The Hammond Novachord was not an organ at all, but rather the first
subtractive synthesis synthesizer ever produced. The Novachord has
a single, 72-note manual with 12 tube oscillators and five frequency
dividers per oscillator. In total, the Novachord contains 169 (!)
vacuum tubes.
Courtesy Geoffrey T. Dairiki http://www.dairiki.org
also:
The Hammond Novachord was manufactured by the Hammond Organ Co in
the USA from 1939 to 1942, designed by Laurens Hammond and C.N.Williams.
A total of 1096 models were built.
The Novachord was a polyphonic electronic organ and was Hammonds
first electronic tube based instrument. The Novachord was a much more
complex instrument than the 'Solovox', Hammond's other electronic
instrument, the Novachord used 169 vacuum tubes to control and generate
sound and a had a seventy two note keyboard with a simple pressure
sensitive system that allowed control over the attack and timbre of
the note. The sound was produced by a series of 12 oscillators that
gave a six octave range using a frequency division technique- the
Novachord was one of the first electronic instruments to use this
technique which was later became standard in electronic keyboard insytuments.
The front panel of the instrument had a series of 14 switchable rotary
knobs to set the timbre, volume, 'resonance',bass/treble, vibrato
(six modulation oscillators were used) and 'brightness' of the sound.
A set of 3 foot operated pedals controlled sustain,and volume the
third pedal allowing control of the sustain by either foot. The final
signal was passed to a preamplifier and then to a set of internal
speakers. The Novachord was able to produce a range of sounds imitating
orchestral instruments such as the piano, harpsichord, stringed and
woodwind instruments as well as a range of it's own new sounds.
In May 1939 'The Novachord Orchestra' of Ferde Grofé performed
daily at the Ford stand at the New York World Fair with four Novachords
and a Hammond Organ and in Adrian Cracraft's 'All Electronic Orchestra',
the Novachord also featured in several film scores (Hans Eisler's
"Kammersinfonie" 1940) but seems to have fallen from favour
due to the instability of it's multiple tube oscillators and playing
technique. The Novachord was discontinued in 1942. A Hammond employee
comments:"The Novachord made beautiful music if played well,
but it was not well adapted either to either an organists style or
a pianists style. Thus it required development of a specific style,
which not many musicians were prepared to do. it also had technical
problems, requiring frequency adjustments to keep it operating cheifly
because the frequency dividers and electronic components before the
war were not nearly as good as those available in later years. The
hammond Organ Company could have revivied it after the war, and could
have made it better in light of available technology at the time,
but sales had been disapointing ad so it was not considered a good
commercial product"
Further Information:
F.D.Merril jr: "The Novachord", Electronics,xii/11 (1939),16
Courtesy 120 years of electronic music http://www.obsolete.com
