Chapter 8 Synth
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Voice Mode Legato
In Legato mode you can only play one note at a time, just as if the
Mono mode is active.
If Legato is tuned on, 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.
If you release the last played key before playing a new key (non-legato),
the new note’s Envelopes 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 and mono mode only. The glide characteristics can be de-
scribed 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.
Unison
The Stage 2 EX synthesizer oscillator has a couple of
“hidden” oscillators. The number of extra oscillators varies
with the algorithms, but is usually between two and four.
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 vibrato 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 direction, range
and speed. The arpeggiator can be used with Up, Down, Up/Down or
Random directions in several octave ranges. The tempo of the arpeg-
giated notes is set by the Rate control or by synchronizing the arpeggio
to the Master Clock of the Nord Stage 2 EX.
Press the Hold button if you want the arpeggio to continue even if you
lift your fingers from the keys.
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.
The Rate knob sets the rate which will be displayed as quarter note
beats per minute (BPM) in the LCD. If the rate is set really high, the dis-
play will indicate this as eight- or sixteen notes of a halved or quartered
tempo. An example of this would be 84:8 which is equivalent to 168
BPM.
Press Shift and the Arpeggio On button to sync the arpeggio with Nord
Stage 2 EX Master Clock. When the Arpeggio is synchronized to the
Master Clock, the Rate knob will be used to set the arpeggio’s subdivi-
sion 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.
Sound Init
To start with a “clean slate” when programming sounds you can use
the Sound Init function. This will initialize the synthesizer to a basic
default setting. This is done by holding Shift and pressing the Arpeggio
Hold button.
Summary of Contents for NordStage2 EX 88
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