Up close and personal with the Novachord...
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- KVRAF
- 1597 posts since 15 Jan, 2005 from Vales Of Glamorgan, South Wales, UK
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- KVRAF
- 5666 posts since 23 Mar, 2006 from pendeLondonmonium
Well...I'm being continuously amazed at the breath of sound, the way it looks, the engineering behind it. Thanks for the video.
Can we have that infra-red picture please ?
Can we have that infra-red picture please ?
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- KVRAF
- 3644 posts since 27 Nov, 2003 from beach side australia
wow what an instrument.. nice vid too!
look forward to the release
look forward to the release
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1597 posts since 15 Jan, 2005 from Vales Of Glamorgan, South Wales, UK
This is about the closest Dan has got to it...himalaya wrote:Can we have that infra-red picture please ?
You can just about make out the glowing valves, especially at the top of the pic.
Cheers,
Steve
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- KVRAF
- 3644 posts since 27 Nov, 2003 from beach side australia
maybe a long exposure in the dark would look good.. probably tricky tho as you are looking down at the top of them- not so impressive a view, glow wise.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1597 posts since 15 Jan, 2005 from Vales Of Glamorgan, South Wales, UK
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1597 posts since 15 Jan, 2005 from Vales Of Glamorgan, South Wales, UK
And on a small point of interest....
That photo is a potential Health & Safety nightmare...
To have the instrument switched on and open is potentially extremely dangerous because there are bare and exposed wires in the little valve enclosures are carrying potentially lethal voltages and if you stick your fingers in there with the thing powered up ... errrmm ... well, basically, you could die!!!
Going way off topic for a moment, it's interesting how times have changed...
We buy gear now powered from 9 volt 'wall wart' DC power adaptors that carry no real threat whatsoever and yet the operators' manuals carry pages and pages and pages of Health & Safety warnings (basically anti-litigation get-out clauses to protect the manufacturer against a 4-year-old putting it in bath or microwave oven and maybe, perhaps, potentially, becoming a little unwell as a result).
But the Novachord (seemed to) just have a simple page of basic instructions stapled to the inside of the lid with no mention of H&S even though there are life threatening voltages in there! I guess the era just relied on people using their common sense and if people opened it up to do some fiddling, it was assumed that they knew what they were doing and took appropriate precautions.
In short, I doubt very much if our 'sue/blame culture' nanny state society would actually allow the Novachord to be manufactured today - it would almost certainly fail the various stringent EU, CE and other international safety tests that equipment is subject to these days.
And I wonder how many innovative products today never see the light of day because of this!
Maybe it's worth pointing out that after hundreds of hours delving into the bowels of this magnificent beast, Dan is still alive!!
Cheers,
Steve
That photo is a potential Health & Safety nightmare...
To have the instrument switched on and open is potentially extremely dangerous because there are bare and exposed wires in the little valve enclosures are carrying potentially lethal voltages and if you stick your fingers in there with the thing powered up ... errrmm ... well, basically, you could die!!!
Going way off topic for a moment, it's interesting how times have changed...
We buy gear now powered from 9 volt 'wall wart' DC power adaptors that carry no real threat whatsoever and yet the operators' manuals carry pages and pages and pages of Health & Safety warnings (basically anti-litigation get-out clauses to protect the manufacturer against a 4-year-old putting it in bath or microwave oven and maybe, perhaps, potentially, becoming a little unwell as a result).
But the Novachord (seemed to) just have a simple page of basic instructions stapled to the inside of the lid with no mention of H&S even though there are life threatening voltages in there! I guess the era just relied on people using their common sense and if people opened it up to do some fiddling, it was assumed that they knew what they were doing and took appropriate precautions.
In short, I doubt very much if our 'sue/blame culture' nanny state society would actually allow the Novachord to be manufactured today - it would almost certainly fail the various stringent EU, CE and other international safety tests that equipment is subject to these days.
And I wonder how many innovative products today never see the light of day because of this!
Maybe it's worth pointing out that after hundreds of hours delving into the bowels of this magnificent beast, Dan is still alive!!
Cheers,
Steve
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- KVRAF
- 5666 posts since 23 Mar, 2006 from pendeLondonmonium
That picture looks very menacing. It looks like some kind of alien incubation farm. 
That was what I wondered about as well.hollowsun wrote:
And I wonder how many innovative products today never see the light of day because of this!
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- KVRian
- 1313 posts since 29 Mar, 2002 from Salt Lake City, Utah - U.S.A.
4 novachords... don't know if they'll allow me to direct link the picture here.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rScBRKlTdoE/S ... /nova4.JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rScBRKlTdoE/S ... /nova4.JPG
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HideawayStudio HideawayStudio https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=222227
- KVRist
- 246 posts since 23 Dec, 2009 from UK
Yes... I know their owner, nice chap, but I think it will be quite some time before this 1 ton herd of instruments is living and breathingtoine6 wrote:4 novachords... don't know if they'll allow me to direct link the picture here.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rScBRKlTdoE/S ... /nova4.JPG
Home of Novachord #346...
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- KVRian
- 1313 posts since 29 Mar, 2002 from Salt Lake City, Utah - U.S.A.
I think you should be THE GUY that repairs all of the Novachords that remain in existence. Your skill and attention to detail is very impressive.HideawayStudio wrote:Yes... I know their owner, nice chap, but I think it will be quite some time before this 1 ton herd of instruments is living and breathingtoine6 wrote:4 novachords... don't know if they'll allow me to direct link the picture here.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rScBRKlTdoE/S ... /nova4.JPG
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HideawayStudio HideawayStudio https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=222227
- KVRist
- 246 posts since 23 Dec, 2009 from UK
Ah shucks...toine6 wrote:I think you should be THE GUY that repairs all of the Novachords that remain in existence. Your skill and attention to detail is very impressive.HideawayStudio wrote:Yes... I know their owner, nice chap, but I think it will be quite some time before this 1 ton herd of instruments is living and breathingtoine6 wrote:4 novachords... don't know if they'll allow me to direct link the picture here.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rScBRKlTdoE/S ... /nova4.JPG
Do be honest... I think someone would have to pay me a real chunk of money to work on another one of these - much that I love the results - the work to get to just a playable state is intense to say the least!And besides I'd have to travel abroad with a very large toolkit as I don't know of any others in the UK
You might want to move to the "Novachord... shockingly beautiful" thread in this area - I've just made another recording that almost left me in tears!! I'm just gobsmacked by this instrument and the samples Steve and I have managed to capture.
Home of Novachord #346...
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- KVRian
- 804 posts since 16 Nov, 2004 from Kangzhou
Would the initials be JS?HideawayStudio wrote:Yes... I know their owner, nice chap, but I think it will be quite some time before this 1 ton herd of instruments is living and breathingtoine6 wrote:4 novachords... don't know if they'll allow me to direct link the picture here.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rScBRKlTdoE/S ... /nova4.JPG
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HideawayStudio HideawayStudio https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=222227
- KVRist
- 246 posts since 23 Dec, 2009 from UK
taijiguy wrote:Would the initials be JS?HideawayStudio wrote:Yes... I know their owner, nice chap, but I think it will be quite some time before this 1 ton herd of instruments is living and breathingtoine6 wrote:4 novachords... don't know if they'll allow me to direct link the picture here.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rScBRKlTdoE/S ... /nova4.JPG
Home of Novachord #346...