I ordered a Hammond Sk2 yesterday

[HSS]

It happened spontaneously when I was online researching specs on K&M, Onstage, etc. two tier Z-stands with the hope of being able to stack my SK1 closer to a lower board to be able to fart around with dual manual technique. I said f%&k it and made the purchase (for a good price I might add).

 

I haven't told my wife yet but she will know when a large UPS box arrives at our house towards the end of next week. There is a return policy just in case she gets too miffed.

 

I obviously have too much time on my hands. I either need to go back to work at my day job fulltime, play more gigs, and / or find some old man pills to take that will increase my self-discipline (the other kind I take do the opposite).

 

BTW... As usual, my Bible Belt upbringing has caused me to feel guilty because I don't play well enough to deserve an Sk2 let alone all of the other "toys" I have when there are so many players out there, some of whom I've been lucky enough to play with, who are so much better than me and are struggling with old crappy instruments. Even though I have no desire to live in poverty, too much disposable income may therefore be another problem I have.

[CEB]

No one gets out of life alive. If you can afford something nice enjoy it. How you rank on the keyboard talent scale is irrelevant. Enjoy the instrument.

[Melodious Thunk]

I know how you feel. I am a complete beginner and purchased a Nord C2D (I sold some guitars and 2 banjos to pay for it), but I know it was a good investment as I plan on sticking with it.

 

Did you pick up one of the new Lonnie Smith signature models?

[HSS]

I know how you feel. I am a complete beginner and purchased a Nord C2D (I sold some guitars and 2 banjos to pay for it), but I know it was a good investment as I plan on sticking with it.

 

Did you pick up one of the new Lonnie Smith signature models?

No I didn't get the new Lonnie Smith signature model. I got a good deal on a slightly used SK2.

 

BTW... I'm not a beginning player like you. I've been playing part-time semi-pro in bands off and on for more than 30 years on both drums and keyboards, but I certainly wouldn't consider myself a good keyboard player. Rather I'm just proficient enough that can I stay out of the way, fill some spots, and when required take occasional simple pentatonic scale-based solos on low-brow blues, country, and roots rock & roll gigs. Classical, jazz and progressive rock are way beyond me as is covering complicated horn, string, and synth parts.

 

Given my level of skill and the kinds of gigs I play, an Sk2 is probably overkill but as CEB said, no one gets out of life alive.

 

Enough navel gazing for now... It's time for the Superbowl half-time show.

 

 

[mcgoo]

I haven't told my wife yet but she will know when a large UPS box arrives at our house towards the end of next week.

 

Methinks you either have boulder sized gonads or are a few fries short of a happy meal for making a purchase that size without talking to her. But, if you get away with it unscathed, then you most certainly got yourself a keeper. Good luck.

[HSS]

Yeah I hear you... I gutted it up and finally talked to my wife a little while ago after the Superbowl, over dinner and a couple of glasses of wine. She's cool with it, with the caveat being that she "suggested" I sell my Sk1.

 

The problem I'm now facing is that my gig rig, which I'm very comfortable with, is the SK1 on top of either a PX330, SP4-7, or on rare occasions a RD300GX. If I end up selling the Sk1 to help pay for the Sk2, my rig will increase substantially in size and weight and the ergonomics of trying to play the Sk2 with a board below it at a gig may not be easily doable for me. I saw some photos where Jim Alfredson had his Sk2 above a PX5s but, unlike me, Jim is a monster player and he can probably sound killer regardless of ergonomics.

 

It's too bad that one of the clone manufacturers doesn't make a scaled-down lightweight version of the XK3 system with detachable upper and lower manuals to accommodate flexibility for different gigging situations. I could certainly envision a detachable super-light lower manual for the XK1c in the price range of $800 - $1000 perhaps being a marketable item for players who want the flexibility of bringing a two manual clone or just bringing the upper manual to a gig, dependent upon need.

 

All of this because I was jonesing to fart around with two manual B3 technique when I will probably never use it in a gigging situation. But hey, it's only money and if I don't spend it the Wallstreet A-holes will take it from me in the next correction.

 

Enough whining. At the end of the day, we are lucky as hell to get the sounds we do out of boards so portable, compared to even a decade ago. Thanks for the free therapy session.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jazzmammal]

Great description of your situation my friend. I definitely resemble it as well. Been going back and forth, back and forth on the exact same scenario as you're describing. I really want to go back to a full dual manual organ (I gigged with a B3 for years) but I really need lots of other sounds too. Like you I've been looking at a lightweight double rack kind of thing with an SK1 and I've been 'this close' to pulling the trigger on an SK2. I keep thinking can I live with just Hammonds extra sounds because like you said taking an SK2 out AND another board would really be over the top for me. I completely understand your thinking and congratulate you.

 

I don't need it, can't justify it with gigging income, My PC3 is a killer, I have more than enough stuff sitting around to sell, it's just a very cool thing to have and I want one. I would love a Mojo too but it's too limited with the extra sounds. One thing for sure, it would be just like renting it if I didn't like it. I would have no problem at all putting it up right here and I'm sure it would find a new home.

 

Bob

[Losendoskeys]

Well done - you won't regret it - I LOVE my SK2 - just wish the XK3C had been 10Kg lighter.........

 

R

Alan

[resigned]

I've said this before but it bears repeating...

 

I bought my SK2 with the intention of setting it up in an L-shape with an 88-note digital piano, but once I tried using the SK2 with piano on the lower manual and organ on the top, I found that it worked great for band situations. The SK2 takes up very little stage room by itself and it's great as a one-piece multi-keyboard rig. That's the advantage it has over the Nords.

 

Yeah, yeah, we all think we can't live without an 88-note weighted action piano on the bottom... I thought the same thing. With a little adjustment I find the SK2 can cover the sit-in band stuff by itself. Sweet and easy load-in and out too.

[Losendoskeys]

I've said this before but it bears repeating...

 

I bought my SK2 with the intention of setting it up in an L-shape with an 88-note digital piano, but once I tried using the SK2 with piano on the lower manual and organ on the top, I found that it worked great for band situations. The SK2 takes up very little stage room by itself and it's great as a one-piece multi-keyboard rig. That's the advantage it has over the Nords.

 

Yeah, yeah, we all think we can't live without an 88-note weighted action piano on the bottom... I thought the same thing. With a little adjustment I find the SK2 can cover the sit-in band stuff by itself. Sweet and easy load-in and out too.

 

I expected to use the SK2 lower manual LESS when I went to an L-shape, and I certainly use it more than expected.

However there is no way of playing the intro to Firth of Fifth on 61 keys

I leave that to the Kronos 73..........

[CEB]

I'm considering riding my 88 above the 2 manual XK. The action on the S90XS is light enough I think it should be fine. But the new gig is starting to throw more piano stuff at me. I want to avoid the L at all cost.

[JMcS]

If you have the System lower manual you can turn its velocity on and either use an External Zone to send note on/off info plus Expression, Damper etc. to a small module or use a MIDI splitter and send the LM output to both the XK and the module. The drawback would be that the organ LM would also trigger at the lower point.

[HSS]

JMcS... You bring up an interesting related twist on your post for an Sk2 that probably belongs in the Sk1,Sk2 tips and tricks thread...

 

Is the Sk2 "intelligent" enough to simultaneously allocate a shallower trigger point to the upper manual for organ playing and a deeper trigger point to the lower manual for piano playing?

 

[HSS]

I've said this before but it bears repeating...

 

I bought my SK2 with the intention of setting it up in an L-shape with an 88-note digital piano, but once I tried using the SK2 with piano on the lower manual and organ on the top, I found that it worked great for band situations. The SK2 takes up very little stage room by itself and it's great as a one-piece multi-keyboard rig. That's the advantage it has over the Nords.

 

Yeah, yeah, we all think we can't live without an 88-note weighted action piano on the bottom... I thought the same thing. With a little adjustment I find the SK2 can cover the sit-in band stuff by itself. Sweet and easy load-in and out too.

Thanks for the reassurance. Hopefully I can learn to "survive" like you without weighted or least semi-weighted action for piano. If so, I'm there with the Sk2 as possible "all-in-one" gigging tool.

[JMcS]

JMcS... You bring up an interesting related twist on your post for an Sk2 that probably belongs in the Sk1,Sk2 tips and tricks thread...

 

Is the Sk2 "intelligent" enough to simultaneously allocate a shallower trigger point to the upper manual for organ playing and a deeper trigger point to the lower manual piano playing?

 

See the SK Tips and Tricks thread also:

 

https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2568776#Post2568776

[HSS]

I'm considering riding my 88 above the 2 manual XK. The action on the S90XS is light enough I think it should be fine. But the new gig is starting to throw more piano stuff at me. I want to avoid the L at all cost.

I agree with you about an L configuration. It's ultimately desirable but in my world I rarely have the stage space available to pull it off.

 

BTW... Will you try to stand or sit when you ride your 88 high along with the XK3 two manual below? On your avatar photo you appear to be sitting.

 

Sorry if I'm being nosy / pushy.

[HSS]

JMcS... I checked out your answer on the Sk thread and as usual many thanks.

[HSS]

Great description of your situation my friend. I definitely resemble it as well. Been going back and forth, back and forth on the exact same scenario as you're describing.

It's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one who's angst'ing out about this stuff. I'll be interested to see where you ultimately end up.

[JMcS]

JMcS... I checked out your answer on the Sk thread and as usual many thanks.

 

You're welcome, good luck.

[HSS]

I expected to use the SK2 lower manual LESS when I went to an L-shape, and I certainly use it more than expected.

However there is no way of playing the intro to Firth of Fifth on 61 keys

I leave that to the Kronos 73..........

I hear you... I've never been very comfortable playing piano parts on 61 keys. One can run out of real estate really easy. To help deal with this problem, it would be cool if, perhaps in a future OS update, the Sk2 could allow the flexibility of playing piano (or other EV's) on both manuals simultaneously. But I don't know if the Sk2's current splitting capability is software or hardware limited.

 

BTW... If you can pull off the intro to Genesis's Firth of Fifth, you must have some damn good chops. I'm impressed. I just bang away at blues, country, and roots R&R and try to stay in the pocket and out of the way at my gigs.

[JMcS]

Where there is a will there may be a way. I haven't tried this but it may work. One of the MIDI In modes is EXVOICE. When set to that anything received at the MIDI In plays the EV. It may be possible to have an UM zone and LM zone on and set to the desired note ranges. Connecting the MIDI Out to the MIDI In would then fool the SK into thinking it was being controlled by another keyboard for the EVs. It would be necessary to push all the drawbars in or adjust the internal zone ranges to prevent sounding/triggering organ notes but it might be enough in a pinch. Something similar might work out with one manual by setting up 2 zones with one upper octaves and the other lower octaves with an octave or so missing in the middle.

[CEB]

I'm considering riding my 88 above the 2 manual XK. The action on the S90XS is light enough I think it should be fine. But the new gig is starting to throw more piano stuff at me. I want to avoid the L at all cost.

I agree with you about an L configuration. It's ultimately desirable but in my world I rarely have the stage space available to pull it off.

 

BTW... Will you try to stand or sit when you ride your 88 high along with the XK3 two manual below? On your avatar photo you appear to be sitting.

 

Sorry if I'm being nosy / pushy.

 

I will sit on a bench. I don't stand and play the XK. I don't last two tunes. I've broke both ankles (seperate occasions). Trashed one leg in a car wreck..... Trying to ride a swell pedal and standing at the same time kills me. Then I usually have the other foot working the piano pedals at the sametime. I always sit.

[HSS]

Wow... You da man.

 

That is potentially a very clever workaround. I'm going to try it out. If it works, this definitely needs to be highlighted in the Sk1,Sk2, tips and tricks thread where you routinely save all of the Sk players' azzzes.

[HSS]

Thanks.... I sit as well. In most of the blues, country, and roots R&R bands I play in, it would be kind of garish to stand. Besides I play better sitting and I have an old bad back that probably wouldn't let me get through a set standing.

[CEB]

I play better sitting. I sing better standing.

 

But I sing like poo anyway. People don't hire me to sing LOL!

[HSS]

I really want to sing blues and soul but my "tone" sounds too geeky. In hindsight, maybe I should have drank more whiskey and smoked more cigs when I was younger. But then I might not be here to whine about it at this point in life.

[JMcS]

Wow... You da man.

 

That is potentially a very clever workaround. I'm going to try it out. If it works, this definitely needs to be highlighted in the Sk1,Sk2, tips and tricks thread where you routinely save all of the Sk players' azzzes.

 

If you use the External Zones you may have to turn the MIDI Tx channels (Pg. 114 #'s 13 - 15) off. Otherwise notes may be double triggered.

 

Good Luck.

[Losendoskeys]

I expected to use the SK2 lower manual LESS when I went to an L-shape, and I certainly use it more than expected.

However there is no way of playing the intro to Firth of Fifth on 61 keys

I leave that to the Kronos 73..........

I hear you... I've never been very comfortable playing piano parts on 61 keys.

 

BTW... If you can pull off the intro to Genesis's Firth of Fifth, you must have some damn good chops. I'm impressed. I just bang away at blues, country, and roots R&R and try to stay in the pocket and out of the way at my gigs.

 

I'm not a piano player and never had a lesson.

So it all boils down to hard work!

I figure that as Tony Banks has eight fingers and two thumbs same as me then I will eventually be able to play what he does.....(though I'm sure it's not technically correct......)

 

[video:youtube]

 

 

[Craig MacDonald]

Nice job!!

[Losendoskeys]

Thanks Craig

 

I should probably point out that for the intro I used the weighted action of the Kronos 73.

You'll notice that through the song I used the SK2 lower manual for the remaining piano work, which is perfectly playable on that keyboard.