Want a free reed organ? Visit the Audio Genetics Lab Web site to download the company’s new Magnus Chord Organ, a free reed organ instrument dug up from the archives and made ready for Native Instruments Kontakt.
According to its maker, Magnus Chord Organ represents a small subspecies that is closely related to the accordion and harmonica, except that the air is moved by an electric fan rather than bellows or lungs. This instrument originally had three keyboard octaves and a number of accordion-like chord buttons and was distributed in the 1970s. It is said to have a raw, charming sound quality.
The sample instrument comes with 3 octaves, 12 chord buttons, and 7 Kontakt patches: Magnus Chord Organ – Purist, Accordionic, Accordionic – RR, Accordionic – Breath Controller, Bassadore 64, MagSmack Kit, and Flagolets de Magnus.
The first patch, Magnus Chord Organ – Purist features all the original, raw sampled sounds of the organ with nothing added — how 1970s New Jersey wanted you to hear the Magnus, according to the manufacturer. This patch includes chromatic sampling of the melodic keys, and the lower octaves will play the 24 major and minor chords; noise sample of the operating fan is sustained from B-1.
Accordionic offers a few subtle differences from the Purist patch and is closer in sound to an accordion (hear an audio demo at the company’s Web site). You can adjust this patch using Mod wheel controlled dynamics, EQ shifts, and volume envelope; or turn off the clunky key release samples to yield a more pure sound.
With the same design as the Accodionic patch, Accordionic – RR features a simulated round robin created by extending the chromatically sampled keys out to neighboring tones. This patch could be useful if you are doing lots of repetitions.
The third type of Accordionic patch, Accordionic – Breath Controller, is basically Accordionic pre-programmed for breath controllers. Select your Breath CC source (defaults to 2) and play. Turned off Chords yield an extended low range.
Bassadore 64 is what Audio Genetics Lab calls a divergent genetic mutation and retro synth bass, while MagSmack Kit is an electro-percussion kit that could be 10 years in the future from the Magnus, or 30 years back in the past — either, or.
Lastly, Flagolets de Magnus is a sustain patch featuring string harmonics qualities, 3x round robin, and extra variations via ADSR adjustments on the front panel.
Audio Genetics Lab’s new Magnus Chord Organ is now available as a free download for Native Instruments Kontakt 3.5 or higher. To learn more, visit audiogeneticslab.com.