User manual

Chapter 8 refereNCe: SyNth | 35
Legato mode
To activate Legato mode, press the selector button until the Legato
LED lights up. In Legato mode you can only play one note at a time,
just as if the Mono mode is active. If you play a new key before releas-
ing the previously played key (legato), the new note will replace the
previous one at the current Envelope stage of the previously pressed
key. The new note will not re-trigger the envelopes.
If you release the last played key before playing a new key (non-legato),
the new note will sound exactly like in Mono mode, the complete Enve-
lopes will be re-triggered.
Glide
When the Glide knob is set to anything other than zero, glide is acti-
vated, the Glide function makes the pitch “glide” from one note to the
next when playing (this is sometimes called portamento). It operates in
legato/mono mode only. The glide characteristics can be described as
“constant rate”, which means that the greater the “distance” between
two subsequent notes, the longer the glide time. Turn the Glide knob
clockwise to increase the glide rate.
Legato and Glide
If Legato is tuned on, the glide is active only when you play legato. You
have to press a new key before you release the previous key to get the
Glide.
Unison
The Stage 2 synthesizer oscillator has a couple of “hid-
den” oscillators. The number of extra oscillators varies
with the algorithms, but is usually between three and
eight. When you activate Unison, these slightly de-tuned
voices are gradually added to the basic sound for those
fat, classic synthesizer sounds. Note that using Unison
does not reduce the polyphony!
You adjust the number of extra oscillators and the de-tune amount
among the voices by pressing the unison selector:
A setting of 1, 2 or 3 equals a classic dual oscillator de-tuning effect
with an increasing amount of de-tune between the oscillators.
A setting of Multi 1, 2 and 3 introduces a thicker multi-voice de-tuning,
which can create very powerful sounds.
Vibrato
Vibrato modulates the pitch of the oscillator to produce
natural vibrato effects.
There are three basic methods you can use to control
Synth Vibrato which is set using the Selector button in
the Vibrato section:
If aftertouch (A.T) is selected you can control the vibrato by pressing
down held notes on the keyboard.
If DLY1, 2 or 3 is selected, the vibrato will influence the synth pitch with
an increasing delay in doing so, when a note is played. The amount of
the vibraot if it is delayed, is set in the Sound Menu. Read more about
this on page 42.
When WHL is selected, you control the vibrato amount with the Mod
Wheel.
Storing Synth Sounds
To store a Synth Sound, press Shift and the Store Synth button in the
Vibrato section. The waveform display starts blinking. You can now use
the waveform selector dial to navigate to a memory location where you
would like to store your sound.
To name a Synth Sound you can use the Page buttons to move the
cursor and the Value Dial to select character just as for Programs, read
more about this on page 16.
To confirm your intentions to store the sound, press the Store Synth
button again.
M Press Shift to cancel an ongoing Store operation.
Arpeggiator
If you play a chord and hold the keys, the
notes in the chord will be played back
repeatedly by the arpeggiator, one after
the other. The parameters govern direc-
tion, range and speed. The Arpeggiator
can be used with Up, Down, Up/Down or Random directions in several
octave ranges. The tempo of the arpeggiated notes is set by the Rate
control or by synchronizing the arpeggio to the Master Clock of the
Nord Stage 2.
 If you want the arpeggio to continue if you lift your fingers from the
keys, make sure that the Sustped LED is lit for the Synth section in
this Slot and press the sustain pedal.
The arpeggio is activated with the On button. The Arpeggio selec-
tor sets the direction. If no LED is lit, the arpeggio will play in the Up
fashion. The other directions are Down (DN), Up and Down (U/D) and
Random (RND).
Press Shift and the arpeggio selector to set the octave range. When no
LED is lit, the range is one octave. Press Shift and the selector to reach
the settings for 2, 3, and 4 octaves.
Press Shift and the Arpeggio On button to sync the arpeggio with Nord
Stage 2 Master Clock. When the Arpeggio is synchronized to the Mas-
ter Clock, the Rate knob will be used to set the arpeggio’s subdivison
of the tempo of the Master Clock. The Subdivisions are described in
meter: ½ equals half notes at the clock tempo, ¼ equals quarter notes,
1/8 are eight notes etc.. A “T” indicates a meter with triplet feel.
Read more on Master Clock and how the set the tempo on page 18.