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Tonewheel Hammond alternatives


gilwe

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Don't have a B4, but I recently bought a PreSonus Bluetube and put it in the signal chain right before my DAW. I got a nicer, warmer, fatter sound from my CX3, and I didn't have to add that much. Did some nice things for my pianos and pads as well.

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The only problem with running a tube amp or any other kind of saturation device after a leslie sim is you get fluctuations in the saturation level as the amplitude of the signal changes with the leslie effect. Live it's not so bad but in a recording environment it's probably more of a factor.

 

Outkaster- it's my opinion that ANY organ sound is going to be better thru a real leslie! :) My Juno 106 lame organ patches sounded good thru mine.

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Personally I don't like the B4 at all. Static key click and mushy tone. The B42 is better, but still sounds thin.

Personally I would get a C1 from Clavia. You're not going to get a better non-leslied clonewheel sound than that!

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I have the same problem using my Ob3 and Boss RT20. The padal has a stellar leslie effect but a {censored}ty overdirve sound. Whot would you think adding a PreSonus Bluetube between pedal and clone? I don't want heavy Od's but a crunch...

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Personally I don't like the B4 at all. Static key click and mushy tone. The B42 is better, but still sounds thin.

Personally I would get a C1 from Clavia. You're not going to get a better non-leslied clonewheel sound than that!

 

 

XK-3???

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Personally I don't like the B4 at all. Static key click and mushy tone. The B42 is better, but still sounds thin.

Personally I would get a C1 from Clavia. You're not going to get a better non-leslied clonewheel sound than that!

 

 

I haven't test driven a C1 yet but I have been checking out the electro for EPs and Clavs. I don't understand the C1's use of the electro keybed. Wrong keybed for playing organ. Feels too much like a digital piano. Lack of draw bars bugs me too. The Clavia tonewheel emulation does sound good but it doesn't sounds as realistic to me as the Korgs (CX-3/BX-3) do. Korg nailed all the nuances - keybed, leakage, OD, even the dirty rotaional hiss of a choraling Leslie while its sit idle waiting for you to play - sounds just like my old 147. Buy a Korg.

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I finally came to the awful conclusion yesterday that I am going to have to build my own. What a sorry mess. How frickin hard is it to at least give me 2 manuals with the controls in the right place? Huh? Huh? The old Hammond company only got it right what, 70 years ago!

 

Lets look at the current sorry crop.

 

Hammond XK-3c - missing drawbars, mushy keyboard. No tilt tabs. You can assemble a 2 manual organ but they will gouge you over $4k for the privilege.

 

XK-1 - controls in the wrong place, no split vib

 

Nord anything - controls not authentic

 

Roland VK-8, VK-88 - controls not authentic, non waterfall keys?

 

Korg CX-3, BX-3 - controls not authentic

 

Diversi - too heavy, too expensive, controls not authentic

 

Voce Key5 - outrageously expensive, controls not authentic

 

DLQ KeyB Duo - perfect! No wait, it won't be distributed in the States, and would cost $5K if it were.

 

So I guess I'm going to have to take a couple of Hammond manuals, gut the weight out, wire up some midi transmit boards to the contacts and switches, and look for a sound engine to control. Great. I just want to play the @#$% thing!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFuAm07oRsU&mode=related&search=


Killer emulation !
:eek:

 

Yes indeed. It's hard to judge from web clips, but from what I've heard this thing kills.

 

Rumor is, that inside is a computer running linux and doing the sound engine. Also, that the guy doing the software has a version that's available, albeit a year old now. Maybe I'll build a little mini motherboard PC and install this as the engine in my organ.

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Personally I don't like the B4 at all. Static key click and mushy tone. The B42 is better, but still sounds thin.

Personally I would get a C1 from Clavia. You're not going to get a better non-leslied clonewheel sound than that!

 

 

I fiddled around with some of the Nord keyboards last week and don't care for the keyboard feel. And as a color that is not one of my favorites, RED, I couldn't buy a RED keyboard, no matter how good it played. Couldn't Clavia make a silver or black model, why in the hell RED? Just my thing

 

katt

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So I guess I'm going to have to take a couple of Hammond manuals, gut the weight out, wire up some midi transmit boards to the contacts and switches, and look for a sound engine to control. Great. I just want to play the @#$% thing!

 

 

Good luck because the manuals alone account for most of the weight of the Hammond.

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I finally came to the awful conclusion yesterday that I am going to have to build my own. What a sorry mess. How frickin hard is it to at least give me 2 manuals with the controls in the right place? Huh? Huh? The old Hammond company only got it right what, 70 years ago!


Lets look at the current sorry crop.


Hammond XK-3c - missing drawbars, mushy keyboard. No tilt tabs. You can assemble a 2 manual organ but they will gouge you over $4k for the privilege.


XK-1 - controls in the wrong place, no split vib


Nord anything - controls not authentic


Roland VK-8, VK-88 - controls not authentic, non waterfall keys?


Korg CX-3, BX-3 - controls not authentic


Diversi - too heavy, too expensive, controls not authentic


Voce Key5 - outrageously expensive, controls not authentic


DLQ KeyB Duo - perfect! No wait, it won't be distributed in the States, and would cost $5K if it were.


So I guess I'm going to have to take a couple of Hammond manuals, gut the weight out, wire up some midi transmit boards to the contacts and switches, and look for a sound engine to control. Great. I just want to play the @#$% thing!

 

 

What tabs the rocker switches?

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Matt:

 

Instead of building a Hammond, why don't you just buy a B3 Chop? There's people in the MI that do that and have been doing it a long time. Spend your time playing instead of reinventing the wheel.

 

Mike T.

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MC:

Yeah, I know. I'm talking about radical surgury, using keys, key rails and combs, lose the contact stacks, lose the steel frame, transformer etc.

 

Then there is the problem of the drawbar base and assembly, which is pretty heavy. I definitely have some research to do. If I could bring a dual manual assembly in at 40-50 lbs, that would be bearable.

 

Kaster: yeah, the rocker switches

 

Miket156: I have built several road organs over the years and currently own one. No matter how you slice it up, it weighs 200 lbs, or you can get it down to a couple 100 lb packages or so. I'll keep it around for easy load-in on special gigs, but am too decrepit to depend on it, especially with stairs and bad knees involved.

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Matt:

 

Yeah, I know what you mean. We use to haul around a B2 and twin Leslies back in the old days. We had a carrier for the Hammond, but it was still a bear. We had 5 guys in the band and at least 2 roadies. Getting it up and down steps was a problem. But we were young, and there really wasn't anything else that sounded like a B. I've seen and heard chops and they're an improvement for load in. Personally, the heaviest KB I carry is my ES8, with case its around 90+ loads. At my age, its more than enough to handle.

 

Mike T.

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Geez. That head2head italian jobber vs. the b3 is impressive.

 

I love my Nord, but I think the Cx3 is the most realistic (besides the above Italian job). And as far as inauthentic controls go... why would you want the fast/slow to be a left hand half-moon switch anyway? You have to take your hand off the manual to switch it. I love being able to do it with my left foot, and I don't really understand people's devotion to things like the half-moon. Other things like the rocking tabs for percussion I guess I can see the appeal.

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why would you want the fast/slow to be a left hand half-moon switch anyway? You have to take your hand off the manual to switch it.

 

 

Actually, no. I mount my half moon at the bottom octave of white keys, and can usually switch the speeds with a forearm drag without lifting my hand off the keyboard.

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