Post by Time Lord on Mar 20, 2008 11:41:03 GMT -5
Normally I am not a major fan of software "instruments". This one from NUSofting is a little different. I love the sounds that this can produce. There are some sound examples on the site and at $55.95 the price is very reasonable. The demo version is available for free download and does not have the limitation of noise inject into the signal every so often. I hate that! 
However you will not be able to save any presets.
nusofting.liqihsynth.com/combosister.html
Combo Sister was created by Luigi Feleci and WilliamK and modeled after the Vox, Farfisa and Rheem MK-7 organs. It can take to "96 Tears" and beyond.
From the Nusofting website...
"We examined in microscopic detail the characteristics of Rheem Mk VII, Farfisa Compact and Vox Continental, which were used as reference for the sound design of the Combo Sister along with some new ideas for added creative potential.
The result is an instrument that is not merely a clone of a single organ model, but an original virtual instrument which captures the feeling of that fantastic retro sound and catapults that "experience" into the future.
Unique to this emulation is the ability to have a mix of the Vox + Farfisa sound! This is achieved by a combination of drawbars, timbre switches and oscillator bank selections.
Much scientific analysis has been carried out to design the several filters which shape the timbre of Combo Sister, even to the extent of a software simulation of original analogue schematics.
Combo Sister-it's a world of organ sounds to discover and an exciting source for you favorite audio processors. The rich harmonic content of her sound is ideal for processing, allowing you to evoke many moods and create an infinite palette of luminescent tonal colors."
This last point in an interesting one because I spent several hours one night running Combo Sister into some of the effects in Logic and I have to say that they quite correct. You can get some very pleasant surprises and go very far outside of what you think a combo organ can sound like. Sound designers should not discount this instrument as a mere organ.
Combo Sister comes with 128 presets that show what the instrument is capable of doing. The presets cover most every sound that you would imagine an organ being able to make, and few that might surprise you. Using the presets as a starting point and tweaking from there yields new discovery. If you you like, you can use the "random" command and generate new sounds that way. The option is found by clicking on the Combo Sister logo on the GUI. It provides fairly consistent and useable results, so I'm not sure how random it actually is.
You have a lot of options to shape your sound with percussion, sustain and booster (distortion). Here is an overview of the controls from the manual...
Drawbars:
6 drawbars are available for the following ranks: 16', 5 1/3', 8', 4', 2 2/3', 2'
Rank 5 1/3' can be switched to one of two higher ranks
1 1/3' or 1' + 1 3/5' (mixture of two ranks),
only the selected one will play.
5 1/3' and 2 2/3 shouldn't be used alone as they actually transpose the note by a fifth.
Note that when BOOSTER is on ONLY Ranks 16', 8' and 4' are active.
Oscillators Tabs:
2 main oscillators banks: OSC and BASS
transistor "enriched sine wave" sound (for "hammond imitator" electric organs)
transistor square wave (for buzzer combo!)
extra Bass oscillators bank for 16' and 8' ranks
Note that when BASS is on you can still change the oscillator
bank for the other ranks than 16' and 8'
Filter Tabs
4 timbre stops : Add (no filter), String, Reed, Flute,
Note that when BOOSTER is on the setting of these four Tabs are ininfluent
since Boster got its own filtering circuit.
Effects Tabs
Percussion: switch (louder attack of sound)
Sustain: switch (longer release)
Booster: with switch and distortion amount knob
BOOSTER bypasses the filter Tabs and turn off the 5 1/3', 2 2/3', 2' ranks
Tremolo: amplitune modulation with Rate and Depth knobs
Vibrato: pitch modulation with Rate and Depth knobs.
You can also sync it to MIDI (VST host song tempo)by clicking on the -MIDI- button.
It will show a display of the tempo division sync below it.
Transistor: knob for electric click and analogue noisines amount,
note that click can be turned off by the option menu.
Soft: tone smoother knob, usefull to warm the sounds with to much edge
Master Volume knob
Other extra controls on the top bar
Master Fine Tune: -+ 50 cents range, each click shifs a cent for precise tuning
Max Voices Poliphony selection : 2 to 16 voices, it allows voices reduction for CPU saving
MIDI Velocity sensivity switch : off (led light off) is the normal position for organ emulation
Render Quality switch :switching Quality off the oscillator produce a little harsher sound,
but this allows a smal CPU usage reduction when needed
Features of the option menu
clicking on the logo in the panel you get the option menu with:
About
Shows information about the synth and version number.
Default
Saves the folowing parameters as "default": Volume, Max Voices, Click on--off, Tuning, Velocity and Quality default settings.
MidiForget
Removes all learned Midi-CC information
LoadFactory
Restore internal Factory or User Presets. (it asks for wich)
SavePresets
Save the current bank of presets as UserPresets, and loads up when you instert a new instance of the synth.
Help - shows inline help.
Random
Generate Random Patches.
HighQuality
You can save CPU usage by setting to Off, but you will loose a lot of quality.
Volume
Volume Type: High, Normal, Soft. For those hosts wich have high volume output.
Presets
List of internal presets.
MIDI continuous controller values can be "learned" to automate sound creation in Combo Sister: Right-Click with the mouse and select Midi-Learn. The next Midi-CC sent to the synth, will be used for that controller.
One of the great strengths of Combo Sister is that you can mangle it with your plugins and come up with some very different sounds. This could be a secret weapon if you like to go way off the map. I like the Scanner Vibrato in Logic and running the 60's sounds through the Vox amp sim with the Spring reverb on just a taste, oh so groovy!
So you can pack a truckload of vintage organ sounds around in your laptop. Perfect for those road trips. Does it sound exactly like a vintage Connie or Farfisa? Maybe not. But on the plus side, it stays in tune, has velocity, has no key contacts to clean, saves your favorite settings and won't give you a hernia.
If you make any music at all on a computer you should try Combo Sister. It has taken the number of software instruments that I like from two to three!
However you will not be able to save any presets.nusofting.liqihsynth.com/combosister.html
Combo Sister was created by Luigi Feleci and WilliamK and modeled after the Vox, Farfisa and Rheem MK-7 organs. It can take to "96 Tears" and beyond.
From the Nusofting website...
"We examined in microscopic detail the characteristics of Rheem Mk VII, Farfisa Compact and Vox Continental, which were used as reference for the sound design of the Combo Sister along with some new ideas for added creative potential.
The result is an instrument that is not merely a clone of a single organ model, but an original virtual instrument which captures the feeling of that fantastic retro sound and catapults that "experience" into the future.
Unique to this emulation is the ability to have a mix of the Vox + Farfisa sound! This is achieved by a combination of drawbars, timbre switches and oscillator bank selections.
Much scientific analysis has been carried out to design the several filters which shape the timbre of Combo Sister, even to the extent of a software simulation of original analogue schematics.
Combo Sister-it's a world of organ sounds to discover and an exciting source for you favorite audio processors. The rich harmonic content of her sound is ideal for processing, allowing you to evoke many moods and create an infinite palette of luminescent tonal colors."
This last point in an interesting one because I spent several hours one night running Combo Sister into some of the effects in Logic and I have to say that they quite correct. You can get some very pleasant surprises and go very far outside of what you think a combo organ can sound like. Sound designers should not discount this instrument as a mere organ.
Combo Sister comes with 128 presets that show what the instrument is capable of doing. The presets cover most every sound that you would imagine an organ being able to make, and few that might surprise you. Using the presets as a starting point and tweaking from there yields new discovery. If you you like, you can use the "random" command and generate new sounds that way. The option is found by clicking on the Combo Sister logo on the GUI. It provides fairly consistent and useable results, so I'm not sure how random it actually is.
You have a lot of options to shape your sound with percussion, sustain and booster (distortion). Here is an overview of the controls from the manual...
Drawbars:
6 drawbars are available for the following ranks: 16', 5 1/3', 8', 4', 2 2/3', 2'
Rank 5 1/3' can be switched to one of two higher ranks
1 1/3' or 1' + 1 3/5' (mixture of two ranks),
only the selected one will play.
5 1/3' and 2 2/3 shouldn't be used alone as they actually transpose the note by a fifth.
Note that when BOOSTER is on ONLY Ranks 16', 8' and 4' are active.
Oscillators Tabs:
2 main oscillators banks: OSC and BASS
transistor "enriched sine wave" sound (for "hammond imitator" electric organs)
transistor square wave (for buzzer combo!)
extra Bass oscillators bank for 16' and 8' ranks
Note that when BASS is on you can still change the oscillator
bank for the other ranks than 16' and 8'
Filter Tabs
4 timbre stops : Add (no filter), String, Reed, Flute,
Note that when BOOSTER is on the setting of these four Tabs are ininfluent
since Boster got its own filtering circuit.
Effects Tabs
Percussion: switch (louder attack of sound)
Sustain: switch (longer release)
Booster: with switch and distortion amount knob
BOOSTER bypasses the filter Tabs and turn off the 5 1/3', 2 2/3', 2' ranks
Tremolo: amplitune modulation with Rate and Depth knobs
Vibrato: pitch modulation with Rate and Depth knobs.
You can also sync it to MIDI (VST host song tempo)by clicking on the -MIDI- button.
It will show a display of the tempo division sync below it.
Transistor: knob for electric click and analogue noisines amount,
note that click can be turned off by the option menu.
Soft: tone smoother knob, usefull to warm the sounds with to much edge
Master Volume knob
Other extra controls on the top bar
Master Fine Tune: -+ 50 cents range, each click shifs a cent for precise tuning
Max Voices Poliphony selection : 2 to 16 voices, it allows voices reduction for CPU saving
MIDI Velocity sensivity switch : off (led light off) is the normal position for organ emulation
Render Quality switch :switching Quality off the oscillator produce a little harsher sound,
but this allows a smal CPU usage reduction when needed
Features of the option menu
clicking on the logo in the panel you get the option menu with:
About
Shows information about the synth and version number.
Default
Saves the folowing parameters as "default": Volume, Max Voices, Click on--off, Tuning, Velocity and Quality default settings.
MidiForget
Removes all learned Midi-CC information
LoadFactory
Restore internal Factory or User Presets. (it asks for wich)
SavePresets
Save the current bank of presets as UserPresets, and loads up when you instert a new instance of the synth.
Help - shows inline help.
Random
Generate Random Patches.
HighQuality
You can save CPU usage by setting to Off, but you will loose a lot of quality.
Volume
Volume Type: High, Normal, Soft. For those hosts wich have high volume output.
Presets
List of internal presets.
MIDI continuous controller values can be "learned" to automate sound creation in Combo Sister: Right-Click with the mouse and select Midi-Learn. The next Midi-CC sent to the synth, will be used for that controller.
One of the great strengths of Combo Sister is that you can mangle it with your plugins and come up with some very different sounds. This could be a secret weapon if you like to go way off the map. I like the Scanner Vibrato in Logic and running the 60's sounds through the Vox amp sim with the Spring reverb on just a taste, oh so groovy!
So you can pack a truckload of vintage organ sounds around in your laptop. Perfect for those road trips. Does it sound exactly like a vintage Connie or Farfisa? Maybe not. But on the plus side, it stays in tune, has velocity, has no key contacts to clean, saves your favorite settings and won't give you a hernia.
If you make any music at all on a computer you should try Combo Sister. It has taken the number of software instruments that I like from two to three!