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HX3 MIDI expander module


TKN

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It sounded pretty great to my ears right out of the box.

 

Man, ain't that the truth. I am a happy camper today. :keys::cheers:

 

Initially I used my CPS SS3 as that is what I have been using lately for my non vintage gear and was very happy with the results except for the bottom end was lacking. Have it now hooked up to a pair of Leslie 2121's and this is the sound I have been looking for. I had to roll off the high end on the 2121's to 9 o'clock from 12 o'clock as there was too much high end for me, but man, this thing is dope. :2thu:

:nopity:
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Does anyone know if there is a Canadian Distributor for the HX3? Or, have any Canucks bought one via mail order, and which route/supplier did they use?

Electro 5, NI Kontrol S61/49, MX49, PC3, Rev2, Prologue, Pro3, Juno-DS, Mopho Keys, SE02, drums, tons of synth software, guitars, amps, and pedals...help me!!

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Ken Hall is the Canadian Disributor (Toronto area). Here is his email address: ken@kenhall.ca

Nord Stage 3 Compact

Nord Stage 2 EX Compact

Korg Kronos 2 73

Mag C2 organ

UHL X3-1 organ

GSI DMC-122 

Radial KL8

Motion Sound Kp500S

Macbook Pro 
Falcon, UVI, Kontakt, Logic, PT

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I hooked up some midi pedals, which work except they are using the lower manual drawbars instead of the pedal drawbars.

 

I turned off "Keyboard Split" (set to "Off")....also also tried the "Pedal to Lower/Pedal to Upper" setting, but nothing seems to make it work....or a way of setting it to work as would be expected. Does anyone have an idea of how to "fix" this?

 

Thanks,

John

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John,

 

did you check your midi channels?

default is 1=upper, 2=lower, 3=pedals

 

so,,your pedals should send on midi channel 3....

 

hope that helps...?

 

Studio: Hammond XK5-XLK5,  Roland Fantom 8, Prophet 5, Roland SE02, Neo Vent, HX3-Expander, Yamaha Montage M7

Live: Yamaha CP88, Hammond SKX Pro, Hammond XB2-HX3,  Roland Fantom 07, Roland SA1000, Neo Vent

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Try changing your Audio Jack configuration from rotary L/R to One of the settings that includes the pedals. I'll take a look at the manual later and send it to you.

Nord Stage 3 Compact

Nord Stage 2 EX Compact

Korg Kronos 2 73

Mag C2 organ

UHL X3-1 organ

GSI DMC-122 

Radial KL8

Motion Sound Kp500S

Macbook Pro 
Falcon, UVI, Kontakt, Logic, PT

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Yes, pedals are sending on Channel 3.

 

I have an old Roland PK-7 pedal board....the trick to changing the channels is to:

 

1) make sure the "Hold" jack is disconnected, then

2) while powering on, you have to simultaneously press the Hold pedal and also the "D" pedal which will then send on Channel 3

 

(pressing the low C = Channel #1, C# = Channel 2 (default), D = Channel 3, etc.) - if that makes sense (I edited this to be less confusing). BTW this worked with the Mojo.

 

Also, I tried the different Audio Jack configs - but still....using the lower manual's DB's. I think there is a bug in the firmware that will not allow channel 3 to play the pedal drawbars.

 

If someone else has a midi pedal board and can duplicate this it would confirm.

 

Thanks,

John

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Thanks for the advice. However I still can't get the pedals to work.

 

I tried to get both my controller and the pedals working by plugging into the 2 separate midi inputs (which should both act as MIDI-IN's right?)

 

This could be tested even with 2 midi keyboards (I mean it doesn't necessarily need a foot pedal board to try this out)... Just plug in 1 midi keyboard into 1 HX3 input, and the other midi keyboard into the 2nd HX3 midi input.... change one of them to channel 3 and see if you can get "pedals" to play.

 

The weird thing is when I had the Mojo controlling the HX3 using the Hammicord CC set, it worked fine... so I know this works....it may be due to the plugging of both directly into the HX3 or it is something to do with the custom CC set.

 

Next, I'll plug the pedals into the Midi-in of the DMC and see what happens. Any help would be appreciated.

 

BTW - Is there any kind of "Midi Monitor" like there is for the DMC-122 (which btw only works on their default n0 Library setu...i.e. the "Mojo" setting) for the HX3? Whereby I can see what Midi events are being sent to the HX3? That would be a useful debugging tool.

 

-John

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I did exactly what I suggested. I plugged in a second keyboard and changed it to channel 3 and it worked. So no firmware bug, no problem with CC set.. just problem with an old pedal board that must not be following the correct midi protocol (who knows... its a Roland PK-7) I have the manual, and I'll see if there is a firmware update...who knows...anyways..here is the positive.

 

THE HX3 SOUNDS GREAT! :)

 

-John

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Thank you to those of you who recently purchased the HX3 Organ Module. There is a product registration page on our website for you to register your new HX3. It's not mandatory to register but it will enable us to assist you faster if needed. If you also wish to sign up for our product updates and latest news, the form will give you that option too.

http://diversi.us/productreg.html

 

Thanks again,

Diversi Musical Products

Diversi Musical Products
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Tom -

 

tried registering my unit using the like you provided. When I hit send I got the following error

" Server Error in Application "76038542-DIVERSI.US" "

 

HTTP Error 404.0 - Not Found

The resource you are looking for has been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

:nopity:
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I imagine that the unit that ordered from the Diversi sale has been shipped so I am waiting for it to arrive any time now ... I assume.

 

I thank Tom and the people at Diversi for making this available at that price, though I really had to hustle to beat the sale price deadline.

 

I imagine I will have questions when it arrives. I am really hoping that the programming is straightforward since I will be using a fairly basic 5 octave midi controller to get started.

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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?

 

I apologize for the lengthy post.

 

 

No. Thank you very much!!! I was looking for a lengthy post. Perhaps not to hurt anyones feelings who reads the forums, for some reason just a few words are written usually on this for comparison to icon clones like the Mojo engine. (that I have in a Hamichord)

 

 

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I haven't mastered saving yet. Tweaked for a long time, got a great sound, and appeared to have saved to "Default" - then did the power cycle test and it came up without the jacks set or the CC set.

 

Had a blast with it in my first session. It has a different flavor from the way my Mojo sounds. Not sure if I like the leslie sim as well as Mojo's but I could gig with it without a problem. CV and percussion and click are on a par with Mojo, which is high praise.

 

I mentioned earlier how handy the built in CC maps are. Going to try it next with my XK-1C, and then will need to figure out a custom set for my controller.

Moe

---

 

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Had a blast with it in my first session. It has a different flavor from the way my Mojo sounds. Not sure if I like the leslie sim as well as Mojo's but I could gig with it without a problem. CV and percussion and click are on a par with Mojo, which is high praise.

 

WOW!!! That is an amazing statement. Perhaps a superlative statement of comparison as Mojo engine, IMO, stands out on its own.

 

If I picked one up sometime I would guess my black preset keys would work with the HX3 on the Hamichord that would give me 3 the B4, VB3-II (current) and the HX3 additional.

 

The cool thing about the Hamichord is that you can save any drawbar combination by holding the black reverse key (or white reversed) for 5 seconds and you have that preset recorded. I did have a map once for the older EVB3 (Apple) that worked perfectly with the Event Processor Plus. Not bad but I dropped it.

 

I am surprised at the HX3 reports of quality. My initial feeling was it was some lame PCB someone conjured up. Shows how one can be fast to pre judge.

 

 

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I received my HX3 last night.

 

The first GOOD thing I want to say is how easy it is to operate with just a basic midi 5 octave keyboard.

 

I literally went to a thrift store, bought a 10 dollar Yamaha PSR 262 and am using it as a controller, complete with split bass with the HX3.

 

It was relatively easy to set up things I like such as percussion volume, percussion decay time ( as in slow decay... my preference). I had it working in under an hour.

 

I will say that the character of the organ sound is.... different. Much different than the Numa, which I have used for 4 years. By the way, the Numa holds its own compared to the HX3 .

 

The HX3 is very "purist" in design. There is no bass boost ( which I think it would benefit from) and , nothing like overdrive or any of that. There is a " tube age" feature as well as an assortment of other " age " parameters. There is no key click adjustment, which I confess that I miss also.

 

Basically, this box is rather simple to use and does a lot for a small package. I was able to dial up 3 presets with splits, and I am playing away.

 

So far I have NOT found out how to engage the leslie sim. With just a basic controller there is no way to make it come on. Perhaps it just needs a foot switch.

 

I will have more to say later. I would like mto hear comments from owners regaring the chorus vibrato ajustments. There are several adjustments for it , and I would be curious regarding which help and which do not.

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The Bass boost was a feature in previous versions of the firmware, but was replaced with the 'Swell Trim Cap' setting.

Actually the key click can be adjusted with the:

 

ContSpringFlx- adjusts key contact spring flex, affects click length

ContSpringDmp- adjusts key contact spring damping, affects click

frequency

 

Leslie sim can be engaged with a latching foot switch or with a custom CC setting via midi and by setting the output jacks to leslie L/R which also activates the built in 122 overdrive (also adjustable).

 

Nord Stage 3 Compact

Nord Stage 2 EX Compact

Korg Kronos 2 73

Mag C2 organ

UHL X3-1 organ

GSI DMC-122 

Radial KL8

Motion Sound Kp500S

Macbook Pro 
Falcon, UVI, Kontakt, Logic, PT

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I was also able to get the half-moon working for the leslie from my DMC-122, as well as the modulation wheel - which both seemed to send the same midi CC to turn the leslie from stop to slow to fast. I don't think I did anything special for that to happen - I started with the NI VB4 control set (with a shout out to Dave O!) (although i did do some modifications, but I don't think one of these affected the leslie sim.

 

Also with the Mojo, the Hammicord CC set worked again with the Midi control of the leslie.

 

All that said, plugging in a foot switch will override the midi and you can control it that way easy enough (I had an old footswitch from a Motion Sound Leslie unit - which worked perfectly.)

 

The trick was as Dave pointed out to choose the correct Output jacks configuration....

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What the hell is " swell trim cap setting" good for? ( scratches head). I need some bass.

 

So what I did was knocked the upper drawbar settings down to 666000000 instead of 888000000 and also turned the percussion down, and the lower manual is more present that way.

 

I will look for contspringflx. I like minimal click on the lower manual actually.

 

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