Cherry Audio - Novachord + Solovox Synthesizers

The Novachord + Solovox collection emulates two early electronic instruments that were precursors of modern synthesizers.

Novachord is based on the revolutionary polyphonic instrument from 1939, while Solovox replicates a related monophonic keyboard instrument intended to provide organ-style leads.

These exceedingly rare instruments set standards for tone generation and synthesis techniques that continue to influence today's electronic instruments.

Out of the Past

Due to their unique place in the history of electronic instruments, award-winning developer and DSP designer Mark Barton (MRB) presented Cherry Audio with the prospect of teaming up to revive these instruments and their unique mystical sounds.

Armed with his enthusiasm and expertise in circuit-modeling, we set forth to recreate these masterpieces from yesteryear using virtual synthesis and no sampling.

We also received invaluable assistance from father and son, Joseph and Justin Fill, owners of a beautifully restored Novachord.

We didn't stop at the sound, the Novachord interface is a magnificent recreation of the original, replete with the white Plakson and black Bakelite keys, teardrop rotary levers, and gorgeous cherry wood.

With Solovox, we went a step further, including responsive vacuum tubes that light up and respond to settings.

With additional touches such as over 100 combined presets and flexible MIDI mapping, Cherry Audio has brought these Golden Age classics out of the past and into the 21st century.

The result is the Novachord + Solovox experience - a breathtaking feast for both the ears and the eyes, packaged together at one low price.

Cherry Audio is overjoyed to bring these classic instruments back to life with these stunning software emulations.

Prepare yourself to be transported back to the earliest days of electronic music history!

Novachord Features

• 32 polyphonic voices, synthesized not sampled
• Three Resonators: a resonant bandpass filter network operating consecutively in low (400 Hz), mid (800 Hz), high (2000 Hz) frequency ranges
• Deep Tone setting for the tone generator signal, with a one-pole (6dB per-octave slope) lowpass filter with a fixed frequency of 160 Hz
• Brilliant Tone setting for the tone generator signal, with a one-pole (6dB per-octave slope) highpass filter with a fixed frequency of 2000 Hz
• Full Tone setting controls the amplitude of the dry (no filters applied) tone generator signal
• Tones routed in parallel to all of the filters, processed, and then summed together to create a composite tone
• Attack knob with seven Attack/Decay/Sustain envelope options, from Slow to Fast, with sustain-pedal controlled release (approximately3.5 seconds)
• Adjustable depth vibrato with two options: Vibrato I as used in the earliest Novachord models, and Vibrato II as used in later Novachords
• Integrated reverb effect with Room and Hall algorithms plus speaker emulation to replicate the Novachord's built-in amp and speakers in an acoustic space
• 56 presets covering Basses, Keys, Pads, and Strings, by Director of Sound Design James Terris

Solovox Features

• Faithful virtual analog emulation of the monophonic 'keyboard attachment' instrument
• Combinable Bass/Tenor/Contralto/Soprano switches to set note range in octaves, like modern synthesizer footage settings
• First Voice and Second Voice two-pole bandpass filters with level controls and variable center frequencies of 400 Hz and 800 Hz, respectively
• Deep Tone setting for the tone generator signal, with a one-pole (6dB per-octave slope) lowpass filter with a fixed frequency of 200 Hz
• Brilliant Tone setting for the tone generator signal, with a one-pole (6dB per-octave slope) highpass filter with a fixed frequency of 2000 Hz
• Full Tone setting controls the amplitude of the dry (no filters applied) tone generator signal
• Adjustable Glide and fixed-rate Vibrato
• Mute control to filter harmonics from the oscillator voice
• Reverb effect with Room algorithm to replicate the standard Solovox amp and speaker combo
• Glowing vacuum tubes respond to the volume setting of each filter
• 50 presets covering Basses, Strings, Leads, and Woodwinds, by Director of Sound Design James Terris

Shared Features

• Complete MIDI control and DAW automation for all controls, with easy-to-use MIDI learn and mapping (Preset and Global)
• Cherry Audio's popular Focus zoom-in feature, as well as standard UI zoom and resize via drag
• Complete documentation available directly online from the instrument or in downloadable PDF format
• User-adjustable oversampling control