Ask Patch Foundry: Details about the Nord Stage 3 Worship Collection

I got this kind email from Omar this week:

 I feel that by looking through the (Nord Stage 3 Worship) collection I’ve been able to see your way of thinking and playing and that’s been very valuable. I thought about some questions as I continue playing through the collection. 

1) why are the individual engines never at 100% volume. Sometimes they’re short from full volume. Is it simply to give you more headroom? 

2) having the mod wheel increase frequency as I go down ( lower the mod wheel/pull towards me) is new to me. Is it just a habit or is there something practical behind that design? Is there an advantage perhaps? 

3) is there an easy way to reverse the polarity of the mod wheel so that going upward is the increase frequency? 

4) some of the synth samples like “Juno” are brand new. Did you design them outside of the Nord using a third party plugin or something along those lines? Or were they all designed using what the Nord stage? Btw, good job on them! 

Thanks so much for spending the time. This is definitely opening my creativity and getting the most out of my instrument. 

Best, 

-Omar 

Hi Omar,

Thank you for the kind words! Really inspiring to hear the patches are inspiring creativity in others.

To answer you question(s):

1. I always leave headroom on all of my Nord programming so if you need to bump the gain a bit on a quiet patch, or even really rock the house, you’ll have approximately 20% more room to do it.
   

2. I had to make that choice to reverse polarity on the Nord Stage 3 when I added support for a midi expression pedal (it was a Morphing issue). Fortunately it’s not too hard to get used to with a little practice! The advantage is that it’s possible to have your volume and frequency decrease, allowing non-swept elements like pianos and pads to stand out.

3. There is, but you’d need to sacrifice the ability to use an expression pedal. You’d just need to hold down the Morph Assign’s “WHEEL” button and move the parameter you want to change. See below:

4. I did sample in the sound of the Juno get that sound! I just put up a new sample pack called Grain Pads, and plan on releasing a lot more in the future.

Thanks, and hope you have a great week messing around with the patches!

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