Specifications
6. The Instruments: The Organ Section NORD STAGE Eighty Eight V1.1x
Page 24
T
HE
V-T
YPE
M
ODEL
(V
OX
C
ONTINENTAL
II)
The Vox Continental is probably the most famous of all the transistor-based combo organs that emerged
in the early 60’s. Transistor technology made it possible to manufacture much more compact and portable
organ instruments. Compared to the mighty sound of tone-wheel based organs, transistor organs generally
sounded reedier and weaker, but the Vox Continental had a distinctive sound character which together
with the portability and cool design (inverse keyboard and chrome “Z-frame” stand) made the instrument
massively popular at the time. The sound is timeless and recreated faithfully in Nord Stage.
T
HE
D
RAWBARS
The original Vox Continental also used drawbars to change the timbre of the sound. The harmonic intervals
for the V-Type organ are printed on the upper row above the drawbars (see page 21 for a general descrip-
tion of how the drawbars work in Nord Stage).
In the figure you can see the pitch
interval among the six drawbars
used by the V-Type organ. Note
that the 6th drawbar from the left
controls three harmonics simulta-
neously (3rd-4th-8th). The two
rightmost drawbars determine the
mix of the two basic waveforms
that make up the sound generat-
ing source of the organ sound, just
like on the original. You have ac-
cess to sine (soft) and triangle
(bright) waveforms which can be
freely mixed together. If these
drawbars are both fully “pushed
in”, the organ will not produce any
sound.
V
IBRATO
There is only one type of vibrato
available for the V-Type, which is activated using the O
N
button in the Vibrato section.Note that the V-
Type vibrato is common for both Panels if a dual manual organ is used.
F-T
YPE
M
ODEL
(F
ARFISA
)
The typical “buzzy” sound of the Farfisa organ is one of the most distinct and easily recognizable keyboard
sounds ever created, yet it is actually possible to get quite a wide range of sounds out of the instrument.
For Nord Stage a Farfisa Compact DeLuxe was used as the source model.
SUB SUB3 FUND 2ND 5TH 3-4-8TH Sine
In the figure above we have chosen C3 as our reference note. The FUND drawbar is
considered the basic (fundamental) harmonic in the organ sound. The arrows point
at the respective note that each drawbar represents when C3 is our reference note.