Nord Wave Chris Martirano FM Bank

2009-05-19

One of the great and prominent features in the Nord Wave is the two ”oscillators on steroids”. Few other hardware synthesizers have the kind of flexibility that the Wave offers in this regard. Not only do you have a bunch of great sounding traditional analog style waveforms and sync capabilities, there is also a large selection of digital waveforms, sample playback capabilities with 180 MB of user replaceable samples and no less than 38 FM algorithms.

These FM algorithms have 1, 2 or 3-operator structures, with or without feedback and allows you to produce the sounds that are very similar to the original DX or TX units that made FM and digital synthesizers very popular in the mid eighties. The added bonus in the Wave is of course that the FM algorithms are then routed through the virtual analog architecture that allows you to further sculpt the sound using the envelopes, multi-mode filters and other functions in the Wave.

We asked Chris Martirano from Design Sounds to recreate some of the best known FM sounds from yesteryear and the results are nothing but spectacular. We got the #15 bass, several variations of the sparkly electric piano, the FM brass and loads of other great sounds.