Modor Music - NF-1K

Modor NF-1k is a 16-voice digital polysynth built around the sound engine of the original NF-1, now paired with a 49-key Fatar keyboard with polyphonic aftertouch. There are actually two NF-1 voice boards inside, so two complete patches can be layered, split across the keyboard or sequenced independently over MIDI, with eight voices each. Alternatively, give all 16 voices to one sound. Modor has never seemed terribly interested in making digital synthesis pretend to be analog, and that remains one of the nicest things about it.

Each patch has three oscillators, and this is where the NF-1 character starts showing itself. Saw, pulse and triangle sit alongside sync, additive and two flavours of two-operator FM, plus Sonar, Wind and Arcade — three tonal noise oscillators for adding grain, texture and less easily classified material. From there you get a morphing 12dB multimode filter and Modor's rather distinctive formant filter, which moves between vowel shapes and can make patches talk, or take on a strange resonant colour. The two filters can run in series or parallel, followed by drive, a freely adjustable chorus/flanger section and delay. It can do recognisable polysynth duties perfectly well, but noisy pads, metallic FM tones, vocal shapes and slightly battered digital textures are perhaps where the NF-1K sounds most like itself.

This keyboard version also gives that sound engine considerably more to react to. Poly aftertouch, velocity and the three touch strips — including a pretty sweet 50cm strip for pitch bend — can feed the seven-slot modulation matrix alongside four envelopes, three LFOs and sample & hold. There is an arpeggiator, chord memory, hold and a unison mode with detuning and stereo spread, while the two parts make layers and splits very quick and easy to arrange. Despite all of this functionality, the NF-1k remains really hands-on: 43 knobs, 28 buttons and a small two-line display rather than a workstation-sized menu system.

The NF-1K is a deep digital polysynth with a clear identity, plenty of hands-on control and enough expressive range to move from familiar sounds into much stranger places.

Features:

• 16-voice digital polyphonic synthesizer
• Two-part multitimbral architecture
• Two complete NF-1 voice boards
• 16 voices for a single part or 8 + 8 voices in two-part mode
• Layer, split or independently sequence the two parts
• 49-key weighted Fatar keyboard
• Polyphonic aftertouch
• 50cm pitch-bend touch strip
• Two 10cm modulation touch strips
• Three oscillators per patch
• Ten oscillator types: Saw, Pulse, Triangle, Sync, Additive, Sonar, Wind, Arcade, FM and Feedback FM
• White-noise generator
• Ring modulation between oscillators 2 and 3
• Resonant 12dB multimode filter with continuous LP/BP/HP mixing
• Vowel-morphing formant filter with ten vowel sets and adjustable formant frequencies
• Filters can operate in series or parallel
• Filter output drive
• Chorus/flanger based on a modulated short delay
• Delay with filtering in the feedback path and MIDI sync
• Four envelopes with seven parameters each
• Three LFOs
• Noise sample & hold modulation source
• Seven-slot modulation matrix with freely assignable routings
• Poly aftertouch, velocity and touch strips available as modulation sources
• Programmable, MIDI-syncable arpeggiator with Up, Down, Up/Down, Program and Random modes
• Chord mode and Hold function
• Unison mode with detuning and stereo spread
• Extensive microtonal tuning options
• 448 patch memories
• 64 two-part Setup memories
• MIDI In, Out and Thru via 5-pin DIN
• Class-compliant USB MIDI
• MPE compatible
• Sustain and expression/modulation pedal inputs
• Stereo 6.3mm audio outputs
• Front-panel 6.3mm headphone output
• 43 rotary controls, 28 buttons and rotary encoder
• 16 × 2 backlit LCD
• Internal universal power supply
• Dimensions: 72 × 51 × 14cm
• Weight: approx. 15kg