THE NF-1k, OR THE KEYBOARD NF-1:
AN INCREDIBLY PLAYABLE AND MUSICAL INSPIRATION MACHINE!

 

Together, all these features controlling 2 entire NF-1 sound engines with their unusual but highly musical filters and waveforms, the NF-1k is an incredible inspiration machine. Already while building and programming, we constantly found ourselves carried away, just playing for hours, enjoying to play and create new musical riffs and themes on this machine... 😎 🎹 🎶

 

 

NF-1 SOUND ENGINE

The NF-1 sound engine is a fully digital sound synthesis algorithm, that has a few very unique features that puts it apart from other, more typical digital synthesis designs. It's nature is classic subtractive (Oscillators=>Filters=>Effects). But each of these sections has its peculiarities.

 

OSCILLATOR SECTION

• 3 Oscillators
• 10 waveforms:
  • SAW with SAW PWM (Yes, the α-juno style of saw pwm => Hoovers!)
  • PULSE with PULSE PWM
  • TRI with TRI PWM
  • SYNC with synced osc pitch modulation
  • ADD with additive harmonic separation modulation
  • SONAR noise with hipass filtering
  • WIND noise with hipass filtering
  • ARCADE noise with hipass filtering
  • 2-op FM with FM amount modulation and adjustable CARRIER/MODULATOR freq ratio
  • 2-op feedback FM with FM amount modulation and adjustable CARRIER/MODULATOR freq ratio
• Independently tunable 32 semitones up/down
• White noise output
• Separate OSC2*3 ringmod output

So the most remarkable things in the osc section are the SONAR, WIND and ARC oscillator 'waveforms'. These are tonal noisy oscillators that you can layer on top of other oscillators to give them some speckled character, 'grain' or a rough edge.

 

FILTER SECTION

• Resonant multimode filter:
  • 12dB/oct filter slop
  • resonant upto self-oscillation
  • crossfading between LP, HP and BP outputs
• Vowel-morphing formant filter:
  • Morph between 3 vowels behind left, center and right position of the formant knob
  • 10 'dutch' vowel (frequency combination) presets
  • User adjustable formant frequencies
  • Real-time modulatable
• Parallel or serial filtering
• Filter section output drive

In the filter section the most remarkable thing is the unique formant filter. It enhances a number of frequencies in the signal to give it a voice-like character. The difference with more common formant filters is that you don't control the individual formant frequencies, but you morph between different sets of formant frequencies or 'vowels'.

10 preset vowels are built in: A - E - O - I - U - OE - EI - EU - UI - AO. These are 10 different vowels that more or less match the vowels of the Dutch language - or more correct: Dutch with a Belgian accent.

 

EFFECT SECTION

• Dedicated knob for each effect parameter
• Chorus/Flanger:
  • Modulated short delay line
  • Positive/negative feedback, upto self oscillation
• Delay:
  • With 1-pole lopass/hipass in the feedback line
  • Can be synced to the MIDI clock

There's nothing really unseen in the effect section, but what's quite uncommon here is that every effect parameter has its dedicated knob. This results in a very intuitive way to use the effects, and offers a lot of freedom. No list of effect presets here!

 

MODULATION SECTION

• 4 envelopes, 7 parameters per envelope
• 3 LFOs
• 1 Noise S&H modulator
• A modulation matrix with 7 freely assignable wires

The modulation matrix: modulate any parameter with any modulation source (ENVs, LFOs, S&H, velocity, poly aftertouch, modulation strips, ...). Easily configurable with the SRC and DEST buttons.

 

MICROTONALITY

Also worth noting here: the NF-1 sound engine has very extensive microtonal options. You can even directly access the quarter tone (oriental) tuning from the frontpanel.

SPECIFICATIONS

KEYBOARD

• Fatar keyboard
• 49 keys (4 full octaves)
• weighted keys
• polyphonic aftertouch

 

MULTITIMBRALITY AND POLYPHONY

• 16 voices polyphony
• 2 part multitimbral
• polyphony can be split 8+8 over two parts, or all 16 to a single part

 

MEMORY

• 448 patches, 14 banks [A-N] of 32 patches
• 64 'setups' containing 2 full patches, and all chord/arp/unison settings.
• All factory presets can be overwritten

 

CONNECTIONS

• 100-220V AC mains connector (C14)
• MIDI IN/THRU/OUT connections, 3x 5-pin DIN connection
• Audio Left/Stereo output, for 6.35mm TRS or mono jack, unbalanced
• Audio Right output, 6.35mm mono jack, unbalanced
• Headphones connector on frontpanel, 6,35mm TRS jack
• Sustain switch, 6.35mm mono jack
• Volume/modulation pedal, 6.35mm TRS jack
• USB connector (MIDI only, class compliant - no driver installation necessary)

 

FRONT PANEL CONTROLS

• 43 rotary knobs
• 28 pushbuttons
• 1 rotary encoder

 

TOUCH STRIPS

• 50cm pitchbend touchstrip
• 10cm modwheel touchstrip
• 10cm extra modulation touchstrip

 

DISPLAY

• 16x2 green backlit LCD display, latin and cyrillic characters

 

MIDI

• Keyboard transmits Midi Note on/off and Poly Aftertouch messages
• All 'continuous' sound parameters accept and transmit Midi Control Changes in realtime
• Pitch Bend, Velocity, Aftertouch (Channel&Poly), Modwheel (CC#1), BreathCtrl (CC#2), CC#3 and Expression pedal (CC#4) modulation
• Backups and patch exchanges via Patch, Bank and Memory Sysex Dumps
• Firmware upgrades via Sysex
• MIDI MPE-compatible

 

MEASUREMENTS

• Length: 72cm
• Width: 51cm
• Height: 14cm
• Weight: +/-15kg

CONNECTIONS

On the backside, the NF-1k has L&R audio connectors (6.35mm TS jack), a sustain (6.35mm TS) and a modulation pedal (6.35m TRS) connector. Midi can be connected both via 5-pin DIN midi (IN, OUT and THRU), and also via USB. The AC mains connector is a C14 type and accepts 100-240V at 50-60Hz.

 

 

FRONTPANEL