From mate_stubb@yahoo.com Mon Nov 08 09:06:15 2004
Subject:Re: Why did Hammond get the virtual B3 right?


FWIW, you cannot get a good representation of a tonewheel using a
short sample loop. A tonewheel does not produce an invariant sine wave
at all. First, there ARE some harmonics. Second, the actual pitch can
and does waver slightly because every wheel is spring decoupled from
the shaft.

So that leaves long sampling loops or modelling. Loops are easier
maybe to get the initial sound right - if people think that the XK-3
sounds beefy and has a satisfying tone, it's probably because they
sampled a good Hammond to begin with, and some of the richness of the
nonstatic tones is captured in the long loops.

With modelling, you have to work harder to get a satisfying basic tone
right. But once that's achieved, you can have precisely varying
control over things like tonewheel waver. In addition, modelling
allows you to control the subtle interactions between notes better,
such as tonewheel bleed, and the way the preamp overloads differently
for different note combinations.

I would argue that Hammond does not yet have the virtual B3 "right". I
sat 4 feet from Joey D's Leslies listening to his New B-3 for several
hours. With Leslie slow motors unplugged and no chorus vibrato, the
organ didn't sound as alive to me as a real B-3. Subtle, but I noticed
it. We are down to picking nits for sure, as the current crop are a
thousand times better than what we had to use just a few years ago.

Moe