Cherry Audio is pleased to present the sensational Novachord + Solovox collection, which includes two carefully crafted virtual instruments that pay homage to the pioneers of the synthesizer world.
The Novachord reproduces the revolutionary polyphonic marvel of the same name from 1939, while the Solovox is an equally influential monophonic keyboard instrument.
Cherry Audio strives to revive the vintage charm and unique nuances of these timeless masterpieces that laid the foundation for modern synthesis techniques.
Introduced at the 1939 World’s Fair, the Hammond Novachord contained 163 vacuum tubes and over 1,000 capacitors. Its architecture predicted the ADSR envelope and used a resonant band pass filter similar to those decades later used in modern polyphonic synthesizers. Novachord is remembered for being featured on Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again, played on decades of soundtracks including Gone with the Wind and The Maltese Falcon, and had otherworldly sounds in the movies Cat People, It Came from Outer Space “, “The Twilight Zone” and “The Outer Limits”. Today there are less than 200 Novachords, and according to some sources, only five such devices have survived in the world.
Hammond’s 1940 Solovox was a small monophonic mini-keyboard instrument placed under the piano to complement it with organ-type lead voices. Built around Novachord’s oscillator and divider circuits, the Solovox had 18 vacuum tubes and reproduced a range of string, woodwind and organ sounds that were widely used in light music until the 1960s. Unfortunately, with the advent of compact transistor organs released in the 60s, the popularity of the Solovox ended.
Award-winning developer and DSP designer Mark Barton shared our passion for these unique historical electronic instruments and approached Cherry Audio to join forces to revive their unique mystical sound. Mark’s experience in circuit modeling, as well as the invaluable assistance of vintage Novachord owners Joseph and Justin Phill, enabled Cherry Audio to recreate these masterpieces using virtual synthesis rather than sampling.
Cherry Audio’s Novachord has 32 polyphonic voices; a resonant band pass filter network of three resonators; tone settings “Brilliant”, “Deep” and “Full” of the original; seven variants of the Attack/Decay/Sustain envelope; vibrato with adjustable depth; built-in reverb effect with Room and Hall algorithms, as well as speaker emulation to reproduce the built-in amplifier and Novachord speakers in acoustic space. The Novachord interface is a magnificent recreation of the original, with white plaxon and black bakelite keys, teardrop levers and gorgeous cherrywood.
Cherry Audio’s Solovox is a faithful virtual analog emulation of a monophonic keyboard attachment with combo switches for bass, tenor, contralto and soprano; bipolar 1st and 2nd voice bandpass filters with level controls and variable center frequency; tone settings “Deep” and “Brilliant”; adjustable glide and fixed speed vibrato; mute control to filter out harmonics from the oscillator’s voice; built-in reverb effect with Room algorithm and speaker emulation. The sophisticated Solovox interface is equipped with sensitive vacuum tubes that glow and respond to settings.
The result is the fully immersive Novachord + Solovox experience – a breathtaking feast for both the ears and the eyes. With additional touches including over 100 combined presets, flexible MIDI mapping, and Cherry Audio’s popular Focus zoom-in feature, Novachord + Solovox brings these Golden Age classics out of the past and into the 21st century.
Novachord:
32 polyphonic voices, synthesized rather than sampled.
Three resonators: a resonant network of bandpass filters operating in series in the low (400 Hz), mid (800 Hz) and high (2000 Hz) frequency ranges.
Deep Tone setting for a tone generator signal with a 1-pole (6 dB per octave) low-pass filter fixed at 160 Hz.
Brilliant Tone – Adjusts the tone generator signal with a single-pole (6 dB per octave slope) high-pass filter fixed at 2000 Hz.
The Full Tone setting controls the amplitude of the dry (no filters) tone generator signal.
Tones are sent in parallel to all filters, processed, and then summed to create a composite timbre.
Attack knob with seven Attack/Decay/Sustain envelopes, from Slow to Fast, with sustain pedal-controlled release (approximately 3.5 seconds).
Adjustable vibrato depth with two options: Vibrato I, used in the earliest Novachord models, and Vibrato II, used in later Novachord models.
Built-in reverb effect with Room and Hall algorithms and speaker emulation to reproduce the built-in amplifier and Novachord speakers in acoustic space.
56 presets for basses, keys, pads and strings created by sound design director James Terris.
Solovox:
Accurate virtual-analogue emulation of a monophonic “plug-in” instrument.
Bass/Tenor/Contralto/Soprano combo switches allow you to set the range of notes in octaves, similar to the fuzz settings of modern synthesizers.
Two-pole First Voice and Second Voice bandpass filters with level controls and variable center frequencies of 400 Hz and 800 Hz respectively.
Deep Tone setting for a tone generator signal with a single-pole (6 dB per octave) low-pass filter fixed at 200 Hz.
Brilliant Tone – Adjusts the tone generator signal with a single-pole (6 dB per octave slope) high-pass filter fixed at 2000 Hz.
The Full Tone setting adjusts the amplitude of the dry (no filters) tone generator signal.
Adjustable glide and fixed speed vibrato.
Mute control for filtering harmonics from the oscillator voice.
Reverb effect with Room algorithm for reproducing a standard Solovox amp and speaker combo.
Luminous vacuum tubes respond to the volume setting of each filter.
50 bass, string, lead and woodwind presets created by Sound Design Director James Terris.