From bw@ashbysolutions.com Sat Jul 14 05:47:02 2012
Subject:Re: HOAX = Clonewheel in a chip

Hi All,

This is a pretty cool setup, but not a completely new idea. One could
argue that this is the next generation of the Voce V3, which had a
digital IC which emulated the tonewheel system -- all 91 wheels at the
same time. (I don't know if the Voce IC was analog or digital,
though.) I'm not certain, but it wouldn't surprise me if both Korg and
Roland used the same approach.

It does have some new twists:

1. The keyboard scanner is built in to the IC. Most clonewheels have
a secondary CPU which -- among other things -- scans the keyboard
and sends the results to the tone generator IC. Putting it all in
one IC probably saves 3-5mSec of latency. (I don't buy the "no
latency" claim, because scanning a keyboard digitally has *some*
latency, but it's certainly less in this approach.)

2. The velocity-based 'random' key click is a great addition. I
remember talking with the Korg program manager about whether the
BX-3/CX-3 could do variable key click. He said the processing
power wasn't there, but it was coming someday. We agreed that it
was about "10 years off." That was in January 2006. Well, guess
what? We were off by about three years, assuming that someone
turns HOAX into a full product soon.

I think I can tell the real B-3, but it's close enough that I'm not
certain! (I think the Hammond is #1, and the HOAX #2 in the first clip.)

Regards,

-BW

Bruce Wahler
Ashby Solutions.com^(TM)
bw@ashbysolutions.com
http://music.ashbysolutions.com
877.55.ASHBY (877.552.7429)

On 7/14/2012 4:23 AM, Tom Sellers wrote:
>
> wtf?