6. The Instruments: The Organ Section
Nord Stage EX v6.x
Page 28
T
HE
R
EGISTER
SELECTORS
The drawbars act as on/off
switches, or “Register selectors”
when the F-Type model is se-
lected. Instead of drawbars, the
original Farfisa organs featured
“rocker”-type switches to select
instrument “voices” (actually
different filter settings) in vari-
ous footage (octave) ranges. In
Nord Stage EX, this functionali-
ty is reproduced. When the F-
Type organ model is selected,
the
L
OWER
D
RAWBAR
buttons
are used to turn voices on, and
the
H
IGHER
D
RAWBAR
buttons
turns them off. The drawbar
LEDs 5-8 are lit up for an acti-
vated voice, and drawbar LEDs
1-4 are lit up for a deactivated
voice. The available voices for
the F-type (also printed on the
panel directly over the draw-
bars) are as follows (from left to
right):
Note that the voices aren’t supposed to replicate the instruments they are named after, but rather to
describe the basic tonal characteristic of the voice (i.e. flute=soft/oboe=reedy/strings=bright/trum-
pet=brassy).
Register
selecto
r
#
Voice
Panel Name
1
Bass 16
BAS16
2
Strings 16
STR16
3
Flute 8
FLUTE8
4
Oboe 8
OBOE8
5
Trumpet 8
TRMP8
6
Strings 8
STR8
7
Flute 4
FLUTE4
8
Strings 4
STR4
9
A bright voice, pitched an octave and a
fifth above the fundamental.
2 2/3
In the illustration above we have chosen C3 as our reference note. The
four ‘Register selectors correspond to the fundamental harmonic (but
with different tonal characteristics). The arrows point at the respective
note that each drawbar represents when C3 is our reference note.