HX3 MIDI expander module

[Doerfler]

Just buy an A100...

 

I did several years ago, partly on your advice David.

 

However, the HX3 module is slightly smaller and lighter.

 

I am also able to get a great, slightly overdriven sound at a volume that is tolerable to my aging ears. Actually, my A100/142 combination is so creamy that I've never been able to get an overdriven sound out of it.

The HX3 fills that void.

[bill bosco]

i thought the 3.82 c/v was pretty good , why did they change it ?

anyway , how is the pedal tone in this update ?

[Mitch Towne]

Yeah. I'm not sure what was wrong with the original C/V. Pedal tone is still weak.

[Bill R Adams]

It kinda bums me out that I cannot update due to having a Mac. I could go through the expense and hassle of buying a program and buying a copy of windows but I would rather not. I wish one of you tech savy guys lived near me!

[kenheeter]

Bill,

 

If you want to move to Canada I'll help!

 

Ken

[Al Quinn]

Just buy an A100...

 

Did that and couldn't be happier with it!

[MoodyBluesKeys]

It kinda bums me out that I cannot update due to having a Mac. I could go through the expense and hassle of buying a program and buying a copy of windows but I would rather not. I wish one of you tech savy guys lived near me!

 

You would have to check to be sure this works. I use Parallels 11 on both Macs to run Windows directly alongside the Mac applications. It is a pretty robust emulation (my business is computer and network service, and we feature Mac/Windows integration). Certain of my line-of-business applications are available just under Windows. The installation process is reasonably simple and well documented - boot Mac, install Parallels, install Windows, install whatever Windows programs are needed that didn't come with Windows.

 

Since you would only need it occasionally, you could also use Bootcamp to boot your Mac directly into Windows. The advantage of Parallels is being able to run both at once. Parallels retails at about $80.

[Bill R Adams]

Canada has always tempted me Ken. I noticed you live in eastern NC MBK. I lived in Pamlico county and Cartaret county for about 10 years. I am surprised we didn't cross paths.

[Doerfler]

Bill,

 

If you want to move to Canada I'll help!

 

Ken

 

OT

 

Ken -

 

this situation reminds me of the Numa update quandry that you and I and Joe Genossa were in 3 years ago. At least this time everything works well and Windows Vista does not have to be involved.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

[kenheeter]

Bill, I don't know what you mean by eastern NC MBK. I live in Kingston, Ontario, which is about two hours north of Syracuse, NY.

 

Ken

[kenheeter]

Yeah, I loved the Numas but I'm done with Vista.......

[MoodyBluesKeys]

The "eastern NC MBK" remark by William Adams referred to me, since I live in eastern NC. I grew up in Pamlico county, and presently live in Craven county. However, I was away from the area (Elizabeth City, then Chesapeake, VA) from the mid 1980's to 2004.

[bill bosco]

now i'm spooked , i need a better pedal but i don't want to mess

with the c/v , i like it alot .i have a pedal out on one aux channel

on my x3-2 , maybe it can be tweaked with some EQ to get it a little

deeper

[Mitch Towne]

Bill, at this point, there is no need to update. The pedal tones aren't improved between 3.83 and 3.84.

[bill bosco]

 

 

 

sigh

[Bill R Adams]

I know Ken. I was speaking about Moodyblueskeys .

[mafy.se]

HammonItUp

 

At present there really isn't any step by step instructions for setting up your own CC's. Some of this is because the Remote Software has been updated to include new features. Using the Remote Software is not that hard once you start to experiment with it. My suggestion is that you Run the Remote Software without connecting the HX3. This way you can see what's there and get a feel for the what it can do.

 

Also, before connecting your HX3 to your PC install the USB driver CMD v.2.12.00 WHQL Certified.exe. If you downloaded the Remote Software from the Diversi website this driver is packaged in the zip file and is in the root folder.

 

As to preconfigured CC's. There are some provided with the download of the Remote Software as an example one is for the Nord C2.

 

We here at Diversi sent out an email a couple of weeks ago asking any of the people that have purchased an HX3 from us, if they would like to contribute any Custom CC's that they have created. Diversi would be happy to create the ability for users to upload user created Custom CC's that they would like to share. We would create a webpage section with the information/name for the Custom CC and give an acknowledgment to that person for their work. However, we have had no response to this.

 

If anyone in this group would like to share their Custom CC's please send me a PM and let me know. Again, Diversi would be happy to provide a sharing library if enough people are willing to participate.

 

If we can help you please contact us.

 

Regards,

Tom Tuson

Diversi Musical Products, Inc

 

Greetings from Sweden to all of you!

 

It's nice to see this many people discovering the outstanding qualities of the HX3 sound engine.

 

Regarding the Midi Custom CC issue, it might be of help to find that there actually is a short step-by-step instruction hiding in the HX3-remote wiki page:

 

http://wiki.keyboardpartner.de/index.php?title=HX3_Remote_Application#Editing_MIDI_Custom_CCs

 

It's brief, but still explains things fairly well. I hope someone may find it useful.

 

 

Best regards,

 

MAFY Hammond & Leslie Service, Sweden

[Throbert]

Ever been to Luna and check out the Ice Music

[LX88]

The amp I am using is the Mark Bass "J.B. Player's School" with a 15 inch woofer and no treble driver. I think using a 15 inch woofer with any Hammond clone is nearly essential. I don't always use stereo but if I do I use a variety of different speaker cabinets with 12 or 10 inch woofers.

 

I have a leslie 860 and used it with a Numa, and din't have any problems. But the fact that it lacks low end keeps me from using it a lot. It works best with a subwoofer to catch the lows but that is a lot to lug around....

 

And for the record, I did NOT have a clue that the HX3 was going to be getting updated chorus vibrato.If I did I might have waited to see how it was. I did run out of faith in my own ability to do the all the updates and use flash tools etc. etc. I don't really live in that world.

 

I am going to have to be careful about what I say about the HX3 from here on out. A lot of people get highly offended if comments are not all positive. I have been through all of this before when the Hammond SK1 was released. I got called a lot of names for expressing observations.

 

I wouldn't necessarily claim that things I say are the truth, they are only opinions but in this case my my opinions are backed with the experience of renting and selling Hammond organs for more than 20 years to many major players. Most of them would be considered jazz players, but not all. There are too many names to drop here. I have NEVER had anyone tell me they were unsatisfied with what I provided.

 

So I think I know a little about what Hammond organs sound like. There are consistencies among all of them.

 

I stated in another thread that the HX3 seems like a work in progress. It is very frustrating to me to try to spend hours dialing something in. I like it when something comes out that does not require a lot of tweaking. I makes me feel that the designers knew what they were doing.

[TomKittel]

I did run out of faith in my own ability to do the all the updates and use flash tools etc. etc. I don't really live in that world.

About a year ago I sold my HX3 module for the very same reasons. The never-ending update and remote software hassles were a ongoing pain and it was always a toss-up if the update would work as intended or not.

 

Instead I bought a Uhl X3 this summer. It works like a charm and it sounds terrific. Uhl doesn't adapt every single HX3 update. He only releases properly customized Uhl-X3 updates after he thoroughly tested and approved them. Absolutely hassle-free as it should be. I never looked back.

[Mitch Towne]

Guys, this is the world we now live in. A lot of these products are moving to a more powerful and readily updateable architecture. The Mojo has been updated countless times since I got it 4 years ago. The XK3 was NEVER updated, nor was the Nord Electro 3. What you got was what you got. If you didn't like the C/V or the Leslie sim, tough. It was only going to change if you shelled out another $2k+ for the latest version.

 

For many months, Mojo owners begged for the "Memphis Mod" for the internal Leslie sim. Guess what? They got it. Why could they get it? Because the underlying architecture allowed for an update with the existing internal technology. It didn't need a new circuit board or new RAM or whatever. Same with the HX3. New updates and improvements are happening all the time. That's the beauty of this style of tech. When the XK3 came out, that was the pinnacle of the current state of Hammond emulation. But times change and technology advances. But Hammond couldn't update the XK3. They had to create a whole new instrument to install some of the improvements to the sound. (To Nord's credit, they were able to make an update to the C2 to make it like a C2D.)

 

LX88, there are things you would like to change about your Numa. But, guess what...they are never going to update it. Well, I guess they did. It is called the Numa 2. But you have to buy a whole new keyboard for that. (BTW, have you tried the Numa 2? The keybed feels very nice.)

 

This message isn't meant to be harsh sounding. Just kind of a statement of where we are with technology. iPhones are the same way.

 

[Al Quinn]

The amp I am using is the Mark Bass "J.B. Player's School" with a 15 inch woofer and no treble driver. I think using a 15 inch woofer with any Hammond clone is nearly essential. I don't always use stereo but if I do I use a variety of different speaker cabinets with 12 or 10 inch woofers.

 

I have a leslie 860 and used it with a Numa, and din't have any problems. But the fact that it lacks low end keeps me from using it a lot. It works best with a subwoofer to catch the lows but that is a lot to lug around....

 

And for the record, I did NOT have a clue that the HX3 was going to be getting updated chorus vibrato.If I did I might have waited to see how it was. I did run out of faith in my own ability to do the all the updates and use flash tools etc. etc. I don't really live in that world.

 

I am going to have to be careful about what I say about the HX3 from here on out. A lot of people get highly offended if comments are not all positive. I have been through all of this before when the Hammond SK1 was released. I got called a lot of names for expressing observations.

 

I wouldn't necessarily claim that things I say are the truth, they are only opinions but in this case my my opinions are backed with the experience of renting and selling Hammond organs for more than 20 years to many major players. Most of them would be considered jazz players, but not all. There are too many names to drop here. I have NEVER had anyone tell me they were unsatisfied with what I provided.

 

So I think I know a little about what Hammond organs sound like. There are consistencies among all of them.

 

I stated in another thread that the HX3 seems like a work in progress. It is very frustrating to me to try to spend hours dialing something in. I like it when something comes out that does not require a lot of tweaking. I makes me feel that the designers knew what they were doing.

 

I get what you're saying and am not offended by your negative comments. I feel like I'm on both sides of this discussion. While I don't mind updating the firmware in my gear I expect it to be easy. My Nord Electro 4D is very easy. The HX3 was very difficult. It took a lot of time and I wasn't happy. I persevered. I have a good technical background so I knew I could do it, I just didn't like spending my time that way as I'm in this to play music. Also, I was updating because the HX3 wasn't reacting in a linear fashion to drawbar movement via MIDI. This seemed like a "not ready for prime time" kind of bug. I was not impressed and expressed my disappointment.

 

Having said all of that, of greatest importance to me is the sound. I use the HX3 for jazz organ gigs and love love love it! Very authentic sound. It spits, growls, and sings like a great clone should.

[Mitch Towne]

Al, that's an excellent point. The ability to upgrade is fantastic, but sometime the update project seems like witchcraft. I shouldn't feel like I have to sacrifice a chicken to make sure the firmware update doesn't brick my instrument!

[analogholic]

[

Greetings from Sweden to all of you!

 

It's nice to see this many people discovering the outstanding qualities of the HX3 sound engine.

 

Best regards,

 

MAFY Hammond & Leslie Service, Sweden

 

Hejsan Mafy!

 

Bought my HX3 from you. Really dig its authentic sound!

 

Hälsningar från Götet

[M_G]

Guys, I know this is not helping you, but 2 yeas ago there didn't even exist a remote tool for upgrades.... updating was jumper setting on the pcb and command line input..... hell on earth...

I send my pcb in a few times to do the update by keyboardpartner.

But as I wrote elsewhere. It started all with a do-it-yourself-project in a german magazin like "lets build an organ".

And all developed in such a great sounding expander and moreover in such great instruments lke the MAG or UHL organs.

 

The "update" for a upper and lower CV and a slightly better Lesliesim on my XK3 did cost me 2000euro on a new XK3c back in 2008.

 

All the updates on the HX3 or X3 are for FREE. Even the step to the high quality Lesliesim was for FREE. The new adjustable Reverb was for free...

 

With the new flash tool updating the HX3 is really no problem.

"playing " wih the remote software or tapering tool is another story. Its more for freaks....the normal user has the display wifh a lot of parameters.

(not every word or excel user is a visual basic programmer...)

 

Regarding the Numa Mitch mentionend above. The sound engine is IMHO a downgrade. Its not a KeyB engine anymore and it sounds not as good as the old Numa 1 !

 

[hardware]

Well I'm glad you update and I am very picky about pre baked sounds.

I bought this because I watched it for a while and saw guys who use lots of MIDI CC#s claiming they controlled the sound.

 

That's what I wanted and I am glad I got this.

 

And thanks for the recent update.

 

Feature Request would be separate Vibrato/Chorus choices for Upper and Lower.

Other than that I quite happy covering so many styles with no hassles and plenty of tone.

 

The Leslie emulation is definitely a knock out through my SSv3 and also out front in Stereo.

 

I had someone sit in and cover an old Boston tune that used lots of fast/slow work and it sounded fantastic.

 

Thanks again for such a great product.

[Mitch Towne]

 

The "update" for a upper and lower CV and a slightly better Lesliesim on my XK3 did cost me 2000euro on a new XK3c back in 2008.

 

This. Exactly. The updates that are made are rarely full engine overhauls. Just adjustments to C/V and Leslie sim (XK3) or keyclick (Nord - and they have NEVER updated their C/V which is the weakest part of the Nord, IMHO). So, you buy a whole new instrument for a few software adjustments. It's a total drag.

 

 

All the updates on the HX3 or X3 are for FREE. Even the step to the high quality Lesliesim was for FREE. The new adjustable Reverb was for free...

 

 

And this. Same for the Mojo.

 

Markus is right about the HX3 flash tool. Makes things very easy. Updating the Mojo software is as easy as inserting a USB stick and running an .exe program. (Updating the FW is a little trickier.)

 

And, Markus is also right about the Numa 2. It is a step back.

[Dave Osoff]

Hardware: if you have some free knobs and/or buttons on your controller we can program a separate On/Off And C/V choices for the lower manual. Drop me a line if you want to work on that.

[LX88]

It's not exactly true that there are things that I would like to change about the Numa.

 

The only thing I suggested to Carlo Maffei was that having adjustable percussion volume would be a big plus. So he changed it , but it was somewhat of a technological nightmare so I still don't have it! Such are my lack of computer skills.

 

The key feel is being changed on Numa 2. Other than that I have been just about completely satisfied with it for nearly 5 years. I guess it's the board for me.

 

I wish the HX3 people no ill will. I hope they get these updates all sorted out. I just want to tell a few people who are as picky as me to perhaps be careful particularly when they are buying a complete organ package that this thing still seems to be going through changes.

[Mitch Towne]

The keybed on the Numa 2 is superior to the Numa 1. Much more realistic. It would be a killer controller board for the HX3 if the high MIDI trigger point responded when in controller mode. However, it does not. Studiologic should make a controller version of the Numa 2 with this fixed. I bet they could sell a few.