Jump to content

midification of an hammond organ...is it possible?


superdavies
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi to everyone

This idea is really mad me crazy!

I have an old hammond m3 and I have a lot of hammond stuff like keyboards, drawbars, tone generators ecc

That's my proposal and question for you: I would like to build some kind of "Hammond expander"...the main parts of the sound generation of hammond (tonewheels, filters and so on ) made in a custon enclosure (very heavy, I think) and the controller section of the organ (keyboards, drawbard, presets, percussions and so on ) made in a custon lightweight keyboard; the two are connected via midi. As you can understand it is possible to control the tone generator part with a sequencer and use it like a real expander, or you can connect another keyboard to the expander midi in for pilote it... Maybe it is also a good idea for made it more transportable.

What do you think, is it possible to do? I really know that for the manuals there's no problem but maybe is a little bit difficult for the drawbars and other controller...Suggestions, can anyone tell me the right way to do it or maybe there's someone that have just done? For the keyboarf part is easy with midio or midibox 64, but for the tone generator part, how to do?

Thank you very much!!!

Andrea

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you want to get rid of the Hammond tone wheels, you will need to synthesise that function. The Hammond organ is an early example of additive synthesis.  Each note is the combination of the fundamental and 8 harmonics 1st, 2nd etc in proportion to the number on the drawbar.

I have looked into this.  The tone generator part is the easier part to synthesise, however the Leslie speaker simulation is not easy.  There have been a number of hardware synths that have tried to do this but my research shows that this was not a success.

I have concluded that the better way to go is to buy the Native Instruments B4 program and  to run this on a PC enclosed in the B3 case.

This I know is the approach used by HenryGr on this forum.

I am currently building a 1U rackmounted PC which will provide the intelligence of the Hammond B4 Organ.  The next stage will be the Midi controller.  I think that you could use the Midio 128 for this.  I will probably program my own application in C.

Regards Robin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

hi

i suppose it is possible to do what you said, create a (large) breakout box for the hammond tonewheels which is then controlled by midi.

robinfawell's solution has its possibilities and can be done using a high end pentium3 (1.0 - 1.4 MHz)

as for simulating the leslie speakers, why not get some proper rotary speakers from hammond (http://www.hammondorganco.com/).  they can take a signal from any audio gear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is a link that explains how the Hammond organ drawbars work.

http://theatreorgans.com/hammond/drawbar.htm

It shows how the sine waves generated by the fundamental and the various harmonics are added together to produce a given sound.  Note that the numbers on each drawbar are proportional to the amplitude of the signal.

Perhaps someone with more knowledge can suggest how you might synthesise  this using midibox methods.

If you want a lightweight organ, even leslie speakers are fairly heavy!  As in most things in life it depends on what aspects are more important to you, authenticity or weight.

Regards Robin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok

Now I know what "Robinfawell" means...it's you!

Hi!!!

Thank you for your link, very interesting; I really don't want choose between lightweight and sound of an hammond organ! I perfectly know that if I want a portable one I got to choose one of the 100 clones in the market but if a what "THE SOUND" I need the original.

My proposal is only for the fun of the project, I really don't need it for doing something or for playing in a band or so on: It's an idea, the midification of a hammond organ! I don't what to synthetize the toneweels, I want only to get rid of the classical hammond controllers (keyboards, drawbars, persussion buttons, reverber buttons ecc  ) and to midifying all these controllers so the Hammond itself will look like a "box" with no user interface, only the midi connectors for drive it with a midi keyboard, a sequencers, a "midibox".

Ex: connect a midikeyboard to my "Hammondbox" and I start moving many pots: this pots send midimessages to my hammondbox that can read them and retransform them in a pots movements so the hammond can read as a drawbars movement. Hope to be more clear this way!  ;)

Thank you very much!

Superdavies

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you trying to provide MIDI control of a real Hammond? If so, I think the drawbars are mechanically moving a pickup relative to the tone wheels. That would be a challenge to control with MIDI. You would need some sort of servo mechanism to physically move things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Superdavies,

Here are mods to a set of H series (a 112 to be exact) that I got off of ebay. I then built the case from plywood, inspired by another keyboard I saw on this forum about a year back. I contacted him, and gave me some tips. I too wanted a hammond on the road, as I gig four to five times a week, and need that extra ooomph to keep it that way. The whole keyboard is based on a PC. I coverd the outer case in green leatherette, and the trims in walnut veneer, which still have a few coats to go. It is about 90 percent complete. In its development i did a lot of work with M3 drawbars and would be more than happy to share my experiences with you. I am now full steam in getting it finished, so I will do a full biog on completion- bare with me.

So- the keyboard......

469123056_6c6a2c0178.jpg?v=0

....yes, I even veneered the monitor for that authentic fell, and installed a touchscreen panel. No fiddling around with a mouse any more.....

Drawbars on the left run by scan matrix........

469081796_381af0ffdf.jpg?v=0

.....and a mod job where I installed slide pots to those on the right.....

469131987_c37dc571ba.jpg?v=0

It is also my intention to get a retrofitting section in the wiki started, and hope to begin that this year.

Please fell free to ask any questions.

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi

your photos are really interesting!

Just few questions: is it a clone or is it a real tonewheel? touchscreen is a really good idea! it seems to me like a sort of controller for a software synth like the NI b4 isn't?

If is a real tonewheel, maybe you can solve some problem I got...basically one...HOW? 8)

Thank you very much, i really would like to know everything about your organ...

Bye

Andrea

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

geez, superdavies, that is tough work.

Du you understand how a hammond works ? I am not shure if I do but as far as I know does each hammond of the fav models (M3, A100, B/C/RT3) has 9 keycontacts for the 9 fundamentals you are able to mix with the 9 drawbars.

A midimessage for "note on" would not only have to contain the midi note (key on the keyboard) but also the mix of the drawbars.

For example, the more drawbars are out the more overtones sound, meaning the more tonewheels must be switched by your µC.

this sounds like a lot of work and if I were in your case I wouldnt even try. Cause if you are using the keyboard of the hammond you wont reduce weight as the keybeds of the hammonds are real heavy.

I would try to build a midibox with some lighter keybeds like Fatar's TP/8O and real drawbars from your pool of parts and let some digital gadget produce the sound or use the REAL thing.

Best

Borntob4

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...