Hammond SKX Pro

[niacin]

4 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said:

The last four sliders in the monosynth section can be used for global EQ.

Thanks Jim, that covers my last question, great to have both EQ on and overdrive back on the front panel.  Any idea of shipping dates?

[nadroj]

It is a sexy, sexy instrument. That colour! Though I think the purple may just be a trick of the lights...

 

 

[Morrissey]

My favorite detail in that video -- if I understood it correctly -- is the mono synth is assignable to the foot pedals.  Instantaneous switching from kicking B3 bass to thunderous Moog Taurus!

 

 

17 minutes ago, nadroj said:

It is a sexy, sexy instrument. That colour!

 

 

 

[AnotherScott]

29 minutes ago, nadroj said:

It is a sexy, sexy instrument. That colour!

I like the color too (same as the SK Pro), except I wish they had then chosen something lighter (more contrasting) instead of black for so many of the push buttons!

[bjosko]

Ouch, 3099  British pounds 

[nadroj]

14 minutes ago, bjosko said:

Ouch, 3099  British pounds 

 

I expected that based on the SKPRO pricing. However, I could never understand the SKPRO pricing compared to the competition.

 

Saying that, that's £3k for what is without a doubt the most powerful, capable and flexible dual-manual organ on the market. There aren't many alternatives. The SKX is like a lame duck in comparison, and the Gemini/DMC combo is cool, but only gives you 2 sounds at a time. The SKX Pro on the other hand can do 8 sample/ensemble sounds, 1 Mono Synth, 2 organs and 1 pedal register, all split and layered in any possible combination you could want on both keyboards at one time. No dual manual board comes anywhere close to that kind of flexibility.

 

Saying that, £3k is still a hell of a lot.

[AnotherScott]

6 minutes ago, nadroj said:

 

I expected that based on the SKPRO pricing. However, I could never understand the SKPRO pricing compared to the competition.

It kinda depends on what competition you're comparing it to. As an organ with a full knobby synth, it's closest competition is the even pricier Nord Stage 3. Though at the other end, you could kind of compare it to a VR09/VR730 paired with an iPad to get the synth controls. The Rolands are high value, but much more limited in their capabilities overall. The Nord beats the Hammond in some ways, but Hammond beats Nord in some ways too. So maybe not too bad, looked at that way.

[Outkaster]

Sonically Hammond blows Nord out of the water for at least the organ sounds. 

[drawback]

The APs sound quite good in the demos. Can anyone vouch for the EPs? 

[MAJUSCULE]

Jim's playing a gig with it tonight, I imagine he can weigh in.

[niacin]

Skx PRO | Hammond USA (hammondorganco.com)

[Mighty Motif Max]

That is a great sounding instrument! I like that they've added some of the features people missed on the SKpro. I'm still a fan of the fact that they have pipe and theatre organs available as well as the great B3. The SKXpro is firmly in the "gee, that would be nice to have someday" category, not in the "need" category as I don't end up using a lot of organs outside of a home/recording context sadly, but this would definitely be high up on the list if I someday could justify a clonewheel board.

 

I also feel like this is a great option for churches that are limited on space but also on budget (or want to do traditional music but can't afford a nice digital pipe organ, but also might do contemporary or gospel). I like the flexibility that Hammond seems to have incorporated for routing controllers and zones across both manuals and the pedals. Very nice.

 

Now, my pet peeve (has nothing to do with the actual product itself)...

 

Why, oh why, does Hammond STILL record a lot of their demos in mono though? I mean, it's nice to get an idea of how it would sound in a mono situation, but when they, say, record a theatre organ or pipe organ demo with lots of reverb and have it in mono it's not a fair representation of how those actually sound (and they tend to be the only demo video/audio available for those sounds a lot of the time). About half of the demo videos on the site are in mono. I noticed that with other products they've made. It's just odd, that's all.

[Jim Alfredson]

6 hours ago, Morrissey said:

My favorite detail in that video -- if I understood it correctly -- is the mono synth is assignable to the foot pedals.  Instantaneous switching from kicking B3 bass to thunderous Moog Taurus!

 

 

 

Yes, the monosynth can be assigned to either the upper or lower manuals or the pedals with the press of a button.

I played the SKx Pro on a little jazz gig tonight and had a blast. It's very easy to play and sounds fantastic. 

[OB Dave]

I should have patented the drawfader. 😛 I took so much heat for it, yet here we are. 

[Jim Alfredson]

17 minutes ago, OB Dave said:

I should have patented the drawfader. 😛 I took so much heat for it, yet here we are. 

Nord stole it first, which is ironic given the purpose of your original design.

[nadroj]

9 hours ago, drawback said:

The APs sound quite good in the demos. Can anyone vouch for the EPs? 

I always thought the EPs sounded pretty good in this video. Others have talked about how they've added a sine/triangle wave to the EPs using the the free parts to fatten them up.

 

 

[B3Nut]

Yeah I want this thing! I've had my XK-1 for 9 years and it's been a trooper, but my Tumeni Stairz Tavern go-light rig needs an upgrade...

[Doerfler]

hey Todd, glad to see  you around here again. been awhile. N'est pas?

[Losendoskeys]

My SKX may be up for sale…….🤨

 

[JohnnyB3]

13 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said:

Yes, the monosynth can be assigned to either the upper or lower manuals or the pedals with the press of a button.

I played the SKx Pro on a little jazz gig tonight and had a blast. It's very easy to play and sounds fantastic. 

Jim I wanted to thank you for your outstanding educational videos on the XK-5 and the single manual SKX pro. Hoping you will so a video for the dual SkxPRO. Although the XK-5 is certainly easier to transport than a vintage hammond, it's not nearly as easy as the dual SkxPRO will be. 

 

I had a question about multi-contact simulation thinking about the XK-5, a vintage hammond, and the new SkxPRO Stage dual manual. This is regarding the pedals.

 

The XK-5 has a virtual multi-contact keyboard with 3 physical contacts + software to simulate the 9 contact vintage hammond. The XK-5 pedals (the Hammond XPK 250 pedals) are not multi-contact, however vintage hammond pedals are multi-contact.  I have noticed that when playing or tapping the pedals they are louder and less subtle than on a vintage hammond.

 

It seems that the SkxPRO Stage Keyboard uses velocity sensitivity to simulate the multi-contact keyboard. With it’s ability to map synth sounds to the pedals, can the SkxPRO Stage simulate virtual multi-contact pedals? I imagine this would require a velocity sensitive pedalboard. The XPK 250 pedals are not velocity sensitive.

[B3Nut]

9 hours ago, Doerfler said:

hey Todd, glad to see  you around here again. been awhile. N'est pas?

 

Yes indeed....nice to be here again!

[pinkfloydcramer]

On 1/18/2022 at 6:34 PM, HammondDave said:

Are these guys still trying to make organs?.... They better hire some Italian engineers.

Not sure about that..I tried out the SK Pro, returned it only because I thought the pianos were a little thin (and interface needed some tweaking). The organ sound itself, IMO, was at least as good as any Italian clones I've had. I also like the Ham-Suz reliability- never had a problem with my XK3 or SK1. 

[nursers]

On 1/22/2022 at 3:20 PM, niacin said:

Skx PRO | Hammond USA (hammondorganco.com)

Spring 2022, so second half of this year, a bit of time to save. Be interesting how long it takes to see them available down here.

[niacin]

4 hours ago, Dr Nursers said:

Spring 2022, so second half of this year, a bit of time to save. Be interesting how long it takes to see them available down here.

That’s northern hemisphere spring, autumn here i.e. March maybe May, and iirc the first shipment of SKpros to Australia arrived just before the US got them, but who knows with COVID shipping chaos

[nursers]

2 minutes ago, niacin said:

That’s northern hemisphere spring, autumn here i.e. March maybe May, and iirc the first shipment to Australia arrived just before the US got them, but who knows with COVID shipping chaos

 

I realised it was US spring then managed to still get it wrong  Indeed, hopefully we see before mid year.

[Jon E]

From hammondorganco.com:

«Each Voice Section has an individual Volume Control allowing the different Sections to be “mixed” in real time.»

 

But no chances to morph volumes via a controller pedal like the Nord Stage? 

[kwyn]

On 1/21/2022 at 10:42 AM, Jim Alfredson said:

The last four sliders in the monosynth section can be used for global EQ.

Can this be done with the Skpro (single manual) too?

[Jim Alfredson]

7 hours ago, kwyn said:

Can this be done with the Skpro (single manual) too?

I think they will release an OS update to add this feature to existing SK Pro models, yes.

[Al Coda]

On 1/21/2022 at 4:42 PM, Jim Alfredson said:

Yes, the drawbars are essentially sliders. They still work the same and are spaced the same and the change allows a more densely packed control panel yet still room for the two sets of drawbars (plus pedal drawbars). The handle in the back is there. Dedicated overdrive knob. The last four sliders in the monosynth section can be used for global EQ.

 

Because they will be in use like real drawbars always, I wonder how reliable these sliders will be.

 

MIDI - questions:

 

There are splits and consequently some local multi timbrality,- are layers possible too ?

Organ and extra-sounds, 2 extra-sounds lower and organ on the upper and vice versa ?

Can we expect some MIDI multitimbrality,- so extra-sounds were triggered via MIDI zones (incl. keyspan, transpose, velocity curve and responding to individual MIDI CCs) on different MIDI channels ?

It´s all about playing acoustic and electric pianos (except clav) by using a weighted  external piano action while using the organ manuals for organ and other combos.

 

🙂

 

A.C.

 

[Aynsley Green]

Still gigging my trusty old SK2, which must be a decade old now, but it still sounds better than even the new Nords.
But now we can have the mighty XK5 engine, in the same sensible form factor, instead of the insane price/weight/form factor of an actual XK5 + Lower Kit??? Sign me up.