Hammond Announces a New 15 Pound Organ-The SK1

For over 77 years, the “King” of instruments has been the mighty HammondOrgan(particularly the “B-3” model), whose sound can be heard in every genre ofmusic, every concert hall, every concert stage and most churches. And, for over 77years, the Hammond Organ has been the largest and heaviest piece of musicalequipment one has ever had to move.Now comes the HAMMOND SK1, which packs all of the power, all of the versatility, allof the tradition, and all of the soul into a trim 15-pound package. Hammond hasn’tstopped there. Along with the classic sound the world has come to know and love,Hammond has included a wide series of other voices, like Acoustic and ElectricPianos, Clav, Vintage Combo Organs, Vintage String Synthesizer, Accordions, PipeOrgan, and many others.The SK1 isn’t a watered-down “light” or “clone” version of a Hammond, either. Allthe classic features that “make” a Hammond are included. Real Mechanical Drawbars,“Waterfall” Keyboard, Touch Response Percussion, Chorus Vibrato, and anew-generation Digital Leslie™ that gives the big speaker a run for the money. Youreyes see “portable” but your ears hear, and your touch says: “B-3”.Modern keyboard players want to be as mobile as their guitar-playing pals, who carrytheir axe in one hand and their amp in another; so the market has seen the advent of“all-in-one” keyboards that provide the basic sounds required in all styles ofmusic. Accordingly, the SK1, in addition to its superb Hammond tone, adds authenticAcoustic Piano, “Rho”, “Wurl”, and “FM” Electric Pianos, and funky Clav tones.Besides the Hammond, there are two other types of vintage combo organs (“Farf” and“Vx”) that remain pop music faves. Built in Italy and England, respectively, theywere featured in many top hits and are recreated here, with their distinctivecontrols duplicated-you can register these organs as you were able to on theoriginals.The Accordion has made a big comeback, and the SK1 has the most comprehensiveselection of Accordion voices of any modern keyboard. Rounding out the voice paletteare a variety of wind instruments, synth tones (including an accurate vintage stringsynthesizer), and melodic percussion. You can play all of the Extra Voices “solo” orin combination with the Hammond Drawbar Voices. The Voice Library may be expanded bydownloading voices from the Hammond website and installing them via the onboard USBport.The SK1 isn’t only for pop music. There are a number of Classical Pipe Organ Stopsonboard of stunning accuracy. The SK1 makes a fine “Portative” organ perfect forRemote Worship Services, Chapel Duty, or vocal/instrumental recital accompaniment.For more advanced players, the SK1 is offered in a compact, double-manual versioncalled the SK2, with identical specifications. The SK2 weighs in at a petite 35pounds.Map prices are: $1999 for the SK1 and $2895 for the SK2. Both models will ship inmid-June 2011.