From claire_trikes_aust@iprimus.com.au Mon Dec 08 18:20:10 2003
Subject:Re: Hammond X2

Hi ! Dave, Carl and everyone,

I too own an X5 which I love to play. It has a very 'clean' sound compared
with the few tonewheels I have played and very much so, compared with B4
which I use for gigging. The X5 is now a cherished piece of furniture and
basically just too heavy for me to move anymore. (Being female I found it
extremely heavy even when I was younger !)

Some really good news is that the X5 in fact has TEN (10) ! contacts under
each key. Nine were used for the drawbars (there wasn't a separate bus for
the percussion) and the tenth was unused. Back in the early eighties I
wired every spare key contact out to a connector which I wired up to my
SOLINA String ensemble. I created some absolutely fantastic fat, warm, lush
multi analogue polyphonic pads ! (sounding simulatneously with the organ -
but it has a 'cresendo' feature to provide the strings with slow attack so
you could have organ sound first, then if you hled the note/chord the
strings would 'slide' in -lovely). Some of the modern synths would die to
get that sound but you did need a team of bouncers to shift the X5, Solina,
Wurli piano, 860 Leslie and 825 Leslie. I still have it all.

Anyway, I'm digressing. Back to the ten contacts. I think it would be
really exciting to connect the unused X5 contacts to a midi controller and
have your X5 or X2 and use it as a controller for all sorts of other midi
stuff.

Double check your X2 to see if it has the extra (unused) set of contacts
like the X5. Let us know. You never know, you may even be able to midi
equip the X2................

Best regards,
Claire

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Oakley"