From mate.stubb@gmail.com Thu Aug 09 07:01:05 2007
Subject:Re: Lubed the old '36 BC

What you really mean is that the bottom octave of your BC does NOT fold back
to the higher tones like on a later Hammond. I had a B-2 that I modified to
do this and it was really cool. Fortunately it did not have the complex
tonewheels on the bottom octave or it would have sounded like crap.

IMO you will have to:

a) run your clone thru a real tube leslie or tube equivalent (e.g. Roadbox)
b) turn to software that can be configured down to the tonewheel level.

I have played an XK-3 but never tweaked on one. I know you can play with
some things on a tonewheel level (loudness) but don't know if you can get
the extreme leakage you desire.

The Italian KeyB and KeyB Duo run their emulations in linux, and are said to
be completely configurable. In other words, the president of the company can
supposedly put his organ right next to yours and tweak it until it sounds
identical. There are videos on their site and YouTube showing this - a
player alternates hands on a Hammond and a KeyB which sound identical.

You may have heard Diversi has the rights to build an American version, but
no word yet on availability or cost.

Based on earlier discussions, one Italian guy who says he knows the
developer, said that the engine of this organ started life as the open
source Beatrix Organ software. It is still out there for free and I have
been playing with it. Note however that the developer has gone silent and
doesn't respond to emails anymore. My theory is that he has been put under
exclusive contract to commercialize this product and has had to give up
supporting the free version.

No matter. I have played with the software and it sounds very good. Out of
the box it sounds more authentically leaky than anything else I have heard.
His software models all the different leakage points separately - in the
generator bins, at the terminal strip, in the keyboard wiring looms, etc.
All this is controlled by config files so that you can filthy it up to your
heart's content. As for the rest of it, I would rate the basic tone, key
click, and chorus vib highly, the percussion as good, and the leslie sim as
good to OK. Judging from the comments in the code, the leslie sim was the
least finished portion of the product as last released. If the sound clips
on the KeyB website are any indication, he has been working hard on the sim
and has improved it significantly. You should plan on spinning air anyway.

In truth I don't know for sure of the connection made above between Beatrix
and KeyB, and it is based on rumors, but the pieces fit.

I'm looking into the possibility of combining a single board computer
booting from ROM running Beatrix, 2 manual's worth of Hammond keys and key
rails, and a midi controller module which would handle 4 sets of drawbars
plus pedal, and all the controls.

I'd rather Diversi put out an organ I could afford, or barring that the
Italian version were to become affordable due to the dollar miraculously
recovering.

Moe