HX3 MIDI expander module

[Mitch Towne]

It sounded pretty great to my ears right out of the box. But there are a lot of tweakable parameters in there.

[LX88]

A major thank you goes out to Mitch for addressing some of my questions. Hopefully it addresses some questions that others may have about this " mystery box".

 

I will have to see about the keyclick not being able to be decreased.

 

This could be considered to be a somewhat debateable topic. On a tonewheel Hammond , a lot depends on what speaker is used and whether or not your leslie is pointed forward or backward. Etc.Etc.

 

One clone that had too much click was the original Voce Micro B. To me it had a hideous amount of click that could not be eliminated.

 

I have a tendency to like to minimize keyclick and percussion volume. I have to confess to not being a fan of excessive click. I frequently turn it down or off on most clones.

 

So the C/V is adjustable. I have heard of people installing a dial to increase or decrease the chorus depth on tonewheels. I have not tried this, but perhaps this relates to what might happen if a "depth" dial were installed.

 

It is nice to hear that it would be somewhat easy to scroll through parameters if just a midi controller were to be used, which is how I intend to get familiar with this unit.

 

Also interesting would be a treble cut adjustment, which is sometimes necessary to use on a tonewheel. It looks like the designers are being purist not to include bass EQ, but that can be done via mixer or preamp.

 

The above info was certainly helpful because some of the dealer info on these is lacking. The price these things were being offered for earlier in the week was too good to pass up, given the amounts of favorable reports.

 

Those who ordered from Diversi are probably going to have to wait a little while for these though. Diversi did not even have them in stock when they took the orders. We will have to see how well that pans out.

[lophiomys]

There is just the right amount of key click, IMHO. Listen to samples on youtube or uhl-instruments.de or http://www.keyboardpartner.de/referenzen.html

HTH

[TomKittel]

There is just the right amount of key click, IMHO. Listen to samples on youtube or uhl-instruments.de or http://www.keyboardpartner.de/referenzen.html

HTH

 

Most authentic key click I ever heard on any clonewheel. It can be kind of adjusted with the treble control in the display menu. Call up treble control, adjust it, press the dial knob for two seconds to save it, done.

[AnotherScott]

I still think my Mojo's sound is "Better" in some ways to the HX3, but again, this is all so personal and subjective. I still need to decide which I'm going to sell - but I'm not keeping both.

To anyone who has had the opportunity to use both, I'm really curious to hear some more detailed comparisons. Not just "I like X better," but in what context you're using it. Melodic jazz or screaming rock? Internal sim, Vent, or real Leslie? How about comparing specific attributes, like the key click, leakage, percussion...? How it responds as you lay into (and out of) the expression pedal?

Fair enough (although I did say it is subjective, so what may be "better" for me, may not be "better" for somebody else).

...[all the good stuff]...

As I said initially - this is all subjective and I sort of wanted to avoid typing all this (I guess I'm somewhat afraid of people telling me how "wrong" I am). But that's my take with a grain of salt.

I didn't mean to make that sound like I was addressing you in particular, but that was great info, John, thanks!

[LX88]

Has anyone seen an owner's manual on line for the HX3? Just curious.

 

I checked the keyboard partner forum but didn't see anything. I would like to have a look at a manual before mine arrives ( I ordered from Diversi during that sale last week).

 

I am also kind of curious about the optical scanner I saw on Youtube that triggers this. Apparently this is the means that would make it function with an older organ. That would be interesing....

[Dave Osoff]

Here ya go.

https://github.com/keyboardpartner/HX3/tree/master/DOCS_PDF

[Diversified]

Here is the owner's manual from Keyboard Partner that we placed on the Diversi website. http://diversi.us/pdfs/keyboardpartner/HX3%20MIDI%20expander%20module%20Mrk4%20July%202015.pdf

 

We are working on making some changes to it such as adding a Table of Contents and some other info. We'll post it on our website as soon as it's finished.

 

Thanks,

Diversi

[Delaware Dave]

..as of now the leslie is only stereo..

Mitch, for those of us that run in mono I assume that you would grab either the left or right out only. Have you tried this and more importantly how does it sound when run this way?

[Mitch Towne]

Dave,

 

Yeah, I think that is the only way to do it. I have only done this once on a gig and wasn't really happy with it.

[LX88]

Thank you to the people who provided links to the owner's manual.... that is going to give me some familiarity with this box before it arrives.

 

Also much thanks to Diversi for joining this discussion and for making the introductory price available to myself and others last week.... however brief.

 

There is a degree of anxiety I suppose about ordering something online that you have never seen. It is similar to having faith that a Crumar Mojo or some other piece of gear would be worth the price of a 2500 to 3000 dollar risk.

 

The HX3 was somewhat less of a risk at the introductory price, so I can assume that there will be interest in it if I should fail to comprehend how to make it work for me.

 

One of my quests is to find a controller that has a different feel than the current crop of TP-80 related keybeds. I am also looking at afforability and weight issues regarding potential controllers.

 

One of my assumptions is that the HX-3 will have programmable presets. I do have a Numa to possibly help me set these up, and then I will probably use some other midi controller to use for my initial experiments with this.

 

So far I am not seeing a way to establish drawbar presets without the aid of midi drawbars, but hopefully the Numa can address that.

 

Another option might be to start looking for some Voce drawbars. I have always liked the Voce sound with the exception of the C/V and lack of leslie sim. I am not sure if I want or need to fork out for the price of a V5 or something similar just to get drawbars though.

 

I am just trying to come up with a plan so I can use this when it does arrive. Since Diversi is in on this discussion, when are the sale price units scheduled to ship???

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave Osoff]

LX-88: Every drawbar, upper, lower and pedal is a separate menu item. You can adjust these as well as percussion, C/V and most everything else right on the front panel with the buttons and encoder knob and save them as presets or a default setting.

[Doerfler]

when are the sale price units scheduled to ship???

 

I received this e-mail from Divirsi earlier today. Hope this answers some of your questions

 

"Good Day:

Again, we thank you for your order for the HX3 by Keyboard Partner of Germany.

As of this morning, the units are on their way from Germany. For your information, Keyboard Partner ships us the completed electronics, tested. The case for the HX3 is unassembled. Once the parts reach us, we then will assemble the HX3s and test them, box them and get them ready for shipment to you. This should take about 1 or 2 business days. Once we have them ready to ship we will email you your tracking information.

 

There are two things you might like to know.

 

1. HX3 Mark4 When your HX3 arrives, you will be receiving the newest HX3 - the Mk4. Keyboard Partner announced that the HX3 Mk4 now includes a USB port as well as some other changes in the software to enhance the HX3. So this means you will have all of these latest HX3 enhancements.

 

2. Owners Guide We have had questions about the owners guide for the HX3. We have attached a copy to this email, in addition, it is now posted on the our website at www.diversi.us\hsx3db.html. It is located in the right column under Downloads. Please be aware that this guide is from Germany. We will offer an updated version that we feel will be more comprehensive and will send you a link to its PDF when it is completed, in about two weeks. When you open your HX3 Mk4 you will receive a HARD COPY of the current guide, from Germany, in the box with your new HX3. Yes! It is in English.

 

A little bit of information about connecting your HX3 to non-drawbar clones. Since there are so many different synths we cannot test everything. We are to understand that if a synths controls can be mapped you should be able to control the HX3s advanced features. However, there are 15 Upper, Lower and Pedal presets already stored in the HX3 so that you can access them as patch numbers via GM MIDI. If you connect the HX3 to say a Korg or Yamaha Motif and you wish to share your custom control settings please feel free to send us the information and we will post it for others.

Once again we thank you for your purchase, and we will keep you updated as things move along. Please contact us if you have any questions.

 

Regards,

 

Diversi Musical Products, Inc."

[Dave Osoff]

Delaware Dave - I'm getting back to you late on this question, but I just set up my Voce V5+ with the HX3 with new firmware and the drawbars are for the most part nicely in sync now. It's very close.

There are 11 clicks for each drawbar.

1=1

2=2

3=2.5

4=3.5

5=4

6=5

7=5.5

8=6.5

9=7

10=7.75-8

11=8

Speaking numbers 1-8, roughly:

1=1.25 or 1.5

2=2.5

3=3.5

4=4

5=5.5

6=6.5

7=7.5

8=8

YMMV ;-)

[LX88]

It is very good to know that presets can be altered and stored on this unit.

 

I have a small collection of midi controllers that I have collected over the years ( please don't say.... hoarded) , some of which I have wanted to try as lower manuals for a Numa etc. But never got around to it.

 

I was comparing the Numa TP-80 to the keybed of my '62 Hammond B-3 today, and am realizing that I would like something in between the stiffness of the Tp-80 and the lightness of 53 year old broken in Hammond.

 

I have a few ideas of things that might work. I would really like to try one of the new Behringer controllers with this. They have a limited amount of control features but I recall liking the feel of the keys quite a bit when I tried it at NAMM.

 

 

[Delaware Dave]

Delaware Dave - I'm getting back to you late on this question, but I just set up my Voce V5+ with the HX3 with new firmware and the drawbars are for the most part nicely in sync now. It's very close.

There are 11 clicks for each drawbar.

1=1

2=2

3=2.5

4=3.5

5=4

6=5

7=5.5

8=6.5

9=7

10=7.75-8

11=8

Speaking numbers 1-8, roughly:

1=1.25 or 1.5

2=2.5

3=3.5

4=4

5=5.5

6=6.5

7=7.5

8=8

YMMV ;-)

 

Dave,

 

Thanks for getting back and you are right, it is close enough. Two followup questions please. Does 0=0? If not, that would be the deal breaker. If it is, I'm ready to order.

 

One other question, Mitch mentioned that the leslie is now stereo and when he tried mono by taking only one side of the outputs he wasn't impressed by the results. Do you run mono and if so have you been able to get a satisfying mono leslie? As I have a Vent this isn't a deal breaker, but would like to be able to eventually go w/o the Vent as long as I'm not frustrated by a sub-par mono leslie in HX3.

[Delaware Dave]

When custom CC's are created and stored, what retains them in memory? With the Hammond XM2, the user programs/presets area is retained with a battery backup (CR2032). Does the HX3 require a battery backup as well for user defined CC custom sets?

[Al Coda]

 

I would like something in between the stiffness of the Tp-80 and the lightness of 53 year old broken in Hammond.

 

Maybe a 26.5 years old TP-80 equipped controller would do the trick then. Who knows ?

I doubt today´s controllers survive that long.

 

It is probably a matter of experimentation only.

The stiffness in Fatar keyboardactions comes from the key-return-springs being used.

The 3rd party manufacturers tweaking Fatar keyboard mechanisms, (amongst other things) replace the springs.

 

I remember, when users weren´t statisfied w/ the KURZ PC3 76 action, there came the day Syntaur offered a spring replacement kit to get rid of the stiffness and bounce.

 

So,- it´s doable also w/ a TP-8O action.

The challenge is finding the right springs.

 

I would really like to try one of the new Behringer controllers with this. They have a limited amount of control features but I recall liking the feel of the keys quite a bit when I tried it at NAMM.

 

I doubt the B-Controller survives longer than 26.5 month.

 

 

A.C.

[ob1]

One other question, Mitch mentioned that the leslie is now stereo and when he tried mono by taking only one side of the outputs he wasn't impressed by the results........

 

Not sure if this speaks to Mitch's issue but when I use my GSi BURN at church, I use a Y-Cable to mix the left/right channels into the Direct Box (mono). Using Left only or Right only did not sound good to me either!!!

 

Haven't used my HX3 live yet but that is exactly what I would do with the HX3 (Y-Cable). I also use a Nord Stage but it has a left L/MONO output which combines L and R so that works great.

 

Hope that helps.

[The_Star_Guy]

One other question, Mitch mentioned that the leslie is now stereo and when he tried mono by taking only one side of the outputs he wasn't impressed by the results........

 

Not sure if this speaks to Mitch's issue but when I use my GSi BURN at church, I use a Y-Cable to mix the left/right channels into the Direct Box (mono). Using Left only or Right only did not sound good to me either!!!

 

Haven't used my HX3 live yet but that is exactly what I would do with the HX3 (Y-Cable). I also use a Nord Stage but it has a left L/MONO output which combines L and R so that works great.

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

No. That is not sound advice! Non-resistive "Y"-cables are for splitting signals, not combining them. To mix a true stereo signal to mono you will need either a small mixer or a resistive combiner. There are also Direct Boxes with an integrated combiner capable of summing a stereo signal to mono as well, like the Radial Duplex. http://www.radialeng.com/jdiduplex.php Never use an ordinary "Y" cable to combine signals. You are lucky if your Burn still works correctly!

[M_G]

When custom CC's are created and stored, what retains them in memory? With the Hammond XM2, the user programs/presets area is retained with a battery backup (CR2032). Does the HX3 require a battery backup as well for user defined CC custom sets?

 

Flash memory, no battery....

Just check the write eprom button in the remote software.

you can store and backup your cc set on your computer same as your leslie and organ setup....

 

[M_G]

There is just the right amount of key click, IMHO. Listen to samples on youtube or uhl-instruments.de or http://www.keyboardpartner.de/referenzen.html

HTH

 

Most authentic key click I ever heard on any clonewheel. It can be kind of adjusted with the treble control in the display menu. Call up treble control, adjust it, press the dial knob for two seconds to save it, done.

 

The Treble or Tone Control alters the overall sound not only the keyclick.

Of course there are some key click parameters to adjust it:

 

ContSpringFlx <7> - adjusts key contact spring flex, affects click length

ContSpringDmp <9> - adjusts key contact spring damping, affects click

frequency

 

Tweak it to your tastes !

😉

 

 

[ob1]

No. That is not sound advice! Non-resistive "Y"-cables are for splitting signals, not combining them. To mix a true stereo signal to mono you will need either a small mixer or a resistive combiner. There are also Direct Boxes with an integrated combiner capable of summing a stereo signal to mono as well, like the Radial Duplex. http://www.radialeng.com/jdiduplex.php Never use an ordinary "Y" cable to combine signals. You are lucky if your Burn still works correctly!

 

Thank you for the schooling! Have done this for years and fortunately never experienced equipment issues/damage. Now I know!

 

Even though have not done it correctly, summing L + R does produce good results when going into a mono mix.

 

Thank you again, Luis.

[chipster51]

Is the HX3 Mac compatible or PC only?

[Dave Osoff]

The remote software for the HX3 is PC compatible, not Mac compatible. But it is possible that you may be able to get it to work with a Mac via WINE or another Windows emulator. I tried opening it via Wine on my Mac and was able to open the software but was not able to get the Mac to recognize the USB connection. I didn't experiment any further after that.Your mileage may vary.

[jmolino]

Maybe try "Crossover" linux: Crossover Linux.

 

This software is kind of like a wrapper around wine and takes the pain away from the configuration if you aren't a linux sysadmin - they also do some cool stuff behind the scenes.. There is a trial, so if you are so inclined and have a mac, give it a whirl. I've used Crossover to run say, Outlook, when I could not get it to run with Wine. It creates "bottles" and just puts in the basic .dlls that are required to run a given application. Very cool stuff and good support. Might be worth a shot. If it is important to you, I would reach out to them.

 

-John

 

 

[AnotherScott]

Is it possible to drive the HX3 from the VR-09, including high trigger point and drawbar functionality? (I'm not sure if the drawbars output anything over MIDI).

 

The VR-09's high trigger point works great when driving the VB3, therefore it would work with the HX3; (the VR-700's high trigger point works great with the HX3). Unfortunately, HOWEVER, the drawbars send midi sysex data only; no CC. In-other-words, the VR's are worthless to control other organs. Sorry!

It might be possible to do a Sysex-->CC conversion with a MIDI Solutions box...? Not sure it's worth it... comparing to, say, the Numa... yes, you might get the higher trigger point, but the action and other aspects of organ control are weaker in other ways.

[ob1]

It might be possible to do a Sysex-->CC conversion with a MIDI Solutions box...? Not sure it's worth it... comparing to, say, the Numa... yes, you might get the higher trigger point, but the action and other aspects of organ control are weaker in other ways.

 

Funny you bring this up. I bought a MIDI Solutions Event Processor Plus last week from the midi-store web site ($150) to do just that. I'm trying to get my head around how to program it but I'll give it a try. I really like the VR-700 and would love to use it to control the HX3. Also have a VR-09 but would not use the VR-09 because it has not-so-good action and feels like a toy!

 

 

 

[Doerfler]

when are the sale price units scheduled to ship???

 

my unit is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow!

[mate stubb]

when are the sale price units scheduled to ship???

 

my unit is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow!

 

As is mine.