Reason RE Combo B3 Tonewheels Organ [WiN] UPDATED

In the 1970s, the Hammond Organ Company abandoned tonewheels and switched to integrated circuits. These organs were less popular, and the company went out of business in 1985. The Hammond name was purchased by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation, which proceeded to manufacture digital simulations of the most popular tonewheel organs. This culminated in the production of the "New B-3" in 2002, a recreation of the original B-3 organ using digital technology. Hammond-Suzuki continues to manufacture a variety of organs for both professional players and churches. Companies such as Korg, Roland, and Clavia have achieved success in providing more lightweight and portable emulations of the original tonewheel organs. The sound of a tonewheel Hammond can be emulated using modern software audio plug-ins.

Reason RE Combo B3 Tonewheels Organ [WiN]

Before a Hammond organ can produce sound, the motor that drives the tonewheels must come up to speed. On most models, starting a Hammond organ involves two switches. The "Start" switch turns a dedicated starter motor, which must run for about 12 seconds. Then, the "Run" switch is turned on for about four seconds. The "Start" switch is then released, whereupon the organ is ready to generate sound.[28][29] The H-100 and E-series consoles and L-100 and T-100 spinet organs, however, had a self-starting motor that required only a single "On" switch.[30] A pitch bend effect can be created on the Hammond organ by turning the "Run" switch off and on again. This briefly cuts power to the generators, causing them to run at a slower pace and generate a lower pitch for a short time. Hammond's New B3 contains similar switches to emulate this effect, though it is a digital instrument.[31][32]

In the 1960s, Hammond began to manufacture transistor organs in response to competitors such as Lowrey and Wurlitzer who were offering them, with a greater feature set compared to tonewheel Hammonds.[71] The first organ that bridged the gap between tonewheel and transistor was the X-66, introduced in May 1967. The X-66 contained just 12 tonewheels, and used electronics for frequency division. It contained separate "vibrato bass" and "vibrato treble" in an attempt to simulate a Leslie speaker. Hammond designed it as the company's flagship product, in response to market competition and to replace the B-3. However, it was considered expensive at $9,795 and it sold poorly. It did not sound like a B-3.[72]

The basic component sound of a Hammond organ comes from a tonewheel. Each one rotates in front of an electromagnetic pickup. The variation in the magnetic field induces a small alternating current at a particular frequency, which represents a signal similar to a sine wave. When a key is pressed on the organ, it completes a circuit of nine electrical switches, which are linked to the drawbars. The position of the drawbars, combined with the switches selected by the key pressed, determines which tonewheels are allowed to sound.[105][106][107] Every tonewheel is connected to a synchronous motor via a system of gears, which ensures that each note remains at a constant relative pitch to every other.[108] The combined signal from all depressed keys and pedals is fed through to the vibrato system, which is driven by a metal scanner. As the scanner rotates around a set of pickups, it changes the pitch of the overall sound slightly.[109] From here, the sound is sent to the main amplifier, and on to the audio speakers.

The Hammond organ makes technical compromises in the notes it generates. Rather than produce harmonics that are exact multiples of the fundamental as in equal temperament, it uses the nearest-available frequencies generated by the tonewheels.[18] The only guaranteed frequency for a Hammond's tuning is concert A at 440 Hz.[110]

The Hammond organ was perceived as outdated by the late 1970s, particularly in the UK, where it was often used to perform pop songs in social clubs.[155] Punk and new wave bands tended to prefer second-hand combo organs from the 1960s, or use no keyboards at all.[156] Other groups started taking advantage of cheaper and more portable synthesizers that were beginning to become available.[157] The Stranglers' Dave Greenfield was an exception to this, and used a Hammond onstage during the band's early career. Andy Thompson, better known for being an aficionado of the Mellotron, stated, "the Hammond never really went away. There are a lot of studios that have had a B-3 or C-3 sitting away in there since the 70s."[158] The instrument underwent a brief renaissance in the 1980s with the mod revival movement. Taylor played the Hammond through the 1980s, first with the Prisoners and later with the James Taylor Quartet.[159] In the 1990s, Rob Collins' Hammond playing was integral to the Prisoners-influenced sound of the Charlatans.[160][161] The sound of the Hammond has appeared in hip-hop music, albeit mostly via samples. A significant use is the Beastie Boys' 1992 single "So What'cha Want", which features a Hammond mixed into the foreground (the instrument was recorded live rather than being sampled).[162]

The Roland V combo is a great option for keyboardists on a budget who need a little bit more than just organ sounds. In terms of organs, I believe they sound great and match-up well vs the competition.

At the back of the organ and built in to the pedal frame base on the left-hand side (as seen from the back), a connector panel provides an IEC mains inlet and a pair of 11-pin Leslie cabinet connectors, labelled Main and Echo. The main output is exactly as its name suggests, but if a second Leslie speaker is required (a common setup for organ jazz combos) it can be plugged into the Echo socket (Echo being standard 'Leslie-speak' for a second speaker output). Usually a second Leslie switch pod is added to supplement the normal Leslie slow/fast switch, with Main/Ensemble/Echo switching, allowing either or both Leslies to be used, as required. Another point worth making here is that the Leslie 122XB rotary speaker intended for use with the New B3 includes a Stop (Brake) mode as well as the normal Chorale (slow) and Tremolo (fast) settings.

However, some of the later Hammond organs (like the H100 and X77) were fitted with a full complement of 96 active tonewheels, adding an extra half-octave of notes at the top end which allowed the amount of fold-down to be reduced as well to enable the introduction of seventh, ninth, 10th and 12th harmonics (usually paired as 7/9 and 10/12 combinations on two new drawbars). These organs had a subtly different, slightly brighter tonal character.

The Farfisa Mini Deluxe Compact was a renowned organ in the sixties. Using the combo organ as inspiration, Martinic developed the Combo Model F, a free and easy-to-use plugin with some retro textures.

Suppose you want the vintage tonewheel and combo organ sounds of the 60s and 70s to brighten up and warm your productions. In that case, Vintage Organs is the right plugin for you, as it has authentic and realistic recreations of the classic organs, with complete control over your sound through drawbars, percussion, and other effects.

Combo Model F is a virtual combo organ VST modeled after a well-known combo organ from the 1960s: the Farfisa Mini Deluxe Compact.4-octave C-to-C keyboard.Harmonic range is six polyphonic octavesThree treble voice tabs: Dolce, Principale, StringsMulti-Tone Booster voice with All Booster tabKnee lever control.Bass voice (grey keys).Vibrato unit with adjustable speed and depthVolume pedal.Adjustable tuning per note.Fully modeled (no samples inside)The model includes oscillators, dividers, crosstalk, noise, filters, key contacts, and key clicks.Velocity-sensitive key contact attack and release.Fully automatablePDF detailed manualPlugin PC / Mac

Combo Model V is a combo organ VST modeled after a well-known combo organ from the 1960s.32 Presets4-octave C-to-C keyboard.Harmonic range of seven polyphonic octaves.Two voice drawbars: Flute, Reed.Vibrato unit with adjustable speed and depth.Swell (volume) pedal.Adjustable tuning per note.Fully modeled.Velocity-sensitive key contact attack and release.Fully automatableCombo Model V PC / MacCombo Model V Preview

This is not so easy to do, and even harder at reasonable cost. Ideally, the waves should not have fixed phase relationships between related notes, although they do have a reasonably fixed relationship in the original organ. The spring couplings between stages in the tone generator give this some fluidity though. This fixed-but-not-fixed phase relationship is another interesting aspect of the technology, but one with an unknown influence on the sound.

Let's give one thing away first: the electronic organ Gérard Grisey wants has nothing to do with all of the above examples. No screaming, no knifing, no foldback, no nothing. Grisey doesn't specify too precisely the organ in "L'espace acoustique" (1974-1985). In the score it simply says "orgue hammond", a term used for a group of instruments with varying technology and features, the most prominent being the Hammond drawbar organs using tonewheels, the drawbar Vox transistor organ and the transistor Farfisa organ, which doesn't use drawbars but switches (like a pipe organ).

2) A Hammond B3 and similar models cannot play the full range of the lowest and the highest tonewheels over the whole range of the keyboard. Therefore, the 16' tonewheel in the lowest octave of the manual is actually not an octave lower than the second lowest octave on the manual but repeates the pitches of that octave, albeit quite a bit quieter. The same goes for the higher drawbars in the higher register. Again, the sounds in the highest octaves simply get repeated. This whole thing is called "foldback" and is a much desired effect for organ afficionados, because it's what makes the hammond organ scream in the highest registers. There are even "Hammond Foldback Kits" to install it in organs that don't originally have it. It has, however, become such a staple that not a single current clone of a hammond organ can do without and also without giving the option to turn it off. 041b061a72