sounds are variations from the subtle to the outrageous. In the more subtle variations, we have re-created the textures available on the real thing by careful A/B'ing or by carefully listening to recordings of the Novachord from over the decades and trying to re-create those. 

However, in many of them, we've also taken the Novachord to a level Laurens Hammond and his colleagues could only have dreamed of, using modern post-processing with swept filters, etc.. 

It's interesting though - it almost doesn't matter what modern sonic mangling you apply to the sound, the aroma of warm, living, thermionic technology and Bakelite and musty old documentation hangs in the air!

Just to remind you...

















More Novachord action at *NOVACHORD.CO.UK* ... audio demos, videos, photos of the restoration, instrument history, our Novachord's history, etc..

Please form an orderly queue! 

Cheers


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## Dr.Quest (Jan 28, 2010)

This sounds so great! I want it.
J


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## TheoKrueger (Jan 28, 2010)

Great sound, I really love the strings, they are very organic and have a nice character to them. Very special sounds indeed! They take you back in time


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## Hollow Sun (Jan 30, 2010)

http://www.hollowsun.com/shop/novachord/index.htm (It's now available)

And we've adjusted the price down to a more affordable £99 / €114 / $160.

Cheers


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## Jan16 (Jan 31, 2010)

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## Dr.Quest (Jan 31, 2010)

Steve,
I want to order this as soon as I have some cash. Can you tell us about the sampling? Did you sample every note or various intervals? You must have sampled the built in vibrato since it is so distinctive.
I'm so glad someone has taken the time to preserve and sample this amazing instrument.
Really looking forward to this.
Jamie


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## Dr.Quest (Jan 31, 2010)

OK, I couldn't wait. Noodles for dinner for the next 2 weeks.
J


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## Hollow Sun (Jan 31, 2010)

Dr.Quest @ Sun Jan 31 said:


> Can you tell us about the sampling? Did you sample every note or various intervals? You must have samples the built in vibrato since it is so distinctive.


I plan to detail the sampling process at *novachord.co.uk* when I get a moment but in synopsis...

In the early days, we sampled what notes were working which was typically every minor third (+/-) but as the thing was renovated, we had more to play with so that we pretty much had one sample for every note. Of course, the Novachard isn't velocity sensitive so no velocity layers.

We took long samples (as much as 15 - 20 seconds each) so that they had room to breathe (wheeze in some cases!) and each one was carefully topped and tailed and looped (where appropriate) by hand in order to preserve the quality of the original We preserved the original's envelope wherever possible but I did have to bring some of the samples into tune (some of the big, brass tuning chokes for the Novachord's master oscillators were turned to max) but this was just by a few cents and had no discernible effect on the sound.

We did indeed sample with the Novachord's own vibrato. It would be easy enough to sample straight and add the vibrato in the sampler (and we did do that in some patches) but the Novachord's own 6-channel, electro-magnetic vibrato was such a distinctive characteristic of the sound, we just HAD to sample that if we were to capture the Novachord's true quality. Which was a bugger to loop I can tell you!!!

We took various sample sets with the Novachord's filters in different positions but the difference between them was pretty subtle on occasions but with a lot of experimentation in Kontakt, I discovered ways to go some way to recreate some of the Novachord's distinctive sounds by patching in high, low and allpass filters in series ... much like the Novachord's own bank of 'resonators' but variable instead of switched and with a wider range. Using scripting, I put these on a custom 'skin' for immediate tweakability even if you don't want to hit Kontakt's 'monkey wrench' and delve deeper.

We also took some liberties with layering and modern synth facilities and effects to expand upon the Novachord's 'raw' sonic palette in some programs.

I don't think Laurens Hammond is turning in his grave at the liberties we've taken - in fact, I'd like to think he'd be as excited by this project as we are.



Dr.Quest @ Sun Jan 31 said:


> I'm so glad someone has taken the time to preserve and sample this amazing instrument.


Well, I have to be honest....

Apart from the (obvious) commercial possibilities, it has been a privilege to 'archive' this amazing instrument for posterity and I felt duty bound to preserve it as closely as possible without deviating too much. In a way, it's been a bit like being handed some film footage of a major event (like, for example, Bleriot's first flight across the English channel) and having to restore that for modern public consumption. Nowadays, you could use all sorts of CGI, etc., to do that but although I did a bit of that, I was also keen to 'keep it real' (as they say) and preserve the original sound with as little buggering about as possible, just some careful, hand crafted (and seamless) loops for sustained sounds.... to match Dan's ethos with this in his rebuilding of the actual Novachord - to have something as close as imaginable to how the thing would have sounded back in 1939, warts 'n' all!


Cheers


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## spectrum (Jan 31, 2010)

Steve, this is an absolutely wonderful project! 

Thanks to you guys for bringing this unknown gem of history to life again and letting the world know about it.

Congrats and best of success to you!  =o 

spectrum
(aka:EP from Spectrasonics)


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## Hollow Sun (Jan 31, 2010)

Thanks Eric  

Not that you need it but all the best and every success to you as well! We live in exciting times with such toys to play with to broaden our musical horizons. Who'd have thought we could revive - almost Frankenstein like - such a beast for the modern age. 

"It's alive" the mad doctor proclaimed with a bolt of lightning!!! :wink: 

Cheers,


Steve


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## Dr.Quest (Jan 31, 2010)

I've been going through the patches and each one is so iconic I can imagine the movies or TV shows where I first heard these.
It's obvious the main vibrato patches are the original because the sound is so identifiable. Great job on the looping for these. Kontact seems to be the perfect recipient for these heart of gold originals.
This was indeed a magnificent beast.
Cudos on this project Steve. I wish you well on this - much success.
Cheers,
Jamie


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## Hollow Sun (Feb 1, 2010)

Glad you're liking it Jamie and thanks for your kind comments.

I hope it finds a place in your work.

Cheers,


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## synergy543 (Feb 24, 2010)

Amazing project! And what interesting history.

I missed this earlier - not sure how it passed under the radar (just saw the ad here on vi).

Thanks for doing this Steve - hope to get it soon.


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## Dr.Quest (Feb 24, 2010)

I love this library. The sounds are wonderful and so iconic. I've used it recently and it is so retro great.
I want to score a vintage sci fi movie or cartoon now.
I am so glad Steve did this.
Love it!
J


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## shakuman (Feb 28, 2010)

It looks great =o what's the full size of this library?

Shakuman.


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## Nick Harvey (Mar 1, 2010)

It's 576MB and sounds fantastic. Really organic...


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## shakuman (Mar 1, 2010)

Nick Harvey @ Mon Mar 01 said:


> It's 576MB and sounds fantastic. Really organic...



Many thanks Nick :mrgreen: 

Shakuman.


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## shakuman (Mar 1, 2010)

Hi Steve.
Any chance to pay you through credit card instead of paypal! o/~ 

Shakuman.


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## shakuman (Mar 2, 2010)

kolton @ Tue Mar 02 said:


> hi Shakuman,
> 
> i just purchased with a credit card.



I noticed just I should press a paypal button!..how you paid through your C. card ?

Shakuman.


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## kolton (Mar 2, 2010)

under this section on the paypal page it says:"Don't have a PayPal account?" is says "use credit card".
it's hard to notice. maybe it's only us dollar...[/img]



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## DKeenum (Mar 2, 2010)

I regularly use my CC through PayPal. Isn't that the way it works worldwide?


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## shakuman (Mar 2, 2010)

DKeenum @ Tue Mar 02 said:


> I regularly use my CC through PayPal. Isn't that the way it works worldwide?



I did :evil: it said I should enter my paypal account Cuz I already have a paypal acount but I don't want to use this service currently >8o I hope Steve do a response Cuz no response at KVR forum really strange >8o ?

Shakuman.


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## Hollow Sun (Mar 3, 2010)

Hi Shakuman,

PM's and forums aren't the best way to sort things like this out especially as I am not a massive forum user (and invariably don't spot PMs for me! :? ). Email's best. Whatever...

DO NOT log in to PayPal - that will require you to pay for it with funds in your payPal account.... which you don't want to do.

When you are taken to the order page, you will see this:







Click on CONTINUE and enter your CC details to buy it with that.

Cheers,


Steve


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## Hollow Sun (Mar 4, 2010)

shakuman @ Wed Mar 03 said:


> Thanks Steve for your response I got the point


  



shakuman @ Wed Mar 03 said:


> BTW you did a great work


Thanks! :D



shakuman @ Wed Mar 03 said:


> which most of composer's should have.


Couldn't agree with you more 

Cheers,


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