From ccmacdon@rogers.com Wed Dec 21 14:46:58 2011
Subject:Re: Just got my Hammond Sk1 - intial reaction/problem?
SO.. just returned my Hammond SK1...!
The acoustic pianos were not workable for me.. too much noise and hiss... It may be that I had a defective unit and I am waiting to hear back from the music store and Hammond tech support. On the positive side, the SK1 organ was excellent. However the extra voices, especially the pianos had a huge amount of hiss that was very noticable on sustained notes (when the sample played out, you were left with an awful hiss that would die out about 3-4 seconds after the sample ended). It was also extremely noticable if you turned the treble up on the master output EQ, the hiss was unbelieveable.
This may have simply been a defective unit, and the dealer I bought it from will be dealing with Hammond on it, and we'll see what I hear back (I will certainly keep the group posted).
It's unfortunate that it had to go back because I was quite liking the organ.
Craig
- In CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com, "jjmcs49" wrote:
>
> Craig, Good Luck.
>
> It takes a little while to get used to it but you should be zipping through the menus and parameters pretty quickly in no time.
>
> Release 4 is version 1200 (1.200 on the display).
>
> --- In CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com, "ccmacdon" wrote:
> >
> > Jim,
> >
> > Thanks a lot for the quick reply!! I found the version I'm at and it looks like I'm somewhere in between release 1 and 2 (which is a little weird... my version is 1094 and the official release 1 version is 1084 and release 2 is 1100 so I'm in between?).. I'll go pick up a small 1-2GB USB drive tomorrow and get this thing updated.. hopefully it will sort out the hiss/noise. As you say Release 4 is the most up to date version, so there's probably a lot of fixes to be installed on mine.
> >
> > Again thanks for the info.. I have found it in the manual, and you saved me some time (I was busy looking at and tweaking leslie, percussion and tonewheel settings and didn't bother looking at the system menu, feeling a little dumb..).
> >
> > Thanks.
> > Craig
> >
> > --- In CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com, "jjmcs49" wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > Scroll up to System (Pg's. 66 & 100) and scroll through the software version numbers. Since the release 4 update has only been out a short time yours probably doesn't have it installed. I suggest using a small (1 - 2 Gb) USB drive for the update installation.
> > >
> > > When you install the updates the additional A. Pianos will be in the A piano menu but you need to scroll up a page to something like A.Piano2. I haven't noticed any noise from the acoustic pianos in mine.
> > >
> > > The User patches are just copies of the Preset patches and can be saved over.
> > >
> > > --- In CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com, ccmacdon@ wrote:
> > > >
> > > > So, I just picked up my Hammond Sk1 this afternoon and I've spent a couple hours with it, and I have some initial reactions that I want to pass on, a question, and I think my unit may have a problem...?
> > > >
> > > > First the question.. does anyone know how I find out what level the OS is on my unit? I can't seem to find it anywhere in the manual? I don't see anything on the display when it powers up, and I haven't been able to find anything on the Hammond site.
> > > >
> > > > Second, the problem.. my unit seems to have a prounounced hiss on the acoustic piano samples.. but it's most pronounced when you sustain notes, the acoustic piano fades but leaves this loud hiss..?? The hiss eventually stops about 3-4 seconds after the sample ends.. ? Has anyone experienced this problem no their unit? I've contacted Hammond support and we'll see what they say.. perhaps a simple OS updgrade will fix this.
> > > >
> > > > My initial thoughts are:
> > > >
> > > > The Hammond tone is very nice.. percussion is good, C/V is good, and even the Overdrive, that seems to have gotten a lot of flack, isn't that bad. The leslie is very good (and an improvement over the XK3/XK1), but it doesn't quite give me that sense of motion that the ventilator does, and it sounds a little artificial in the high end, but I haven't done too much tweaking yet (but I expect I'll use my ventilator). The drawbars feel nice and work well. The keyboard itself is nice but seems a little stiff, which I think is due to the fact that it's using the lower trigger point (that's been discussed here), but I'm liking it for the piano and electric pianos.. (the stiffness works well for these sounds). The extra voices, are OK.. not fantastic, by any means, but the EP's are good and the Clavinets are good (although I still have to spend more time with them). I will reserve judgement on the acoustic pianos until I have sorted out this noise
> > > > problem.
> > > >
> > > > Things I don't like, I find that the factory patches are a very odd grouping of programs, odd splits and weird combinations, and frankly I can't seem myself using more than a handlful of the factory programs (if that). When switching patches I get audible clicks when I turn the knob (I expect due to effects cutting off abrubtly), and the differences in volume levels from one patch to the next can be quite extreme. The interface takes a bit of getting used to... It has 4 perscussion switches but they don't correspond to the normal hammond configuration .. and the display is small and it's a bit tedious to get around.
> > > >
> > > > Bottom line, it's a good sounding organ, and it's 15 pounds.. not sure quite yet if it's got enough functionality to work for me in my classic rock band for small gigs.. we'll see.. definately not if I can't sort out the noise problem with the acoustic pianos.. If anyone has any suggestions on this, please speak up.. thanks.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Regards,
> > > > Craig MacDonald
> > > >
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> > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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>