From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Thu Oct 02 18:04:23 2008
Subject:=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Re=3A_=5BCWSG=5D_Re=3A_Finally_revealed=2C_?= =?ISO-8859-1?Q?new_tool_eliminates_the_=22shrill_?= =?ISO-8859-1?Q?factor=22?=

Hi All,

I had a discussion about this with Korg a few years back, and I was assured that the CX-3 (and BX-3) DO model loudness robbing. Whether they do so to ones liking is a matter of opinion and taste. I've played different Hammonds with different levels of loudness robbing over the years, so like percussion, drawbar level, and vibrato, there is no true "gold standard" for loudness robbing. I've played organs where just about any combination of DBs and notes has the same loudness; and others where the effect was subtle.

Part of the issue is based on the how and why of the phenomenon itself. Loudness robbing is caused because the keyboards (manuals) in tonewheel Hammonds were wired with nichrome wire. Unlike copper wire, the resistance per foot of a nichrome wire is fairly high, so each connection looks more like a resistor than a wire. So, what we really have is a complicated, continuously changing resistor network. Attached to the tone generator, which is itself a mid-level impedance, the two act as a voltage divider.

Each organ has a slightly different resistance on any key contact, due to variations in the length and composition of the wires, and to aging effects. In particular, if an organ has been moved around a lot and the ground connections have loosened up, the divider can change.

Regards,

-BW
--
Bruce Wahler
AshbySolutions.com™
978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com

At 03:26 PM 10/2/2008, you wrote:
>Thanks for the clarification, Ted. Have you bothered to analyze any of
>the modern clones to see how well they simulate all the details of
>this behavior? Or do you essentially leave it up to your "ears" to
>decide if the overall sound is right.
>
>--- In CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com, "Ted Thompson" wrote:
>>
>> This is incorrect. Every contact closure in the vintage Hammond
>manuals for
>> a given tonewheel lowers the resistance in the path from that tonewheel.
>> Therefore, if one pulls the same registration on each manual and
>then plays
>> the same chord on both manuals the volume is louder then when one
>manual is
>> played alone.
>>
>> It also follows that if you play middle and tenor C with the 8' and 4'
>> drawbars pulled you will hear a total of 3 tonewheel pitches and of
>these
>> low, middle, and high pitches the middle one will be accentuated
>since it's
>> passing through contacts on BOTH keys, were as the high one is only
>played
>> via middle C and the low on is only played via tenor C.
>>
>> There is an answer for the "shrill factor" but I think you know what
>I would
>> suggest ^_^
>>

_______________________________________
No viruses found in this outgoing message
Scanned by iolo AntiVirus 1.5.3.5
http://www.iolo.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]