Following the characteristic sounds of Italian organs, from the 1960s onward other, much more percussive organ sounds burst onto the scene. They brought new musical hits, mainly from the US, and the players who used them on stage stood out even more, because besides being rather bulky machines, they came with another big cabinet called a "Leslie," inside which a large speaker rotated at will, projecting that organ sound and thus achieving a rather different performance sound.
It was different from anything heard until then, and it has since been called the "Hammond sound," after the company that made the organs. From then on, whenever you wanted to play something rhythmic like jazz on an organ, nothing better, or with more infectious rhythm, could be achieved than with instruments that had that kind of sound. That's why, as something basic that every keyboard player demanded, other organ manufacturers incorporated "B-3-type" sounds. But it was obvious that no one could shape that sound like its inventors: "Hammond"...
Now the company bursts in with a new intelligent organ model called the HAMMOND XK-3, which surpasses in quality the ones it made back then. It is now far less bulky and still offers that coveted, characteristic "LESLIE" effect, but now applied in two different ways: electronically, or mechanically via a rear connection to one of those rotating-speaker cabinets, both controllable from the main panel next to the keyboard.
The perfection of the Hammond sound
It is still a "KING" of organs, with enviable personality. Its most notable feature is the kind of vibrations heard in the sounds generated when you press its keys, producing a certain percussive "sweet aggressiveness," as if mixed with the pleasant sound made, for example, by "drops of water" falling on a stream or pond. It spreads a pleasant groove from the very first instant you hear it, with tremendously personal musical magic.
The XK-3 model reproduces all the sounds of the old B-3, C-3, etc. models. And more...
The source of the sounds generated in this organ is called "Tone-Wheels," which would be something like the strings of an electric guitar, but in this case there are 96 independent "tube sound" generators, now created electronically, that combine their oscillations at every instant in whatever way suits us or we feel like. These generators keep running and oscillating, each at a different frequency and speed.
When we press each key, a series of acoustic reactions occur that correspond to the different oscillations: an attack of the sound that "emerges" (with that characteristic Hammond blend of percussive sound), the "sustain" of that oscillation (which we can adjust in many different combinations) and the "decay" of the sound when we lift our finger from the key. And each key generates all these characteristics independently, which makes its electronic circuits much more complicated than those of the brand's early models, but at the same time now achieves a better sense of "naturalness and a life of its own," with a feeling of greater musical class, offering real delight to the musician playing it.
Sobriety, elegance and refinement
It is now more manageable since the whole cumbersome lower section of the old models is gone, which makes it more portable, even by a single person (to place it on a conventional stand), and the new cabinet, designed with the distinction of wood and a nobler design, wins us over with its elegance.
It has absolutely FULL polyphony for every note on the keyboard. To the left of the keyboard you'll notice other keys with "reversed colors," which are used to select, conveniently and instantly, the different sound settings we have previously chosen. So, while we play, they'll be immediately accessible, jumping from one combination of sounds to another with just a light press on each of those special keys, which keep their settings after you switch the organ off and start another session when you power it on again.
The keys are full-size and weighted like those of a conventional piano, but with a somewhat lighter touch, which makes it easier for the musician's fingers to move nimbly over them.
On the back there is a slot for inserting "Compact Flash" memory cards to save each player's various settings on this keyboard, somewhat like certain sophisticated cars that also offer the option of storing the steering wheel or seat height settings for different drivers.
Drawbars
Located in the center, just behind the keys, they will soon catch our attention and invite us to move them (from back to front). There are 20 "bars" divided into white, brown or black colors, each with screen-printed internal divisions. By moving each one, we "refine" the sound settings on the fly, increasing or decreasing, very precisely in each case, different harmonics for each part of the overall spectrum of the sound we hear. This gives us different musical expressions, more aggressive or sweeter, without having to rely on working the instrument's overall volume with our foot, thus creating better, pleasantly differentiated timbres to delight in during the different parts of a musical passage we want to play, and so close at hand that no one will notice we're adding unwanted silences while we faithfully follow the score we are playing.
The old organs had two keyboards
This one does too, but simplified "into just one.".. How? With the drawbars, which, when you slide them, also display their effects "in writing" on the small illuminated LCD screen on the left side of the instrument, which also shows any notice or setting that occurs inside the machine, so we can keep track of it and master it better. The functions these drawbars perform can also be reconfigured in advance.
Its preamp
It is specially designed by Hammond, which calls it a "tube amplifier," and it likewise produces warm or aggressive sounds, as desired. It has a two-band overdrive or overload circuit, so that if the sound starts to distort, a pure harmonic is produced.
Vibrato effects
It has a DSP effects generator to bring out the scanner vibrato and the speaker simulation in the "Leslie" effect, conveniently adjustable to taste (the controls are to the left of the keyboard). However, on the back of the unit there is a special input for a large 11-pin connector, to which we can hook up, if we buy it as an option, one or two (one for each side of a stage) of those "big boxes," the authentic "Leslies" (with their speakers spinning inside, driven by electric motors), with which to own the sound in the listening room. Thanks to the different sound reflections that come from these speakers as they rotate, under the "Doppler" effect, our Hammond organ takes on a spectacular difference in sound compared with any other competing invention.
MIDI too
Also on the back of the cabinet, it has MIDI connections for linking it to other devices that use that system, thus expanding its functions, which can then be "triggered" from this Hammond XK-3 keyboard itself.
Specifications
- Two "Vase III" type sound generators
- 73 keys: 61 (five octaves) plus another 12 keys with "reversed colors," preset, from which the different general settings are selected
- Built-in three-band equalizer
- Ten reverb programs that can also be adjusted with a special wheel next to the illuminated command display, which also shows the corresponding information about how they operate: depth, type and delay times
- An expression pedal (optional) can be connected to vary the overall volume
- You can also connect another pedal, called a "Switch," to control the organ with your foot instead of with the hand switches, while you're performing with your hands busy
- The illuminated, highly visible command display has two lines of twenty characters each, giving us instant visual access to everything happening electronically inside this machine
- The total weight of this XK-3 model is 19.5 kg (about 43 lb). That's far more manageable than its old "siblings," which sometimes not even two people could move, even though they were less sophisticated inside than this new design
- Width: 119 cm. Depth: 40 cm. Height: 12 cm
- It can be restored at any time to its factory settings ("reset") by pressing a short series of keys. But it keeps an internal memory of our settings, even when it has no external power supply (switched off)
- Approximate price: €2,800
- Published in 2013. Updated 03/09/2018
