Novachord + Solovox

Name: Novachord + Solovox
Price: 39 USD
Author: Cherry Audio

by Cherry Audio · Synth · 1930s-40s electronic instrument emulations

Not rated yet

Novachord + Solovox recreates two early electronic instruments from 1939 and 1940 using synthesis rather than samples. Each is installed as its own plugin.

The 32-voice Novachord has three fixed resonators, tone controls, vibrato and reverb; the mono Solovox has four octave registers and glide. Both cost $39 together.

Best for: Keys & Synths, Sound Design. Genres: Ambient & Cinematic, Jazz, Acoustic & Classical, Lo-Fi.

Keywords: monophonic, hardware emulation, polyphonic, pads, film & game audio, basses, choir, clean, leads, tube, 50s, cinematic, circuit-modelled, lo-fi, organ, oversampling, simple, sound design, strings, textures, tonewheel organ, vintage.

What it does

Novachord + Solovox is a pair of circuit-modeled recreations of two Hammond instruments from around 1940: the Novachord (1939–1942), an early polyphonic synth with 163 vacuum tubes, and the Solovox (1940–1950), a monophonic lead add-on. Both are synthesized, not sampled, and each runs as its own plugin.

Novachord voices: 32-voice polyphony from a divide-down oscillator design like the original.
Tone paths: Deep Tone (160 Hz low-pass), Brilliant Tone (2000 Hz high-pass) and Full Tone (unfiltered), mixed in parallel. The Solovox has the same three.
Novachord resonators: three resonant band-pass filters at 400 Hz, 800 Hz and 2000 Hz.
Novachord envelopes and vibrato: an Attack knob with seven attack/decay/sustain shapes from slow to fast, a sustain-pedal release of about 3.5 seconds, and two vibrato types (Vibrato I from the earliest models, Vibrato II from later ones).
Solovox: a monophonic voice with combinable Bass, Tenor, Contralto and Soprano octave switches, First and Second Voice band-pass filters around 400 Hz and 800 Hz, glide, fixed-rate vibrato and a Mute control.
Reverb and speakers: Room and Hall reverb with speaker emulation on the Novachord, and Room reverb with the Solovox amp-and-speaker sound.
Control and presets: MIDI learn and DAW automation for every control, adjustable oversampling and UI zoom; 56 Novachord and 50 Solovox presets by James Terris.

Each instrument is its own plugin. A free 30-day demo is available.

Source: Cherry Audio product page

When to use it

Novachord + Solovox is the pick for pre-war electronic tones: soft, choral strings and eerie gliding leads of the kind heard in old film scores. Next to Omnisphere 3 or Pigments 7 its palette is tiny, but it gives a specific period sound those big synths don't target. Sound On Sound compared it with the sampled Novachord libraries from Hollow Sun and Soniccouture; this one is modeled, so it is lighter and fully playable across the range, though Sound On Sound found it cleaner than the worn originals. It is also one of the cheapest instruments on the site, and it includes two instruments.

Best for: vintage string pads, choral textures, old-film atmospheres and gliding monophonic melodies.
Genres: film and TV scoring, ambient, lo-fi, jazz and retro electronic.
Look elsewhere if: you want a broad modern synth (Pigments 7) or the dirt and instability of the real aged hardware, which a sampled library captures better.
Tip: layer several Novachord instances and add tube saturation, chorus, delay and reverb for fuller pads (Sound On Sound).

What producers say

Reviewers like the Novachord's sound and the price, with doubts about how faithful and how flexible it is.

Sound On Sound found the Novachord's strings and pads "gorgeous" and the Solovox a bonus, but said both are a little too clean next to the originals.
MusicTech gave it 8/10, calling it "intuitive to use" and "supremely affordable", and liked the Solovox for melodies, basslines and sequences.
Criticisms: a "very constrained" palette by modern standards, no velocity sensitivity, no Solovox vibrato depth, and (at review time) a too-short release, which Cherry Audio said it would fix.

Where to buy

Tutorials and reviews

Similar plugins

Pro Soloist by Cherry Audio · ARP Pro Soloist preset synth emulation · $49
Knifonium by Knif Audio · Tube synthesizer emulation · $150
The Deputy Mark II by Full Bucket Music · String synthesizer · Free
Solina by AIR Music Technology · String ensemble emulation · $149
XILS 505 by XILS-lab · Roland RS-505 string machine emulation · $49
The Legend HZ by Synapse Audio · Analog-modeled synth with fixed filter bank · $179
TH2 by Acustica Audio · Free analog-style synth · Free

All synths