SK-1 and 2 Tips, Tricks and Other Cool Stuff.

[bhodaway10]

Thanks Brad! I saw that case but had my reservations on price and length. If I can't find anything better, maybe I'll take the plunge.

[Donsta]

Can someone recommend a case for the SK-2 that has back straps?

[RussoTuristo]

Hello everyone, i'm using SK1 for about 3 months and just finished to read all 47 pages of this thread.

I'd like to ask you about internal Leslie types that you like to use when playing live. Anyone using "31H" type playing on stage? I'm playing jazz and like it's soft and warm sound a lot (in headphones), but in live mix i find it too muddy. Tried to adjust EQ, but "122" type is still more clear in the mix.

[bhodaway10]

I recently got a used Nord 73 bag and I can attest that it does indeed fit the SK1-73.

 

At first I thought it wouldn't fit but it's just very tight.

 

The bag filled every need I wanted - backpack straps, good fit, protective, and well made.

[p19978]

Has anyone experimented with overdrive pedals on the SK1? I find the Leslie to be pretty decent but the gain/overdrive to be uninspiring.

 

I have tried running the SK1 into a Butler Real Tube pedal (yes, putting the Leslie sim before overdrive will drive the purists crazy). It was enough of an improvement for me buy the rack mounted version of the Real Tube. I'll report back later...

[p19978]

Meh.

 

Can't recommend it; you lose too much note definition if you crank the gain.

 

I tried ax7, at7, and au7. None of them really sounded better than the built it gain/overdrive.

[JrussoC]

Don't know if it is in the manual. But this week I discovered that if you hold "lower" the lower keyboard drawbars are put in the same way the upper ones. Same occurs if you hold "Upper", its drawbars put in the same way as the lower ones.

[Jazzmammal]

What are you using for amplification? Changing the speakers or EQ can make a huge difference.

 

Bob

[Steeplemouth]

Hi all,

 

I have been downloading the extra voices from the Hammond site but when I open up the Taped Sampler zip file it is identical to the Hand Bells zip file. Is this right?

 

Thanks,

Steeplemouth

[JrussoC]

Exactly, I was going to report this to hammond but sending them an email from their website forces to accept ads from them.

Try downloading from the European page. http://www.hammond.eu/support/downloads/voice-libraries/

[Josh Paxton]

I could have sworn there was a way to make one pedal function as both a sustain pedal for piano sounds and a Leslie speed switch for organ sounds, like you can on the Nord, but damned if I can find it now. Did I hallucinate that, or is there a way to do it?

[HSS]

I could have sworn there was a way to make one pedal function as both a sustain pedal for piano sounds and a Leslie speed switch for organ sounds, like you can on the Nord, but damned if I can find it now. Did I hallucinate that, or is there a way to do it?

I thought I read it and/or heard it somewhere as well. It would definitely be a nice option to have. I reassigned Leslie speed to the sustain pedal on my Kurz SP4-7 by just reassigning the KB3's midi CC#'s. If it can't currently be done on the SK's, perhaps it could be accomplished with some kind of software update.

[JMcS]

I could have sworn there was a way to make one pedal function as both a sustain pedal for piano sounds and a Leslie speed switch for organ sounds, like you can on the Nord, but damned if I can find it now. Did I hallucinate that, or is there a way to do it?

 

Since it is possible to have both the organ and EV active simultaneously, using one pedal would cause the Leslie speed to change every time you held the EV notes or vice versa.

 

Edit: However, if you use a female to 2 male Y cord and connected it to the footswitch and Damper jacks it might do what you want.

[Jefsong]

I apologize if this has been covered but I haven't heard it mentioned here. I use my SK2's second manual as an external keyboard to trigger sounds in my s90es. I realized that there is no velocity control or aftertouch when playing sounds this way. Am I correct about this? Does the Hammond SK2 not send velocity or aftertouch information? If not has anyone found a work around for this? It's hard to believe that the SK2's controller abilities are handicapped like this.

[TKN]

Check the triggerpoint (sounding point), ref. page 81 in the manual, and set it to "deep".

[Jefsong]

Oh thank you. I didn't know that was related to midi as well. I'll take a look.

[BenWaB3]

Fairly new SK-1 73 owner here - tomorrow (11/04) makes 2 weeks. I've been going through the owner's manual & this thread (up to page 28 so far) but do have a question on something I seem to have overlooked thus far: is it possible to keep the extra voices from going through the Leslie section? I'm setting up some organ splits with the lt. hand used for either lower manual bass or the EV electric bass. I didn't see anything on the EV, Leslie or Control pages to bypass the Leslie for the EV's. So far I'm really liking this piece. It was intuitive enough that I was able to pick it up at noon & have a basic setup to play with that evening in a regular band situation, which uses a bass player, so no lt. hand bass setups needed there.

 

So far the only possibly useful tip I have to bring to the table is using curve #1 on the expression pedal for clav wah settings. For me anyway, having the most action occur in the early part of the pedal throw gives you more control over the sweep. Of course that just might be personal preference.

 

Anyway, if someone can steer me to getting the Leslie removed from the electric bass sounds it would be most appreciated.

Thanks.

[niacin]

I apologize if this has been covered but I haven't heard it mentioned here. I use my SK2's second manual as an external keyboard to trigger sounds in my s90es. I realized that there is no velocity control or aftertouch when playing sounds this way. Am I correct about this? Does the Hammond SK2 not send velocity or aftertouch information? If not has anyone found a work around for this? It's hard to believe that the SK2's controller abilities are handicapped like this.

 

In the controller menu set the keyboard to auto. Then assign an extra voice to upper or lower depending on which keyboard you wish to send velocity information (you can only choose one). Set the volume of the extra voice to zero or set the range of the extra voice to say C0-C0 i.e. something outside of the range of the keys. Set up one of the zones to control you external sounds and set that zone to send on upper or lower to match the extra voice setting. Velocity information will only be sent if you have the extra voice assigned to that keyboard (upper or lower). I love the controller options on this but you can only get the full velocity range on one manual. But hey it's basically an organ with some extra features.

[JMcS]

Fairly new SK-1 73 owner here - tomorrow (11/04) makes 2 weeks. I've been going through the owner's manual & this thread (up to page 28 so far) but do have a question on something I seem to have overlooked thus far: is it possible to keep the extra voices from going through the Leslie section? I'm setting up some organ splits with the lt. hand used for either lower manual bass or the EV electric bass. I didn't see anything on the EV, Leslie or Control pages to bypass the Leslie for the EV's. So far I'm really liking this piece. It was intuitive enough that I was able to pick it up at noon & have a basic setup to play with that evening in a regular band situation, which uses a bass player, so no lt. hand bass setups needed there.

 

So far the only possibly useful tip I have to bring to the table is using curve #1 on the expression pedal for clav wah settings. For me anyway, having the most action occur in the early part of the pedal throw gives you more control over the sweep. Of course that just might be personal preference.

 

Anyway, if someone can steer me to getting the Leslie removed from the electric bass sounds it would be most appreciated.

Thanks.

 

The Extra Voices don't go through the digital Leslie.

 

See Pg. 38 of the manual.

[BenWaB3]

Fairly new SK-1 73 owner here - tomorrow (11/04) makes 2 weeks. I've been going through the owner's manual & this thread (up to page 28 so far) but do have a question on something I seem to have overlooked thus far: is it possible to keep the extra voices from going through the Leslie section? I'm setting up some organ splits with the lt. hand used for either lower manual bass or the EV electric bass. I didn't see anything on the EV, Leslie or Control pages to bypass the Leslie for the EV's. So far I'm really liking this piece. It was intuitive enough that I was able to pick it up at noon & have a basic setup to play with that evening in a regular band situation, which uses a bass player, so no lt. hand bass setups needed there.

 

So far the only possibly useful tip I have to bring to the table is using curve #1 on the expression pedal for clav wah settings. For me anyway, having the most action occur in the early part of the pedal throw gives you more control over the sweep. Of course that just might be personal preference.

 

Anyway, if someone can steer me to getting the Leslie removed from the electric bass sounds it would be most appreciated.

Thanks.

 

The Extra Voices don't go through the digital Leslie.

 

See Pg. 38 of the manual.

 

Ah - actually, thanks for making me research this a little further. The problem ended up being in the Allocate and Solo sections, which I've never totally understood. With the "lower" button on but the "solo" button off the lower manual drawbars were still playing (and going through the Leslie section). Pushing the solo button solved that. In the blitz of getting the 73 and trying to learn & program it in the midst of a very busy time in life I'm kind of learning it's capabilities at too slow a pace. Ironically I was working with it a little last night & learning how to put non-sounding drawbar settings in some of the EV programs. That way I could turn off the solo button & have them play instead, which is working out to be a bonus since I can now use those particular favorites with the band setting as opposed to their normal role on my solo jobs. Anyway, thanks for steering me in the right direction!!

[Losendoskeys]

This is just a heads-up related to older threads from 2 - 3 years ago about hard cases for the SK2... The general conclusion at that time for the go-to-case for the SK2 (with the feet removed) was the Gator GKPE-61 tsa.

 

I just purchased another case, which is advertised for the Tyros 5-61, that the SK2 fits nicely in without having to remove the feet. It's the SKB 3i 4719-kbd, which is approximately the same exterior size and weight (~25 lbs.) as the Gator case but a little more spacious inside with another half inch of depth allowing the SK2's feet to stay on.

 

Here is a link to the SKB site with the case's description and its specs:

http://www.skbcases.com/music/products/proddetail.php?f=&id=865&o=&offset=&c=76&s=76

I've been using this since I got the SK2 - it is light and there is room around the outside so you can store PSU and cables.

And you don't need to remover the feet!

But THE most important thing is it has two handles - the single handle on most cases concentrates the weight in one place - not good for the back!

http://www.gatorcases.com/p/310109-1294/g-mix-22x46

 

 

[Electro Fan]

I recently picked up an SK2 in a cash/trade deal. I must admit that I am having a tough time bonding to the instrument. Difficulty with using the instrument on a two tier stand, needing to find a suitable hard shell case for gigging, and frustrations with finding suitable EV voices, all have lead to me placing the SK2 on my local CL.

 

However, as I have had no potential buyers and the discovery of the SKB case listed above, have made me take another look at how I might be able to use the SK2 live in a sole keyboard setup.

 

I come here asking for help. Would anyone who might be using their SK2 as the only board at a gig be willing to share their SETUP file with me. I normally only use a handful of sounds that include Organ, AP, Wurl with trem, Rhodes, basic string and pad sounds. I have downloaded a few different SETUPS from the Hammond website, but while they each have some great patches, none of them seem to have usable string and pad sounds and also include workable (tweaked) AP and EP sounds.

 

If I cannot find a way to use the EV's so that I don't need to bring another board, then I will have to increase my efforts to sell the SK2.

 

If anyone is willing to be so generous to share their SETUP file, I would be most appreciative.

 

Thanks,

 

Bill

[DenCV]

Bill, I'd be happy to send mine, but they're a bit weird. The organs are modeled after my Hammond CV, and there's a few odd patches in there, such as my Medeski Mellotron patch. I use it as a sole keyboard in an R&B band when we have our horns (WHen the horns aren't in the budget, I throw a yamaha MX61 for brass on top) and a sole keyboard minus one (I use the chicago harp patch in my VR09, but other than that it's all SK2). I do use it exclusively for EP's, clavs, AP's, but I think the trick is in the velocity settings, and also turning the volume up so you can't play it hard, since it is an unweighted keyboard and it'll bottom out way too quick if you play it with a piano touch. Now Pads, and synth strings, that's something it doesn't do well. We have some freedom in the R&B band, we're doing our own versions, so I usually use the mellotron strings when I need some kind of string sound. Get me an Email addy if you want my setup, weird as it is

[Electro Fan]

DenCV,

 

I appreciate your offer and I am PM'ing you my email addy. The setup you describe may be a little unorthodox, but I would like to give it a shot. I still am uncertain if there is a way to load a single program from a SETUP so that I could create a "best of" collection that I could make into a SETUP.

 

Thanks again,

 

Bill

[DenCV]

Bill, it's on the way, just sent it. As far as saving patches, I'm not sure what all saves as a patch. I have a feeling if you change leslie values, or TG values it would confuse things. And again, if libraries change it could mess you up.

 

 

[Mr. Nightime]

All the extra voices that I have added to my SK-2 I got directly from the Hammond site. I played it at a funk jam the other day and loved it

 

[Bent6]

Hi all,

 

I was just loading up some of the extra voice libraries into my SK1 and noticed for the first time that the internal memory for the extra voices is miniscule. Has hammond offered a memory upgrade for this? Alternately. is anyone doing this upgrade 3rd party?

 

In my days of yore, I remember upgrading chips on an old synth or two to increase the memory. Heck, I seem to recall articles in Electronic Musician or some other magazine of that era about doing just that.

 

However, this was in the days of early 80s polysynths. I'm expecting that today's more sophisticated keyboards would not be as likely to hack like this.

 

Thanks!

 

Ken

[doctorpong]

Don't know whether this has been discussed, but I was having difficulty with my SK1-73 losing patches occasionally, and I would have to fix by using my restore thumb drive. I keep a music thumb drive in most of the time with my music back-up tracks that I play with. It appears that turning it on with that thumb drive in may be causing the problem. I haven't had any trouble when I remove that drive before I turn the organ off.

[Electro Fan]

I recently picked up an SK2 in a cash/trade deal. I must admit that I am having a tough time bonding to the instrument. Difficulty with using the instrument on a two tier stand, needing to find a suitable hard shell case for gigging, and frustrations with finding suitable EV voices, all have lead to me placing the SK2 on my local CL.

 

However, as I have had no potential buyers and the discovery of the SKB case listed above, have made me take another look at how I might be able to use the SK2 live in a sole keyboard setup.

 

I come here asking for help. Would anyone who might be using their SK2 as the only board at a gig be willing to share their SETUP file with me. I normally only use a handful of sounds that include Organ, AP, Wurl with trem, Rhodes, basic string and pad sounds. I have downloaded a few different SETUPS from the Hammond website, but while they each have some great patches, none of them seem to have usable string and pad sounds and also include workable (tweaked) AP and EP sounds.

 

If I cannot find a way to use the EV's so that I don't need to bring another board, then I will have to increase my efforts to sell the SK2.

 

If anyone is willing to be so generous to share their SETUP file, I would be most appreciative.

 

Thanks,

 

Bill

 

So I am still trying to develop a set of sounds that will work in a sole keyboard setup. Besides the organ tones, I am finding it tough to find a couple of Wurlitzer and Rhodes sounds, plus a few workable pad and string patches to get through the gig. One thing that is very confusing is the impact of having a certain WHOLE loaded in the SK2, when you then change to a different SETUP file. If the WHOLE contains library voice info and SETUPS do not, how can I know wha voice library data needs to be loaded so that a SETUP file will work properly? Hopefully I am explaining this clearly.

 

Also, would it work to load a SETUP, find a sound I like, save it as a Patch and when I have all of the sounds from each SETUP filed I want saved as PATCHES, load them individually into User locations and resave as a SETUP or WHOLE?

 

Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

Bill

[JMcS]

When you save a Whole setup the file contains all the currently loaded extra voice libraries. You can have many setup files that make use of the currently loaded libraries. The only sure way to know which libraries are needed for the patches in a setup file is to keep notes/code the setup name.

 

If you develop an idea of what you want a setup file to contain as far as sounds and patches, load those voices into the SK2 and then set up and save the individual Patches to the user patch group. After you have all the Patches tweaked the way you want them, save it as a Whole setup. Name it something that indicates the voices you have in it. If you need another group of voices for patches, load those voices into the SK-2 and repeat the process of setting up patches that use those voices. Again save it as a Whole setup.

 

It is possible to save Patches as individual files IIRC so that they can be loaded into different setups. I haven't done much with this capability primarily because I didn't need it but mostly because it seemed trying to keep it all organized would be a huge PITA. If a saved Patch file needed a library that wasn't currently loaded it would use a default voice (I think a piano sound but I'm not sure).

 

I hope this helps.