The voice of organ

[bluzeyone]

Hello fellow boardists! Just a quick question. If I were to build an organ patch from scratch and was going for the b-3 sound, Would it be wise to purposly go a few cents over or under as was the characteristics. If so, how much? What else would help make it sound authentic. I'm really into Jimmy Smith and am looking for that sound. Thank you for your time.

[Dave Horne]

.... pure sine waves and in perfect tune for starters.

[Meisenhower]

This can be a tough one. There are a number of sources for what the frequencies for drawbars and the appropriate harmonics are.

 

You may want to start by checking out some of the sites below:

 

http://www.stefanv.com/electronics/hammond_drawbar_science.html

 

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

 

http://www.electricdruid.net/index.php?page=info.hammond

 

You also may want to provide what equipment you want to use to create your "patch", as the answer may vary widely.

 

Jimmy Smith's signature drawbar registrations are pretty easy to do on a Hammond, but converting that to a "non Hammond" keyboard may prove to be a little more difficult.

 

 

 

 

[mate stubb]

There are innumerable subtle details that you probably won't ever nail.

 

But start with a sinewave tuned to concert pitch. Tune another one a fifth above, and tune a 3rd sine an octave below. Mix them to equal volume. That is the basic 888000000 JS patch.

 

Try this and see how you do. In order to take you any further, I would end up writing a novel!

[bluzeyone]

I currently am controlling a roland juno-d for live gigs. Inexpensive for the horrors of the road. The organs in it are rather dry and cheesed. I thank you for your input.

[Eric Jx]

I don't know the capabilities of the Juno-d, but SoundOnSound has a great series called Synth Secrets on Sythesis that includes multiple articles on how to craft a patch to emulate hammond organs.

 

 

[Mark Schmieder]

For some of the more basic Hammond setups, you can get a far more authentic rendition (at least in a mix, if not soloed) with a good Moog or Moog emulation (using the methods described above) than with a poor clonewheel.

 

Up until I bought my XK-1 last week, I was using a Moog with custom programming (at my end) to handle some of my simpler organ parts that didn't involve comping.

 

The same technique could be applied to polyphonic synths, but then the interaction between the notes starts to become more telling.