From ron@vgi.com Wed May 12 19:45:43 2004
Subject:Re: XK3 at work


tonysounds wrote:

> My bad...I guess I was misinterpreting what I was reading as well as
> interpolating it. Even though there are 9 contacts on each key on a
> tonewheel Hammond, if you press a key it makes a sound, and regardless
> of hard you push on it, it makes the same sound. I guess when you're in
> the middle of a run you might get some different shades of that note...I
> cant attest to that to be honest, I've never really noticed. What I've
> noticed is that once in a while it seems like a note didn't trigger, but
> when I've gone back to it, it works fine.

It's not how hard you push on a note, but how softly that makes a
difference. Try this: Set the drawbars to 888888888 and then play any
single note, BUT, push the key down *really slowly*. You'll hear the
individual harmonic contacts engage as the key descends. If you play
carefully, you can feather the harmonics in and out from highest to
lowest, very much like an aftertouch sensitive synthesizer. My guess
about the attack rate that Mitch is talking about is that it applies a
delay to each successive harmonic in a note to simulate the downward
travel of a key on a 9 contact organ.

Each individual contact also contributes a small "click" as it contacts
the busbar. The 9 clicks spread out over the time it takes for the key to
descend give the Hammond that "spit" that was originally considered a
defect, and is now so desirable. Listen to "Hush" by Deep Purple - the
organ work is all about using that key click.

My apologies if you already know all this. ;^)

Ron