Voice Definition

The number of ‘voices’ in a synthesizer is often defined as equal to the instrument’s polyphony, i.e an 8-voice instrument is 8-note polyphonic. With Nord Modular it is a bit different. A single voice in Nord Modular can consist of many different sound sources. These sound sources can be controlled individually, from separate notes or note ranges of a keyboard or from other modules, and be played simultaneously, depending on how the patch is created. This means that a single voice in Nord Modular can actually be played sort of ‘multi-timbrally’.

To illustrate an example of this, we created a ‘drum’ patch featuring four drum synth modules. Each drum synth module is controlled from a separate key, C4 to F4, and can sound together with the other modules if the keys are pressed simultaneously. Do not forget to un-check the Retrig boxes in the Patch|Patch Settings dialog box to get the best result (see "Voice Retrig" on page 68).

First, a Keyboard Voice module is used to be able to patch Note, Gate and Velocity signals to the other modules in the patch. To filter out four separate keys to trig each of the four Drum synth modules, we use four Keyboard Split modules. We make a serial connection of the Note, Gate and Velocity cables from the Keyboard Voice module to the corresponding inputs of the four Keyboard Split modules.

We also set a key range on each of the Keyboard Split modules. In this example, the ‘range’ represents only a single key on each module, C4, D4, E4 and F4. You can, of course, select a wider note range if you wish. The Gate and Velocity cables are patched to the corresponding inputs of each Drum synth module. We don not patch the Note signal since we use only one key per Drum synth module.

We then adjust the knobs of the four Drum synth modules to create four different sounds. We then patch the audio output of the modules to the 8 Inputs Mixer module, and from there to the 2Output module.

Now it is possible to play all four keys simultaneously and get all drum sounds to sound at the same time. Since we also patched Velocity signals to the Drum synth modules, the sounds become velocity sensitive.

And last, do not forget to un-check the Retrig boxes in the Patch|Patch Settings dialog box.