Musikmesse 2009: At the 2009 Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Nord will be previewing the new Nord C2 Combo Organ. This is a direct descendant of the C1, with the addition of many exciting features.

Updated features include new keyboard action, monitor input, controls moved to “classic” positions, enhanced click and drawbar preview.

Nord will also present two new accessories at the Musikmesse: the new aluminum stand for the C2 and a bass pedal keyboard – the Pedal Key 27.

Details below. If you’ve used the Nord C2 Combo Organ, leave a comment with your thoughts!

Description:

The sound of the C1 with its faithful tonewheel organ, Vox* and Farfisa* models has been augmented with a beautiful baroque pipe organ. This makes the C2 even more versatile, providing not only rock organ players a new palette of sounds, but also makes the C2 a great instrument to use in churches, concert and congregation halls or any other venue where a high quality pipe organ instrument is paramount. It is also a fantastic solution to the pipe organ player who needs a portable dual manual practice instrument that can be equipped with a large pedal board (extra accessory).

New features in the Nord C2:

• Pipe Organ: The Nord C2 is equipped with a beautiful baroque pipe organ that compliments its tonewheel and transistor organs. This new organ has a total of 21 stops distributed across the Swell (9 stops) manual, the Great (9 stops) manual and the bass section (3 stops). The pipe organ is – contrary to the C2’s tonewheel, Vox and Farfisa models – sampled, using Clavia’s longtime experience and expertise in the sample acquisition and sample playback technologies.
• New keyboard action: The keyboard have been enhanced with a firmer action to better provide you with the rock solid feel of an original tonewheel instrument. The ultra fast response time is of course still there.
• Improved output routing capabilities: The C2 treats the main left and right outputs as one group, separated from the other group which consist of the Leslie 11-pin and High Level outputs. This provides an improved flexibility in the routing of the organ models. A tonewheel organ can e.g. always be routed to a rotary speaker connected at the 11-pin or High Level jack output and the pipe organ can be routed to the PA through the main outputs. Another scenario would be for the Vox* and Farfisa* to be routed to a combo amplifier via one of the main outputs, and the tonewheel organ to a rotary speaker connected at the High Level outputs. Other combinations of the organ models and outputs are also catered for.
• Monitor input: Just plug in your mp3 or CD player to the C2 to be able to play along, rehearse or jam with previously recorded music without the need of an external mixer or sound system. The signal that is present at this input will be monitored through the C2’s headphone output.
• Percussion controls moved to the “classic position”: The switches for the percussion controls on the panel have been moved, to the classic tone wheel organ position at the lower right.
• Vibrato and chorus controls moved to the “classic position”: The switches for the vibrato and chorus controls on the panel have been moved, to the classic tonewheel organ upper left position. When the pipe organ is used, these controls activate the tremulant effect.
• Enhanced click: The click level can now be adjusted. The essential click artifact in the tonewheel organ model has been further enhanced. The level can be adjusted and the key-release component of this click has been specifically modeled to further improve the authenticity of the tonewheel organ sound.
• Drawbar Preview: This new function allows you to dial in a new sound while still playing without any changes being heard. When you are ready, the new setting can be instantly activated.

New Accessories

• Pedal Keys 27: This MIDI pedalboard has 27 keys and an integrated Swell pedal, with a sturdy chassis of aluminum. The long keys have a wooden finish and a length of 350 mms, to facilitate the use of a proper toe-heel technique when playing. It is very portable weighing in at only 15.5 kg, 34 lbs. Just connect it to the C2’s Bass Pedal MIDI Input and you are ready to perform. Not included with the C2, available as an extra accessory.
• Aluminum stand: The C2 can be used with a new stand, a very sturdy but lightweight stand made of aluminum. This stand is specifically designed to make room for a large set of pedals underneath the organ. Not included with the C2, available as an extra accessory.

Nord Digital Modeling

The classical sounds of the tonewheel, Vox* Continental and Farfisa* Compact Deluxe are all carefully modeled from their originals. The C2 also features Nord’s famous tube style overdrive, rotating speaker simulation, delay, reverb and 3-band EQ effects. It will tailor sounds for your body, mind and soul. The original mechanical tonewheel design as well as the Vox* and Farfisa* transistor designs result in diverse interactions between the different parts involved in the sound generating process. Modern sampling technology is able to play back the result of these interactions, but cannot duplicate the dynamic and random processes involved. Without these crucial steps represented, the response and feel of actually playing the instrument is inevitably lost. The solution is a real-time, DSP-based model describing the construction and interaction between each part of the tonewheel and transistor designs recreated faithfully.

No two manual organ would be complete without the ability to play bass notes on a pedal board. The Nord C2 includes two additional bass register drawbars with selectable timbre from either vintage tonewheels or a synth bass. The bass can be controlled with any MIDI-enabled bass pedal board, or by splitting the lower manual.

…COMBINED WITH SAMPLING TECHNOLOGY

The baroque pipe organ presents another challenge which we have addressed using our longtime experience and expertise in the sample acquisition and sample playback technologies, combined with digital signal processing. The wonderful sound of the flue and the reed pipes have been captured using state-of-the-art equipment. The pipe organ has 21 stops in total, distributed as 9 stops for each of the two manuals – called the Swell and the Great manuals – and 3 stops for the pedal section.

The C2 stops and couplers behave just as their real-world counterparts, the 7 couplers allow you to combine stops and manuals in a very effective way. This is necessary to be able to perform the typical organ music in various genres. The couplers make it possible to e.g. play the swell manual stops, on the great manual, or to add a bass stop to the lowest key on the great manual and many other combinations.

The C2 has a swell functionality that can be controlled with a foot pedal (extra accessory). This allows you to use the pedal to close the swell box with the decrease in both volume and frequency content that results in that great sonorous and modest character of the pipe organ sound. The tremulant functionality reproduces the tremolo/vibrato effect from the original instrument.