2.0 Upgrade for Clavia's Nord Modular Now Available for Download

16 band Vocoder with Spectral Oscillator and Phaser module.
(Click for a close-up)

Drum Synthesizer Module with Parametric Equalizer and Compressor/Limiter module.
(Click for a close-up)

July 10, 1998 -- Version 2.0 of the software for the Nord Modular virtual modular synthesizer is now available for download from Clavia's web site (www.clavia.se). The Modular was launched in December 1997 and has been praised in music press world-wide as being one of the most innovative synthesizers in the history of synthesis. Besides being used amongst musicians and sound developers throughout the world, the synthesizer is now also making its way into schools and universities, because of its educational features. Its pedagogical interface is a perfect tool for use in the study of sound generation and sound processing.

Clavia now introduces the new 2.0 software upgrade offering many new and exciting building blocks (modules) and an improved handling of the Editor functions.

One highly awaited feature in the 2.0 upgrade is the release of the 16 band Vocoder. After months of research with some famous analog predecessors, the Clavia development team have constructed a Vocoder that sounds and behaves just like the best analog models. The musicality of the outputs in the new Modular Vocoder is unsurpassable. The Modular Vocoder offers a unique feature. The user is now able to re-route bands to their desire.

Another exciting new feature that comes with the 2.0 upgrade is the appearance of a complete drum synthesizer module. The specially designed drum module offers great analog drum sounds. Right from the start the user gets pre programmed templates with typical analog drum sounds with that "right" punchy character. Remember the drum sounds from the Eighties? With the new drum synthesizer it's a breeze to make up that perfect analog drum sound.

Clavia continues to make available filters with that right "in your face" analog behaviour that have been so unique with the Nord products. Now they add, Parametric equalization with gain, bandwidth and center frequency controls. Gain: +-18dB

Extended morph possibilities. 25 parameters can now be assign to the morph module in each individual patch.

More new modules

Spectral shape oscillator. Oscillator with a new type of LP filter for spectral control.
Formant oscillator. This oscillator generates a new type of "non-transposed" spectra with strong "body resonance" character. 127 timbre variations.
Sine bank oscillator. Six sine oscillators in one module.
Key quantizer. Quantizes control signals to a given key.
Shelving filter EQ. Treble and bass eq. Gain: +-18dB
Clocked Pattern generator. Generates 16384 different patterns with programmable length.
Random generator. New LFO to with smooth random output.
Phaser. 14 pole phaser with peak spread and feedback control.
Partial generator. Generates a signal that will transpose a Oscillator to one of its harmonic partials.
Expander, gate. Stereo expander.
Compressor, limiter. Stereo compressor.
Multi stage envelope. 5 segment envelope with selectable sustain segment.
Attack-Hold-Decay (ADH) envelope. Modulation inputs for attack, hold and release.
ADSR envelope with modulation inputs attack, decay, sustain and release.

The 2.0 upgrade also incorporates new tools to built new patches such as Copy/Paste and Undo. Thanks to this new function, the user is able to copy modules in the Patch and save them as Templates for future use.

There have also been advances made with the new download procedure. It's now much easier to load banks of Patches back and forth between the Modular and the PC. The detailed description of all new features in the 2.0 Upgrade, together with bug reports and fixes, will be available at our web site.

The new software is now available free of charge at Clavia Web site: http://www.clavia.se/nordmodular/updates.html