NOVACHORD

[@iLikeTheUDK]

0:58 This sounds like a string pad played on a transistor synth from the 70s onwards. And yet this machine predated those by over 30 years. Remarkable.

[@eddievhfan1984]

It sounds like there's some tape-style echo also being employed, but you're so right, it DOES sound like something Vangelis or Jarre would be using instead of backing Vera Lynn.

[@dlovasy]

Those strings are incredibly realistic. And that choir-like sound at 1:59. A famous Japanese instrument (M1) had something like that...50 years after the Novachord. I think the guys at Hammond back in 1939 could not even come close to realising the full potential of this instrument.

[@snoolee7950]

agree re: the sound

[@jimashtube]

They built it didn't they ?

[@dlovasy]

​@@jimashtube I think you commented on how I wrote that Hammond did not realize the full potential of the Novachord. I meant that they did not have effects (delay, phaser, flanger etc.) that they could run it through. Imagine that amazing string sound through a phaser - "Oxygene", anyone? With the right effects, this 80-year-old instrument can sound as new as anything.

[@BetamaxFlippy]

@@dlovasy They could've brought it to a cathedral tho

[@dlovasy]

@@BetamaxFlippy I just thought about this video this morning... Yeah, they would've had some great reverb (and delay, to some extent). Chorus? The first Leslie speaker came out in 1941. (Laurens Hammond did not like them, though.) Other effects, like phasers, flangers, etc. simply did not exist back then, thus they were not thought about.

[@wjec1970]

Stunning machine. So way ahead of its time. I still can't believe this was released in 1939!

[@hideawaystudio9683]

I'm afraid Roxx is correct - this is Novachord 346... my Novachord and its me presenting this video in my living room!! It is the only operational Novachord in the UK.

[@wjec1970]

HideawayStudio Nice demo, Hideaway. I'm more than a bit envious - in a NICE way though, of course!

[@sounddoctorin]

Fantastic job guys.

[@sitedrm]

Does the piece you're playing around 3:30 have a name? Is there any recording of it played in full? I really love it and the sounds that you're getting out of this amazing instrument.

[@MrDuncl]

By far the best demonstration of the Novachord. The 1940s imitations of bagpipes etc didn't do much for me at all, but this compares very well with the Solina and Korg Lambda. I'm surprised the likes of Tomita or Jean Michelle Jarre didn't pick up on this keyboard.

[@albertsteenbergen3375]

+MrDuncl JMJ uses samples of the Novachord. He has a friend in the UK who has 2 Novachords and gets the samples from him.

[@tonycook1624]

@@albertsteenbergen3375 So that friend must be the guy in the video - as this is showing the only functioning Novachord in the UK. And yes - he and his business partner do sell samples - see www.novachord.co.uk/buy.htm

[@alaincelos476]

Jarre has a mellotron MK2 with strings..

[@BetamaxFlippy]

@@alaincelos476 not the same at all.

[@ShimronElit]

This was the first true polyphonic non-electromechanical synthesizer (the first electromechanical was the Telharmonium of 1897, which was doomed by the lack of amplifiers, i.e. triodes, when it was invented, and the second was the Hammond organ, released in 1935, which did benefit from the invention of amplifiers)

[@sitedrm]

This sounds absolutely incredible, and the chap playing it certainly knows how to get these amazing sounds out of it. It was certainly wasted on Vera Lynn!

[@suzylux]

I feel like such a fool for not knowing these existed. late 30s synth and it's polyphonic!

[@jonsilence]

When I first discovered the Novachord several years ago I asked Keith Emerson about it and he was as fascinated & clueless as me, and had never previously heard of it. It is probably THEE single most awesome instrument of its kind.

[@BetamaxFlippy]

Keith... If ony I could've met him...

[@tonycook1624]

@@BetamaxFlippy My gran briefly lived next door to the place that KE had that got burnt down. Her comment was that there was a lovely pianist she could hear practicing. BTW she was in the neighbouring care home for a short while. No I didn't get to meet him.

[@NoahtheEpicGuy]

I love how nonchalantly you said "I asked Keith Emerson about it"

[@mateuszmattias]

The sound around 1:15-1:20 is almost identical to a part in the Bowie/Eno pinned song "Sense of Doubt" from David Bowie's 1977 "Heroes" album. Yet this instrument was built before either of them were even born. Fascinating.

[@revtonynewnham]

Very good demo. To answer a couple of other comments, I guess the cost put this out of reach for all but the wealthiest players, and World War 2 intervened, and Hammond never resumed production (or development) of the instruments after the war AFAIK. For those technically inclined, there's a description of the circuitry etc. in Alan Douglas' book "The Electronic Musical Instrument Manual" - long out of print though. I have a first edition (1949) and I think a 4th edition which is considerably larger! Wish I had a Novachord ..... I suppose we can all dream!

[@keyboardresource]

What an amazing instrument.

[@PaoloJSB]

In some ways it reminds me of the Polymoog 203A. Quite the same style of big though "ethereal" sounds.

[@JohnLRice]

Such an amazing instrument!

[@simonprecheurllarena]

The best explanation I've seen so far. Amazing !

[@gerobrauer4599]

What a beautiful and rare instrument in great shape!Did you change the old waxcondensators?Where did you buy it and what did it cost?

[@lundsweden]

Sounds very similar to the divide-down paraphonic polysynths from the 70s and 80s, such as the Polymoog, Solina etc. But the valve era technology of this synth wouldve made it very heavy, expensive and unreliable. But the idea was about 40 years ahead of its time!

[@zzzut]

WOW! How much is this thing worth?! It sounds better than some of the modern synths. I am surprised it did not catch on at the time. Thank you so much for this video.

[@Plazmasoftware]

It sounds much like ambient music!

[@NJPurling]

From a distance it looks like a baby piano. people must have wondered what the hell this was. It is the sort of thing you'd have expected Flash Gordon to play for relaxation after giving Emperor Ming another thumping in the Saturday morning serials. It is impressive even today.

[@donbates3]

Absolutely incredible playing.

[@shckltnebay]

The voice of god

[@BetamaxFlippy]

God can only bow before this instrument

[@sitedrm]

I thought that was Elizabeth Fraser from the Cocteau Twins?

[@CeZero4]

You may belive or not, but in cheap Casio keyboard CT-670 [i belive] and also many other models, you can find similar strings. Of course in Casio its some sample and crappy 'fitted', but still... Maybe if resample it and fix fitting, then it could be really close. I think most sounds in older Casio keyboards are sampled from Casio synths. No idea about percentage but i found that more sounds can be created with CZ3000. Maybe Casio sampled their own synths, to prevent any future troubles for copyrights.

[@stephenvinson6474]

the "case" was designed to attempt to market it to the wealthy in 1939.....that "early American" design was popular..If you look at the oragns he made: the A and then all the B's same thing.....also...the "squared off" key design rather than the "waterfall" design of traditional pipe organs was a choice Hammond made because that design was economical to produce ...1930's "depression" era" concerns.

[@bortchy]

perfect wintage sound unbeliewele .

[@iLikeTheUDK]

How did you program it to get this detuning/chorus effect?

[@BetamaxFlippy]

Program? Detuning?

[@eddievhfan1984]

Late to the party, but aside from the use of a tape echo simulation, the "small vibrato" circuit might be doing part of the work.

[@darrencafferty]

Wow, does it suffer much from frequency drift?

[@echodelta9]

It amazes me that it was so ahead of it's time and we are still straining to hear like from some cylinder record faint murmurings of voice and a totally backgrounded subject sound. I wish KZbin would normalize these inaudible videos.

[@mrh112]

I always assumed old movies used an orchestra to create that sound (with a huge budget), guess it was only a pianist and this.

[@DamienDrake]

Nope. It was an orchestra. The Novachord was certainly used in many scores though. Spartacus comes to mind.

[@iLikeTheUDK]

Orchestras were then as common as they are today in film scores (perhaps even more). This was just used occasionally.

[@BetamaxFlippy]

It was used for the intermezzo in Gone With The Wind and in the "Pink Elephants" section in Dumbo. At least those are the ones I better remember using it

[@sean-fw7zi]

id say this would have to be the first synthesizer

[@BetamaxFlippy]

Nope, but first fully electronic full polyphony yes.

[@tonycook1624]

@@BetamaxFlippy Also the first subtractive synth - with its TOG and octave dividers design

[@BetamaxFlippy]

Do you know if I could find the full schematics for it? I'm gonna go crazy one day and build a replica.

[@BetamaxFlippy]

@@Tadfafty Anything that can play to the glory of all that is... is worth it.

[@Sandraud]

@@BetamaxFlippy any luck on those schematics yet

[@lawrencekeesler7369]

Way ahead of its time. Too bad Hammond was obsessed with so much massive furniture to contain the functional parts.

[@Gazdatronik]

Ah, twas just the style of the time.

[@compu85]

+Lawrence Keesler The guts really fill the case, and it needs sturdy legs to support it!

[@KimStennabbCaesar]

Have you seen the insides? There's a reason to why it's so big. Lots of large electronic components. EDIT: Ah, they show the insides in the later part of the video. Crazy stuff.

[@greyson042290]

at 1:29 i though he about to play the mac and me soundtrack take me i'll follow you

[@Daring2Win]

it's history's most perfect pad!

[@tonycook1624]

This is how the Novachord seen in this video was restored - see link www.novachord.co.uk/restoration.htm

[@viniciobusani]

lot of reverb, but what amazing sound!

[@johnbazy]

Come to think of it, this might be the only scenario where I could say this sentence: This sounds almost better than the Mellotron. From the very beginning of this video, Jesus almighty Christ son of god and messiah that sounds fantastic.

[@BetamaxFlippy]

The Mellotron is a tape sampler, this is a proper synthesizer, so much more you can do.

[@michaelpierce3264]

this makes the cs80 look like a rompler

[@snoolee7950]

If I knew you, I'd buy you a cake. Thank you.

[@enriquegonzalez2802]

Impressive

[@BetamaxFlippy]

Outworldly.

[@guimbadriver]

oh my God my Roland A50 is joke near of this divine piece

[@sebdos]

sick...

[@benjaminde-campos5136]

Interesting video.

[@simonguitarman]

Can I have one please

[@orincat10]

to believe the hammond came from this

[@lawrencekeesler7369]

Hammond preceded this by more than a decade, I believe. The technology of the Novachord is entirely electronic. Hammond organs were electro-mechanical.

[@henrykitchen3710]

Lawrence Keesler Actually, a great deal of Hammonds are transistor-based :/

[@lawrencekeesler7369]

I believe they're entirely solid-state now, but for decades from the beginning they contained spinning wheels in electro-magnetic fields as a source of oscillation. The complex mechanism even required periodic oiling for smooth, quiet operation, though I think many survived without any attention at all.

[@henrykitchen3710]

Yeah, tonewheels make a right racket when they aren't oiled! The newest ones are completely computer-controlled, but they fully emulate the tonewheels. Complex stuff, eh?

[@lawrencekeesler7369]

Yeah, though there are purists who maintain that the old tone wheels make a better sound. I think they belong to the back-to-vinyl-LPs club, too, and prefer at least a couple of vacuum tubes in their surround sound gear! I can't tell the difference.

[@nathanberger662]

I will buy it I am willing to pay up to $9,000

[@BetamaxFlippy]

I'm afraid that's like a tenth of its value

[@fabientaylor3873]

If one day you sell it :-) Contact me

[@ToniLaCamera]

Hello, have you found a Novachord?

[@fabientaylor3873]

Hello, no I did not yet

[@ToniLaCamera]

ok... we are still looking for...

[@fabientaylor3873]

Toni, very nice you do that. Don't hesitate to contact me, thanks

[@MouseFloof]

THIS VIDEO HAS BEEN STOLEN FROM HIDEAWAY STUDIOS!

[@uhuhuhuhuhuh3537]

Sauce?

[@wuzzabee9470]

okay its not doin the wubwubwub sound bullshit its no synth then